TED talk on creativity- ken robinson

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

I heard a great story recently — I love telling it — of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson. She was six and she was at the back, drawing, and the teacher said this little girl hardly ever paid attention, and in this drawing lesson she did. The teacher was fascinated and she went over to her and she said, “What are you drawing?” And the girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” And the teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” And the girl said, “They will in a minute.” (Laughter)

When my son was four in England — actually he was four everywhere, to be honest. (Laughter) If we’re being strict about it, wherever he went, he was four that year. He was in the Nativity play. Do you remember the story? No, it was big. It was a big story. Mel Gibson did the sequel. You may have seen it: “Nativity II.” But James got the part of Joseph, which we were thrilled about. We considered this to be one of the lead parts. We had the place crammed full of agents in T-shirts: “James Robinson IS Joseph!” (Laughter) He didn’t have to speak, but you know the bit where the three kings come in. They come in bearing gifts, and they bring gold, frankincense and myrhh. This really happened. We were sitting there and I think they just went out of sequence, because we talked to the little boy afterward and we said, “You OK with that?” And he said, “Yeah, why? Was that wrong?” They just switched, that was it. Anyway, the three boys came in — four-year-olds with tea towels on their heads — and they put these boxes down, and the first boy said, “I bring you gold.” And the second boy said, “I bring you myrhh.” And the third boy said, “Frank sent this.” (Laughter)

What these things have in common is that kids will take a chance. If they don’t know, they’ll have a go. Am I right? They’re not frightened of being wrong. Now, I don’t mean to say that being wrong is the same thing as being creative. What we do know is, if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. If you’re not prepared to be wrong. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong. And we run our companies like this, by the way. We stigmatize mistakes. And we’re now running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. And the result is that we are educating people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once said this. He said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it. So why is this?…

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“If you’re not prepared to make any mistakes, than how will you learn”–Tennis Star, Rafael Nadal, covers Men’s Journal

I had an interesting surprise today as I checked my current orders at the ol’ term paper mill – I had a revision request from a Wall Street Journal article summary assignment I had completed a while back:

The “sorry for asking this” part just broke my heart.

This had to be quite embarrassing for both the student and the professor, who is obviously not convinced that this international student wrote the paper.

It’s harder than you might imagine to make your writing look like a foreign student wrote it, I’m not convinced this will be bad enough, but maybe the student will make some more errors on his/her own behalf:

I chose this article because it kind of show what is going on with companies in countries around the world, not just in the United States, as has been all over our news here. I think that we will continue to see companies; especially expensive consumer product businesses continue to make cuts as people are finding themselves with hardly any access to credit and big debts.

So is this passable?  I wouldn’t give 2:1, and I definitely wouldn’t want to be the student having to defend this junk.

MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Experience is that marvelous thing that allows you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”  -Franklin Jones

INFADELS- MAKE MISTAKES  *******Do you ever feel like you make mistakes from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep again?  That’s why I chose this song.  I’ve had days where all I wanted was a do-over.  No, I didn’t get one, but I sure learned from my gargantuan mistakes.  Sometimes it takes me a while to make a decision, but only because I have to look at it from EVERY possible angle.  Murphy’s Law looooves me, but I try to stay one step ahead (knocking on wood!).  *******

WORD OF THE DAY

SUPPLICATE

(transitive verb, intransitive verb)
[SUP-li-kayt']

2. to ask humbly (for something); ‘He supplicated the King for clemency’

Origin:
Approximately 1400; from Latin, ’supplicare’: to kneel, from ’supplex’: suppliant, submissive.

THE KITE RUNNER-SAMI YUSUF-SUPPLICATION  *******This song is beautiful.  I’ve heard about this movie, but didn’t know what it was about until now.  I didn’t intend to get a play-by-play, but was hooked when I started reading the synopsis here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419887/synopsis.  Reviews hold the book is better than the movie (typical), so I’ll do it backwards and watch the movie first. *******

SONG OF THE DAY

SIA- BREATHE ME (KCRW 2007)  *******Brilliant!  I missed her when she came to Michigan this past April.    I hope she comes back soon!*******

RANDOM RESERVES OF OBSERVATION AND ADVICE

• A clown gets lots of laughs, but little respect.  Be careful of becoming a clown.
• He who fathers illegitimate children becomes poor.
• Have you made a mistake?  Get to work and set the situation right.  Your diligent redress will restore order and save your relationships.
• An arrogant man may gain lots of possessions, but he will loose just as many friends.
• Want wisdom?  Then get to work looking for it.  Desperately seek Jesus Christ, for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.
• Don’t repeat a rumor before chekcing out its legitimacy.  Even the nicest people tend to get the facts mixed up.
• When people are in politics, anything goes; but when principles are in politics, a country will prosper and be established.
• Quick and firm punishment is like a healthy body that fights off disease before it ever gains a foothold.
• Who is the young man who has his hand out, whose pockets are always empty?  He who loves his bed and complains about working in the heat.
• Learn to work and the Lord will bless your hands; learn to sleep and get dreams from the devil.

Freedom is not woth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
- Mahatma Ghandi -

Wonderful quote! When we make mistakes, we land hard and feel the pain. It’s often our incentive to find ways to never experience that pain again. So, we adjust, we learn and move forward. Of course, once and a while we fall back again, but still we have the courage to move on. Most of the time this results in great progress again!

If you are not allowed to make mistakes, you direct your energy to what you know, to what is safe and secure. This means that there is no room for exploration, research or innovation.  Playing around, having fun and making mistakes are no longer part of your life. Your learningcurve is reduced to void. This woud be a life without freedom for me, so Ghandi is right!

By the way, who’s perfect? Right, everyone makes mistakes!

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Create, Connect & Contribute

| Learn | Invent | Experiment |
Discover | Grow | Take Risks |
Teach | Make Mistakes | Break Rules |
Have Fun |

the Infadels publican ahora su primer single de adelanto del que será su segundo álbum, despues de colgar un tema en su web y……..resulta que me gusta más la que colgaron gratis!!!!

Make Mistakes no está nada mal, en su linea más festiva, pero bueno, esperaba algo más rompedor. De hecho, la cara b, Black Eyes and Love Bites me gusta muuucho más, a ver que os parecen!

mmmm, de hecho la estoy escuchando at time, y Black Eyes and Love Bites es muchísimo mejor, puede ser que porque la base de sintes me recuerda un montón a Murder That Sound, el tema más bonito de su anterior album, no sé, dadme vuestra o-pini-ón.
Por cierto, se comenta que tal vez vengan gratis este verano a algún festival de la terreta….hasta aqui puedo leer….. ;D
The Infadels – Make Mistakes
The Infadels – Black Eyes and Love Bites

Por fin!

The Infadels sacan nuevo disco en junio, y la semana pasada colgaron este tema, Play Blind, para que la gente se lo descargara, sólo que me enteré ayer y ya la habian borrado, me ha costado un poquito pero bueno, aqui la teneis.

Este no será el single, sino que será un tema más del disco aunque a mi me encanta, el sc de adelanto se llama Make Mistakes y aparecerá en marzo, pero por ahora, disfrutad con este Play Blind, Infadels en estado puro, y bueno, ojalá que vuelvan este año al FIB!!!!

PD: Perdón por la escasa cadencia de posteos, pero ya digo, no tengo internete en casa, y tengo poco tiempo para buscar cosas, espero que lo entendais, si ya los posts los escribo deprisa y corriendo en un moment….

The Infadels – Play Blind

Jack Welch, famed CEO of GE, one of the most successful well diversified and cash rich corporations in the world, spells out his formula for success in his autobiography, “Jack.” It’s brilliantly simple, direct, and we can all learn from his beliefs and his implementation of  successful strategy.

Simply stated, he says successful business is all about the right people. The people he hires are people who understand how to think outside the box, people who are creative, energetic and have a vision, and who are willing and capable of turning visions into reality.  That’s how he has enjoyed a life time of success… hiring the best people he could find.

However, that was not sufficient. After hiring the best, he encouraged them to take risks, make mistakes and strike out on occasion. No one bats .1000, said Jack, and the most important thing was to encourage a manager to take a risk in a new venture or product.  After the inevitable failed attempt, he made very certain that the manager did not lose his self confidence, did not dwell on the failure, but focused on what he learned and what mistakes he may have made and how to avoid these traps again.  Never did he allow them to get timid, conservative or fail to get back up on the horse and ride again.

He encouraged his managers to do their best, and if it did not work out, he supported them in their second attempts. That’s why he says he was so successful in so many varied aspects of GE,  by following this simple rule. Hire the best and then support them through thick and thin, through failure and success.

Interestingly, in the book “The Toyota Way,” that describes the Japanese theory of management success, an enormous amount of time and effort is spent supporting their employees…considering them their most important asset. Toyota is considered the leading corporation in the world by many analysts.

Maybe Jack and Toyota have the right idea…they are the best.  Are you following this advice? Call me if you need help 413-584-2581