On November 20th, I participated in the inaugural Rotman Business Design Initiative event by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. The theme was Decoding Design for Innovation. The session I was involved in was moderated by Clay Chandler, (Executive Editor, Asia Fortune Magazine), and the legendary designer Bruce Mau and the wonderful Angele Beausoleil (Profesor of Business Design and Innovation at the Rotman School of Management).
Read MoreHumans need community and it is often expressed through a form of tribalism which can be, and often is, expressed by conformity. We behave and dress to fit in. And the clear downside of this uniformity is that it can inadvertently diminish your true self.
Read MoreThe weird thing about these times is that we feel that we simultaneously have too much time on our hands and yet have no time at all. Time is tricky. Because when we finally get through all of the things we have to do, working, taking care of the kids, buying groceries, doing the dishes, fixing the car, fixing whatever is wrong with the house, trying to work out, spending time with family and (socially-distanced) friends; we are exhausted. Oh yeah, and then there is the global pandemic. And the current political and social turmoil...
Read MoreThe term Renaissance is derived from French renaissance, from re- ‘back, again’ and naissance ‘birth’ (from Latin nascentia, from nasci ‘be born’). The Renaissance is, of course, the period of transition in Europe from the Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) to Modernity. The Age of Reason and Enlightenment ran from about the 17th and 18th centuries. What these periods had in common was a movement away from a controlled information society in which one did not question authority or religious doctrine towards a period of inquiry and thinking.
Read MoreAfter a long day of Zoom and work, I spend my evenings painting large canvases as a practice that centers me while also being able to throw me completely into moments of uncertainty and anxiety. There’s no “command-Z” for analog work –– if you screw up, you either have to incorporate it into the work or you start over.
Read MoreCoronavirus, political strife, wild swings in the stock market, and climate change (fires in Australia still rage and the west coast of the US will deal with it again soon). Compound all of these issues with a barrage of media hammering us from our smartphones as well as misinformation from the right and left and it’s no wonder that the world is more stressed than ever. Add to this the daily challenges of taking care of family, financial and work stresses, health issues, just getting to and from work, it’s no wonder that the world suffers from anxiety and depression. Therapy and prescription medications can provide some help. Alcohol and drugs only provide temporary relief and exacerbate the underlying issues. Religion and philosophy can provide a framework for handling the great unknowns (why are we here and what happens when we die) but ultimately the amygdala (two almond-shaped clusters deep in the brain) which is responsible for processing emotional responses works far faster than the logical frontal lobes.
Read MoreIn my experience, designers, artists, and writers tend to be an introverted lot who prefer to work behind the scenes. Of course, there are always the exceptions to the rule: Yayoi Kusama is as recognizable as her incredible body of work, Takashi Murakami looks like a character from one of his own artworks and the colorful and sartorially elegant Karim Rashid is as visually recognizable as his astonishing furniture designs.
But, in general, most of my creative friends prefer to just make things rather than promote them. But without promoting your work, it has about as much chance of making it as blindly posting an audio file to SoundCloud and just hoping someone stumbles into it. Of course, you could get lucky like 14-year old Billie Eilish was when she uploaded “Ocean Eyes” to SoundCloud one night in 2016 and woke up to find it had gone viral. But this is the exception, not the rule.
Read MoreCommunication is key. In the workplace, lack of communication causes the parties to fill in the gaps with a story of their own, based on assumptions sometimes along the lines of “They must hate me and are trying to sabotage my career.” Being ghosted (an apropos term derived from staring at the three dots on your mobile phone as you await a text answer) is the digital trend of our times. It used to be harder to avoid dealing with someone but with everything from Instagram to Slack to email to texting to the good old phone call, there are multiple varieties of ghosting available to us now. Lack of communication probably induces the highest state of paranoia. We are always afraid of the unknown.
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