New Adventures for the Old You

What’s the point of a new idea? Is an alternative perspective valuable? Are new interests necessary?   What would be your response to any of these questions?  Our response would be three things:  Shift happens. Things change. New realities emerge.

Regardless of who or what you are, the fact of the matter is that the landscape in which you work and play is continuously changing.  The value in exploration, learning, and discovering is immeasurable.  Positioning yourself in ways that allow these three things to happen builds an internal safety mechanism that keeps you away from the danger zone of ‘going nowhere fast’ as the world around you moves at, what seemingly appears to be, breakneck speeds.  New ideas alone are great, but they become much more powerful when you couple them your own past experiences - i.e. bits and pieces of the old you.  Do this and you have personal and professional growth H-bomb in the making.  

With the new adventures of old you at your fingertips, the question now becomes how do you leverage what you have done in the past for what you want to do in the future?  This is a question that should be on the minds of everyone from artists to engineers to entrepreneurs. Maybe you want to stay relevant? Maybe your goal is to adapt to changing scenarios.  Maybe you'd rather stay ahead of the curve and be the epitome of re-invention.  Any choice you make there is no one formula that solves this equation but there are plenty of interesting success stories. 

Al Gore, after his loss (and fiasco) of the 2000 presidential race, turned his ‘loser’ status on its head to rise from a political no man's land to become an Academy Award winner, best selling author and a Nobel Prize winner.  Thus engineering arguably one of the greatest brand makeovers of our time.  

Apple Computers, founded in 1979, was more or less a fringe company with no real market power or ‘brand’ presence through 1997.  Beginning in 1998, with the re-hiring of Steve Jobs, its ‘reinventing itself’ process went into play.  In 2008 Apple (the word “computer” is now dropped) has re-branded itself as the leader in computer design, operating systems and multimedia innovation.

Outkast, the multi platinum and six time grammy award winning hip hop group from East Point, Georgia, after the release of their first album, Southerplayasticadillacmusic, became the masters of reinvention as they continuously created new characters and ideas about themselves and their music. They went from down south hip-hop heads to ‘alien’ space travelers to Prohibition-era juke joint hipsters. Constantly changing and evolving, they are one of the most innovative groups in music  today.

Over the next few days I'll be discussing ‘how to reinvent yourself’ Threshold style!  So if some parts of old you are ready for new adventures. . . buckle up and . . . stay tuned!

Frozen In Time

The art of "captivating" an audience is a challenging one. Many try but few do it well.  It is an art and a science often practiced and honed by fashion designers, artists, orators and performers.  In doing so, these creatives draw the audience into their worlds and transport them to another place. On the seemingly opposite end of the spectrum businesses are often horrible at capturing their audiences attention.  Presentations are drab.  Sales pitches are formulaic. Meetings are outright torturous. 

Strategies for communicating business concepts (or any concept for that matter) are flat out dull and unimaginative.  For many companies, on countless occasions, creativity and attention grabbing go hand in hand like like runway models and all you can eat buffets. 

In today's market, with the competing interests of television, movies, magazines, and the internet, capturing people’s attention has become that much more difficult. But as talked about in our last post, improvisation provides an interesting and formidable approach to addressing and finding solutions to business challenges. In the areas of promotions, advertising and marketing this could prove especially true. 

If you were to begin a marketing campaign for a service, an event or product, creating elements of surprise and unexpectedness is a surefire strategy for creating buzz about what it is you are offering.  Couple that with a creative improvisation concept and you may be on the verge of something incredibly interesting.

Looking at the relationship between business and culture (i.e. creativity) and understanding that relationship intimately, you are well likely to come up with something cool, unique and rarely seen.

In the clip below improvisation allows for attention grabbing and curiousity piquing.  It creates an experience people will talk about and remember and hopefully keep your creative juices from being frozen in time. . .

Thanks to Morgan Perdue for the reference 

So you 'got game', but can you improvise?!?

Guest blogger, Nyia Hawkins

 

In the previous post Rasul Sha'ir asks  - "Is there a formula for how you walk away from a car wreck, limbs intact and injury free"?  The answer is yes - absolutely yes.  Your formula is improvisation - The science of rolling with the punches.

Whether you are in an actual fender bender or the pile-up that defines modern business practices hitting the brick wall of innovation, business, art & culture, your only rule of thumb is to improvise and who knows improvisation? Mike Bonifer knows improvisation.

Bonifer is one of the most thought provoking - innovator, writer, producer, director, business consultants that you need to know about.  The author of GameChangers, Improvisation for Business in the Networked World, a producer for Disney's 'Toy Story' website and several tv related projects, a publicist for 'Tron' and a consultant for companies from Merrill Lynch to Mountain Dew  - he has improvisation down to a science. Bonifer's version of 'the jaws of life' can get you out of any business collision and teach you how to avoid them in the future.

Nyia:  How do you transfer the creativity of Disney and working with Tim Burton to the straight-laced world of corporate America?

Mike: I got a job at Disney.  And my first job (there) was to be the publicist on 'Tron'.  Themes are so important to any performance of improvisation and they're important to a career. A theme gives you an outlet for delivering on your passion.   And so the theme that I have followed was established very early on . . . When I joined it, all the vision and all the excitement and all the agitation, all the creativity and innovation was at the bottom.  These were people that really could not be kept down.

When Bonifer joined Disney in the early 80's, great artists and animators like Tim Burton and John Lasseter were also there.  He joined Disney at a time where the brand was prolific, but the company allowed its staff the leeway they needed to create.  John Lasseter has been called, 'The New Walt Disney'.  He went on to redefine animation when he directed 'Toy Story' released in 1995.  Tim Burton is of course Oscar nominated for his work on 2005's 'Corpse Bride', amongst awards for other movies.  And if that isn't a testament to the openness needed to fulfill the full potential of the business of creativity - then I don't know what is.

N:  Tell me about the origin of GameChangers and how improvisation benefits business.

(The back-story is that GameChangers is the brainchild of a consulting project with a particular client.  One of this company's most talented and valuable employees was someone, with whom no one wanted to work, which inherently interrupts the workflow.)

M:  I realized that he had his mind made up about things.  And so my challenge became to crack the nut, to open him up to the ideas of others.  And I knew enough about the art of improv to know that it's ultimately about collaborating. And so I suggested to him to get into the classroom, plus I think he knew he needed to do something to blend with the company.  So we got him enrolled in a theater class . . . It was miraculous what kind of turn around this person made and how he not only was able to open himself up to others but how he was able to perceive himself differently.  And I thought there was something to this.

Bonifer successfully ended that project and enrolled himself in improv classes.  It may seem as though analyzing improvisation is an oxymoron.  But, Bonifer took copious notes in class and derived certain principles that have more to do with being open to exploring themes to standing on a stage.

N:  Improv didn't begin in the 80's why is this important now.

M:  The beauty of it is that you couldn't have done it 10 years ago.  Number one, it doesn't matter what business you're in.  The power of the brand is something to behold.  The emotional context in which the brand is regarded - it cannot be denied.  The essence of the brand and how the brand came to life is valuable to any business.

In our ensuing conversation we talked about the similarity between brands and themes.  I believe that if you use your brand as a theme - to be explored - to be developed - something that employees can live and further - then you need never fear being stagnant.  Your business will take on a life of it's own.    It doesn't matter where you're coming from if all your team members are headed in the same direction.  Some will meet-up with their co-workers, others will create new pathways to fulfilling your company's purpose.  The bottom line is that improvisation is your key to creating a living brand and a company that can roll with the punches of a fast-paced ever-changing world.

On The Verge. . . of Disaster

   

How do you stay on the verge of cool?  Kalen Jericho had some good ideas on how to late last year.  How do you stay on the edge of creativity in the real and virtual world?  Ask June.  She had an interesting perspective on that just a few weeks ago.

One question I do have though: is there a formula or an instruction manual for how to walk away from a car wreck unscathed, limbs intact and injury free?

I'm not sure.  But my only answer, for now, is that it just wasn’t in the cards that night, on December 24, 2007, for me to be in a life ending accident in which I would not walk away from.  God had other plans for me. 

Everyday we are on the verge. . . of something.  On the verge of a new and cool idea. On the verge of a new job experience.   On the verge of a new relationship.  The personal frontiers are endless. 

Everyday I am personally on the verge of my own understanding of the factors in life in which I have no control over. Trying to constantly wrestle with my own personal limitations and my own personal goals and dreams.  Always trying to better myself.  Always trying to help others.  Always trying to move onward and upward.  But sometimes, in a split second, on a clear Christmas Eve night, on a calm neighborhood street, the flashing lights of an oncoming car, the blaring of a car horn and the sound of crashing metal brings all that to a halt. 

As I was sitting there dazed, breathless and uninjured, her front passenger side ripped to shreds, all I could think was, “oh my god!”

Living and Creating in Two Worlds

Guest blogger, June Blanks

If you haven't peered out from your Apple, PC, Blackberry or iPhone you may want to take this opportunity to unplug from your virtual worlds and re-plug yourself into the electricity of our cities and communities from times long past. 

While computers and technology consume attention, drive human interaction and distract us from our physical lives, new solutions are necessary to determine the success of community life, bricks-and-mortar businesses, and products. 

In the Libert and Spector book "We Are Smarter Than Me," the authors assert: "At the ripe old age of 15 the web has already changed the human society so profoundly that historians have begun comparing the Internet with the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution." 

The changes through the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution powered extreme physical make overs to the shape of the city and the experience of life for the people.   The Renaissance’s artistic, scientific, and "worldly" breakthroughs propelled a movement of beautification in architecture, gardens, city plans, and promotion of the arts.  The Industrial Revolution’s power and manufacturing technologies evolved the "township" into an all direction speed demon without reigns: buildings up, down and out; people moving to cities and jobs; and the railroad and automobile paving the American landscape en route. 

For the past 15 years a rebirth and revolution has been underway in which innovation continues to be the order of the day.  We must live and create in the digital and real world: two places that must work in tandem. 

If you are inclined to look in on our cities of the Digital Age, keep your mind peeled to how your business and community can benefit from innovative changes to the city, to bricks-and-mortar business, and the experience.  How will we achieve this?   By focusing our energy on refining, rather than growing outward and building more and more.   Part of the solution will be to infill these landscapes with rich, textured, rewarding, and responsible ideas – to plan, provide, and advance a world that brings all of the great elements of this age into focus and into play.