Category: inspiration
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The Art of Noticing
‘Interesting isn’t a personality type, it’s a set of habits and a way of seeing the world‘ Russell Davies The other day I came across this extract from Russell Davies’ book Do Interesting: Notice. Collect. Share. In the post Russell writes about a talk he gave years back on ‘How to be interesting’: ‘The way…
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On getting older
‘Ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been.’ This quote from David Bowie has long been my favourite way of thinking about getting older. His description of it as an extraordinary process seems about right. You slowly become the person that you always should have been. You know…
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Use the difficulty
I love this from Michael Caine – the philosophy by which he has lived his life: ‘Use the difficulty’ is such a good, pithy way of articulating the benefits of learning from setbacks and challenges. We all have tricky times in our lives, or times when everything feels stalled, or when we feel that we’re…
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The power of silence
I loved this video that Johnnie Moore shared, which is a clip from the brilliant BBC show The Assembly. The premis of the show is great – a renowned actor/personality gets interviewed by an audience of neurodivergent, autistic and learning disabled people. In the clip the questioner is at first paralysed by nerves and shyness…
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On Self-Renewal
This speech on the topic of self-renewal, delivered by John W Gardner to McKinsey & Company in November 1990, is outstanding (thanks to Zoe Scaman for the link). Gardner, who was the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for President Lyndon Johnson, wrote his book Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society in 1963. The…
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Google Firestarters: Kevin Kelly
A brand new episode of Google Firestarters is now LIVE, featuring the peerless Kevin Kelly, author and co-founder of Wired. Kevin’s insights are fantastic in this. He talks about why technology optimism is the only way to make a future that we really want to live in and why we need imagination and a ‘willing…
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Creativity from ignorance
Sheer ignorance – you know, there’s no confidence to equal it.’ – Orson Welles. After reading two excellent posts today on the trend towards banality (Martin Weigel on ‘fighting the astro-turfing of culture’, and Alex Murrell’s ‘the age of average’) my thoughts turned to this fantastic film featuring journalist Huw Wheldon interviewing Orson Welles in 1960. In it Orson talks…
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All New Google Firestarters
Adam Morgan discusses creativity from constraints in this episode of Think With Google Firetstarters
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Learning from Oaks
Anyone who has seen me speak will know that I’m a fan of metaphors. A couple of months back I learned something about Oak Trees (via a friend) that I found myself reflecting on on this, the first day of a new year. Oaks are incredible. They support 2,300 different species and over 300 species depend…
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Google Firestarters Episode 18: Rachel Mercer
An insightful episode of Google Firestarters with Rache Mercer, co-founder and CXO of Proto and ex VP, Head of Strategy at R/GA New York