Transcend and Include - "'For' Times Two"
OK, I dig this principle - we develop by including earlier stages of development and transcending them. Very cool to help us consider those inflection points that occur when where we've been isn't completely satisfactory anymore, and we really need to move forward. This doesn't happen in a healthy way if we disown the earlier stage, but only if we include it as we go beyond it - my becoming a teenager didn't require me to become an anti-pre-teen - I brought some of my pre-teenness foward with me and added to it. In fact, we often see the disowning of previous "stages" as an immature reaction - "Ewww, I know I used to like Power Rangers/ Speed Racer/Robin Vinkimulder (my girlfriend in first grade)/Creed/Britney Spears/etc. but that's soooo embarrassing now! Don't you dare tell anyone!" Own it, dude!
And what does this have to do with creativity? Well, I'm becoming more and more interested in how some of these big principles can be brought down into practical action. Here's a shot at transcend-and-include for smaller things, not just stage development.
We all get the notion of doing some sort of pro and con evaluation...often going straight to the cons! Bob Sutton at Stanford calls this the "Smart Talk Trap" - we seem more intelligent if we can point out what's wrong with something, and, if just appearing smart is all that matters, then we're unlikely to take much actual ground, as most of our time will be spent showing why something won't work.
What if we looked at the pros first? What facets of an idea might we actually be "for?" What might be some of the benefits of a particular idea? What piece of it could we do something with if forced to do so? Let's take a step back first and see what we might be "for."
Then, instead of going straight to what we don't like, why don't we go into it a little more and get clear on what we truly "wish for?" It's frankly a bit of a cop-out to point out what doesn't work for us - as the saying goes "if you bring the problem, bring the solution." It's actually more helpful/actionable if we take that next step to show the way out, or at least tee the problem up so our minds can actually start to speculate on the solution.
Next post - an example.
And what does this have to do with creativity? Well, I'm becoming more and more interested in how some of these big principles can be brought down into practical action. Here's a shot at transcend-and-include for smaller things, not just stage development.
We all get the notion of doing some sort of pro and con evaluation...often going straight to the cons! Bob Sutton at Stanford calls this the "Smart Talk Trap" - we seem more intelligent if we can point out what's wrong with something, and, if just appearing smart is all that matters, then we're unlikely to take much actual ground, as most of our time will be spent showing why something won't work.
What if we looked at the pros first? What facets of an idea might we actually be "for?" What might be some of the benefits of a particular idea? What piece of it could we do something with if forced to do so? Let's take a step back first and see what we might be "for."
Then, instead of going straight to what we don't like, why don't we go into it a little more and get clear on what we truly "wish for?" It's frankly a bit of a cop-out to point out what doesn't work for us - as the saying goes "if you bring the problem, bring the solution." It's actually more helpful/actionable if we take that next step to show the way out, or at least tee the problem up so our minds can actually start to speculate on the solution.
Next post - an example.
posted by Adam at 5:20 PM
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