Presentation to Future Females: Berlin, discussing and experiencing how to be more creative both personally and professionally.

1. Future Females
Berlin:
Thinking creatively & thinking
bigger
Stephanie Barnes
July 17, 2018

2. Activity #1:
The answer is
always “yes”
2
Form pairs: one interviewer, one interviewee
Interviewers: ask yes/no questions that would be hard to answer with just
a yes. Example: “Is it true that you are the offspring of Elvis Presley and a
space alien?”
Interviewees: answer with, “yes, ……”, whole-heartedly embracing the
concept/question. Example: “Yes, and I’d love to take you all for a ride on
my blue suede spaceship.” or another possibility: “Yes, and you’d be
amazed at how the people on mom’s home planet respond when I sing
there.”
Ask one question then switch roles
After each person has played each role, switch partners
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

3. Debrief: the answer is always “yes”
Did you find it easier to
be the interviewer or
interviewee?
What did you discover
in answering “yes” to
questions you didn’t
agree with?
How easy was it for you
to divorce yourself from
more familiar realities
and invent new ones?
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

4. Who am I?
• BBA in accounting, MBA in IT
• 25+ years experience in finance, accounting, IT and process
consulting, knowledge management, creativity, and
innovation
• Artist: started my creativity practice in 2001, painting in
2011
• Dual Canadian - UK citizen, living in Berlin
• Wrote a chapter on this material that was recently
published in the book http://www.johngirard.net/kmmatters/
• My superpower: using both sides of my brain
4© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

5. Who is here?
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018 5
•Small organisation (2-100)
•Medium organisation (101-1000)
•Large organisation (1001- ?)
“Regular” full-time employees?
Founders?
Solopreneur/freelancer?
Entrepreneur?
Start-up?
•Less than 10 years?
•More than 10 years?
Time in the workforce?

6. Why are you here
tonight?
Are you nervous? Curious? Excited?
6
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

7. Definition and
context for
tonight’s
activities
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018 7
Organisation: an organized group of
people with a particular purpose, e.g.
company, partnership, NGO, not-for-
profit, government/ governmental
department, start-up
These ideas concerning creativity are
applicable regardless of size or type of
organisation. They are as applicable for
solopreneurs as they are for start-ups
and large international companies

8. Why do you
think creativity
is important?
8
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

9. Left Brain, Right Brain
9© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

10. Current
Research (1/3)
Engaging (producing or consuming) in
the arts for therapeutic reasons is often
recommended by professionals, but
spending at least two hours a week
doing so of your own accord, and for
your own enjoyment, will also
contribute to positive mental health1
1 Davies, Christina, et al. “The art of being mentally healthy: a study to
quantify the relationship between recreational arts engagement and
mental well-being in the general population” accessed June 29, 2016 at
6:10pm CET,
http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-
015-2672-7

11. Current
Research (2/3)
On psychological tests of creativity:
Only 5 percent of people 18 and older registered in
the "creative" range?
Among 17 year-olds, 10 percent scored "creative."
But among 5 year olds, more than 90 percent
demonstrated the creativity to suggest innovative
ways of looking at situations and the ability to dream
up new ideas.
Slide: courtesy of Wayne Morris, http://www.future-
edge.co.nz/index.html, data comes from: https://ideapod.com/born-
creative-geniuses-education-system-dumbs-us-according-nasa-scientists/

12. Current
Research (3/3)
• Gender differences:
• There is a consistent lack of gender differences both
in creativity test scores and in the creative
accomplishments of boys and girls
• However, by adulthood, there is a marked difference,
with men having more creative accomplishments
than women
• More research is needed to understand why the
difference arises
• Reference:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238748750_Gender_Di
fferences_in_Creativity?enrichId=rgreq-
7a441cb78f00cc90a546c73494896099-
XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzIzODc0ODc1MDtBUzo1NDc0
Nzc4NzU5MDQ1MTJAMTUwNzU0MDMwNTIyMA%3D%3D&el=1_
x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf

13. Companies
who have
embraced the
link between
business and
creativity
Xerox—Artist in Residence Program
Equiva Services (support services JV
company for Shell, Texaco, and Saudi
Refining)—program to leverage creativity
and high performance
LexisNexis—Improv in Corporate Training
and Development

14. Creativity: why promote it?
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018 14
Leads to more rigorous
and critical thinking
Objectives are achieved
more readily
Increases motivation,
deep concentration and
engagement
Improves relationships
Develops the talent of
the individual
Develops skills for adult
life – adaptability, coping
with uncertainty, change,
and resilience

15. Activity #2
• Scribble drawings— freeing up of the mind to think
• Form groups of 6 +/-
15
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

16. Debrief:
Scribble
Drawings
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018 16

17. Activity #3
Drawing is energy
17© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

18. Debrief:
Drawing is
energy
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018 18

19. Artistic
Attitude:
What can we
learn from
artists?
Picture from: https://canyonechoes.org/2979/showcase/cheap-art-supplies/ last checked June 25, 2018
19© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

20. Artistic Attitude
• Curiosity
• Passion
• Confidence
• Resilience
20© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

21. Artistic
Practice:
what is is?
21© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

22. Artistic Practice
• Perception
• Reflection
• Play
• Performance
22© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

23. Challenges we face,
both organisationally
and personally
• Complexity
• Acceleration
• Uncertainty
• Volatility
23© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

24. (Desired) Results
• Simplicity
• Consciousness
• Certainty
• Strength
24© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

25. But….if we
apply our
learnings from
artists…
25© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

26. • Variety
• Purpose
• Autonomy
• Elasticity
Creative Culture
26© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

27. Age of Artists Framework
27© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

28. Activity #4:
Blind Drawing
Pick a simple object, either something in the
room, or something you have at home that
you can picture in your minds eye
Pick
Close your eyes Close
Draw the objectDraw
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

29. Debrief:
Blind Drawing
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018 29

30. How do we
become more
creative?
30© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

31. 1. Ask questions
2. Challenge assumptions
3. Allow space for reflection
4. Allow space for creativity, e.g. creative bursts
5. Build empathy
6. Experiment
In our organisations…
31© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

32. In our lives…
• Playing
• Arts and Crafts
• Exercising
• Improvising
• Getting enough sleep
• Eating consciously
• Drinking consciously
• Meeting:
• new people
• conversation
• Meditating
• Making space
• Doing something
new/different
32
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

33. What’s your
creativity
practice?
33© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

34. Who do you
know
(organisation or
individual) who
could benefit
from bringing
more creativity
to their
activities?
© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

35. Thank you
Stephanie Barnes
Entelechy
www.realisation-of-potential.com
stephanie@realisation-of-potential.com
+49 179 854 8376
35© Stephanie Barnes, 2018

36. © Stephanie Barnes, 2018 36