Creative aliveness consists in reclaiming a larger creative canvas woven into the fabric of our lives. It starts by asking yourself: what makes you come alive creatively? And how can you inject more creativity into your daily life?

Creative aliveness

In modern Western and Eastern cultures, creativity is now understood as deeply embedded in the fabric of daily life. From something that is exclusive to higher-level entities, whether deities or nature itself, it has evolved into an ability anyone can practice at various levels, whether it is to create art or to perform small acts of innovation as part of the ever-changing movement of the world we inhabit. But, somehow, this creative aliveness is not what most of us experience in our daily lives.

The flow of creativity

The biggest creative canvas is our own life. The possibilities are practically infinite, the tools at our disposal are many, and each person we connect with opens the door to a potential creative collaboration. However, life can get so busy we end up squeezing our creativity into a tiny canvas — small, pre-defined spaces such as an art class or a brainstorming session.Instead of constraining our creativity to these bounded containers, creative aliveness elevates our day-to-day experiences by considering each moment as an opportunity for curiosity and innovation.

Living a creative life

A creative mind is:<ul><li>Connected. A creative mind is connected to people who stimulate their imagination, to networks that foster collaboration, and to sources of content that provide them with interesting information.</li><li>Curious. Curious minds tend to question the obvious, consider alternative answers, and consistently dig one level deeper to get to the core of how things work.</li><li>Courageous. While creativity doesn’t have to be grandiose, it requires stepping into the unknown and sometimes taking bold risks with limited knowledge of the potential outcomes.</li></ul>

What makes a creative mind?

<ul><li>Make space for unstructured creativity. You don’t need to create something useful or beautiful. In fact, you don’t need to produce anything at all. </li><li>Consider each interaction as a creative playground. Let creativity permeate each moment of your life, whether you interact with a person, a piece of content, or a problem you want to solve. </li><li>Write as an act of self-creation. Journaling allows you to not only document but also to shape your mind and thus your life. It’s a powerful way to turn life into a creative adventure.</li></ul>

How to practice creative aliveness

Creative aliveness consists in reclaiming a larger creative canvas woven into the fabric of our lives. It starts by asking yourself: what makes you come alive creatively? And how can you inject more creativity into your daily life?

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Motivation & Inspiration

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Problem Solving

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Creativity

Creative aliveness: turning life into a creative adventure

Creative people across all genres have this reputation for being mentally unstable and undone by their gifts. Not knowing if you can top your great success is one of the most painful reconciliations in a creative life. Once artists produce a magnificent work, they are asked, "What if you'll never ascend to that height again? Then what will you do with the rest of your life?"

The impossible things we expect from creative geniuses

In ancient Greece and Rome, people did not believe that creativity came from human beings. It was believed to be a divine attendant spirit that came to humans. <ul><li>The Greeks called these attendant spirits of creativity "daemons." </li><li>The Romans called it a genius. Romans believed a genius was like a magical entity that lived in the walls of an artist's studio and invisibly helped the artist.</li></ul> This understanding helped the ancient artist protect himself from certain things, such as too much narcissism. If your work was brilliant (or terrible), you couldn't take all the credit for it.

Managing the inherent emotional risks of creativity

During the Renaissance, the individual was placed at the centre of the universe. People started to believe that creativity came only from the self, not from mystical creatures that took dictation from the divine. It is the first time in history that people refer to certain artists as a genius, rather than having a genius. Allowing someone to believe that they are the source of all divine, creative, eternal mystery is too much responsibility to put on one fragile human psyche. It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun. It creates unmanageable expectations about performance.

Believing creativity came from the self

The pressure of unmanageable expectations about performance is destroying artists. As an artist, you may be full of anguish if believe that the most extraordinary aspects of your being came from you. But if you believe that a genius was on loan to you from another unimaginable source for some portion of your life to be passed along when you're finished,  it changes how you feel. When you create, don't be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it and use the creative moment when it comes to you. Otherwise, keep on showing up.

Removing the pressure to outperform

Needing to feel motivated? Enjoy these inspirational Ted talks that will change your perspective and make your day better.

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Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

7 Days of Inspiration 

Find an accurate transcript (and subtitles in 46 languages) on ted.com: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius/transcript?language=en "Eat, Pray, Love" author Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. TED Talks is a daily podcast of talks and performances from TED, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages are available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate Follow TED Talks on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tedtalks Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED

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Videos

Find an accurate transcript (and subtitles in 46 languages) on ted.com:
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius/transcript?language=en
 
"Eat, Pray, Love" author Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

TED Talks is a daily podcast of talks and performances from TED, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages are available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate

Follow TED Talks on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tedtalks
Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

Your elusive creative genius | Elizabeth Gilbert

Once you begin the new job, information is going to come at you fast and furious, so the better prepared you are in advance, the easier it will be for you to handle the flood.
You should be preparing for your first day on the job even before you get there. If you’re new to a company, you should be reading up on it. Ask your new boss for some information if they don’t provide it. Find out as much as you can about what your responsibilities are going to be.

Start Before You Start

When you first arrive at a new job, there is a temptation to make a big splash right away. The pressure to have an impact can be particularly strong for people who are coming into a leadership role, but it is true for almost any role.
When you first get to an organization, really listen to people. What are their concerns? How do they talk about the work they are doing? What do they articulate as their priorities? The more you understand about what everyone else thinks is important, the better you will be at devoting your efforts to key tasks.

Listen More

No matter what role you take on, your initial focus should be on how you can help the people around you to achieve their goals.
People remember others who have helped them in the past. In addition, most people want to repay the members of their community who have done favors for them. Starting your time with a new team by helping others reinforces a favorable first impression and also generates a sense of support from people you can rely on when you need help in the future.

Be Useful

This service mindset is particularly valuable for people taking on supervisory roles. People who are leading others for the first time are often concerned about coming across as a strong leader. 
They may want to give orders to others in order to demonstrate that they can command a team. A leader who finds ways to help their team achieve their goals, however, can develop loyalty from the people who report to them, which pays significant dividends down the line.

The Service Mindset

Starting a new job soon? Here’s what you need to do.


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Career

3 ways to create a good first impression at your new job

Entrepreneurs often think they must do whatever they can to satisfy their customers. But satisfied customers defect all the time, and if you want to derive a competitive advantage from the product or service experience you offer, it's not enough to satisfy people--you need to impress them.
That's what success in business really comes down to: Delivering experiences that people don't enjoy just in the moment, but also remember well into the future--thereby cultivating the repurchase and referral behaviour that's the lifeblood of any organization.

The Ultimate Customer Experience

The last thing that happens in an interaction has a disproportionate influence on people's overall impression and memory of the experience (a consequence of the "recency bias," as it's known in psychology).
To help end on a high note, conclude calls, meetings, e-mails, and any other type of interaction with a recap of what specifically you're committing to do to help the person you're serving. This will instill confidence in your customer, showing them that you have everything under control.

Recap Commitments

When making commitments--be it to call someone, deliver a proposal, or provide requested information--don't promise to get back to people "soon" or "shortly," because those terms mean different things to different people. 
In most business contexts, ambiguity is the enemy. Uncertainty deprives people of what's known in psychology circles as "perceived control," and, as a result, it makes the experience feels less pleasant. Avoid ambiguity by proactively communicating a specific time or date when you'll be in touch, and then honour that commitment.

Set Clear and Time-Based Expectations

"I can help you with that." If you confidently utter those words to a customer or an employee who comes to you for assistance, it immediately changes the tenor of the interaction. 
To the person on the receiving end, it's a signal of ownership and advocacy--an indication that someone is taking personal accountability for addressing their needs. That makes customers feel heard, understood, and cared for--emotional cues that help cement the memory of the encounter in their heads. Be sure to not just signal ownership, but to actually take ownership.

The Five Words To Take Ownership

Imagine submitting a purchase inquiry through a "Contact Us" form on a business's website--and then hearing back from a company rep within minutes. Exceptional responsiveness is a rarity in today's world, and when we encounter something novel and unexpected, our brain is biochemically primed to forge long-term memories about that experience. 
People often like to create the illusion that they're busier than they are, so they sit on that e-mail, text, or voicemail for a while, making their customer or colleague wait.

Be Super Responsive

If you work in a retail environment, be sure someone is greeting customers within 10 feet or 10 seconds of entering the store. That simple act of making eye contact and acknowledging the customer with a prompt and courteous greeting (even if just to say "I'll be with you in about five minutes") sends an important signal: We care about you and your patronage. 
The greeting helps to immediately personalize the experience, making customers feel more welcome and appreciated. They'll remember that the next time they consider visiting your store.

Greet Customers Right Away

Stop satisfying customers and start impressing them.

Discover the world of business and economics.

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Business

5 Psychology-Based Ways to Make Customers Obsessed With Your Product

Consumer brands are under pressure to keep consumer loyalty, manage the varied expectations, brand response to social issues and digital advancements.  Stakeholder expectations for brands are merging with expectations for the companies that build and manage them. The most successful consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands will be those that can guide a wider range of stakeholder groups.

Consumer brands are navigating more complex stakeholder networks

In collaboration with McKinsey & Company, Consumer Brands Association studied expectations from the following stakeholder groups: consumers, retailers, employees, investors, and government. Themes that emerged:<ul><li>Brand authenticity: Be who you say you are.</li><li>Sustainability: Do something tangible, measurable, and understandable.</li><li>Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)</li><li>Integrated experiences: Focus on the basics, data and curate across physical and digital touchpoints.</li><li>Future of work: Talent flexibility and automation will be the norm.</li></ul>

Research on exploring expectations, importance and actionability

<ul><li>All stakeholders ranked brand transparency and consistency as the most valued expectation. Brands that fall short risk losing share, shelf space, and talent.</li><li>Brand purpose and story: When brands articulate what they stand for, customers, employees and retailers perceive them as more authentic. "A brand for someone like me" is the top loyalty driver.</li><li>Brand activism: When brands speak out on social issues that align with their brand purpose, they are perceived as more authentic.</li></ul>

Brand authenticity

<ul><li>Investors and employees are pushing brands for change and accountability. Employees are energised by sustainability commitments and hold the brand accountable for them. </li><li>The younger generations show a strong preference for greener brands. Consumers are not the primary influencers for greater brand sustainability. Only 40% of surveyed consumers said environmental responsibility was important to them,  but this will change as younger generations place a greater emphasis on sustainability.</li></ul>

Sustainability

<ul><li>Retailers are spreading the word. Internally, retailers are prioritising DEI efforts. DEI is difficult to track or measure and is often subjective. However, this buyer-driven approach may soon change.</li><li>Consumer spending habits lag behind. Most consumers do not yet factor DEI into their decision making. But more consumer groups are starting to evaluate if a brand is "for them".</li><li>Employee inclusion is vital. Brand owners need to commit to DEI to attract and retain top talent and deliver top performance. </li></ul>

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)

<ul><li>Consumers expect a seamless experience across channels. Brands can deliver more integrated experiences by connecting offline retail and digital.</li><li>Customers look to several sources for direct access to brands. Few consumers visit brand sites directly (only 7%), so brands need other ways to build a strong and direct relationship with consumers.</li><li>Physical retail still matters. While click-and-collect is on the rise in some channels, physical stores remain the primary point of purchase (about 75 percent).</li></ul>

Integrated experiences

Long-term trends will have a major impact on brand owners.<ul><li>New capabilities are needed to meet expectations. Consumers expect greater personalisation, efficiency, and transparency. Retailers prefer brands that can minimise supply-chain friction.</li><li>Employee needs and expectations are evolving. The current workforce lacks the skill set to meet future role demands, so brands need to upskill their employees. But, to attract talent, brand owners will need to offer greater flexibility.</li><li>Automation can be part of the solution to meet labour shortages. Consumer goods can be automated by 64 percent. </li></ul>

Future of work

Consumer brands and brand owners are under unusual pressure. They need to face more complex stakeholder networks while managing increasing expectations. Brands that accept a call to action to win the stakeholders loyalty could expect increased returns.

Navigating challenging stakeholder expectations of brands

IoT can be simply defined as a continuous feedback loop of Things -> Insights -> Actions. Though this in itself seems perfectly simple, it is indeed a complex digital loop. A digital loop that involves a lot of players together:

What is IoT?

<ol><li>Connect & Monitor — Ability to gain real-time insights and improve business processes.</li><li>Analyze & Improve — Optimize usage of assets and/or deliver better products to customers.</li><li>Transform & Expand — Develop new business opportunities, increase profitability, create more compelling business models.</li></ol>

3 stages in the IoT customer journey

<ol><li>It is mostly a B2B story.</li><li>Despite the buzz, it is still early in the market.</li><li>We are going down the hypercycle.</li><li>Cloud-edge computing is emerging as the new computing model</li><li>Machines will have digital twins that can track past, understand the present and predict the future.</li></ol>

5 thoughts on the future of IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly transforming how we live every day. However, the technology is still fragile and incredibly complex, owing to the interconnection of different products and…

product

Product & Design

Being an Internet of Things PM by Microsoft Product Manager

"Desired outcomes,” “customer outcomes” or “business outcomes” are centred around how your customers define value in a quantifiable way. But Customer Success Managers and CS leaders lack a playbook on how to uncover "desired outcomes." While they know that they first have to establish trust with the customer, they don't know how to do that.

Outcomes & Customer Success

Establishing trust is vital to gt perceived as a trusted advisor with your client. However, to find a client's business outcomes, you need to develop a deeper trust. The 3C method is when you learn about three areas to gain permission to uncover your client's business outcomes:<ul><li>Company: Learn about their company and how their business operates.</li><li>Customers: Learn about who their customers are</li><li>Challenges: Understand their current challenges.</li></ul>

Using the 3C Method to Build Trust with Your Clients

Ensure you really understand what their business does. First do your research by reviewing recent Google News posts, their website, social media and other industry information. Then let the client helo you fill in the missing information. <ul><li>For example, What are the unique elements of your product/services and how do they compare to the competition?</li><li>Which competitors do you follow closely?</li><li>Ask them what their different revenue streams are.</li></ul>

Company: What do They Value and How do They Make Money

Next, focus on their customers. Ask which customers that purchase from them do they value the most. Why? When you learn more about their customers and what is important to them, you uncover their priorities and what is essential to their business.

Customers: Which Type of Customers do They Value Most

Understand the challenges that your customers are facing. They may be growing too quickly or may have a product defect. Ask your customers what their top customer complaints are. Ask them how the complaints have changed over time. Consider asking follow-up questions to understand the root causes of those complaints.

Challenges: Find Which Challenges Their Business is Facing

Once you've gone through the 3C's, you're more likely to have earned the right to probe deeper into their business outcomes. There are two types of probing questions you can use to understand what success means to your clients:<ul><li>Impact questions reveal the impact these challenges have on your client. "How much time do you waste using manual processes?"</li><li>Value questions clarity the benefits the client could achieve by helping to solve their difficulties. "If we could reduce the manual tasks your team does by 10%, how would that benefit you?"</li></ul>

Impact and Value Questions

“What are your priorities?” asks a tentative customer success manager. All they get back in return from the client is a puzzled look over Zoom, and silence. The now frazzled CSM tries again: “What…

The Secret to Uncovering Your Customer’s Business Outcomes

Customer success is more than a team. When customers trust you, they are more open to listening to you and working to achieve value from your product. When customers have found value from your product, they will develop a higher degree of trust for you. If the core customer success team isn't a High-Performing team, your customer success strategy won't get very far. In a high trust environment, your customer success team will be more engaged and more productive.

The Foundation of Customer Success

Your customer success team needs to trust each other and trust the CS leader. When that happens they will create more value for your customers and for themselves. In a high trust environment, your customer success team will be more engaged and more productive. When you focus on how you can deliver value for your team and their careers, you will build a higher level of trust.

Customer Success = Trust + Value

After helping to create a number of high-performing customer success organizations I’ve narrowed down the success of these teams and these companies (as customer success is more than a team) to two…

Customers are much, much, harder to please than they used to be! Product Design has taken off in a way that no one could have predicted. Customers don’t just want their needs to be met, they want to be delighted. They don’t just want to use your product, they want to love it.Being Viable just doesn’t cut it anymore. You need to be Lovable. You need to think about creating a minimum lovable product (MLP).

What Is a Minimum Lovable Product?

🚀 MVP: Minimum Viable Product — this is a version of your product that you first launch to your customers. It has the bare minimum number of features to solve their problem, and is most commonly used as a testing tool only.❤️ MLP: Minimum Lovable Product — similar to an MVP, but with more thought and care taken in design and UI. It aims to solve the problem, but also delight.💰 MMP: Minimum Marketable Product — this is the version of your MVP (or MLP) which you’ll push to market.

MVP, MLP, and MMP…what?!

A Minimum Lovable Product (also known as Minimum Loveable Product) goes beyond asking ‘how do we fix customer’s problems?’ by also asking ‘how do we delight them along the way?’.\In product development, it’s important to take the time to conduct the proper research to adequately fill the needs of the user. When building an MLP, that research includes finding out what they love. This could be a pleasing design aesthetic, an innovative user on-boarding experience, or integration with other tools.

What Exactly is an MLP?

It’s all well and good making something beautiful, but it still has to solve the problem.&nbsp;Just as with all products, you need to be building something with purpose.

Focus on ‘The Why’

It takes everyone on the development team to make a product lovable, and you need to weave that love into every aspect of your product. As a Product Manager, it’s your responsibility to align your teams to one common goal. User experience, sales, marketing, design, tech…they all have to be geared towards making something that your users will love. You’ll have to use the power of influence without authority here, but it’ll really pay off in the long run.

Align Your Team on Your Lovable Goals

Don’t forget about the M in MLP. While you’re focusing on delighting your users, remember that the goal is still to be agile. Choose the minimum set of features needed to solve your user’s problems, and make them as delightful as possible.Don’t assume that building something lovable means handing users everything they could possibly want. Not only will that waste your valuable time, but it’ll be more painful to iterate in the future.

Stay Lean and Agile

Talk to your early adopters, and find out more than just how the product performed. Find out how the product made them feel. In user surveys, offer open-ended questions which allow users to express themselves, rather than just simple yes/no answers or tick boxes.You should also be aware of who you’re testing with. Make sure your MLP lands in the hands of your target audience, and not just other tech people. They won’t be dazzled by the same features/designs as the average consumer.

Gather (The Right) Qualitative Research

Your MLP is not the final form of your product. Much like an MVP, it’s a valuable learning tool which will help you to discover what your users want.&nbsp;Once you’ve gathered your qualitative and quantitative feedback, start planning the next step for your product.

Test, Iterate, Repeat

The product game has certainly changed over the last few years. Technology used to be such a novelty, back when phones still have keypads and if your video game stopped working you had to blow on the…

The North Star is the Star Polaris, the brightest in the Constellation Ursa minor. Because it is almost motionless in our night sky, navigators can use it to find their way without a map or compass. To work out your north star metric, think about the one thing that a user can do with your product to help fix their problem. For Spotify and Netflix, a north star metric might be clicking on ‘play’. For Amazon’s Kindle store, it might be downloading a book. Instagram’s north star metric might be image uploads.

What Is Your Product’s North Star?

Airbnb began as a way to cut out the middleman and hassle of short-term property rentals. They later branched out to luxury booking and local experiences. Everything they do reinforces their North Star.

What Does ‘North Star’ Mean in Product?

Some companies, notably Google, use the concept of a 'North Star metric' to guide Prioritzation decisions and measure the performance of their products. By having a North Star metric, you’ve condensed down everything your product is really aiming to do above all other functions. The one which gets users to stream more songs, Upload more photos, or buy more books, is probably the most useful feature. A North Star metric is also a key component in Product-Led

Making it a metric

Guiding teams and stakeholders is difficult for product managers. <a class="ck kl" href="https://productschool.com/blog/product-management-2/influence-without-authority-bestbuy-product-manager/?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=medium&utm_campaign=WeeklyArticles">You have to have all of the influence, but with none of the authority </a>! But this can be made easier when everyone is united towards the same goal.

Using it to guide teams and stakeholders

Externally, your North Star becomes a selling point for users. It might be what leads them to choose your product over your competitor. When your North Star is evident in everything you do, it helps communicate the story of who your brand is.

Using it for branding and storytelling

Product-market fit isn't a one-time thing, it's a Constance process. If you don't pay attention to whether the work Converges on the vision, no one else will. If you don't pay attention to whether the work Converges on the vision, no one else will. If you don't pay attention to whether the work Converges on the vision, no one else will.

What can we learn from this?

In real life, the North Star is the star Polaris, the brightest in the constellation Ursa Minor. (Yes this does relate to Product Management, bear with me!) Because it is almost motionless in our…

Creative aliveness: turning life into a creative adventure

Your elusive creative genius | Elizabeth Gilbert

3 ways to create a good first impression at your new job

5 Psychology-Based Ways to Make Customers Obsessed With Your Product

Navigating challenging stakeholder expectations of brands

Nathaniel Yu