Creative Rebellion Essays: COVID 19 as a Catalyst for Creativity
Grounding (literally) before creating – photo by JC Caldwell
I’ve been interviewed on several podcasts recently about creativity (based in part on principles I wrote about in The Art of Creative Rebellion) and a common theme has come up throughout most of the conversations – what can creative thinking and design do during and after this pandemic? If there ever was a design problem that needs to be addressed, this is the one. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
When faced with a crisis, our natural reaction is one of fear and consequently anger. It’s natural and fine. But the anger can either turn to despair, depression, and a feeling of helplessness or it can be harnessed, energetically, towards doing something about the situation. As creative souls (and by this, I mean all humans), we are capable of the extraordinary. But we need to move from the low-energy state of helplessness to the high-energy state of addressing the problem creatively.
Of course, we are fallible and there will be moments of ups and downs throughout the day, the hour, sometimes minute to minute. But focus destroys fear. Put down the social media and the onslaught of news push notifications. Allow yourself the time to sit still with the confusion and let it pass. Bring out your whiteboard, your post-it notes, your notebook, your markers, your pencils, and paints and let loose a torrent of ideas. It doesn’t matter what order they are in. Just get them out.
Define the problem you are addressing. Is it better social distancing strategies? Then think about how you might make better signage for this. My wife pointed out that a grocery store where her girlfriend lives in Sand Point, Idaho came up with the simple and ingenious idea of making all the aisles one-way by putting large directional arrows on the floor, up one side and down the other, thereby addressing the issue of other customers passing by you too closely. Simple and effective.
Is it the manufacturing of masks from recycled materials? Is it a better way to open doors without touching them? Or if you are more scientifically-inclined, what kind of redesign can be brought to ventilators and respirators?
You get the idea.
Tim Brown, Executive Chair at IDEO, recently posted an article called “A Defining Moment for Design” and there are over 100 projects listed on designvanguard.org right now that demonstrate brilliant design thinking and initiatives in process.
I don’t know the answers. I am pondering how we might bring our collective, creative intelligence to bear on the largest pandemic (so far) in modern history and also address its financial impacts on the economy and world.
I do know that now is the perfect opportunity to think outrageous thoughts; question how we conduct our businesses and our lives; and take courage that our collective creativity and drive will overcome this crisis.
Life is rejuvenating and resilient and if we allow the world some breathing room, like we are doing with the pandemic, the earth has demonstrated the extraordinary ability to heal itself much faster than scientists had predicted. Gaia is self-regulating and has been since her formation.
The good news is that in the month of April daily CO2 levels dropped 17% – down to 2006 levels. The less good news is that it’s not expected to last, once things get back to “normal.”
“On the other hand, if that 4 to 7 percent drop in annual carbon dioxide pollution continues each year — not because the pandemic forced us to stay inside, but because of an intentional shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy — that would get us closer to the goals set out in the Paris climate accord, which aims to cut emissions to almost zero by the middle of the century. And that could avert another global disaster brought on by climate change.”
But nothing will be normal again. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The new normal could be an opportunity for us to redefine what normal is, without losing our liberties.
I believe that new companies will arise out of this crisis, much like Uber, Airbnb, and Pinterest did after the 2008 crisis. But it would be fantastic if new companies thought about principles or tenets to adhere to from the ground up.
Here’s some thought starters:
Purpose-driven
Beyond making money, design your company or initiative to do good for humanity and the world. Make money and enhance lives.
Do no harm to the world. Do some good instead.
As you bring products to market, think about the long-term effects on the earth. Karim Rashid realized that he was making tons of furniture from non-renewable plastics and decided to commit to using green techniques like polyethylene made from sugarcane.
Culture is king
Build an inclusive, tolerant, creative culture into your business. Establish healthy work-life balance for your teams.
This is a global reset. If we allow it to be, it’s also a personal reset.
Today I spoke with Greg McKeown, author of the excellent book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less for his podcast. What I love about his book is the simple notion that we can’t do everything well so we need to separate what is non-essential from what is truly meaningful. In work, and in life, we stay incredibly busy and we equate that with being productive. But in reality, we are simply volunteering to doing yes to too many things that don’t advance either the company or yourself. Saying no is an important, learned behavior.
My advice is to take this time and consider what is essential to your life. If you’ve lost your job, consider this a time to let your inner creative wild child out. What have you always truly wanted to do, to be, in your life? Allow yourself the luxury of putting it all on paper – no one but you has to see it. Consider this a time to redesign your life, like you would design a project – you are the greatest design project of all.
And perhaps once you’ve honed in on what really makes you tick, what is truly essential for you to feel fulfilled, you can unleash that greatness on the world.
What greatness shall you do today?
John
What I’m reading:
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – by Greg McKeown. Wow, this book is fantastic. I know I’m late coming to the book but it resonates extremely well with me. I mentioned it already in the essay above but I highly recommend you check it out, especially resonant in these times.
Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe – by Brian Greene. I caught Brian Greene’s interview on NPR (“Finding meaning in an impermanent world”) and instantly became a fan. He references Ernest Becker (see below). Greene reflects on the transcience of life when compared to the cosmic timeline of the universe. He’s a hardcore theoretical physicist with the heart of a poet.
“The appeal of a law of nature might be its timeless quality. But what drives us to seek the timeless, to search for qualities that may last forever? Perhaps it all comes from our singular awareness that we are anything but timeless, that our lives are anything but forever.”
The Denial of Death – by Ernest Becker. As mentioned above, this book (published in 1973) heavily influenced Brian Greene’s philosophy. But whereas Becker could be rather intensely harsh about the human condition, Greene found a way to find meaning in the “nowness” of life. Unfortunately, Becker died prematurely at the age of 49 from colon cancer.
“...Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order to blindly and dumbly rot and disappear forever…”
What I’m watching:
I Love Everything – by Patton Oswalt. The rotund comedian riffs on turning 50, fatherhood, hiking in circles, all while not doing even one bit on Trump (he basically said, What is there left to be said? He said something to the effect that it’s like competing with an 18-wheeler filled with monkeys on PCP running into a train filled with diarrhea. No way to contend with that.
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