A couple weeks ago, we started a most interesting blog series based on a collection of videos posted by Inc.com that features 21 videos worth more than an MBA. It is a very intriguing idea, that spending time efficiently watching very smart videos could help you in your career. The videos are nothing short of amazing! It is incredible what you can learn from these insights in 17 – 20 minute Ted Talk videos. We recapped the first 3 videos on the list that all talked about motivation. The next 3 videos were all about management. Then we looked at 3 videos about marketing. Last week, the 3 videos in our series are all about economics. This week, our 3 new videos are all about creativity.
- Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Sir Ken Robinson talks about education and asks the question Do Schools Kill Creativity? His Ted Talk video is 20 minutes long. He contends that creativity is as important in education as literacy is. It should be treated the same. “If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.” He said that we are educating them out of being creative for fear of being wrong. As we get older, we are less likely to come up with a creative way to answer questions or resolve situations because we have been told that being wrong is so awful. Every education system around the world has the same hierarchy that starts with math, science, and language with arts at the bottom. Too often people who excel in areas that are less valued think that they are not successful and cannot be successful. We think in terms of intelligence. Intelligence is diverse. Intelligence is dynamic. Intelligence is distinct. Sir Robinson defines creativity as the process of having original ideas that have value. Listen to him talk about Gillian Lynne, the world famous choreographer and how she became a dancer when she was a child.
- How to Succeed? Get More Sleep!
Arianna Huffington’s video is all about how sleep deprivation is costing us more than just sleep. We can unlock so much inside us by getting more sleep. How to Succeed? Get More Sleep! Her presentation is to a room full of women and she jokes that they can all literally sleep their way to the top. Since she fainted from exhaustion, she has realized that getting more sleep helps us lead more productive lives. All too often people brag about the little amount of sleep they have. Instead they should get more sleep and lead to more productive and happy lives that are filled with smarter decision-making. She urges everyone to discover the power of sleep. This video is only 3 minutes long, so you already saved some time to get to bed earlier tonight!
- Build a Tower, Build a Team
Tom Wujec’s Ted Talk video is called Build a Tower, Build a Team. Wujec is from Autodesk and he talks about his research into the “marshmallow problem”, which is a simple team building exercise that involves building a tower from dry spaghetti, one yard of tape and a marshmallow. You might be surprised to know that kindergarteners have more success with this than graduate students.
The teams that do the best understand the value of prototyping. Incentives do not help the outcome; it is the level of creativity involved. The lesson is that design is a contact support in that in demands that we bring all our senses to the task and that we apply the best of our thinking, feeling, and doing to the challenge at hand. A prototype of this experience can bring about that “a ha” moment about. You can see more about it at www.MarshmallowChallenge.com. This is a short 7 minute video that can help you see how creativity is important in team building.
