Block 2. Unleashing your Creative Genius

Thomas Alva Edison once observed wryly but most astutely that creative « Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration ».

How true.

You have chosen a path which is really all about creative genius: new ideas and thinking that lead to new products, services forms of artistry and perspectives on life that can change people and situations for the better.  This is true whether you are a performer composer of future world renown or a player in the role of a small association trying to change our attitudes to the way we consume in order to save our small corner of Planet Earth.   For every brilliant idea or insight that is followed through (i.e. followed up with lots of ‘perspiration’) there are countless thousands which never leave the drawing board.

This Block is therefore about discovering the roots of creativity and considering how you find them and set them free in your personal life and professional career.   There are various parts to this block, and each has its own separate page which you can link to below or via the main menu by hovering over the ‘Block Two’ Tab…

STEP ONE : the ‘who’.

This involves a voyage of research – there is a lot written about creativity; and  a voyage into introspection: where do you recognise creativity in yourself.  That’s where we are going to start…. then it gets really interesting!  Hopefully we can pinpoint something where we feel free, happy, motivated, interested and capable of investing our energies in for a lifetime.

STEP TWO: the ‘what’ and the ‘why’.

Now for the beginning of the perspiration!  I am going to ask you to look at the world of tomorrow – where are current trends leading us in terms of the Natural Environment, Technologies, Society & Culture and the Economy.  What are the challenges?  How we we be changing? What will we want or need? How will we be feeling about ourselves and our lives?  From these things come problems in need of solutions and potential opportunities needing to be seized.

STEP THREE:  the ‘how’.

Well, you saw it coming, didn’t you?  Now it is a case of harnessing your creative genius from STEP ONE and applying it to the solving of problems or the seizing of potential opportunities from STEP TWO.   What is the output: well the proposition of some new initiative, commercial or philanthropic to people who can help you make this happen.  You have all heard of the Virgin group of companies and its head (Sir) Richard Branson, well, he runs a campaign looking for new initiatives just like this called (inevitably): ‘Pitch to Rich‘ and is prepared to invest up to £1,000,000 per year in such ideas and to support them with business advice and mentor-support.  Others seek ‘Crowd Funding’ using sites like Seedrs which promote investment opportunities in innovative products and ideas to small scale investors who may invest from a minimum of just £10.   You will be doing the same, making a short phone-video of your pitch but pitching it at me (and perhaps my colleagues) rather than Richard Branson or Seedr and then answering my/our questions as potential investors …… let’s call it: ‘Talk to Tony!’

ASIDE: so what am I trying to achieve here?

In this Block I am trying to interest you in your own creative genius (the critical 1% inspiration without which all the hard work will be to no avail) and to encourage you to see how you might use it (the 99% perspiration without which the brilliantly creative idea will remain potential rather than kinetic).  I hope you enjoy the opportunity to focus on yourselves and your possible futures.  In addition I am attempting to prepare you for a number of testing situations in which your English may be required within a professional context.  Remember, as a manager, you will always be ‘pitching’ (explaining, selling, advocating, persuading, encouraging, negotiating) something to your peers, your subordinates or your superiors, so I am trying to hone (aiguiser) your management skills too.