Читать книгу Your Next Big Thing - Matthew Mockridge - Страница 19

It’s a typical Saturday evening, but still somewhat special: A student fraternity invites us to a “Blacklight Paint Party,” where all the light bulbs have been changed to blacklight. Everyone will paint colorful quotes, names, and whatnot on each other’s t-shirts. Sounds weird and crazy, so David and I say, “We’re in!” The experience will change our lives forever. As the night progresses, the painting becomes messier and messier, but the vibe is indescribably special: it’s a hit! The music is loud, the air sizzling, and even though there’s little space for the few hundred people to dance, everyone—but really, every single one—feels that something extraordinary is happening. The organized painting has been forgotten, and everyone is smearing each other with paint. There are no taboos, flirting has never been so easy, and interaction has never been so high.

A supercharged version of a party game for young adults had emerged and was unstoppable.

And that’s what matters! An absolute parade of an idea drove past me, with sirens and flashing lights, certainly still very raw and unstructured, but obvious! And it was happening, not because I was so creative, but because I was in the right place at the right time. Whoever doesn’t jump on a chance like that—it’s their own fault.

The lesson is that you don’t come up with ideas like that, they come to you! You have to loosen your cognitive dependencies and be open to what would normally be impossible. Always question conventional logic, paint big pictures, and create your own reality—without boundaries.

Like a camera lens, I try to zoom out far and see everything in the long shot. I try to see things not for what they are, but for what they could be. I look at the party crowd, feel the energy that makes the room tremble, and the mental machine starts running. I don’t imagine a few hundred guests, but instead 5,000—a stage, a show, and a countdown, like on New Year’s Eve, until the first color hits. I sense a theme and tour. My head spins and I realize: This is the next big thing!

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2. Being Creative Means Discovering and Improving—Not Just Inventing!

After the Blacklight Paint Party, the task was clear: I had a basic idea that I had to improve upon or amplify. But how? Creativity does not automatically mean inventing something new; it often simply means discovering something and then making proper use of it. Ideas always build on each other; they’re much more evolutionary than revolutionary. Our first really successful idea, NEONSPLASH–Paint-Party®, already had its parameters defined: color, music, and blacklight. So now it became all about amplifying the concept, finding new elements and adding them to the basic idea, and about challenging the conventional wisdom about entertainment. Do you have to reinvent the wheel? No, but it has to roll, and roll really fast!

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DISCOVERY: COLOR IS THE HIGHLIGHT!

HOW WE IMPROVED IT: We added a dramatic story arc, defining a framework for action—a countdown, just like on New Year’s Eve. At the end of a two-hour countdown, the color would burst off the stage for the first time!

DISCOVERY: T-SHIRTS

HOW WE IMPROVED IT: White t-shirts became obligatory for all guests, for two reasons:

1.Neon color looks very strong on white t-shirts.

2.We dress the guests like a team; they look like they’re wearing team jerseys, so to speak. The sense of community is enhanced.

DISCOVERY: GOOD SHOW BUT NO NAME

HOW WE IMPROVED IT: We frame each show by creating its own title, story, and message, just like in the world of cinema or big concert tours. Why? Because people love stories, and because stories bring life to otherwise generic activities. So, in 2011, we did the Love Thru Paint tour, in 2012/13 the Color Is Creation tour, and in 2014 the Utopia 3D tour (with 3D red-and-blue paper glasses reminiscent of 90s movies, and 3D image effects on screen). All of the events had the same basic elements: color, music, blacklight. But every show had a new story, and a new reason to participate. And as an added draw, we used a big stage, intricate effects, and famous artists.

We identified the characteristics of extremely successful and exceptional events, incorporated them into our basic idea, and thereby created a new hybrid that really has it all. Applied creative thinking is, therefore, not a process of invention, but rather the systematic identification and the atypical combination of past experiences to create entirely new configurations. In the right setting, these can produce results that are not just successful, but also groundbreaking hits.

In his book Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about how trending new developments reach a point of instability, after which the situation rapidly readjusts. Using the example of a completely full glass of water into which additional drops of water are added, Gladwell points out how the extra water will mound up above the rim until the “tipping point” is reached, the moment when the mound of water collapses and overflows.

We can view each drop as a player entering the new market, reacting to the enticing promise of a really good novel idea. The mass of new entrants builds up beyond what the glass can normally hold, until the surface tension breaks and most of the excess water spills over. At that point, the new trend becomes an integral part of a market, though it’s essential not to get washed away in the floods. Only a few survive all the way to the “tipping point,” and even fewer survive the wash-out and go on to dominate the entire segment. The few companies that manage have a very clear vision right from the first drop, and analyze the dynamics so precisely that they start the challenge with increased stability and reason for being.

Let’s take another concrete example: Amazon. Today, it’s a player in the e-commerce segment, and probably only at the beginning of its world domination. Let’s consider for a moment what founder Jeff Bezos noticed and expanded on in 1994 (!). What did the “glass” of the e-commerce market look like back then, and what happened? Let’s put ourselves in his shoes (surely Converse Chucks, before they became cool for the third time): He recognized the growth and infinite potential of the Internet and decided to sell things online. He created a framework, an interface that could carry and transmit his idea, at a time when the playing field for his idea (the “glass”) was still not overfilled with players. But consider: How did Jeff Bezos deal with this new e-commerce opportunity?

Where would Amazon be today if Jeff Bezos had decided to use this “new Internet” to sell fresh fruit? Nowhere. (Nothing against the currently numerous startups in the fresh fruit/food delivery niche.) But books were an exciting product for his new idea. Why? Because you don’t have to physically touch a book to make a purchase decision. Considering the opposite market, I prefer to know the condition of a banana before I buy it. I want to touch it—is it mushy or not? You don’t necessarily have to touch a new book. Another killer attribute that Bezos found: books have an abundant variety. They are innumerably different, and Amazon can offer them all because the company doesn’t have to physically own them, which instantly made Amazon the biggest bookstore in the world. And the kicker: it can sell cheaper because the fixed costs are lower, and the target group much larger. So, Bezos traded the in-store customer’s ability to handle the product and immediately take possession for the minimized transaction costs (no one has to go to the bookstore anymore), a broader choice, and (in many countries) a better price. At the present, Shopify and other tools are helping players from all over the world “drip” into the e-commerce market, and the excess water has been building up in the “glass” of e-commerce, but when it collapses, Bezos is better positioned than the others—he’s ready to ride the wash-out, and survive.

So, find existing opportunities, rearrange them and improve them! The competition will follow, drop by drop. The only important thing is to be one of the drops that survive!

3. Can You Learn or Inherit Creativity?

Creativity is an attitude, much more than it is a skill. In most cases, the product of creativity (the idea) results from numerous experiments and effective evaluations. My grandmother always said: “Throw 100 things in the air; something will eventually stick!” No mystery about the creative genius of billionaire James Dyson. He built 5,126 vacuum cleaner prototypes over the span of fifteen years before his cyclone technology became a global phenomenon. Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School writes that creativity is too often confused with expertise. We usually don’t see the years of work and the incessant trial-and-error that’s often required to create a masterpiece.

Creativity is neither inherited, nor is it learned by rote, like the ABCs. There are other models and exercises, besides “Matthew’s Ten Favorite Idea-Finding Tools,” that can stimulate or guide you in finding creative ideas, but these are like the handrail in a stairwell: you still have to climb the stairs yourself. Creativity is not the wine, but the vine that connects the rain and the storm with the sun and the soil. The vine variety is selected by the vintner, and its growth is influenced by where it is planted. Give the vine what it needs. Encourage it!

When you experience something unfamiliar, your brain works at unimaginable speed, and a huge network of neurons seek to interpret the experience. If that experience repeats itself, the memory needs to activate significantly fewer neurons. But also remember to break away from relying on old experiences and on linear thinking!

First Step: Sell Your TV!

When watching television, the brain operates primarily in a passive state, kind of an “awake sleep.” Your brain must be active and stimulated before it can begin the complex thought processes that require an elevated level of alpha waves (reading/writing/movement).

Second Step: No Phones!

Switch to “airplane mode,” and your productivity, creativity and general focus will increase significantly. I lost my mobile phone in a taxi in Amsterdam and was surprised at how good life felt without it. Ask yourself how many of your calls are actually productive, enjoyable and indispensable! Texting and playing also rob us of focus. While my phone was lost, I made my important calls over Skype (you can also use it to call phones and mobiles) and was faster and more productive than with a mobile phone. Lose your phone and suddenly your actions become more purposeful: You don’t simply react to external stimuli (your cellphone’s ringtone tearing you away from everything else). You become more committed to the present and you think ahead much better. You are more likely to arrive on time for meetings and you are more aware of the relevance of each conversation. Try it!

Let yourself be surprised! You don’t always need to know what will happen next; you don’t always need to be fully prepared and qualified. Let your brain work with more imagination, commitment and creativity.

Not everyone is born creative, but every person you encounter, every setting or situation you experience, can set in motion creative thinking. Expose yourself to unfamiliar situations—the crazier, newer, sharper, and more drastic the experience, the more innovative the ideas will result in being. Don’t be afraid to astound yourself and everyone around you. Watch what happens!

4. Must You Always Be An Expert?

Repetition creates experience, and over many years, becomes the basis of true expertise. But expertise comes with a price: a potentially rigid understanding. Could it be that a high expertise correlates with decreased flexibility and imagination? When do experience, knowledge, and biased perception begin to hinder truly innovative approaches?

In his book, The Myths of Creativity, David Burkus tells the story of prosthesis manufacturer Martin Bionics. Its founder, Jay Martin, fired an entire staff of the most experienced, best-paid doctors and physicians because they declared that a real time responsive ankle prosthesis was technically impossible. In their place, he created a research team of mere students—students who were already experienced enough to understand complex relationships, but fresh enough not to rule out the seemingly impossible. He expected these students to see his vision through to the end. And after just a few months, Jay Martin and his team of students successfully completed the project and developed the unthinkable: an ankle replacement that revolutionized the prosthetic market.

Creativity does not result from an expert performing a miracle, but from a design “ecosystem” based on the right team and on a mix of perspectives, new and old. Not knowing that something is impossible makes it once again possible!

5. The Flash of Genius—Does It Actually Exist?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a winning idea! Stories about the “flash of genius”—of accidental inspiration and sudden ingenuity—are widespread. Everybody is familiar with the cartoon symbolism of the light bulb, flashing above a person’s head like lightning. The idea seemingly arrives at the speed of light. Apparently a million-dollar moment—but what is missing? All the considerations that led to the “aha!” moment.

The efforts that preceded the insight are often overlooked. Why? Because they are often invisible—nobody sees, hears, feels, or understands the toils and the subconscious incubation of an idea. The subconscious part of our mind processes thoughts millions of times faster than the conscious part, and the subconscious creation of ideas occurs in a sphere that is completely different than the one used for everyday actions. It functions while sleeping, showering, and when going for a walk. People do not notice the internal mental interplay of impressions and inspirations that allows the idea to take shape. They only see what emerges: the success story, or well-formed idea.

Even though the “flash of inspiration” concept has long been scientifically refuted, people still love the story and want to believe in it. Why? Because it’s a wonderful excuse for anyone who believes that they are not creative and don’t have good ideas. It makes it easy to avoid trying. Unfortunately, if capable people don’t at least pretend to believe in the “flash of inspiration,” really good ideas may actually fail to materialize.

The recipe for brainstorming winning ideas requires not only working directly on the main idea, but also subconscious processing, conviction, patience, serenity, distance, and being open to new impressions. The greatest artists and thinkers (da Vinci, Michelangelo, and similar people) have always had many projects and gigs going on at the same time, even while focusing on the project of the moment. What might seem at first glance to be excessive or lacking in structure, is likely being further processed, incubated, and driven on the subconscious level. Sooner or later, the moment comes when the idea is mature—many people incorrectly interpret that moment as a “flash of genius.” The actual idea, however, arrived via an incubation process. A new impetus has emerged, a new path is being taken, and additional new ideas and approaches will naturally follow.

6. Who Are Your Five?

Ideas are products of our environment; we’ve already established that. Our direct environment and the people who are closest to us are another variable that has an effect on the emergence of our ideas because these people inspire us, shape our views, and determine our way of thinking. Everything we think possible, our beliefs and imagination, our understanding about possibilities and potential, are the result of our social interactions. The careful and cautious selection of “The Five,” the members of your inner circle, your closest allies, your team of companions, sets the needed foundation for your creativity.

What are the criteria for joining this team? Who can play with you? Are there different team positions, or are all five going to be forwards? Before you start placing players on the field, consider the overall mindset. What does this team believe in, what does it want to achieve, and why? Your five closest advisors will create an ecosystem. The culture within this ecosystem will set the mood in the locker room before the big game, and determine how engaged they get in the huddle, and how loud they chant.

The Five will always act with conviction.

And with conviction comes will—the will of each individual to become the best at what inspires their participation on the team. Wanting to be the best helps prevent limited vision and conflict.

The Five expect each other to become world-class achievers in what they’re passionate about and intend to always help each other. This conviction creates a force that everyone can feel. There’s no jealousy, only a real desire for each of your friends to have more.

With conviction also comes a pure truth—as clean, as clear, and as refreshing as an icy mountain lake. A kind of truth that is so sudden and so immediate that it often hurts. There are no more doubts because they have each other’s word. They interact with blind trust and with unspoken understanding when it’s game time. The ideas and the favorable situations they create may look like magic to the outsiders sitting at the stadium. But for these five, it’s just a game played with passion and real drive, a game that focuses effort toward the same cause with a passion toward the team as a whole, and a game played with enthusiasm for each of its players. The world watches in amazement as these five outplay their opponents. The strength of these five comrades really lies in the heart of each player and in the group hug shared in the locker room after the winning point. But only the members of this innermost circle will see and understand that point.

The Five of Your Five

Each of your “five” also deserves their own team of allies. (And who are the other five of each of your five?) Your indirect environment has an influence on you. You immediately sense when one of your five is happy—it also makes you happy and affects your well-being. You can now pass this new energy on to other people in your direct environment. If we follow these connections, it becomes clear that your energy, your well-being, your productivity, and your success, are also affected by all indirect environments—the five of your five, and of each of their respective fives, etc. Human happiness is never only the result of a one-dimensional interaction, but also the product of the dynamics of all social contacts, across multiple levels. The entire social network influences your decisions. If a friend of a friend smokes, it could increase the chance that you could become a smoker.

So, choose these five carefully, and encourage them to choose their five well, and encourage their five…Well, you get the idea.

7. Ecosystem—Habitat/Workspace

How does it feel when you sit at your desk? Are you really inspired when you’re there? Does your workspace bring out the best in you, open you up to your greatest ideas and visions, motivate you to go beyond yourself, and live the best version of your life?

The correlation between space and performance has long been known. In his book, Back to a Future for Mankind, Dr. Ibrahim Karim presents the concept of biogeometry. According to his research, the architecture of rooms and their furniture have a considerable influence on the occupants’ energy, harmony, and vitality. Not concerned with the immeasurable spiritual vibe of a place, his studies focus instead on scientifically verifiable results regarding the effect of spaces on people. Experiments prove that pictures on the wall have the potential to produce higher concentrations of serotonin than any chemical drug. Paying attention to the physical environment can be extremely important because of its potential to optimize our work. Because we spend so much time in the office, we owe it to ourselves—and to our potential—to use this time efficiently! Creating an inspiring living and working space is fortunately not so difficult.

My Five Tips

Order

Order brings focus and sharpens the senses. Order is structure and boosts productivity. Pieces of paper just lying around with no specific places for them affect both clarity and structure. This means that all documents, all pieces of mail, and all other “stuff” are best handled immediately. Don’t put it off. Smart office tools—such as hanging files—should not be piled up, but instead hung in a row, arranged and neatly labeled. In psychology, the Zeigarnik effect states that we tend to remember open tasks more than completed ones. This means that any unfinished task remains in the back of your mind and sucks precious resources. The same applies to your desktop, calendar and email inbox.

Very important: if you have a lot of email, rather than trying to handle it in one sitting, it may be better to divide the task into manageable sessions. For instance, after 90 minutes, take a 10- to 20-minute break—go for a walk, eat something, have a conversation. Then return fresh and continue.

Pictures

Photos and decorative pictures create visions. They create escape spaces and inspiration. They stimulate and connect you with the emotions of your choice.

As I’m writing this chapter, I have a few photos on my desk: my wife and daughter, my parents and family, Michael Jordan in tears, clutching the NBA Championship Cup, and my business partners.

Yes, Michael Jordan.

Pictures push emotional buttons. They transport us to other worlds, give us security and strength, and represent our feelings. Even a quick glance at them creates a healthy break, providing strength and support. The eyes are the windows to the soul. It’s not just what you see, but also what moves you. Let only beautiful images into your soul—things that make you joyful, proud, and happy. Every picture is worth more than a thousand words.

Kitchen

While I attended house parties in college, it quickly became clear to me that the best part of the party happens in the kitchen! And even today in our office, the kitchen is still an important hub—a kind of control center. But why? The kitchen is informal. The usual laws of the desk do not apply. Here, you’re just one hungry human being. Since you can have normal conversations and decompress, suddenly the expectations drop. Yet, these are all important prerequisites for relaxed thinking and getting fresh impressions.

Cooking, you create a break in your routine by give yourself a new environment and a new task. You’re here for dinner, and for a moment you allow your gaze to turn away from the unsolvable task of the day. But then, suddenly, the solution comes to you.

The potential of the kitchen is enormous, multiplied many times over if it is also filled with the right ingredients. I recommend fresh fruit and vegetables, lots of water (best to get a fridge with a water dispenser), fish (smoked salmon tastes great, is healthy, and is ready to eat), protein powder (for the body builders), whole grain bread, freshly squeezed juices, and nuts or trail mix. It’s best to eat together as a team as often as possible, to laugh, to have good conversations, and enjoy the partnership. The kitchen always provides a good opportunity to define and strengthen the culture of the company and the philosophy of the team.

Light

I don’t like hospital-style fluorescent tubes that try to imitate daylight, but instead look sterile and boring. Lots of real daylight, bright wall colors, and decorating with warm tones create a more pleasant atmosphere.

What can you do to keep you and your team in the office as long as possible? Put another way: What would you do to prepare your apartment for a nice date? Right! Clean up and create the proper, pleasant atmosphere. It has to be cozy and beautiful, pleasant and inspiring. In our office, we have floor-to-ceiling windows, a large roof terrace, warm light sources, and soft ceiling floodlights, as well as colored LED lights. Concerts, festivals, and clubs create their very own worlds just by using concepts in lighting. So, make it nice and you’ll enjoy being in the office. Soon you’ll associate positive emotions with your work!

Culture

What does your workplace stand for? What are the foundational values of your team? Your philosophy, mission, leadership, interaction, and ethics are the emotional furnishings of your workplace. What does your workplace culture feel like? Is it rather sterile and flat? Is it cozy and warm? Or is it just a little bit different?

A fulfilled person, a strong team, and a successful company all have a clear vision, share it a lot and openly, and do everything they need to fulfill their dreams. Members of a strong team trust each other blindly, share the shirts off their back, agree on fundamental principles, and share a common passion and faith—all this they do so harmoniously that an unstoppable energy arises. They resonate with each other. You can recognize their will to win, see it flashing in their eyes, and feel it in every handshake.

My tip for a better corporate culture—or just for you to create more meaning for yourself in the daily craziness of building your dreams—is to ask some good questions!

Ask good questions, get good answers, and change the spirit of your environment in minutes!