Creativity


My second open-mic stand-up

Following My first public open mike stand-up comedy performance, I went back for a second try, this time trying for more than one long joke. I have a long way to go to get good at it, but I'm starting to see what goes into a performance. It doesn't come naturally, but expect practice will help. I'm not sure I want to put the resources into it, but the appeal is strong. Comedy enables a lot of free expression. I'm partly embarrassed to put it up since a few of the jokes fell flat, but for me the video shows me what to practice and learn and the accountability of public performance motivates intention and improvement more than anything I know. Here's performance number 2:…

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Martha Graham on Freedom Through Discipline and Conforming

I've quoted Martha Graham many times. At last I got the video of her saying the words. She describes how a performer achieves freedom through conforming and discipline better than anyone, in my opinion. I believe what she says holds for any active, emotional, expressive, social, performance-based field, including leadership and entrepreneurship. The dancer is realistic. His craft teaches him to be. Either the foot is pointed or it is not. No amount of dreaming will point it for you. This requires discipline, not drill, not something imposed from without, but discipline imposed by you yourself upon yourself. Your goal is freedom. But freedom may only be achieved through discipline. In the studio you learn to conform, to submit yourself to the demands of your…

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Walden emerged from Thoreau’s sidcha
Andrea Wulf's the Invention of Nature

Walden emerged from Thoreau’s sidcha

I'm sharing thoughts on reading The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf, one of the New York Times' 10 best books of 2017. Andrea Wulf's the Invention of Nature Who is Alexander von Humboldt? The New York Times review of the book explains: Alexander von Humboldt was the pre-eminent scientist of his time. Contemporaries spoke of him as second in fame only to Napoleon. All over the Americas and the English-speaking world, towns and rivers are still named after him, along with mountain ranges, bays, waterfalls, 300 plants and more than 100 animals. There is a Humboldt glacier, a Humboldt asteroid, a Humboldt hog-nosed skunk. Off the coast of Peru and Chile, the giant Humboldt squid swims in the Humboldt…

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A Contrarian View of Invention
A Contrarian View of Invention

A Contrarian View of Invention

My latest Inc. article, "A Contrarian View of Invention," begins A Contrarian View of Invention We put innovation and invention on pedestals. Should we? I'll start by pointing out that I have several patents to my name. I conceived of the inventions and wrote the patents. I have advanced degrees in science. I started several ventures. I'm not writing to brag or put patents or innovation down, just that I think I hold my own on innovation and invention. Now that I write about and teach leadership and entrepreneurship, I look more at relationships, emotions, and motivations. I look at culture, inside and outside companies. I recently combined two concepts to realize what our inventive culture says about us. Neediness First, speaking of relationships and emotions, consider neediness. Many people rank it among the most…

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How do I improve my storytelling?

My response to the question "How do I improve my storytelling?" on a forum got upvoted a lot: Practice, practice, practice. The best advice in the world only works in the context of practice. Practicing makes advice meaningful. Practice and then practice more. Then practice more. Get feedback. Seek advice. Iterate. But practice. Name anyone who mastered a performance art who didn't practice more than most. Even if you can, I can name a hundred who did. Practice, practice, practice. Find audiences you can practice with and practice with them. Until then, practice by yourself, in front of a wall if that's what you have. Use a mirror or a camera. Practice. The more you practice, the more audiences you'll find. Then practice more. I…

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Reviews of my famous no-packaging no-recipe vegan stews

Taste is a matter of taste, so you may not enjoy my food as much as I do, but I've grown confident enough in it to invite people more, including for business meetings and podcasts, including a Nobel laureate, titans of industry, and more. Some probably have walk-in closets bigger than my apartment. I've asked people to write reviews so you know what to expect. (EDIT: Here are pictures from a corporate event with Faherty clothes, where I spoke on sustainability and personal responsibility and cooked for over 50 people, producing no trash (the organizers brought bread and butter and got alcohol sponsorship independent of my stews). EDIT 2: Here are pictures of me speaking on sustainability and cooking my stew at Lululemon's flagship 5th…

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How to Step Up Your Leadership Game With Storytelling

Park Howell hosts the Business of Storytelling podcast. Today he released our interview about storytelling and how to improve your storytelling for business. Everybody agrees on the value of storytelling in all human communications. All the more in business. Listen to the conversation! Bonus that I missed saying in the interview By the way, when you listen, there's one part where Park said, "You don't want to know what's in my head." I missed an opportunity and, as much as I try to avoid interrupting, I should have interrupted to say to him, We do want to know what's in your head. We love to hear that inside story, that inner monologue. Everyone thinks his or her inner monologue is dark before doing the exercise.…

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The Hardware Entrepreneur Interview: Effective project-based learning from astrophysicist turned entrepreneur, professor, with Joshua Spodek
The Hardware Entrepreneur podcast with Balint Hovarth and Joshua Spodek

The Hardware Entrepreneur Interview: Effective project-based learning from astrophysicist turned entrepreneur, professor, with Joshua Spodek

I've done a lot of podcasts lately. The latest is unique and more personal. Here's why... As a guy who got a PhD in physics became an entrepreneur got passionate about improving in business, and teaches experiential project-based learning, I was pleased to find a guy who got a PhD in physics became an entrepreneur got passionate about improving in business, and teaches experiential project-based learning. This other guy is named Balint Hovarth. He is from Hungary and lives in Switzerland. He hosts a podcast called the Hardware Entrepreneur. Our common backgrounds and interests make our meeting inevitable. Our common background and interests also enabled me to talk about my early days and some stories about starting my first company, Submedia. Even before the founding…

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Genuineness and authenticity: What it takes

I finally watched Gone With the Wind. People routinely rate it one of the top movies. Watching it, you automatically rate it by the standards of its time. But watch the acting these iconic scenes. The morning after watching the movie, I woke up realizing how ungenuine and inauthentic the acting was. Sure, by the standards of its time, the acting was probably great. But watch this scene, the opening scene of the movie. Do you not see what are supposed to be grown men behaving like caricatures of children? At 0:56 the man shows his happiness by dancing. What grown man dances and whoops to show happiness for such a trivial reason? Actors call such acting indicating, which means behaving to indicate the emotion…

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Blurbs and Endorsements for Leadership Step by Step

Reviews of Leadership Step by Step By Joshua Spodek Buy Leadership Step by Step on Amazon! https://youtu.be/3n2gecJha6o Great leaders aren't born with a 'leadership gene'; great leaders develop the necessary skills and gain confidence through practice and hard work. In Leadership Step by Step Joshua Spodek presents a thoughtful approach to becoming a highly effective leader that emphasizes the importance of experiential learning. It will serve as a valuable resource for leaders at all levels in any profession. Indeed, Joshua's practical exercises will help prospective, as well as experienced leaders, to master their craft and ultimately to succeed in leading and inspiring others in their various pursuits. General Lloyd J. Austin III, United States Secretary of Defense Joshua is changing the game for leadership development…

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Reflections on writing

One of my online communities had a thread on writing a book this year. It led me to reflect on writing in a way that might help someone where I was before starting to write. I consider what I wrote relevant to practicing any craft or developing one's passion. Here's what I wrote: Last year was my big year for writing and finishing my book, Leadership Step by Step. It launches on Amazon a month from tomorrow. I got my first hardcovers from the printer a couple weeks ago. Last week I learned that Booklist is giving it a starred review. It has blurbs from bestsellers, top TED talkers, and luminaries like Dan Pink Marshall Goldsmith Seth Godin Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Frances Hesselbein…

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Mastery in writing, from Robert Caro

I started to browse The Power Broker, Robert Caro's colossal work on city political power and Robert Moses, and couldn't put it down. The book is huge. It used to be a fixture in New York City apartments. You couldn't miss its big bold lettering on the big white spine on people's book shelves. I don't know how many people started or finished it, but I loved reading it. Caro has won every award he can for his craft. Wikipedia establishes his mastery: Caro wrote The Power Broker (1974), a biography of New York urban planner Robert Moses, which was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest nonfiction books of the twentieth century. He has since written four of a planned…

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More great opening lines to books

Following up my first post on great opening lines to books, and getting the galley to my first non-self-published book, I found some more. "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." -- Catcher in the Rye "Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die." -- Fight Club…

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Looking for a mastermind group?

Do you have ideas or potential you're looking to develop? Do you find having others help while you help them spurs more creativity and action? Then you may want to work with a mastermind group. My friend and fellow coach, Silvia Christmann, is leading two eight-week curated groups, one starting September 15, the other September 20. While I coach, I don't have any stake in her work. I can tell you that if you like my perspective and how I work, you'll like working with her too. She has helped me through difficult times with sensitivity and caring. She has effective entrepreneurial, coaching, and leadership skills. Click here to learn more and sign up Click here for a webinar to learn more Click here to…

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My number one criterion for quality of a complex solution or something creative you’re developing

I'm thinking of solutions that are the starts of entrepreneurial projects, but the creative thing could be a work or art, something you write, something you perform, and so on. In my experience, the best indicator of how well a solution solves a complex problem is how many iterations it's gone through. Solutions to simple problems may not need many iterations, but complex ones do and the more iterations the better they solve the problem, with some exceptions, of course. You've probably gone through enough iterations when the solution looks simple. I take for granted you aren't iterating for the sake of iterating, but listening to people with the problem, reviewing similar solutions, reflecting, and so on.

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The Unmistakable Creative podcast interviews me

Listen to the podcast The Power of Experiential Learning with Joshua Spodek The Unmistakable Creative podcast just released its interviews of me. The interview covered leadership, entrepreneurship, education, and a bunch of my life and growth. Their lead quote from the interview: "No one who is learning to play a musical instrument, no one who wants to learn a musical instrument would ever take a class where they would lecture you for a year on theory for putting it into practice. And in fact if you did want to learn piano theory or music theory, you still learn to play first. There's lots of fields like that. Constantin Stanislavsky revolutionized how acting is taught. I learned about him because just for fun I would watch…

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Explore your passions to grow, develop, and to make your work art: My talk at Creative Tech Week

My talk at Creative Tech Week Monday followed up my Inc.com column, Why Entrepreneurs Are Today's Artists (and Why It Matters), which explored how anyone can express themselves and learn and grow through their work if they search for their passions within. Here's the video, just taken by a camera phone from the front row. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGO3k7_Ot_s It also refers to my Don't Be Walter posts from 2013 about the Big Lebowski.

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Like creativity? Like technology? In NYC? … Come to Creative Tech Week this weekend!

Creative Technology is transforming culture, design, and art with software, electronics and data. We are creating the premier nexus for creativity and technology worldwide. 9 Days, 100+ Events, 200+ Speakers, 200+ Partners, 25k+ Attendees. Creative Tech Week is a city-wide event week, with events going on in many different locations. Some are free, while others require a CTW Pass, and then others require additional registration or additional tickets. It's organized by the people who do Leaders in Software and Art (LISA), which I love attending. If you're near New York City and like creativity, technology, or both, I recommend attending. I'm going! Register here! Note Friday and Saturday's free expo. I'm also speaking at it. Monday, May 2, 2:45pm at the Brooklyn Library in Prospect…

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Prince’s Quirky Anti-Celebrity Habit Showed His Class Beyond Mere Fame

My Inc.com article yesterday, "Prince's Quirky Anti-Celebrity Habit Showed His Class Beyond Mere Fame," begins Prince's Quirky Anti-Celebrity Habit Showed His Class Beyond Mere Fame Today's celebrities seek fame, trying hard to promote themselves. Prince was more dedicated to his craft and community, as his relationships showed. My first thought on learning Prince died was how my friends Corianna and Brianna, better known as Coco and Breezy, had been telling me about him and his get-togethers that he'd been inviting them to. In particular, how in this age of where athletes post on social media during competitions, so starved for fame and addicted to the habit, Prince did the opposite. We can all learn from him. I think it shows that his fame will transcend…

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Op/Ed Friday: Science and technology does not equal innovation

I came across the infographic below and disagree with how it categorizes innovation and how it draws its conclusions. It categorizes innovation by "marketable contributions to technology-intensive industries as award-winning innovators and international patent applications." Then it concludes we should support STEM more. I agree we should support STEM more, to have a more educated population. They haven't supported their conclusion at all. I consider myself innovative. With a PhD in physics and having helped build a satellite successfully working in space I consider myself educated in science, technology, engineering, and math. I have met many scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Very few of them have done what I would consider innovation. I have also met many non-STEM people and found them innovative. Huge innovations come…

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Want to Succeed as an Entrepreneur? Learn This One Lesson From ‘The Martian’

My Inc. article today "Want to Succeed as an Entrepreneur? Learn This One Lesson From 'The Martian'," begins Want to Succeed as an Entrepreneur? Learn This One Lesson From 'The Martian' Think The Martian was about solving technology problems? Those were the details. You missed the big picture that ties it all together. Though engineers and space aficionados probably loved The Martian, entrepreneurs had the most to love and learn. We got the forest. Everyone else got trees. It wasn't special effects. It wasn't references to getting to Mars sooner or feeling like you were there. In fact, the most exciting parts--where Matt Damon's character solved each engineering challenge, handling the teamwork challenges of rescuing him, the space walks--only built the foundation for the story's biggest lesson. Most viewers…

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Why Entrepreneurs Are Today’s Artists (My Inc. article today)

Read my article on Inc. today: "Why Entrepreneurs Are Today's Artists" It begins Why Entrepreneurs Are Today's Artists What is today's greatest source of creativity, expression, social change, progress, innovation, introspection, performance, determination, struggle, challenge, and even truth and beauty? Artists change how we see and think about the world. Visiting Paris's Musee D'Orsayfor the first time in twenty years made me wonder if artists today are changing how we see the world like a century ago. Manet, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, their peers, mentors, and legacies--to pick one of countless lineages--provoked discussion and debate in their time and affected society and culture forever. The biggest debates on art in my time surrounded a photograph of a crucifix in urine and a portrait of the virgin Mary with feces. Maybe I'm shortsighted, but today's…

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If you’re thinking, you’re not doing

After most of my life valuing thinking about things and planning before doing, I've found acting first works better in many situations. And that thinking and theorizing inhibit getting things done. I'm not saying to act thoughtlessly. Everyone knows the problem with that. I don't think everyone knows the problems with the converse: thinking without acting. The words of my teacher for my movement class when I took acting a few years ago motivated us well with: If you're thinking you're not doing! or sometimes If you're thinking you're not moving! Movement is critical to acting. Who wants to see actors thinking about what they would do? Sure, you want them to think sometimes, but mainly you want to see them moving. The more ways…

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Inc.com Today: This Insidious (and Subtle) Innovation Myth is Killing Your Creativity

My post today on Inc.com, "This Insidious (and Subtle) Innovation Myth is Killing Your Creativity," begins: This Insidious (and Subtle) Innovation Myth is Killing Your Creativity This specious myth is so commonly held enough that few challenge it. Yet overcoming it is easy and rewarding. Thomas Edison was an outlier. For someone to invent so many products and succeed with so many, even accounting for his failures, just doesn't happen, before or after him. Elon Musk, with several innovations, is still an outlier. It's rare that someone could come up with multiple ideas, let alone to succeed with even one of them. Jeff Bezos, while more financially successful than most, is more typical in terms of innovation. Most of us would be lucky to come…

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Op/Ed Fridays: How higher education risks going the way of the dodo

An Op/Ed piece in the New York Times, "What a Million Syllabuses Can Teach Us," illustrated a perspective that will turn higher education into a dinosaur if it doesn't learn some new perspectives. It begins COLLEGE course syllabuses are curious documents. They represent the best efforts by faculty and instructors to distill human knowledge on a given subject into 14-week chunks. They structure the main activity of colleges and universities. And then, for the most part, they disappear. Do you see the dated perspective? The key words for me are "knowledge" and "activity." What's wrong with knowledge and activity? Aren't they good? Read on for a broader perspective, one that I hope and expect will overtake theirs. Regarding knowledge, centuries ago, when most were illiterate,…

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