Creative Participation Opportunities Abound in Chicago right now..

Next week I'll report in more detail about the big national news on the creativity front--that CEOs have identified creativity as the most important leadership competency for the future (More here).

But it's a full moon tonight, and I want to urge you to kick up some early summer creative dust of your own. I'll be kicking the creative cat (apologies to my cat, Jupiter) myself, so if you're in Chicago, come join me for one of the following:

Tonight/Thursday, May 27, Full Moon Jam after sundown
It’s another world at the Full Moon Jam, where hundreds will be gathering tonight after sunset on the lakefront just between Lawrence and Foster. There will be fire spinners and drummers and who knows what else in Chicago’s closest outdoor approximation to Burning Man. It’s a family/community event, no alcohol, ends around 10:15pm. More info here.

Sunday, May 30, Adam/Creativity Jam Performance, 1pm
I’m performing a 45-minute set/Creativity Jam as part of the Mitziut Art Show on Sunday, May 30th , from 1:15p to 2pm. It will be mix of original and popular songs, with opportunities for you to sing and play along (song lyrics, instruments and shakers available, with dancing encouraged). It’s the kickoff set to a free, full day of music and art at the North Lakeside Cultural Center, 6219 N. Sheridan Road. Parking can be tricky so come early just in case or ride your bike—should be beautiful out.

Tuesday, June 1, Creative Energy Boost Networking, 6pm
I’ll be co-facilitating (with energy expert and facilitator extraordinaire Natalie Goldfein) a “Creative Energy Boost” networking session for entrepreneurs and independent consultant types, brought to you by the Big Ooga. Natalie and I will facilitate a creative and interactive experience—you’ll leave with more energy, surprising ideas for what’s next in your business, and many new connections with colleagues. It’s at the 4Points Sheraton, 630 N. Rush (Rush & Ontario), from 6-8 pm. To learn more and purchase tickets (just $15): Click here. If you want to come for free, just say you are a guest of mine and RSVP to Lennie Rose: Lennie@BigOoga.com or 708-524-4562.

Wednesday, June 2, Gypsy Jam, 6:30p
Chicago non-profit Arts At Large is sponsoring this Jam dedicated to providing artists of all mediums an artistic playground--a place to come together, share ideas, inspire, support, (perchance collaborate), and yes, perform in a jam session. To sign up for a performance, contact Cindy Firing at fishopera@rcn.com/212.304.8871 asap. You can also just come to watch. More info here. Wednesday, June 2, 6:30-9:30pm, Arts at Large Office, 318 N. Lake Shore Drive. Note: Dial #100 at the front door to be buzzed in.

All of these events are participatory, guaranteed to get your creative juices moving.
Chicagoans, if you're not quite ready to participate in a jam but want to explore your musical side, I give great one-on-one starter lessons that provide an overview of music basics and get you playing songs on either keyboards or guitar in just weeks, on your schedule. Try it out and see what happens. Read more about my music coaching and six-week starter package. For those of you outside of Chicago, here's urging you to seek out--or create--creative participation opportunities of your own.

Say hi to Jupiter, the grand troublemaker.

The Creative Energy Crisis

"We're in a new kind of energy crisis—and this one's personal" ~from the Energy Project website

How energized are you when you're reading this? Do you feel in balance, on top of your life, tasks and goals--or stressed, overwhelmed and guilty for not doing more? We need energy to be creative, and too many of us are pretty maxed out.

The Way We're Working is not Working, the new book from Tony Schwartz, human performance expert and founder of the Energy Project, explores this compelling and too-often-ignored topic of personal energy. "The relentless urgency that characterizes most corporate cultures," he writes--and, I would add, organizations of all stripes and many personal lives of Americans as well--"undermines creativity...and, ultimately, performance." Schwartz has focused on how mismanaging our energy has impacted engagement in organizations (see his previous best-seller The Power of Full Engagement). His new book cites a meager 20% global workforce level of full engagement (those who consider themselves "fully engaged" at work, according to Towers Perrin) even before the recession fully hit. 57% of people work on evenings and weekends. 37% take 20 minutes or less for lunch. It's hard to be fully engaged when you're running on fumes. Creative? Forget about it.

In my role as a consultant I get to take a peek into the work lives of many different people in various industries and organizations--and it's not pretty. Almost everyone is stretched and overwhelmed, and the people who thrive tend to be those who have learned how to ignore personal needs and jump from one urgent demand to another. (Pardon me as I take a moment to vent. Perhaps I experience this more than others because of my outsider role, but it's shocking how many "successful" people cancel meetings at the last minute, don't return phone calls and don't keep their word. These integrity gaps have only widened in the past few years.)

Schwartz offers a better, and ultimately more productive, way of excelling in our ratrace world. It's by understanding and respecting the way personal energy works (see 10-minute video below for a good synopsis). Yes, high performers work hard, but they also recover their energy more than others. Humans are not unstoppable computers. We function in waves and pulses, like the heart beat, and sleep, breaks and renewal are essential for our productivity. "As addicted as we can become to the speed and intensity of our lives," Schwartz writes, "we're more creative an productive when we move intentionally between effort and renewal, action and reflection." Organizations, Schwartz explains, need to meet core energy needs of employees so that they are "freed, fueled and inspired" to bring the best of themselves to work. Those energy needs are sustainability (physical), security (emotional), self-expression (mental) and significance (spiritual). You can take the energy audit on the Energy Project website to see how well you are meeting your own energy needs.

I saw Tony at this week's international American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) conference here in Chicago, where we all ran like panting dogs from one breakout session to another, from one Expo booth to another, trying to network and learn and push ourselves to swallow everything we can (sorry, energy...though all conferences are like this, right?). I originally met him in San Francisco in the 1990s when his book, What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America, made a particular impact on me. That book described his own five-year journey across America seeking out mystics, philosophers, physicians and psychologists--an amazing feat--to understand what makes humans thrive. While his focus is a bit more on the corporate world these days, it's great to see that he continues his commitment to helping us all live a little better. And I have no doubt that our understanding of "energy"--long a buzzword in California ("You have good energy")--will become more more crucial in helping us navigate our world in the decades to come.

"Conformity Reigns but Exceptions Rule"

"Difference is a commitment to the unprecedented…a commitment to letting go.” Youngme Moon

I love Harvard professor Youngme Moon's sub-subtitle of her new book, Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd: "Succeeding in a World where Conformity Reigns but Exceptions Rule." In her book, she makes the case that true innovation--and success--comes when a business offers something meaningfully different.

As much as we Americans often claim the mantle of individuality and freedom to be different, most of us rarely are. From what we wear to what we talk about, from the party at the bar to the big wedding we attend, conformity reigns and rains and, as my poor friends here in Chicago have heard too much from me lately, I'm feeling all wet.

Moon makes the case that almost every success story of the past couple decades has been the exception to the rule, the outlier that has rejected orthodoxy, the difference-maker that did not simply compete in the same game as others. "Differentiation is not a tactic," she says. "It's not a flashy advertising campaign; it's not a sparkling new feature set. It's not a laminated frequent-buyer card or a money-back guarantee. Differentiation is a way of thinking. It's a mindset. It's a commitment. A commitment to be different, not in a superficial, I'm-going-to-offer-a-couple-of-features-my-competitor-doesn't-offer kind of way, but in a way that is fundamental and near impossible to replicate.”

Now I happen to be allergic to too much conformity, but I realize that it's often easier, and even satisfying, to conform. But creativity--which we need more than ever in our organizations and for our own personal success--requires deviance, a willingness to be different. A willingness and a mindset and a drive to be the one who doesn't do it that way, who draws outside the lines or creates meaningful new lines, who risks the stares and comments (and there will be many) from the conforming majority.

Moon's wonderful Anti-Creativity Checklist video (above) shares her top 14 ways to keep your place in the conforming majority and ensure that you won't be a difference-maker in your organization.

The "Four Cs" for 21st Century Education

Most of us know that "there is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces." So states the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national organization comprised of both business (Apple, Intel, Adobe, HP) and education (National Education Association, Pearson, Scholastic) leaders, committed to "fusing the three Rs and four Cs." As an advocate for the skills of innovation, I'm thrilled to see attention now placed on these Four Cs, with 14 states, including Illinois, having signed on to adopt the Partnership framework as a way to ready students for the 21st century. Most of us know the three Rs are reading, writing and arithmetic, but what are the Cs?
In the Partnership framework above, the Four Cs make up the "Learning and Innovation Skills" and are as follows:
1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
3. Communication and Collaboration

For creativity and innovation, the framework emphasizes Thinking Creatively (brainstorming techniques, creating new ideas, refining and evaluating ideas), Working Creatively with Others (communicating new ideas, being open to diverse perspectives, demonstrating orginality, viewing failure as part of the process) and Implementing Innovations (Acting on creative ideas and contributing to a field). These are terrific guideposts.

So the question is, how do we really teach creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration? These are right brain skills, those that are most difficult to teach in a codified, regimented way. With most school systems now fixated on measurable outcomes (usually test scores), how do we make these Four Cs a priority when they are so hard to measure? Illinois, for one, has charged "core content teams" with several tasks including to "ensure that the Illinois Learning Standards embody the fusion of the three Rs and the four Cs." I'm looking forward to delving into this question and learning more about what states are really doing to embrace the framework. Let me hear from you if you know more about the progress being made.

In this Pearson Foundation video below, "Teaching Teachers to Teach 21st Century Learners," we hear from various leaders from the worlds of business and education as they discuss the importance of 21st century learning and the need for change. Partnership for 21st Century Skills President Ken Kay begins to describe the skills needed with this distinctive pairing: "Non-routine thinking" and "complex communications."


The education world has long been averse to change--in many ways we are still preparing students for a world that no longer exists. The fact that the Four Cs have been defined and already embraced by many leaders is a promising step. The conversation is happening. We'll see if that can lead to real change and better learning for our kids in the near future.