A personal, curatorial & bilingual Blog about: Artistic Movements, my Art, Creativity, Innovation, Design, Leadership, Empowerment, Sustainability, Science, Jazz, Movies and other cool pursuits - Blog personal y curatorial bilingüe sobre: Movimentos Artísticos, mi Arte, Creatividad, Innovación, Diseño, Liderazgo, Empoderamiento, Sustentabilidad, Ciencia, Jazz, Películas y otros temas.
I wasn´t sure whether to write this. I thought about it and then it felt it was not the right time, or the right place. Maybe tomorrow, or later if I need to do it fast.
The truth is that we all need to mature ideas, and get them to the point of inflection where they become more than just ideas. And for that we need time. Or do we?
In any case, before we consider this, first we may need to get to that book someone recommended as a great inspirational read. Better yet, before that there is a YouTube video we can watch and which will summarize everything, opening our apetite for knowledge, no doubt.
And as long as we are talking about appetite, we may be hungry by now so why not better get something to eat and come back to this afterwards…or after a siesta perhaps?
Anyhow, even while having a bite, how about watching Tim Urban talk about the fact that procrastination doesn’t make sense, while he explains that he’s never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done.
You, me, and most of us will feel in familiar ground somehow by watching this funny and insightful talk from TED Vancouver in 2016.
And if you never had a chance to have a look at this subject, let´s just say that you kept putting it off perhaps, this may be a great opportunity to get on track again.
Reality is a construction. What we see, we see through a series of “intermediaries”. Senses much like a security video camera, a concert speaker, a microphone and other electronic sensors that we already have commonly available.
As an artist I am keenly aware that color is refractive. Thus according to the amount and type of light I have in front of me, colors and shapes will change (more colors than shapes, but those will too). In other words, we redefine the world by modifying our capacity to see. We are part of an ecosystem that is constantly moving and forcing us to modify our focus with it.
It means that everything is quite relative as each one of us creates our reality based in short term memory “bursts” of schemas, photos that make up a nice little movie that will most probably, but not necessarily, become long term memory.
From the same accident scene, 10 people looking at it will “record” in their memories 10 different movies. People will incorporate things that others have not seen, and many times, things that were never there.
As a synesthetic artist, I already “see” what I hear. This TED lecture, from 2009, by Beau Lotto plays with your vision, your perceptivity of sound, other senses, and your brain, thus spotlighting what you can’t normally see: how your brain works.
I hope you enjoy this fun perception of what’s really out there.
This is a very nice lecture by Philosopher and writer Jim Holt in which he digs into this subject, and attempts three (four, five, none?) possible explanations.
It raises many of the long-standing questions we will always have, at least until 4 or 5 Einsteins come into existence…. (you will get it later).
Growing up in Australia, I first heard of the term “Body Language” from this gentleman. And I was instantly knocked out.
Body language is described as a type of nonverbal communication in which physical behavior is used to express or convey information. We all do it inadvertedly. But those who can interpet it, and direction it correctly, do get some advantages when negotiating.
Many years have passed, and the dark hair man has become this grey hair legend. Allan Pease has always been very easy to listen to, very clear, and extremely entertaining.
This lecture from TEDx at Macquarie University does not dissappoint. If you never looked at this subject, this is a perfect introduction.
I first heard of David JP Phillips through his, now famous seminar, “How to avoid death by Powerpoint”. As an avid user of PPT I really needed to see what it was all about.
Time has passed and I cannot say if it is thanks to him, but even with my heavy use of dear old Power Point, I am still alive. So just in case, thank you…
Now, he is dealing with another favorite subject of mine. Storytelling, which to me, is a way of life.
Now, why is storytelling so powerful? And how do we use it to our advantage? This TEDxStockholm talk will give you some ideas about why it works.
In my lectures I always mention at some point something that the great Hans Rosling has said or done.
We sadly lost him (by we, I mean humanity) in February of 2017. But his teaching and his thinking processes survive, and hopefully will do so for a long time.
For those of you who do not know of him, he was a Swedish physician, academic, statistician, and public speaker. He was the Professor of International Health at the Karolinska Institute and was also the co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed Trendalyzer software.
He has written wonderful books which have been read by, and which have inspired, millions.
To me at least, his most wonderful gift was as a statistician. And he always had something interesting to distill from information that both you and me would consider uninteresting.
As an example of his genius, here he is presenting his view that world population cannot possibly exceed 11 billion. It is a view that runs contrary to what has been generally accepted. You may agree with him or not, but it is a good exercise to let him takes us through his process.
I hope this tempts you to look for more about him.
Sometimes what is obvious in hindsight, does not seem as obvious at the time. One of the major issues we all face time and time again, is a lack of perspective that ends up complicating things rather than making us effective.
This little video touches on 2 simple life lessons that we can do well to keep in mind, always.
You will find that with so little, you will be capable of accomplishing so much.
I always find that many people, mistakenly, asume for a fact that the central characteristic of leadership is having the power to tell other people what to do and when to do it (even if that may happen at some point as part of the whole decision process). This is clearly a common confusion. And an idea about the characteristics of the role which is, very often, held by people who probably should either freshen-up their views, or reconsider being in positions of leadership.
And this is as much an issue for those people pushed into holding decision making positions when they are not suitable for them, as much as a problem related to the person or persons who put them there in the first place.
Leadership is not a natural progression in our career, or a position to be filled, or our chance to tell people off.
Leadership is a choice we make, and which often others offer us, based on our personal qualities and strengths. Much like any other career choice, it is an option which only those with the gift and qualities necessaries to be leaders may successfully engage. Unsuccessful leadership roles may not only damage a person´s career, they may also be very detrimental to an organization´s future.
Despite what others may think, or what other people may offer us, the fact is that there is nothing wrong with not taking a position of leadership if that is not what we want to do, or if we truly feel such a responsibility is not for us.
More often than not we feel obligated to take on the mantle of management as a logical step in the corporate ladder. And it takes a great deal of honesty to asses internally if a leadership role is really for us. We have been taught that successful people get to lead, and so leadership becomes synonymous with success. And while it is partially true, it may not always be so.
It is tempting. Obviously there is usually more money, more “power”, and very often a better office among all the benefits that come with the job. Leadership saves us as well, sometimes, from that part of our old jobs that used to be too repetitive or tedious. But with that comes responsibility.
I believe that the “core business” of leadership is giving those under our responsibility the space, the protection, the freedom, and the encouragement to think for themselves, to do their job in the best possible way, to help them learn from their mistakes, to take them successfully through the thought process behind decision making, to set them reasonable and clear parameters so they can be efficient, to promote common responsibilities, to make them think about “us” rather than “me”, to allow them to exploit their strengths -which is always good for morale- while helping them to deal with their weaknesses and thus improving overall results, and to make them strong but caring so, some day, some of them are able to replace us, and do and even better job than us. And that is not something that everyone can, or wants to do.
In the cases where I have had to manage larger groups of people, I have always tried to be, not only an open door manager, but I purposely have tried to actively engage each one to see how they were so as to promote honest communication, and have very often gone to see each person at their desk -rather than having them come to see me- when things did not seem right, while trying to put into context what is happening at the office (which many times, even if affecting the work environment, has nothing to do with the work and has to do with other issues outside the office).
Seminar for Radio Mitre producers, journalists, and technical and administrative personnel – Buenos Aires, Argentina – 2017
While not having had a strong experience in matrixed organizations (at least in the formal sense), my experience has always being in organizations where limitations forced us, in practice, to carry more than one hat and have cross functional obligations and reporting.
At the same time, I have had to deal with organizations which were sometimes in flux, or needed a formal shake-up, or needed to go through deep restructuring and policy changes. And I have carried those transformations, which sometimes may have been quite traumatic, with my deepest commitment and honesty.
Did I make mistakes? Sure. Could I have done things differently in specific cases and/or at some point in my career? You bet! Do I have second thoughts about having accepted positions of leadership? No. It is something I am comfortable with, I enjoy it. I like nurturing, I like showing the way and I feel proud when others do well, and hopefully do better than how I did.
That and taking responsibility. Generally speaking, if we truly believe in our capacities as leaders, then our attitude should also be, as close as possible, to an old fashioned “the bucket stops here”. In other words, whenever we have to propose -or carry out- substantial changes that may be against traditional views or processes, we need to work in constant communication with our team. Final responsibility for errors of vision should normally assumed by the leadership (towards the hierarchy), while good results should be shared by the whole team.
I guess I have largely spent the last 20 years in Argentina, so it is fair to say that I have mostly worked for organizations or companies that, at some point or another (or most of the time), suffered financial limitations and obvious time restrictions (in Argentina everybody wants everything done by “yesterday”).
So when I hear complaints about budget constraints for meeting basic standards, or doing the job you set out to do in the most proper and efficient manner, I always reply that it is not a matter of money. It is, instead, a matter of commitment, of taking ownership of the specific issue, project or problem, and thus resolving it in the most efficient way.
That requires creativity, lateral thinking, reinforcement of trust and understanding of group dynamics, as well as a lot of calm. In other words, it requires real leadership qualities.
If results and success were only the realm of those with time and money instead of personal traits, then Albert Einstein working as a simple clerk at a Patent office for a meager salary, Gates or Jobs struggling in a garage, or Oprah being kicked out of TV as a young reporter for being considered “unfit for television news”, would have meant the end of their careers.
So you need to ask yourself if this is what you want to do. If you do, and you believe in yourself, then be humble, learn from others, listen, never close the door, and enjoy the ride together with those that you been given the responsibility to lead.
I wasn´t sure whether to write this. I thought about it and then it felt it was not the right time, or the right place. Maybe tomorrow, or later if I need to do it fast.
I first heard of David JP Phillips through his, now famous seminar, “How to avoid death by Powerpoint”. As an avid user of PPT I really needed to see what it was all about.
IGNACIO ALPERIN: THE ART OF THINKING OUT LOUD / EL ARTE DE PENSAR EN VOZ ALTA 