On Thursday January 26th The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (IAE) will be teaming up with WBEZ’s new project Front & Center to host a resource fair for the self employed, small businesses, start-ups, and freelancers.

Mini seminars and presentations will run through out the evening at the fabulous Catalyst Ranch located at 656 W Randolph St # 3W in the Polka Room.

Mini Seminar Topics Include: 

Entrepreneurship 101
Presented by Institute For Arts Entrepreneurship

Receiving small loans as an independent worker
Presented Accion Micro Lending

Doing your taxes as a freelancer, small business owner, or independent
Presented by Center for Economic Progress

Create. Innovate. Repeat: featuring 4 fabulous presenters, 7 slides and just 5 minutes each to pitch their most innovative business idea to you.
Presented by Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship.

Partial List of Participants Include:

Co-Lab Evanston providers of shared office spaces.

Northside Freelancers Network  who can help you connect to the growing Chicago self-employed community. Make sure to ask them about their weekly “freelancers soup” lunch.

Accion will be on hand to discuss how to get a  micro-loans to jump start your own business.

Northside Community Bank can help you find funding for your small, local project.

IndieMade is itself a small business. They create websites for independents, artist, small businesses, and start-up projects.

Rockstar CPA offers CPA services specifically geared towards the self-employed, with a specialty in creative projects.

The Law Project offer affordable legal resources for freelancers, independents, and small businesses, such as creating contracts, negotiating pay, etc.

Chicago! Come on out and celebrate self-employment with us! We hope to see you on January 26th.

Fair begins at 6pm @ Catalyst Ranch  656 W Randolph St # 3W, in the Polka Room

While it is easy to look at this cartoon strip created by Norwegian artist, Ida Eva Margrethe Neverdahl, and see it for its “face” value, I would encourage you to look deeper. Ida shares a great visual story, in my opinion, about how we discover our “emotional” elephant and learn to ride it. ( For more explicate training instructions read How to train your elephant to increase whole brain thinking.)

You see, we all have an elephant inside of us. And none of us has an easy time, at first, getting on its back- as this cartoon strip illustrates.  But when you learn how to, your life will magically begin to flow. And you too will be able to “ride your artwave and show off its fun“ quite easily, successfully and profitably.

At what point, if any, does extending brand uniqueness create a tipping point that then threatens the very foundation of the brand itself? Lately I have been asking myself this very question about the Starbucks brand.

Starbucks 1st store location in Seattle's Pike Place Market, 1971

As we all know, back in the 90′s Howard Schultz transformed the second most consumed drink after water, and the second most traded commodity after crude oil, coffee, into a unique retail destination for us all between work and home.

Putting people before products, Schultz used intuition more than “brand strategy” in those early days to develop Starbucks into the social place outside of work or home most of us did not even realize how much we needed. Schultz’s vision and intuition allowed Starbucks to leverage a low cost commodity, coffee, and transform it into a “$4.00-human-interactive-experiencial-brand.”

And now with Howard Schultz’s recent return to Starbucks as CEO, after a series of setbacks and financial downturns after his departure, the question is can he add more value to the bottom line while retaining the “human soul”- the uniqueness- he built into the Starbucks brand? Or is he reaching for the tipping point leading to the erosion of it?

According to Merriam-Webster something that is unique is defined as:

1. Being the only one.
2. Being without a like or equal.
3. Distinctively characteristic: peculiar.
4. Unusual.

There is no doubt Starbucks has managed to create a unique retail store environment with their friendly customer oriented staff, great music, comfy chairs and heartfelt emotional connective messaging.

And they have quite successfully been able to extend the feeling you get from their brand outside their stores too spending far less on advertising than other large retailers and consumer products companies to achieve tremendous brand loyalty.

Check out these 2006 comparative stats of what other companies spent on advertising for their brand.

1. Microsoft – more than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $11.5 billion
2. Coca-Cola – more than $2.5 billion
3. Yahoo – more than 20 percent of their annual revenue or $1.3 billion
4. eBay – 14 percent to 15 percent of its revenue – which was $871 million, much of that to advertise on Google
5. Google – In the millions rather than billions of dollars – with $188 million
6. Starbucks – $95 million

In 2006, Starbucks spent just $95 million on advertising with 7.8 billion in sales demonstrating their amazing strength as an “experiential brand”.

But is it possible to continue to expand the human experience of this brand while Starbucks’ transition into what Schultz hopes will be the first company to excel as both a retailer and a purveyor—in supermarkets and other mass-market channels—of consumer packaged goods?

According to Schultz, “This is a unique inflection point for Starbucks; I think we’ve identified a very big opportunity to do something that really has not been done before. And that is the following: there are many, many companies, domestically and around the world, that have built a domestic national footprint around retail stores, just like Starbucks—the Gap, Costco, Wal-Mart, Coach, Zara. And there are many consumer-packaged-goods companies—Pepsi, Coke, Kellogg’s, Campbell’s. There hasn’t been one company I can identify that has been able to build complementary channels of distribution by integrating the retail footprint and the ubiquitous channels of distribution—in our case, grocery stores and drug stores.

So the model is, Starbucks can seed and introduce new products and new brands inside our stores. We introduced VIA instant coffee in our stores. Instant coffee is a $24 billion global category that has not had any innovation in over 50 years. And no growth. If we took VIA and we put it into grocery stores and it sat on a shelf, it would have died. But we can integrate VIA into the emotional connection we have with our customers in our stores. We did that for six to eight months and succeeded well beyond expectations in our stores. And as a result of that, we had a very easy time convincing the trade, because they wanted it so badly.”

And while it’s true Starbucks has tallied up five years of positive earnings and five years of positive free cash flow, again, in part, under Schultz’s leadership, Starbucks stock has only just recently seen a rise above mid 2006 values.

However, food stocks should be on the rise. It makes sense that with unemployment up, the housing market down, and the world economy on shaky ground that food-makers would deliver stable sales.

So the question is can Starbucks continue to introduce produces like VIA into their stores and translate the uniqueness of their brand through them into distribution channels?  Will their customers buy into all the products they introduce in their retail environment, bond with them, and then readily buy them from their local grocery store or drug store?

I don’t know about you, but I for one was completely turned off by VIA’s introduction at Starbucks.  My sense of embracing the serenity of my “home away from work or home” felt threatened by the through I was being encouraged to take a little packet of dried coffee home as a substitute for the experience of being in their retail environment. I have always bought into Starbucks being an ” escape,” a destination, a home away from home. To add insult to injury, I was told if I liked their dried coffee, which I also perceived as cheapening the brand,  I did not even have to come back into the store- I could buy it elsewhere. It almost felt like an invitation to never come back- I felt like I was losing a friend.

Howard Schultz in his 2011  book Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul specifically talks about his mission in a way that’s very different from most CEOs. “Everything we’ve tried to do,” he writes, “is steeped in humanity.”  I certainly find Schultz’s new goal as being very problematic for the brand.

Purveyors use distribution channels and have retailers who connect with end users for a reason- because retails act differently than purveyors. I have witnessed this first hand within the music industry. The clarinet company I represent, Buffet Crampon, increasingly in the 90′s adopted some of my best practices working with customers. Increasingly they acted more like a retailer than a distributor, or the purveyor they are, by increasing the attention they paid towards potential end users. They threw private parties and gave potential customers the opportunity, before retailers, to see and experience new products.

In the end, it pissed off retailers who felt side stepped and while left uninformed were expected to close the sale with the majority of the customers anyways. I am not sure how much it really did to help them grow their brand then but they have abandoned most of those practices now. While I realize, Starbucks first and foremost is recognized as an extremely well established retailer- a significant difference from being a purveyor dabbling in retail,  placing people over products simultaneously in both distribution channels and retail environments will be challenging. Distributors exist to move product and retailers exist to sell those products to people. The motivation of each is different and as a result using the same messaging for both won’t be easy to effectively manage.

While I think Schultz’s idea is very interesting to try and be the first company to excel at both,  how will Starbucks lead me or anyone else to rediscovering why we’re best friends with this as their end game strategy in their retail environment?

I don’t know about you, but I spend time with a best friend.  I get to know them. I also frequently see them in the same places and I don’t just spend money on them. While distributors and Schultz alike may hope Starbucks can convincingly sell us many products at the local grocery from an experience or two in their retail environment, it is yet to be seen how well they can translate the uniqueness of their brand into repetitive buying decisions in locations outside their own doors.

The story of the Rider and the Elephant goes something like this.

There once was a Rider who wanted to ride the Elephant and control him. The rider was smart and tried to use his cunning logic on the elephant to persuade him to listen to him as his Rider.  But the elephant could not understand a single word the rider said. He could however feel the rider’s motivation and it made the elephant angry and he refused to take even one step forward with the rider on his back.

So how does the story end?  Does the rider eventually control the elephant with his great logic?  Or does the elephant control the rider with his emotions?

The moral of this story: No stream of logic will EVER trump how we feel about something or someone. Human nature has proven it time and time again with both good and evil.  The elephant inside of us always wins.

How to train your Elephant to accept your Rider and what to expect.

Training an elephant is about the same as training a pet.

Pets need clear simple instruction or challenges, delivered with consistency and loving kindness to learn the lesson(s) that you want them to teach them.

Pets can’t see what they need to learn. That’s why they have someone to train them.

Repetition and consistency are key to learning.

You can’t try and control how long it takes for your pet to learn the lesson. Every pet learns differently and at different speeds.

When pets resist learning what happens? A new approach is taken for a controlled period of time and then if that does not work changed. However, chances are great the second time will work if not the first.

Have empathy for your pet and trust that it will and wants to learn. Assume if it’s not learning that you have not mastered thinking from your pet’s point of view.

When your pet learns the lesson you patiently took the time to teach, both of you will see your self-esteem rise.

Elephant training is best done in groups.

How to Establishing a Great Working Herd.

Look at this chart below and see if you each can figure out how to identify how everyone in your group learns best.

Herrman's whole brain learning styles

Step 1: Take a guess at how you think each person in your group would learn best.

Step 2: Get together as soon as possible to state how you learn best and compare it against how others perceived you might learn best. Find a way to have everyone together even if you phone or skype someone into the room with the rest of you.

During your time together as a group I would:

1. Set ground rules about how your group will function and how you will capture the details of your goals and progress.
2. Set ground rules about your interpersonal dynamics.

a)   How will everyone be heard?  What are the rules to make sure this happens?  How can communication flow fluidly between us and what will we do it fails to lift off altogether or breaks? How will we fix it/ repair it?

b)   What happens if my feelings are hurt? How will I communicate it respectfully and forgive or be the one to be forgiven so that I can continue to “receive elephant pet training” from anyone in the group.

c)    REPEAT often. It’s easier and easier to talk about if you do. What am I learning about my elephant and its training?   Every time you meet I would have this conversation.

When you master all 4 learning consideration (above) and can adjust your communication style to address each of the 4 different quadrants (below) you will have 2 more essential tools you need to launch your business and build your customer base easily. When the rider (the left side of our brain) knows how to train the elephant (the right side of our brain) we can develop our whole brain thinking and use it to lead others towards the development of their own.

Herrman's whole brain model

The last class of The IAE’s first module just finished yesterday. For the entire past three months we have been exploring who we are, how we communicate, how our lives are constructed and what matters most to us.  In our classroom we have been learning how to develop a culture of curiosity, shared language, increase our recognition of patterns, and explore what triggers our own motivation- all essential ingredients to begin to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

A great deal of our learning has been done through experiences of the learning. Artists learn best this way.  And while I had never, until I conceived the IAE, attempted to construct as much of the curriculum as possible in this way, it is highly impact filled and TOTALLY worth all of the effort to create. Consistently we have taken our main learning objectives and constructed group projects or situations to experience that are designed to expose our students thinking and intuitive processes so they can discover their own lessons and learning. Our students are learning how to teach themselves. Another trait of a great entrepreneurial mindset. And the results speak for themselves- they always produce far more insights  then the few lessons we had in mind when we construct our experiential curriculum for our students.

At the end of each weekend of class we synthesize our learning. Together we create a list of what we have learned and reduce it down to only the essential nuggets we really need to be reminded of to continue our evolution and growth.

Here is our final learning wall for the end of our 1st module of class.

This weekend I had the true pleasure of “taking-in” a TARGET store- and not just running through it looking for the extra large containers of toilet paper and Tide.

Positioned as the household-one-stop everything- spot, replacing the old Main Street Five and Dime, TARGET understands the core reason buyers come in droves to buy. They have all the basics anyone would ever need to take care of their family. And for most of us, family means everything to us. What wouldn’t we do for someone we love?

So of course TARGET has a great assortment of lawnmowers, kids toys, clothes for every member of the family and tools for Dad at his work bench. Something for everyone. But most of these same items can easily also be found at Kmart, Walmart and Sears.  So how is it TARGET continues to lead the pack with their 2011 sales results?  What does TARGET  know that their competitors don’t know? Could they be an emotionally intelligent marketer? Or are they using their knowledge of human nature to manipulate and grow sales? And what is emotionally intelligent marketing anyway?

In their article from 1990, “Emotional Intelligence,” Professors Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer define emotional intelligence as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. (Salovey & Mayer 189).

What does their definition of Emotional Intelligence teach us about how we can use it in consumer marketing? I think that our emotions can be used to guide logical thinking and goal-oriented actions; which makes EI particularly impact-filled in consumer marketing.

This also explains WHY sometimes highly successful brands can be viewed as being “emotionally manipulative.” Yet, if you know anything about human nature you likely already KNOW WHAT IS AT THE CORE of every single big loyal brand follower. 

The story of the Rider and the Elephant. It goes something like this.

There once was a story about a Rider who wanted to ride the Elephant and control him. The Rider was smart and tried to use his cunning logic on the elephant to persuade him to listen to him as his Rider.  But the Elephant could not understand a single word the Rider said. He could however feel the Rider’s motivation and it made the elephant angry and he refused to take even one step forward with the Rider on his back.

So how does the story end?  Does the Rider eventually control the Elephant with his great logic?  Or does the Elephant control the rider with his emotions?

The moral of this story: No stream of logic will EVER trump how we feel about something or someone. Human nature has proven it time and time again with both good and evil. The elephant inside us always wins.

The Golden Circle

Simon Sinek refers to the elephant within each of us, which resides in the limbic part of our brain that has no language, in his TED talk Start with Why; also known as The Golden Circle. Sinek explains that it is those few companies that know WHY they do what they do and can communicate it effectively to their herd of elephants who thrive.

All companies know WHAT they do and that’s why most are failing.  No one cares about another widget, another electronics store, or burger place. One more cog for the wheel doesn’t evoke any kind of emotional response. The elephant inside every customer will buy into WHY you do what you do, NOT what it is you do or even how you do it. The elephant will buy based on its visceral response to you.

So is the average TARGET consumer really looking for an emotional experience? What is the RIDER inside the average consumer going to TARGET thinking?

Well, how about something like this..” I’m out of paper towels, we have one more cap-full of Tide, I scooped up the dogs last dish of dried food, and I’d really like something more than a black cup of coffee in the morning.”  And behind that is the unspoken- ” I love my family. I want to care for them and give them what they need.”

TARGET understands this IS the reason for their being in existence. Their entire store- every ounce of it says ” We are here to serve the needs of your family.We are here to help you live more comfortably and enjoy your life. We want to give you more, so “expect more and pay less.”

And while TARGET might dress it up with a really cute dog,  they are hitting the emotional bullseye of every elephant- their customer-  every time they take one of their items displayed on basic peg boards and make it through the check out line.

How do they do this?

Let’s look closely at Salovey and Mayer’s  three characteristics of emotional intelligence.

The first is our ability to both appraise others emotions as well as express our own. Emotionally intelligent people are a good judge of character and have an authentic ability to communicating their own.

Emotionally intelligent people can control or regulate their emotions; which of course means we can experience the release of them but still remain emotionally high functioning because of our understanding of the emotions we feel.

And lastly, emotionally intelligent individuals have an ability to utilize their emotions to communicate clearly and directly.¹

 ¹ Under this final point Salovey and Mayer list four more categories. I think TARGET has carefully studied and learned  how to leverage all four of these EI characteristics into their brand.

These four additional characteristics are:

I came in to Target looking for some velcro- less than a $10.00 item- to help keep my pictures hanging straight on the wall, and came home, instead, with an additional purchase of these two holiday seasonal decorations for another $40.00 bucks.

1) Flexible planning. An emotionally intelligent thinker is one who is flexible in their planning. They can walk in a store with a list of things they are shopping for and yet can comfortably find themselves improvising and making an unexpected purchase or two in the store.

2) Creative Thinker. An emotionally intelligent person is a creative thinker. Ahh, here it is! The cereal aisle loaded with possibilities! What does this mean?  We will continue through my series of blog posts on Creative Theorists to see how much we can uncover about how vastly different others see what it means to become a creative thinker. But if we are talking about retail shopping? This is what I think it means.

TARGET consistently pairs more practical low cost items with something "extra" at many multiples of that low items price.

An emotionally intelligent shopper is going to see the creative value in buying the glittery Christmas tree-like decoration in addition to those bargain basement CUTE $2.99 wine glasses on their shopping list.  An EI shopper would be thinking: “I am already replacing those plain chipped wine glasses for something that looks really nice for the price. These glasses where not even 1/2 the price I expected to pay for them. I can afford to splurge with a little something festive and decorative to show them off.”

At this point the EI buyer is hooked. Logic won’t easily persuade you that your paying $14.99 for a foam cone covered in black fabric with a stapled piece of shiny material over it.

3) Redirecting Attention. An emotionally intelligent shopper is going to be really comfortable having their attention redirected to all different kinds of products spread across one store. Why? Because according to Salovey and Mayer part of our ability to utilize our emotions effectively to communicate is that we possess the ability to easily redirect our attention into new places.

4)  Motivation. And lastly, emotionally intelligent individuals demonstrate motivation. As such, if you are appealing to emotionally intelligent shoppers, who have the same values as you do,  your aisles are going to be filled with both lots of interesting and varied products along with lots of interesting people who want to buy most everything on your shelves.

Emotional intelligence means embarking on the path of self-actualizing

Another important aspect of  Salovey and Mayer’s insights into what demonstrates emotional intelligence, is their question about what emotional intelligence entails:

“People who have developed skills related to emotional intelligence understand and express their own emotions, recognize emotions in others, regulate affect, and use moods and emotions to motivate adaptive behaviors. Is this just another definition of a healthy, self-actualized individual?” (Salovey & Mayer 200)

The beauty of working with our emotions is that we naturally reap the benefits of getting to know ourselves more intimately. When we have a clearer sense of who we are and who we are becoming, we can make wiser choices in life by strengthening our response ability to everything that happens “to” us.

Self discovery is a lifelong process, and it can serve us for our entire lives. Self discovery is the basis for self care, and self care is the foundation for long lasting satisfaction and happiness in life, which are intricately linked to mental, emotional, and physical health.

Salovey and Mayer’s conception of Emotional Intelligence was  “The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth.”

This ability-based model views emotions as useful sources of information that help one to make sense of and navigate their social environment.  I believe, this ability-based model works equally as well in defining an emotionally intelligent company.

As I see it, an emotionally intelligence corporation:

• Perceives emotions and uses their ability to decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts to reflect back in their people and their branding. Emotionally Intelligent companies use and develop the ability to express emotions in their people and to harness emotional understanding, problem solving and whole brain thinking.

• Understands emotions well enough to comprehend emotional language and to appreciate the complicated attachments we have to our emotions and the ambiguity they sometime need to cause until they can be clarified.

• Can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

While we go to TARGET for diapers, underwear, workout clothes and socks, we leave with a wreath, flower vase and a new bed spread which we simply just felt we had to have. It’s easy to pick up the hood and look under it to see how this mega-retailer does it. TARGET is demonstrating their own emotional intelligent which masterfully helps them position their brand to emotionally impact their buying elephants.

The limbic part of your brain- the part which has no language- is  from where we fall in love with someone or something and from where all “purchasing” decisions are made. Target has found our sweet spot.

In a world where interruption, abruptness and “me first” rules, is it really any wonder we are economically struggling? How can we deepen trust and increase listening to build cohesive teams in this kind of disconnected environment?

2nd shift at work in my father's foundry, Alpha-Cast.

Long ago I watched my father purchase a bankrupt diesel engine foundry business and transform it into a roaring success through his practice of servant leadership.

My father, Theodore Argiris, a Harvard graduate, and before entering the foundry business a prominent criminal attorney in Chicago, pictured here with his hard hat on in the lunchroom with some of his employees. Many days after school, when I would stop by the foundry, I would find him in the lunchroom. We would have something to drink together and I would participate in conversations with him and his employees. I was able to observe how my dad involved them in key decision making and built shared understanding, empathy and as a result, trusted peer relationships with them.

Servant leadership is a philosophy and practice of leadership, coined and defined by Robert K. Greenleaf. Servant-leaders are often seen as humble stewards of their organization’s resources: human, financial and physical.

As a young woman, I learned a great deal watching how my father built relationships with his employees through developing shared language and asking for their input with key decision making.

Larry C. Spears, who has served as President and CEO of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership since 1990, has extracted a set of 10 characteristics that are central to the development of a servant leader:

• Listening: Traditionally, and also in servant leadership, managers are required to have communication skills as well as the competence to make decisions. A servant leader has the motivation to listen actively to subordinates and support them in decision identification. The servant leader particularly needs to pay attention to what remains unspoken in the management setting. This means relying on his inner voice in order to find out what the body, mind and spirit are communicating.

• Empathy: A servant leader attempts to understand and empathize with others. Workers may be considered not only as employees, but also as people who need respect and appreciation for their personal development. As a result, leadership is seen as a special type of human work, which ultimately generates a competitive advantage.

• Healing: A great strength of a Servant Leader is the ability for healing one’s self and others. A servant leader tries to help people solve their problems and conflicts in relationships, because he wants to encourage and support the personal development of each individual.This leads to the formation of a business culture, in which the working environment is dynamic, fun and free of the fear of failure.

• Awareness: A servant leader needs to gain general awareness and especially self-awareness. He has the ability to view situations from a more integrated, holistic position. As a result, he gets a better understanding about ethics and values.

• Persuasion: A Servant Leader does not take advantage of her power and status by coercing compliance; she rather tries to convince those she manages. This element distinguishes servant leadership most clearly from traditional, authoritarian models and can be traced back to the religious views of Robert Greenleaf.

• Conceptualization: A servant leader thinks beyond day-to-day realities. That means he has the ability to see beyond the limits of the operating business and also focuses on long term operating goals. A Leader constructs a personal vision that only he can develop by reflecting on the meaning of life. As a result, he derives specific goals and implementation strategies.

• Foresight: Foresight is the ability to foresee the likely outcome of a situation. It enables the servant leader to learn about the past and to achieve a better understanding about the current reality. It also enables the servant leader to identify consequences about the future. This characteristic is closely related to conceptualization.

• Stewardship: CEOs, staffs and trustees have the task to hold their institution in trust for the greater good of society. In conclusion, servant leadership is seen as an obligation to help and serve others. Openness and persuasion are more important than control.

• Commitment to the growth of people: A servant leader is convinced that people have an intrinsic value beyond their contributions as workers. Therefore, she should nurture the personal, professional and spiritual growth of employees. For example, she spends money for the personal and professional development of the people who make up her organization. The servant leader will also encourage the ideas of everyone and involve workers in decision making.

• Building community: A servant leader identifies means to build a strong community within his organization and wants to develop a true community among businesses and institutions.
  

  At the foundry, employee's had a great "can do" attitude because they felt like a cohesive community that each individually was understood. Communication flowed, problems were solved and progress was made.

How can imagination become creative productivity? How can artists fuse the work of creative theorists to their gifts to help others to innovate? So far both Basadur’s Creative Problem Solving Profile and deBono’s Six Thinking Hat Theory have provided a structure that is relatively easy to understand, adapt and implement. But with our next creative theorist, Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, quickly that clarity disappears into the murky world of “flow”.

Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi (pronounced “chick-sent-me-high-ee”) is a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University,  Dr. Csíkszentmihályi is a distinguished professor of psychology and management in the school of organizational and behavioral sciences. He is also the Founding Co-Director of the Quality of Life Research Center. The QLRC is a non-profit research institute that studies “positive psychology”; that is, human strengths such as optimism, creativity, intrinsic motivation, and responsibility.” Prior to his work at Claremont, Mihaly, was the head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College.

Flow

Mihaly is known for his work in the study of happiness and creativity, and in particular for his years of research and writing on the ideas around life’s “flow.”  He is the author of a number of books on the topic including:

Csikszentmihalyi saw optimal activities in the "flow" channel moving outward as skills are gained. In short, flow can be described as a state where attention, motivation, and the situation meet, resulting in a kind of productive harmony or feedback.

To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur. Both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results. The flow state also implies a kind of focused attention, and indeed, it has been noted that mindfulness, meditation, yoga, the Alexander Technique, and martial arts seem to improve a person’s capacity for flow.

Why is flow essential to creative productivity?

“Creativity is often defined as a parallel construct to intelligence, but it differs from intelligence in that it is not restricted to cognitive or intellectual functioning or behavior. Instead, it is concerned with a complex mix of motivational conditions, personality factors, environmental conditions, chance factors, and even products.” (Feldhusen and Goh, 1995)  The concepts of Flow, fit nicely into this construct.

In his book Flow Csíkszentmihályi lists a number of facts (not all of which have to be present) to create an experience of flow.

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities).

2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.

4. Distorted sense of time, one’s subjective experience of time is altered.

5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).

6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).

7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.

8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

9. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

What personality traits do those posses who frequently achieve creative “flow”?

According to Csíkszentmihályi, creative personalities are different from others, because of their complexity. Creative individuals show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated. They contain contradictory extremes; instead of being an “individual,” each of them is a “multitude.”

Here are 10 paradoxical traits Csíkszentmihályi believes are often present in creative people.

1. Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.

They work long hours, with great concentration, while projecting an aura of freshness and enthusiasm. Yet it is surprising how often individuals who in their seventies and eighties exude energy and health remember childhoods plagued by illness. It seems that their energy is internally generated, due more to their focused minds than superior genetics. This does not mean that creative people are hyperactive, always “on.” In fact, they rest often and sleep a lot. The important thing is that they control their energy; it’s not ruled by the calendar, the clock, an external schedule. When necessary, they can focus it like a laser beam; when not, creative types immediately recharge their batteries. They consider the rhythm of activity followed by idleness or reflection very important for the success of their work. This is not a bio-rhythm inherited with their genes; it was learned by trial and error as a strategy for achieving their goals.

2. Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.

How smart they actually are is open to question. It is probably true that what psychologists call the “g factor,” meaning a core of general intelligence, is high among people who make important creative contributions.The earliest longitudinal study of superior mental abilities, initiated at Stanford University by the psychologist Lewis Terman in 1921, shows rather conclusively that children with very high IQs do well in life, but after a certain point IQ does not seem to be correlated any longer with superior performance in real life. Later studies suggest that the cutoff point is around 120; it might be difficult to do creative work with a lower IQ, but an IQ beyond 120 does not necessarily imply higher creativity.Furthermore, people who bring about an acceptable novelty in a domain seem able to use well two opposite ways of thinking: the convergent and the divergent. Convergent thinking is measured by IQ tests, and it involves solving well-defined, rational problems that have one correct answer. Divergent thinking leads to no agreed-upon solution. It involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas; flexibility, or the ability to switch from one perspective to another; and originality in picking unusual associations of ideas. These are the dimensions of thinking that most creativity tests measure and that most workshops try to enhance.

Another way of expressing this dialectic is the contrasting poles of wisdom and childishness. As Howard Gardner remarked in his study of the major creative geniuses of this century, a certain immaturity, both emotional and mental, can go hand in hand with deepest insights. Mozart comes immediately to mind.

3. Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.

Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility. There is no question that a playfully light attitude is typical of creative individuals. But this playfulness doesn’t go very far without its antithesis, a quality of doggedness, endurance, perseverance. Nina Holton, whose playfully claims wild germs of ideas are the genesis of her sculpture, is very firm about the importance of hard work: “Tell anybody you’re a sculptor and they’ll say, ‘Oh, how exciting, how wonderful.’ And I tend to say, ‘What’s so wonderful?’ It’s like being a mason, or a carpenter, half the time. But they don’t wish to hear that because they really only imagine the first part, the exciting part.

4. Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.

Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality. Great art and great science involve a leap of imagination into a world that is different from the present. The rest of society often views these new ideas as fantasies without relevance to current reality. And they are right. But the whole point of art and science is to go beyond what we now consider real and create a new reality. At the same time, this “escape” is not into a never-never land. What makes a novel idea creative is that once we see it, sooner or later we recognize that, strange as it is, it is true. Most of us assume that artists—musicians, writers, poets, painters—are strong on the fantasy side, whereas scientists, politicians, and businesspeople are realists. This may be true in terms of day-to-day routine activities. But when a person begins to work creatively, all bets are off.

5. Creative people trend to be both extroverted and introverted.

Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted. We’re usually one or the other, either preferring to be in the thick of crowds or sitting on the sidelines and observing the passing show. In fact, in psychological research, extroversion and introversion are considered the most stable personality traits that differentiate people from each other and that can be reliably measured. Creative individuals, on the other hand, seem to exhibit both traits simultaneously.

6. Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.

Creative people are humble and proud at the same time. It is remarkable to meet a famous person who you expect to be arrogant or supercilious, only to encounter self-deprecation and shyness instead. Yet there are good reasons why this should be so. These individuals are well aware that they stand, in Newton’s words, “on the shoulders of giants.” Their respect for the area in which they work makes them aware of the long line of previous contributions to it, putting their own in perspective. They’re also aware of the role that luck played in their own achievements. And they’re usually so focused on future projects and current challenges that past accomplishments, no matter how outstanding, are no longer very interesting to them. At the same time, they know that in comparison with others, they have accomplished a great deal. And this knowledge provides a sense of security, even pride.

7. Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.

Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping. When tests of masculinity/femininity are given to young people, over and over one finds that creative and talented girls are more dominant and tough than other girls, and creative boys are more sensitive and less aggressive than their male peers.This tendency toward androgyny is sometimes understood in purely sexual terms, and therefore it gets confused with homosexuality. But psychological androgyny is a much wider concept referring to a person’s ability to be at the same time aggressive and nurturing, sensitive and rigid, dominant and submissive, regardless of gender.  Creative individuals are more likely to have not only the strengths of their own gender but those of the other one, too.

8. Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.

Creative people are both rebellious and conservative. It is impossible to be creative without having first internalized an area of culture. So it’s difficult to see how a person can be creative without being both traditional and conservative and at the same time rebellious and iconoclastic. Being only traditional leaves an area unchanged; constantly taking chances without regard to what has been valued in the past rarely leads to novelty that is accepted as an improvement. The artist Eva Zeisel, who says that the folk tradition in which she works is “her home,” nevertheless produces ceramics that were recognized by the Museum of Modern Art as masterpieces of contemporary design. This is what she says about innovation for its own sake:”This idea to create something is not my aim. To be different is a negative motive, and no creative thought or created thing grows out of a negative impulse. A negative impulse is always frustrating. And to be different means ‘not like this’ and ‘not like that.’ And the ‘not like’—that’s why postmodernism, with the prefix of ‘post,’ couldn’t work. No negative impulse can work, can produce any happy creation. Only a positive one.”

But the willingness to take risks, to break with the safety of tradition, is also necessary. The economist George Stigler is very emphatic in this regard: “I’d say one of the most common failures of able people is a lack of nerve. They’ll play safe games. In innovation, you have to play a less safe game, if it’s going to be interesting. It’s not predictable that it’ll go well.”

9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.

Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well. Without the passion, we soon lose interest in a difficult task. Yet without being objective about it, our work is not very good and lacks credibility.

10. Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment. Most would agree with Rabinow’s words: “Inventors have a low threshold of pain. Things bother them.” A badly designed machine causes pain to an inventive engineer, just as the creative writer is hurt when reading bad prose.Being alone at the forefront of a discipline also leaves you exposed and vulnerable. Eminence invites criticism and often vicious attacks. When an artist has invested years in making a sculpture, or a scientist in developing a theory, it is devastating if nobody cares.Deep interest and involvement in obscure subjects often goes unrewarded, or even brings on ridicule. Divergent thinking is often perceived as deviant by the majority, and so the creative person may feel isolated and misunderstood. Perhaps the most difficult thing for creative individuals to bear is the sense of loss and emptiness they experience when, for some reason, they cannot work. This is especially painful when a person feels his or her creativity drying out.Yet when a person is working in the area of his of her expertise, worries and cares fall away, replaced by a sense of bliss. Perhaps the most important quality, the one that is most consistently present in all creative individuals, is the ability to enjoy the process of creation for its own sake. Without this trait, poets would give up striving for perfection and would write commercial jingles, economists would work for banks where they would earn at least twice as much as they do at universities, and physicists would stop doing basic research and join industrial laboratories where the conditions are better and the expectations more predictable.

Csíkszentmihályi’s theory of Flow, and how it is created, certainly builds a clear case for artists to use his or her artistry- in its pure form- to illustrate and teach others Csíkszentmihályi concepts of flow. Csíkszentmihályi’s theoretical constructs provides the necessary framework to communicate how the arts can facilitate creating an environment for creative productivity and innovation to emerge.

Written by Randy Woods, October 25th. Appeared in Entrepreneur Magazine online.

Andy Fife's mission is to provide a solid financial foundation for entrepreneurial artists.

In the drizzly Pacific Northwest, Andy Fife is a rainmaker for the region’s thriving arts community. Through Shunpike, a Seattle-based arts organization, he has helped nurture more than 2,500 creative enterprises across Washington, providing a solid financial foundation for the region’s most prominent entrepreneurial artists.

So what’s his big secret? “We mostly focus on writing a business plan, creating a marketing plan, securing funding, establishing lines of credit,” Fife says. “That, itself, could be considered innovative in the art world, where most people aren’t trained in the business fundamentals.”

“Artists always do badly with money,” admits Jennie Shortridge, a Shunpike client and co-founder of Seattle7Writers, a collective of published Pacific Northwest authors. “We just aren’t very good with spreadsheets and bank accounts and, frankly, we don’t always want to be.”

That’s where Shunpike comes in, offering two tiers of service for its financially challenged members. “Basically, we’re a service hub for all the back-office functions,” Fife explains. “Our mission is to handle all of that for them and let them spend their time doing what they do best, which is producing art.”

Shunpike’s first-tier program offers grant-writing services, tax-exempt 503(c)(3) status and consultation about fundraising, finance and advisory board development for a $100 annual fee and a 7 percent cut of revenue. The second tier, called the Partner Artist program, offers all of the above, plus assistance in bookkeeping, taxes, licensing, permitting, human resources, payroll and insurance. The same $100 annual fee applies, plus 10 percent of revenue.

Even in the shadow of the Great Recession, Shunpike appears to have no shortage of potential clients. A 2010 report by Americans for the Arts said Seattle is home to 4,370 businesses in the “creative industries”–museums, symphonies, architecture, advertising–employing more than 21,000 people.

When Fife joined as executive director in 2007, Shunpike’s annual budget was $400,000; today, it’s $1.4 million. About 55 percent of these funds come through donations by government agencies, corporations, foundations and individuals, he says. The rest comes from consulting fees and percentages of Partner Artists’ revenues. Shunpike, now in its 10th year, has about 115 Partner Artists on its roster.

Providing aid to nonprofits is Shunpike’s specialty, but the group also doles out advice to for-profit ventures. Katrina Toft, co-founder and owner of Two Ravens Studio in Tacoma, Wash., sought marketing and financial advice from Shunpike in 2010 when she and her business partners wanted to grow their metalworking business.

“Andy created a diagram for us, explaining how to get bank loans, address environmental concerns and go through the permitting process,” Toft says. “We also learned to be open to not just the standard methods of marketing. He gave us great advice on utilizing social media and venturing into Facebook.”

“It’s so important to learn business skills,” says Teresa Thuman, producing artistic director of the nonprofit Sound Theatre Company, a Shunpike Partner Artist since 2006. “We had no real structure when we started, so Shunpike essentially became our business office. They helped out tremendously with grant-writing, licensing and fundraising.”

Fife recommended that Sound Theatre eliminate overhead by renting out local theaters. He is also a champion of pooling artists into collectives and raising funds via online crowdsourcing, much the way Kickstarter works, with incremental PayPal donations.

“You might find other organizations that will help support your business, but no one else will support both your business and your artwork,” Thuman says. “There’s really no other organization like Shunpike.”

Soon that may no longer be true. Fife says he may try to export the Shunpike model. “The strength is that it’s a very local approach,” he says, “but there’s no reason it can’t be repeated in other cities.”

Written by Lance Hall, actor, director, creator of Launch Pad Casting Workshop and a participant in The IAE‘s inaugural class.

Since sessions at The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship started, we’ve been working with a lot of introspective discovery and self-reflection. In the past few weeks, we’ve begun to tie it all together. The layers and layers of light bulbs keep switching on. Here are a few things that stand out in my memory:

A part of the brainstorming activity.

If you’re like me, you’ve been a part of plenty of brainstorming sessions. This past month, though, we did a brainstorming exercise in which we actually made use of our personal characteristics. I’ve never done anything like this. Things like my Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, personal preferences, shortcomings and strengths all made it into the mix. It was really amazing to see how my personal identity could sharpen different ideas, create new fronts for personal growth, and reveal where my difficulties are going to lie.

We talked about money. It might seem painfully obvious in a school for entrepreneurship, but we didn’t talk about bookkeeping, budgeting, or anything like it. We worked with our own personal history with money. There were definitely some tears among us. I think all of us were surprised how deeply our financial heritage has affected who we are and how we act.

When we started at The IAE, we were told one of the biggest goals is to cultivate whole-brain thinking. The reason for this really hit me when we started talking about money in emotional terms. An entrepreneur has to balance analytical (left brain) activities with creative (right brain) processes. A big part of that is learning to navigate the numerical (left brain) aspects of capital, and master our emotional (right brain) connection to money.

Meet the artists of the IAE.

If you’re interested in careers in the arts, finding out more about the IAE, or just discovering one of the most innovative and essential ways we can get our economy back on track (come on, one of these has to concern you), come meet the IAE:

This is pretty interesting news for all of you out there with missions that have no funding sources- yet. All we need to do now is find out which foundations have missions clearly inline with our own…

What does the term Mission Investing mean? A growing group of foundations are increasingly thinking about their organizations as stewards of resources that can be applied to address some of the most challenging problems of their unique missions and program areas. The field of mission investing (MI) is making significant strides. Mission investing is another way for foundations to effect transformational change by using their long-term patient capital to invest in under-served markets.

“More Foundations Use Investment Assets to Achieve Their Missions.” Foundation Center Press Release 10/26/11. 

The number of community and private foundations using their investment portfolios to help achieve a social benefit is growing, a new report from the Foundation Center finds.

According to Key Facts on Mission Investing (see link below, 4 page PDF), which benchmarks for the first time foundations’ engagement with mission-related investment, one in seven of the foundations surveyed for the report are directing their assets to market-rate mission-related investments or below-market-rate program-related investments (PRIs). The report also finds that more than half the foundations making mission-related investments started doing so within the past five years, while 28 percent started to do so within the past two years.

By investing endowment funds with an eye to advancing their missions, these grantmakers — which together hold some 20 percent of all U.S. foundation assets — are extending the public benefit of their financial resources, the report argues. While all foundations are allowed by law to make PRIs, which generally yield below-market-rate returns and count toward a foundation’s charitable distribution requirement, market-rate investments that support a foundation’s programmatic goals do not count toward the distribution requirement.

In 2010, private foundations in the U.S. awarded approximately $46 billion in grants, while their assets totaled more than $600 billion. “Foundations are striving for greater impact,” said Steven Lawrence, the Foundation Center’s director of research and principal author of the report. “Mission investing puts foundation asset dollars to work in ways that have the potential to go far beyond the social impact of their grantmaking dollars.”

Click Here to Read a 2011 Keyfacts Report on Mission Investing

How can we turn our imaginations into productive creativity?  How can we use the arts to activate others imaginations and help facilitate the transform of them into creative productivity?

In my post Imagination, Creativity and Productivity I mentioned a long list of creative theorists who each have developed their own methodology for helping individuals and teams transform their imaginations into productive creativity. How can their ideas be applied, or further illuminate through an art form? In my post on October 10th I explored Min Basadur’s Creative Problem Solving Profile. In today’s post I will explore Edward deBono’s Six Thinking Hats.

About Edward deBono

Edward deBono, founder of The deBono Group,  is a leading authority in the field of creative thinking, innovation and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill.  Dr. de Bono holds an MA in psychology and physiology from Oxford, as well as a D. Phil (a research degree) in Medicine as well as a Ph.D. from Cambridge. He has held faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Harvard.  His instruction in thinking has been utilized by IBM, Prudential, Microsoft, Chick-Fil-A, BP,  Nokia, Siemens, Bosch, Quaker, Ericsson,  and many others.

Dr. deBono is also the founder of the World Academy of New Thinking™ (WANT).  ‘New Thinking’ means new perceptions, fresh alternatives, a change of emphasis and the generation and design of new concepts and ideas. The role of this Academy is specifically concerned with new thinking in conflict resolution, problem solving, economic development, education, health and most areas effecting daily life.

Dr. deBono has written over 70 book. Here is a partial list of books he has written:  New Think, Mechanism of Mind, Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, Serious Creativity, I Am Right-You Are Wrong, Parallel Thinking, Conflicts-A Better Way to Resolve Them, Water Logic, Simplicity, Teaching Thinking, New Thinking for the New Millennium, PO: A Device for Successful Thinking, and Future Positive.

Six Thinking Hats & The Parallel Thinking Process

In 1999 Edward deBono developed a creativity technique designed to facilitate the shifting of focused thought for creative thinking and innovation to emerge. A process, which he calls  Six Thinking Hats®,  is a parallel thinking process. Parallel Thinking®, also developed by deBono, is where each thinker puts forward his or her thoughts in parallel with the thoughts of others; without attacking the thoughts of others.

After all, when A and B come together, each with an idea, its normal for each to want to judge, or debate, the merits of the other persons idea.  Its human nature for it to be difficult for A and B to stand side by side and allow their ideas to remain parallel to each other, without comparison, synthesis or judgment, so each can be fully explored. The reason for this is because argument is the basis of what most consider normal thinking. The purest form of this type of thinking comes from our courts of law where the prosecution takes one side of the argument and the defense the other side. Each strives to prove the other side wrong. The “truth” is to be reached by argument.

While there is a place for argument, and while argument is a useful tool of thinking, argument is inadequate as the main and only tool of thinking. Argument lacks constructive energies, design energies, and creative energies. Pointing out faults may lead to some improvement but does not construct something new. Equally synthesizing both points of view does not produce a stream of new alternatives. As such, traditional argument is totally useless to construct an innovative design process. To begin to do this, according to de Bono, we must separate out all of the different aspects of our thinking about an idea.

So how do we do this?

Think of full-color printing. When the basic color separations are made, each basic color is printed separately onto the same sheet to give us full-color printing. In the same way, when we separate the modes of our thinking and then apply each mode to the same subject, we end up with full-color thinking on the subject.

With deBono’s Six Thinking Hat Method the thinker can separate their thinking into six clear functions and roles.  For example, if the thinker metaphorically puts on the yellow hat, he or she may turn up new ideas which may cause the thinker to change his or her mind about the value of the idea. Likewise, when asked to think about the idea wearing a black hat a thinker who began as a euphoric supporter for it may discover difficulties that reduce their euphoria. Each thinking role is identified with a colored symbolic “thinking hat.” below.

	The White Hat calls for information known or needed. “The facts, just the facts.” The white hat represents neutral and objective thinking, and is concerned with facts and information.
	The Yellow Hat symbolizes brightness and optimism. Under this hat you explore the positives and probe for value and benefit.The yellow hat represents sunny and positive thinking, and is concerned with what has worked in the past.
	The Black Hat is judgment or why something may not work. Spot the difficulties and dangers; where things might go wrong. Probably the most powerful and useful of the Hats but a problem if overused.The black hat represents careful and cautious thinking, and is sometimes referred to as the “devil’s advocate” hat.
	The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches and intuition. When using this hat you can express emotions and feelings and share fears, likes, dislikes, loves, and hates.The red hat represents the emotional view, which never has to be justified.
	The Green Hat focuses on creativity; the possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas. It’s an opportunity to express new concepts and new perceptions.The green hat is associated with creativity and new ideas.
	The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process. It’s the control mechanism that ensures the Six Thinking Hats® guidelines are observed.The blue hat represents the orchestration of the multi-hat thinking process.

Today in business, as elsewhere, there is a huge need to be constructive and creative. There is a need to solve problems and to open up opportunities. There is a need to design new possibilities, not just to argue between two existing possibilities. deBono’s Six Hats method allows for all sides of an issue to be fully explored. Adversarial confrontation is replaced by a cooperative exploration of the subject allowing for ideas to become creative productivity.

On Wednesday September 21^st, The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (IAE) opened its doors with 15 students ranging in age from 24 to 63 year of age. Our pilot class includes 3 fashion designers, 3 visual artists, 2 actors, 2 dancers, a chef, a musician, a skin care product designer, a recent Illinois International film festival award winner, and a fashion stylist who was just chosen by Clinton Kelly (TV’s What Not to Wear) as a consultant for his new retail venture The Perfect Fit.

Since school opened, IAE students have been working on the development of their emotional intelligence. A clear understanding of oneself, our beliefs and values, is essential to selecting the right idea to develop into a business as well as to be able to authentically communicate to others. For almost a year, my colleague Joyce Thomas, University of Illinois, and myself, along with other IAE faculty, have been working to build a highly interactive learning model for IAE students. Artists learn by doing so it was essential we were on our feet and experiencing the learning as often as possible.  Our approach to education has been very challenging to design. Especially because most classes in entrepreneurship, these days, are offered like a series of topic driven workshops and are not designed to deepen individual identity and build on one’s beliefs and values. Before our launch, IAE faculty were a little nervous about how well our students would buy into our learning style. Not to mention our belief that emotional intelligence building is a core building block to success as an entrepreneur. We certainly could envision students being unwilling to trust us, and each other, enough to engage in a very personal, yet highly interactive, learning style right from the start.

Our classroom is also an analog classroom. No cell phone or computers are allowed. Although we use lots of technology as teaching tools, we also worried how well this would be received. In today’s interruption driven world, we felt strongly that going back to a time when we could experience each other and truly listen was critical to creating a space to learn how to develop a shared language with others. As well as would help our students further develop their abilities to speak and write.

Since our launch, I think the biggest shift in our thinking is our renewed belief and understanding of just how hungry our students are for this kind of learning and training. And, ironically, running as an analog class has left students commenting how much they look forward to and value our time together.  My only hope is to find the resources we need to continue to build the IAE. I can no longer self fund this project. We must find a few foundations and corporations willing to step up to fuel us into self-sufficiency.  And yet, just recently a mid level manager from Chase Bank sat in on one of our classes and thought our artists, and what we were doing with them in the classroom, would help branch employees communicate and work more effectively. She left excited to help us pitch to Chase executives. We also have received interest to expand our school, through video conferencing, into both Princess Taghrid’s Institute for Arts and Crafts and Queen Rania’s Center for Entrepreneurship in Amman Jordan, as well as from someone who sits on a board for an art school in Sweden.

If you know someone who would benefit from our program, please let them know our early bird application deadline is December 15th.  We have already received a handful of applications for next fall. And if you know someone from a foundation or corporation that would be interested in funding our program, please share this post with them.  It’s time to innovate through artistry.  Our world simply needs more creativity infused in everything we do so we can restore America to all she can be. And it’s time for artists to contribute our soft skills to fuel growth and innovation around the world.

The IAE learning wall is a reduction of what our students believe is their most essential nuggets of learning to date.

Today, as the world mourns the loss of visionary leader Steve Jobs—responsible for creating Apple, the Macintosh computer, iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Pixar Animation Studios—is an ideal opportunity to reflect and grow as individuals.

 Eric Jackson recently published an article in Forbes called The Top Ten Lesson Steve Jobs Can Teach Us—If We’ll Listen. Points below are taken from that publication, but the explanations are mine, showing how they are directly relevant to artists. 

#1: The most enduring innovations marry art and science – Isn’t it beautiful that the first point addresses art? The products of Steve Jobs married cutting edge technology with beautiful design. Not to mention that his creations redefined the music industry.

Of course, a good part of what artists do is science. Learning to play Mozart on the bassoon is science. Training as a dancer and mastering water colors are both science. It only becomes art when you do something creative, personal, and life-altering.

#2: To create the future, you can’t do it through focus groups – When most businesses envision new products, they interview consumers to see what these folks want. But not Steve Jobs. He relied on his own inner compass.  The masses were unlikely to imagine the phone or music playing device of the future. But he could.

Most artists also have a focus group, whether they realize it or not. It’s made up of teachers, colleagues, family members, and friends, who all have their own ideas about how life should look, what career you should have, and which art you should create. But what if they’re wrong? Innovators find their own way. Following conventional wisdom is rarely the best solution.

#3: Never fear failure – Jobs got fired from the company he created. But that didn’t stop him from changing the world. Here is an incredible quote from his 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life…Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

While many artists view mistakes and failure as the enemy, perhaps we should do the opposite. Celebrate both successes and failures. This is a topic I addressed in an article called You Fail!!! But Are You Doing It Right?

#4. You can’t connect the dots forward – only backward – Also from the Stanford speech. His point here is that things don’t always make sense in the moment (a terrible car accident, getting fired, etc.). In the future, you’ll be able to see how these important events helped shape you, but not always in the moment.

History is taught moving forward through time at most schools, but that doesn’t reflect reality. Life works in reverse chronology. How could you possibly know what you’ll be doing in 25 years? We don’t even know what major event (good or bad) might occur tomorrow. While it’s imperative for artists to have a plan and a direction, be prepared to change just about everything if need be. It’ll make more sense later. Trust that life will work out, and don’t get in its way.

#5: Listen to that voice in the back of your head that tells you if you’re on the right track or not – Steve Jobs believed in creating his own destiny, even if that meant changing the world. Especially when it meant that. Jobs was about challenging status quo.

How about you? As an art maker, are you simply trying to fit into roles that have been pre-determined? Are you just a powerless character in the drama of the world? Or are you brave enough to rewrite the whole play?

#6: Expect a lot from yourself and others – Steve Jobs was a control freak and perfectionist. So are most artists I know. They have grueling expectations, always striving to reach the moon artistically.

But creatively and professionally, some of these individuals let themselves off the hook. They accept living as a “starving artist,” for example. They look for easy answers and traditional paths when it comes to career development, rather than devoting the same rigorous expectations to professional prosperity and making a difference.

#7: Don’t care about being right.  Care about succeeding – This quote comes from an interview after Jobs was fired by his own company, Apple.  It describes a phenoenon that plagues many artists. We want to play the “right” notes in the “right” way with the “right” people using the “right” format. But what if you do all those things and they still don’t lead to personal, professional, artistic, or financial success? Such dogmatic priorities often place focus in the wrong place. Make success your top priority. If you do that, the other details will work themselves out in the process.

#8: Find the most talented people to surround yourself with – Jobs did not create his empire alone. He sought the greatest talent available, and built a fortress with them.

Artists can do the same thing. Forget about beating out the competition. Befriend these great minds, become business partners, work together to build your kingdom.

#9: Stay hungry, stay foolish – This great quote is also from Jobs’ Stanford speech.

Have you already mastered your art? Are you too old to acquire new skill sets? Is it too late for you to leave a legacy? Or are lifelong learning, growth, exploration, and idealism as fundamental to your existence as breathing and eating?  

# 10: Anything is possible through hard work, determination, and a sense of vision – Jobs was not a god. Just a human being, like you and me and eveyone else. But he changed the world time and time again.

His primary weapon wasn’t technology, contrary to popular belief. (Many people use technology, but their impact is limited.)  It was imagination and persistence. Anything is possible. You, your art, and your vision can indeed change the world. How? Well, a great start is embracing the points above.

Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs. Thank you for changing our world, and for all the lessons your example continues to teach. You were an inspiration, master teacher, and the quintessential artist.

Check out David Cutler’s

THE SAVVY MUSICIAN: Building a Career, Earning a Living, & Making a Difference

“Hands down, the most valuable resource available for aspiring musicians.”

— Jeffrey Zeigler, Kronos Quartet

I read more business books than anyone I know, which is ironic because I can’t stand most of them.  That’s not to say I hate all business books — after all, I’ve written one — but 95% go on one of two lists: “if you don’t know this already, you should be working at the DMV” and “if you do these things, your company will become the DMV.”

A cynical view? I don’t think so.  Here’s why.

First, most business books use stories to cover over their complete lack of insight. This week, I read a galley of a book that I hope will never come out.  After some catchy anecdotes about hero CEOs, it advised, among other things, that leaders figure out what’s really important, then do those things. It went way out on a limb by saying that great leaders are remarkable at forming relationships.  And (are you sitting down?) the best leaders are honest when a strategy isn’t working.

Are you kidding me? How about we add that true leaders can dress themselves, use full sentences, and bathe before work.

Second, the stories themselves often highlight the wrong message. Here’s an example. I mentioned Zappos in a talk I gave, and Tony Hsieh, the CEO, was kind enough to endorse my work. Now I get lots of emails asking for an introduction to him. I almost never pass them on. Why? Because Tony, like me, is tired of repeating what no one ever hears: the Zappos story isn’t about Tony. It’s about a group of people that aligned on the same vision of what that company could become and pulled it off by sacrificing, working hard, and participating. If people copy only Tony’s actions, they won’t end up with a Zappos; they’ll end up bankrupt.

Business success isn’t a checklist, and that’s the implied message from many business books: do these things and you’ll be the hero. Business success is a dance: with the market, employees, investors, customers, landlords, and creditors — not to mention spouses and kids.

Third, most business books are air sandwiches: empty in the middle.  One of my mentors told me to read the first and last chapters of a book, because everything in the middle is either stories or takeaways so simple that watching Mr. Rogers is a better use of your time.  I’m too obsessive-compulsive to follow this advice, but in 95% of cases, it would be better if I had.

Business leaders need a reboot on the ideas that make organizations run. Is your time best spent reading business books, or talking with people with radically different ideas? Put down the business book and go interact with ideas that challenge you, frighten you, or piss you off.

People often ask me what the best business books I’ve ever read are.  Here’s my list: The Odyssey, Atlas Shrugged, and Ender’s Game.  None are about commerce or strategy. Read The Odyssey to understand character, purpose, and discovery.  Read Atlas Shrugged to clarify your own position on how the political economy should run.  And read Ender’s Game for how genius and leadership pull people in opposite directions. (Two of the three are well written — you can figure out which is the outlier.)

None of these books have takeaways, or to-do lists. None preach. They will make you think.

Anyone brave enough to venture into these waters with me?  What are your favorite non-business books that teach you a lot about business?

About Dave Logan
Dave Logan is a USC faculty member, management consultant, and the best-selling author of four books including Tribal Leadership and The Three Laws of Performance. He is also Senior Partner of CultureSync, a management consulting firm, which he co-founded in 1997.

Here is a list of 20 vocabulary words every (wanna’ be) entrepreneur should know- academic references included at no extra charge!

Academic Intellectual Entrepreneurship is a term coined by Bresler (2009) and stresses the cultivation of high impact research, teaching, and service, rich in creativity and education, unprecedented opportunities to expand the role of academics beyond traditional, often self-imposed boundaries, changing contents, evolving formats, expanding audiences (the role of academics plus entrepreneurism).

Corporate Entrepreneurship is defined as “the presence of innovation with the objective of rejuvenating or refining organizations, markets, or industries in order to create or sustain competitive superiority” (Covin & Miles, 1999).

Corporate Social Entrepreneurship is defined as “a process aimed at enabling business to develop more advanced and powerful forms of social responsibility(CSR)(Austin and Reficco 2009). It also infers a quest to forge a synergistic rather than competing blended value (Paine, 2003).

Creative Capital refers to the “combined assets of society that enable and stimulate its people and organizations to be innovative and creative” (Van Den Steenhoven et al. 2005 p. 11).

Creative Economy is defined as “the sum of economic activity arising from a highly educated segment of the workforce encompassing a wide variety of creative individuals– like artists, architects, computer programmers, university professors and writers from a diverse range of industries such as technology, entertainment, journalism, finance, high-end manufacturing and the arts” (Davis, 2006).

Creative Social Entrepreneurship aims to benefit the majority of society through the use of artistic know-how and methods (Sismanyazici-Navaie, 2009).

Impact Investing is defined as “actively placing capital in business and funds that generate social and/or environmental good and at least a nominal return to the investor” (Social Innovation Generation, n.d., p. 6).

Intellectual Entrepreneurship is a term coined by Cherwitz (2000) and stresses the goal of education citizen scholars.“Intellectual entrepreneurs, both inside and outside universities, take risks and seize opportunities, discover and create knowledge, innovate, collaborate and solve problems in any number of social realms: corporate, non-profit, government, and education. The aim of IE is to educate ‘citizen-scholars’ — individuals who own and are accountable for their education and who utilize their intellectual assets to add to disciplinary knowledge and as a lever for social good.”

Intrapreneurship “refers to employee initiatives in organizations to undertake something new, without being asked to do so. Intrapreneurship is an example of motivation through job design” (Social Innovation Generation, n.d., p. 4).

Moral Entrepreneurship is a term used by Howard Becker in 1963 surrounding the sociology of deviance to explain social rule creation and enforcement within the relationship between law and morality (Pozen, 2008). Pozen used the term in 1997 as a force to change society’s moral intuitions (Pozen, 2008).

Nonprofit Organizations are those that have a revenue model that relies “primarily on charitable contributions, public funding and foundation grants to support their programs and cover their administrative overhead” (Green Marketing, 2011).

Norm Entrepreneurship is a term introduced by John Mueller in 1993, and refined by Cass Sustein in 1996, that refers to the catalyzation of “norm bandwagons” resulting in small shifts leading to larger shifts leading to “norm cascades” resulting in rapid revision of a society’s prevailing norms (Pozen, 2008).

Policy Entrepreneurship refers to the orchestration (by a political actor or policy entrepreneur) of strategically timed, innovative, diligent, political action which promotes the mobilization of support for a policy idea (Pozen, 2008).

Social Activism is defined as yielding influence rather than direct action to advance the changes sought after. Though successful activism can lead to substantial improvements to existing systems, no new venture or organization is created in the act (Martin & Osberg, 2007, pp. 37-38).

Social Entrepreneurship is defined as “innovative activity with a social purpose in either the private or nonprofit sector, or across both” (Dees, 1988)(See similar definitions by Bornstein, 2004; Nicholls, 2006; Martin & Osberg, 2007; Light, 2007; Elkington & Hartigan, 2008; Ashoka, n.d.). A Social Entrepreneur innovates through creative revenue-generating solutions that solve problems in a creative way.

Social Enterprises are those that have revenue models that rely ” primarily on their earned income stream, and like any other company, if needed, takes loans, invites capital investments, forms partnerships etc. in order to expand its business activities” (Green Marketing, 2011). They are revenue generating social ventures.

Social Impact Management is defined as “a field of inquiry at the intersection of business practice and wider societal concerns that reflects and respects the complex interdependency between the two, and that focuses on how to manage this complex interdependency to mutual benefit of both realms” (The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, 2002, p. 2).

Social Impact Measurement is “the measurement and assessment of the effect of implemented activities on the social fabric of communities and the quality of life of individuals and families within communities” (Social Innovation Generation, n.d., p. 7).

Social Innovation “is an initiative, product or process or program that profoundly changes the basic routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of any social system (e.g. individuals, organizations, neighborhoods, communities, wholes societies)” (Social Innovation Generation, n.d.).

Social Service is distinguished from social entrepreneurship based on the outcome. A single outcome is social service whereas a social entrepreneurship outcome creates a “permanent new equilibrium” (Martin & Osberg, 2007. p. 37).

Appeared in Forbes, Written by Dan Schawbel, contributor

I recently caught up with Ryan Blair, who is a serial entrepreneur and author of the new book “Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain.” Ryan established his first company, 24-7 Tech when he was only twenty-one years old. Since then, he has created and actively invested in multiple start-ups and has become a self-made multimillionaire. After he sold his company ViSalus Sciences to Blyth in early 2008, the global recession took the company to the brink of failure resulting in a complete write off of the stock and near bankruptcy. Ryan as CEO went “all in” betting his last million dollars on its potential and turned the company around from the edge of failure to more than $150,000,000 a year in revenue in only 16 months winning the coveted DSN Global Turn Around Award in 2010. In this interview, Ryan talks about how he re-branded himself after being in a gang, the issues with the education system, and more.

How did you shake your criminal record and re-brand yourself?

I remember when I was working my way up in the first company that employed me, I used to have nightmares that one day they’d find out about that I had been in a gang, call me into the office, and fire me. In the beginning I didn’t talk much about what I’d been through. But eventually when I got to a point where I had established myself as a professional entrepreneur, I embraced my past, used it as part of my branding, and crossed over.

In this day and age people want authenticity. Now that the world is social, people know all about you. Assuming you decided to join humanity, that is. It turned out that as I started showing my true identity, so did the rest of the world. One of the reasons my company ViSalus is one of the fastest growing companies in the industry today is because we share our good, bad, and ugly. Like sharing a video of me playing a practical joke on one of my employees, for instance. As a result of embracing authenticity, I turned the company around from near bankruptcy to over $15 million a month today. Unlike our competitors, our distributors and customers know exactly who we are, and I’d say that corporate America has a lot of catching up to do.

What’s your take on the educational system? Will a college degree help or hurt your chances at starting a successful business?

As a product of Los Angeles’s public school system, in a state with the highest dropout rate in the nation (about 20 percent), I can tell you from personal experience that some of our brightest minds are being misidentified because of a one-size-fits-all learning environment. Because I had ADD and dyslexia I never got past the 9th grade.

I recall sitting with a career counselor in continuation high school, being told that I didn’t have the intellect or aptitude to become a doctor or a lawyer. They suggested a trade school, construction, something where I’d be working with my hands.

The irony is that today I employ plenty of doctors and lawyers. Would you rather be a doctor or a lawyer, or a guy who writes a check to doctors and lawyers?

If President Obama phoned me today and told me he was appointing me Educational Czar, I’d turn education into a business, a capitalistic, revenue driven system, creating a competitive environment where each school is trying to attract customers, based on quality of customer experience.

As an entrepreneur, having a college degree or getting classroom training won’t hurt your chances for starting a successful business, but it’s ultimately not necessary. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,” he makes a point that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to master a skill set at a professional level. That means experience, over traditional education.

What three business lessons did you learn from juvenile detention?

I learned a lot about business and life from my time spent incarcerated. I like to call these pieces of wisdom my Philosophies from the Jail Cell to the Boardroom. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that in Juvenile Hall, new guys always get tested. When I went in the first time, I was just a skinny little white kid and I had to learn fast. People will be bumping into you on the basketball court, or asking you for things, testing to see if you’re tough.

And everyone knew that if a guy let someone take their milk during lunchtime, they weren’t as tough as they looked. Soon you’d be taking their milk everyday, and so would everyone else. It’s the same for business, if you give people the impression that you can be taken, you will be.

Also, adaptation is the key to survival. In jail the guy who rises to power isn’t always the strongest or the smartest. As prisoners come and go, he’s the one that adapts to the changing environment, while influencing the right people. You can use this in business, staying abreast of market trends, changing your game plan as technology shifts, and adapting our strategy around your company’s strongest competitive advantages. Darwin was absolutely right — survival is a matter of how you respond to change.

The last lesson I got from jail is that you have to learn how to read people. You don’t know who to trust. It’s the same for business because a lot of people come into my office with a front. I have to figure out quickly who is the real deal and who isn’t. Based on that fact, I developed an HR system that I use when interviewing potential new hires that I call the Connect Four Technique. Yep, you guessed it. I make my future employees — and I have hundreds of them — play me in Connect Four.

Can everyone be an entrepreneur? Can it be learned or do you have to be born with a special gene?

No. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur. There are two types of people in the world, domesticated and undomesticated. Some people are so domesticated through their social programming and belief system, so employee minded, that they could never be entrepreneurs. And they shouldn’t even bother trying. The irony is that this is coming from a guy who teaches millions of people how to become entrepreneurs. I’m literally selling a book about becoming an entrepreneur, telling you that not everyone should read it.

To be an entrepreneur, you have to have fighting instincts. Are instincts genetic? I don’t think so, but you ‘inherit’ them from your upbringing. Now, if you’re smart you can reprogram your beliefs. But there are still some people that would rather watch other people be entrepreneurs, like the people in the Forbes “richest celebrity list” than take the time to reprogram themselves, and live their lives like rock stars, too.

Is there a need for business plans these days?

When you’ve really got the entrepreneurial bug, the last thing you want to do is sit down and write a business plan. It’s the equivalent of writing a book about playing the guitar before actually knowing how to play the guitar. You don’t know what your new business is going to be like. And just like a guitar, a business will have to be tweaked and tuned multiple times, and you’ll need long practice sessions and repetition, before you can get even one successful song out of it.

In my book “Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain,” I actually included a chapter called “I Hate Business Plans” where I talk about this. Most business plans that get sent to me, I close within seconds of opening them up because they are full of fluff and hype. A business plan should be simple, something you could scribble on a scratch pad. No more than three pages of your business objectives, expected results, and the strategy to get there. But the best business plan is one built from a business that is already up and running and that matches the business’s actual results.

The point is that you should be so obsessed with your business that you can’t sleep at night because that’s all you can think about. And that’s your ultimate “business plan.”

About Dan Schawbel

Dan Schawbel is the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC, a full-service personal branding agency, and author of “Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future.”

Written by W. Gardner Campbell

As I talk at colleges and universities across the country about the blogging initiatives I’ve led at the University of Mary Washington, Baylor University, and now at Virginia Tech, my audiences consistently ask about several issues. FERPA is one. Grading is another. But the fundamental questions have to do with the nature and value of the activity itself. What is blogging? Is it like an online journal? If so, how is a public journal of academic value? Should I give my students prompts? Will they think this is merely busy work? Should their blogs be about work done in specific classes, work done in several classes, work done outside of class, or all of the above?

These are all perfectly legitimate questions. And while I cannot always articulate my intuitions about the value of particular learning experiences or teaching strategies, I have come up with a conceptual framework that explains what I believe to be the core elements–and the essential worth–of a blogging initiative, either within a course or across an entire program. I’ve built the framework out of three imperatives: “Narrate, Curate, Share.” I believe these three imperatives underlie some of the most important aspects of an educated citizen’s contributions to the human record. And in my experience, blogging offers a uniquely powerful way of becoming a self-aware learner in the process of making those contributions.

“Narrate, Curate, Share” is the framework in place for the upcoming fall semester as the Virginia Tech Center for Innovation in Learning partners with Tech’s new Honors Residential College to bring 21st-century innovation to the tradition of residential learning with a program-wide blogging initiative. Our goal is to enrich each student’s individual learning, as well as to help the living-learning example of the Honors Residential College to influence and inspire the entire university. We wanted the rich individuality of each student’s voice to be able to sound within a networked conversation that could scale across many contexts. “Narrate, Curate, Share” gave us the framework we needed to conceptualize and articulate these goals.

Here’s how we’ve explained these three imperatives to the honors students themselves:

Narrate. Blogs are stories. Your posts tell the story of your learning. By telling that story, you’re actually reinforcing your learning. Research shows that when people “think aloud” about what they’re doing as they’re doing it, they remember the information longer and attain mastery faster. As you blog, think of yourself as a storyteller, and don’t overlook the details that make your story rich, exciting, and above all, your story. The story of your learning will include the work you’re doing in the classroom, sure, but it will also include the informal discussions you have outside the classroom as you interact with your professors, your fellow students, and with all the members of the Virginia Tech community–and beyond.

Curate. To curate your stories is to go up yet another “meta” level, where you think about the larger story of the life’s work you’re building as a student at Virginia Tech. To be a good curator is to take pride in the elements of your blog and to think about the way your larger story comes across to readers. Just as a good museum curator arranges exhibits to draw the visitor in and heighten his or her experience, the good blog curator thinks about how to shape his or her blog and its contents to add value and interest to the reader’s experience, and to the entire learning community. The result is a more comprehensive awareness of yourself as a learner and creator. You’ll also be exploring the transformative possibilities of becoming a true “digital citizen.”

Share. In Where Good Ideas Come From, Steven Johnson takes Pasteur’s maxim that “chance favors the prepared mind” and revises it for the 21st century: “chance favors the connected mind.” Sharing means finding and creating connections. It means creating a “serendipity field” that brings new opportunities for learning and creativity. Don’t just wait for the world to come to you. Look for creative ways to get the word out about your blog, about the blogs in your Colloquium, or your other courses, or your residence hall. Network thyself! See “Amazing Tales Of Openness” for examples of the wonderful things that can result. You’ll soon have your own amazing tales to contribute.

A Final Word. In his essay “How Blogging Changed Everything,” Scott Rosenberg challenges us to think anew about the purposes of education: “It’s a mistake to think of human creativity as a kind of limited natural resource, like an ore waiting for society to mine; it is more like a gene that will turn on given the right cues.” The Honors Residential College’s blogging initiative seeks to help you turn on that gene and lift your learning to a whole new level. So narrate, curate, and share. Participate in what Rosenberg calls “a new kind of public sphere, at once ephemeral and timeless, sharing the characteristics of conversation and deliberation.”

Your readers await!

About W. Gardner Campbell

W. Gardner Campbell is Director of Professional Development and Innovative Initiatives at Virginia Tech, where he also serves as an Associate Professor of English in the Department of Literature, Language, and Culture. Prior to his appointment at Virginia Tech, Gardner was founding Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning at Baylor University, as well as Associate Professsor of Literature, Media, and Learning in the Honors College. Before coming to Baylor, he was Professor of English at the University of Mary Washington, where from 2003-2006 he also served as Assistant Vice-President for Teaching and Learning Technologies. He has been involved in teaching and learning technologies for nearly two decades, including work at the University of San Diego and the University of Richmond, where in the fall of 2006 he was Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology. Gardner received his B.A. in English from Wake Forest University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Frye Leadership Institute (2005), was chair of the Electronic Campus of Virginia from 2006 to 2008, and has served on program committees for both EDUCAUSE and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. A member of the ELI Advisory Board from 2007-2011, Gardner currently serves on the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the New Media Consortium.

You can read Gardner’s blog, “Gardner Writes,” at http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1.

This list was posted on Don Griesmann Nonprofit Blog on 7/12, 2011

How can the arts grow outside into other sectors and strands of society?  One way is by finding new sources of funding from new sectors outside of the arts who can appreciate and understand the value we can bring to other subject matter.

• no fees
• open to all
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• user friendly
• timely

The Foundation Center has an excellent Guide to Funding Research for grantseekers that should be read by everyone, staff, consultant, volunteer or board member, starting out for the first or 30^th time searching for grants – http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/gfr/ According to the Foundation Center there were over $7.6 billion in grants given to 15,675 international recipients in 42,169 foundation grants. http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/maps/

1. ·  Grants.gov is an excellent source for timely notice of federal grants, sorted by opening or closing date over the past 7 days. It includes domestic and international grants. I suggest this should be a “favorite” if you are interested in federal grants because it changes regularly  http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=Search&dates=7&docs1=doc_open_checked
2. ·  Federal Grants Wire, a useful search tool for finding federal grants, government grants and loans. They currently index 2,481 federal grants and loans organized by sponsoring agency, applicant type, subject area http://www.federalgrantswire.com/
3. ·  Federal Business Opportunities (Fed Biz Ops) with 25,000 – 32,000 contract opportunities, some for nonprofits. This is not an easy site to navigate but if you are looking for business contracts rather than grants this where you can start https://www.fbo.gov/?s=home&tab=list&mode=list
4. ·  NonProfitExpert.com, detailed listing of grants and good information for grant seekers; review the categories listed on the left hand side.    http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/federal_grants.htm
5. ·  Jon Harrison and Michigan State University have a comprehensive list of funders alphabetized by subject http://staff.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/2sgalpha.htm
6. ·  Youth Grants for NPOs working  in that service area http://www.youthtoday.org/grants.cfm
7. ·  Rural Assistance Center has an excellent directory of foundations with funding links by topics, and links to state resources http://www.raconline.org/funding/funding_topic.php
8. ·  Common Grants material has a list of foundations that accept their universal grant application form. The list of foundations is in alphabetical order and is searchable by location, program type and beneficiary http://www.commongrants.com/participating-funders
9. ·  Meyer Foundation’s list about funding opportunities, outside Meyer, includes information on ways to strengthen nonprofit organizations, research about people and communities that Meyer cares about, and useful links for nonprofits and grantmakers
   http://www.meyerfoundation.org/resources/Other+Funding+Opportunities/
10. ·  FundsNet Services.com has excellent information about grants and you can browse through categories of grants from Animal & Wildlife Grants to Women Grants – http://www.fundsnetservices.com/
11. ·  Women’s Funding Network connects and strengthens more than 160 organizations that fund women’s solutions across the globe http://www.wfnet.org/the-network/member-directory
12. ·  Grant Makers in Health has partners listed and linked alphabetically -http://www.gih.org/link_no_cat2664/link_no_cat.htm
13. ·  Environmental Grantmaker Association has an alphabetical list and links – http://www.ega.org/funders/funder.php?op=list
14. ·  Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation funders are listed at the University of Wisconsin grants’ library http://grants.library.wisc.edu/organizations/animals.html
15. ·  California Polytechnic State University, listed by subject in alphabetical order -   http://www.calpoly.edu/~grants/3_FoundSubj.html
16. ·  Foundation Center has a list of the 100 largest U.S. grantmaking foundations ranked by the market value of their assets, based on the most current audited financial data in the Foundation Center’s database as of April 27, 2011. http://fdncenter.org/findfunders/topfunders/top100assets.html
17. ·  ChristianGrants.com features links by key words and by work projects including building campaigns, program support, outreach ministries and more http://www.christiangrants.com/
18. ·  National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources (NAEIR) features a catalog of donated merchandise for supplies http://www.naeir.org/
19. ·  A reader suggested – ScanGrants™ is designed to facilitate the search for funding sources to enhance individual and community health – medical researchers, social workers, nurses, students, community-based health educators, academics and others
    http://www.scangrants.com/

1. Canada’s CharityVillage has a section with a list of grantors in alphabetical order, searchable by categories http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/nonpr/nonpr17.asp
2. Canada funders can be found on FundsNet Services.com http://www.fundsnetservices.com/searchresult.php?sbcat_id=29
3. Nobel Peace Prize has a list of international foundations http://www.nobelpeaceforum.org/grantsandrelatedresources.htm
4. Grants from foundations aimed at United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other international funders at Fundsnet Services.com http://www.fundsnetservices.com/showcats.php?sbcat_id=10
5. Jon Harrison’s list of Women in International Development, a compilation of web pages of potential interest to NGOs seeking funding opportunities related to women in international development- http://staff.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/2wid.htm
6. The International Human Rights Funders Group has a grants tool designed to enable both grantmakers and grantseekers to search for human rights funders by several key criteria: areas of rights funding, activities supported and geographic focus at http://ihrfg.org/funder-directory-search
7. Grant Makers without Borders does not provide grants but does have an excellent directory of foundations and other organizations interested in international grantmaking http://www.internationaldonors.org/advicegs/index.htm
8. LGBTQ Funders Directory provides information on funders of organizations and projects working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) communities. All of the groups included in the directory have provided financial support, of varying types, to LGBTQ programs. http://www.lgbtfunders.org/seekers/directory.cfm
9. ChristianGrants.com features international opportunities with links by key words and by work projects including building campaigns, program support, outreach ministries and more http://www.christiangrants.com/
10. Grantmakers Online.com, an interactive database of world-wide funders, in Beta form, and a little clumsy but highly useful, http://www.grantmakersonline.com/