Concurrence, April 2016 by The Painted Sky

What Business Can Learn from the Arts February 2016, Volume 3

Concurrence

Concurrence, April 2016

Beyond Boundaries Welcome to the third instalment of ‘Concurrence’. Where we continue to explore on the theme of “What can businesses learn from the arts.” In our last two editions in 2015, we looked at some of the latest developments in this space, across diverse worlds like leadership development, corporate learning and education. We have asked experts and business leaders what they saw as essential areas of the convergence between these worlds, what values can be extracted from Arts-based thinking for businesses, and how these extrapolations can transform results and build value and shape behaviours. This time also we continue on the same journey. We spoke to Sudhindra V, design thinker extraordinaire, and the man in charge of IBM’s experience designing. He speaks to us on how creativity, inspired by the arts, in turn impacts design of products and services that win in the marketplace. Dr Samir Srivastava, Senior Lecturer (Organisation Studies and HRM) at the Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia writes on how to overcome the "I am not the Creative type" phobia. We explore how Arts is helping students learn science in the USA, by rethinking the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education system by adding an “A”—the arts— to add STEAM. We reprint an article by Amy Whitaker in Fast Company, on how Arts can help in Coding for programmers! One of the most interesting books I have read in the last month has been ‘The Eureka Factor’, in which John Kounios and Mark Beeman explain how insights arise and what the scientific research says about stimulating more of them. We look at the book in our ‘Book Review’ section. I am also delighted to launch a new column by my colleague Meghana on her personal journey in the world of creative thinking and expression. Overall, another edition of rich and diverse content. ‘Concurrence’ will soon change frequency and come out once in two months. We hope that we will continue to offer you articles of value and interest about the exciting world of arts, business and their concurrence. Happy New Year.

Anirban Bhattacharya Founder, The Painted Sky

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Contents Point of View

Anirban Bhattacharya: Arts Can Help Students Learn Science

4-10

Tête-à-tête

A Conversation with Sudhindra V

11-15

Point of View

Dr Samir Shrivastava: Conquering "I am not the Creative type" Phobia

16-18

Insight

Coding Is An Art - Software People Should Learn "Art Thinking"

19-25

Book Review

The Eureka Factor: Decoding the Aha Moments

26-28

My Journey

Meghana Rajeshwar: Have Work, Will Paint

29-32

Upcoming Events

Public Program: Design Thinking

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Arts Can Help Students Learn Science! Anirban Bhattacharya

Now this may sound ridiculous to many readers, but increasingly we are seeing data that supports this fantastic claim. Ever since we studied how medical schools like Harvard and Yale were using Arts-Based learning methods to build student skills and sensibilities (see ‘Concurrence’, April 2015: “Training The Eye: Art Education in Medicine and Management”), we have been keen to find out more about this exciting space of Art-Based Learning. In 2008, the DANA Arts and Cognition Consortium, a philanthropic organization that supports brain research, assembled scientists from seven different universities to study whether the arts affect other areas

of learning. Several studies from the report correlated training in the arts to improvements in math and reading scores, while others showed that arts boost attention, cognition, working memory, and reading fluency. Dr Jerome Kagan, an Emeritus professor at Harvard University and listed in one review as the 22nd most eminent psychologist of the 20th century, says that the arts contribute amazingly well to learning because they regularly combine the three major tools that the mind uses to acquire, store, and communicate knowledge- motor skills, perceptual representation, and language.  4

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5 Image: Â www.stemtosteam.org

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“Art and music require the use of both schematic and procedural knowledge and, therefore, amplify a child’s understanding of self and the world,” Kagan said at the John Hopkins Learning, Arts, and the Brain Summit in 2009. This is because “both scientists and visual artists rely on common process skillsdrawing on curiosity, asking questions, observing, seeing patterns, and constructing meaning”, as per Debby Chessin, associate professor of elementary education at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. She has been an active part of the new movement sweeping across the USA, where teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are discovering that by adding an “A”—the arts—to STEM, learning will pick up STEAM.

ARTS ADD “STEAM” TO STEM Over the last three years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Art of Science Learning to hold a number of conferences to better understand the links between art and science. “Students remember science learning situations that contain multi-sensory, hands-on activities or experiments,” which the arts can bring to science lessons, says Dawn Renee Wilcox, science coordinator for the Spotsylvania County School District in Fredericksburg, Virginia. “The arts are also useful for helping students make transitions and connections between science content or concepts through thought and expression.”

“Art and music require the use of both schematic and procedural knowledge and, therefore, amplify a child’s understanding of self and the world” “Allowing students to use artistic methods to show their understanding of a concept, event, or object will elicit a wider range of student responses and participation,” says Inez Liftig, eighth-grade science teacher at Fairfield Woods Middle School in Fairfield, Connecticut, and field editor for NSTA’s middle level journal, Science Scope. “To understand the nature and role of science, it is important to compare it with other areas of study to see similarities and overlaps and differences. Looking at the history and development of all subject areas shows how knowledge, STEM, and the arts are all part of society and reflect the society of different periods in history,” she explains. Liftig believes combining science and the arts “also lets students see how both of these have been and still are quests to examine and explain the world around us… Students see that curiosity, creativity, imagination, and attention to detail are traits common to artists/writers and scientists.” “The passions for science, mathematics, engineering, and art are driven by the same desire: the desire to discover the beauty in one’s world,” notes Virginia Malone, a retired senior science project director in Hondo, Texas. “Art is also integrated into technologies as engineers go from crude designs to finished products…from model T Ford to the latest concept car, we see the evolution of 6

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technology is as much about aesthetics of the product as its functionality.”

Worcester. Art of Science Learning faculty led more than 60 workshops, using the arts to help incubator participants (known as Art of Science Learning Fellows) learn and practice new ways to explore challenges, identify problems and opportunities; generate, transform and communicate creative ideas; collaborate on cross disciplinary innovation teams; and cocreate solutions with external partners.

Since they are the federal agency responsible for administrating STEM programs (for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), they learned more about the possible role of the arts, and decided to explore art-based learning of STEM. Indeed, they saw this as a likely new model for e d u c a t i o n . In a report “'An innovation incubator’”, modeled on Specifically, they r e l e a s e d stated that “an r e c e n t l y, business “incubators”, designed with the i n n o v a t i o n Harvey Seifter, i n c u b a t o r ” , help of "learning methodologies such as head of the modeled on NSF funded innovative methods to generate creative b u s i n e s s project and “incubators”, founder of the ideas, ideas for transforming one STEM designed with the Art of Science idea to others, drawing on visual and help of "learning Learning firm, methodologies such who has been graphical ideas, improvisation, narrative as innovative spearheading writing and the process of using innovative methods to the experiment, generate creative says that, "We visual displays of information for creating ideas, ideas for found a strong visual roadmaps." transforming one c a u s a l STEM idea to relationship others, drawing on between artsvisual and graphical ideas, improvisation, based learning and improved creativity narrative writing and the process of using skills and innovation outcomes in innovative visual displays of information for adolescents, and between arts-based creating visual roadmaps." learning and increased collaborative behavior in adults." Specifically: • The high school students who had arts-based learning showed THE RESULTS large and statistically significant Between October 2013 and January 2015, pre/post improvements in such the incubators brought together 305 STEM creative thinking skills as idea professionals, formal and informal range (13%), problem analysis educators, artists, business leaders, (50%) and number of solutions researchers, policymakers and students to generated (37%). In many cases, create, develop innovations in response to students who had traditional STEM-based civic challenges – water STEM learning actually declined resources in San Diego, urban nutrition in in these aspects of creative Chicago and transportation alternatives in 7

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•

thinking - so the overall • 120 days after the study, high differentials between arts-based school students who had artsand traditional learning was even based learning were 24% more more dramatic (idea range = 22%, likely to have been able to apply problem analysis = 121%, the learning to school, solutions generated = 43%). Thus, extracurricular, work or volunteer it appears as though arts-based activities, than students who had learning may be an effective way traditional learning. They were to "inoculate" learners against also 44% more optimistic in their the collapse of creativity that may belief that the training would sometimes accompany traditional prove helpful in those realms in forms of high school learning. the future. Arts-based learning had It also can help “Having students express their a far more students who powerful have previously understanding of science in multiple impact on the had difficulty in ways gives the teachers insight into collaborative STEM courses, behaviors of says Maureen what students understand and don’t adults than Sullivan, science, understand about science.” traditional art, and literacy learning, coach for the San based on Francisco, actual observed behaviors. California, Unified School District. The arts Examples from the final week of can give these students “a pathway for the study: arts-based teams success,” she explains. exhibited 56% more instances of empathic listening, 33% more Integration also benefits teachers. “Having instances of mutual respect being students express their understanding of shown, 119% more instances of science in multiple ways gives the teachers trust being demonstrated and insight into what students understand and 24% more sharing of leadership. don’t understand about science,” says All differences cited here are Donna Sterling, professor of science statistically significant. education at George Mason University in The innovation outputs of high Fairfax County, Virginia. school student teams who had “I think that it is important to arts-based learning showed 111% integrate everything into STEM lessons,” greater insight into the challenge, says Donna Barton of Cedar Hills a 74% greater ability to clearly Elementary School in Jacksonville, Florida. identify a relevant problem, a 43% “By integrating other curriculum content improvement in problem solving, areas, students not only are able to see and their innovations had 68% how science is important to aspects of more impact. All are statistically everyday life, but it also allows them the significant. 8

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opportunity for real-world application of science and math knowledge.”

INSPIRED USE OF ARTS

There are many excellent cases described at http://stemtosteam.org/. Megan Simmons and Amee Godwin, education program manager and director of strategic initiatives, at the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a non-profit research institute in Half Moon Bay, California, cite ISKME’s Sun Curve Design Challenge (http:// wiki.oercommons.org/mediawiki/ index.php/Sun_Curve_Challenge) as an example of incorporating design and creativity into science learning. Sun Curve, created by San F r a n c i s c o ’s I N K A B i o s p h e r i c Systems and inventor-sculptor Paul Giacomantonio, consists of a vertical hydroponic garden attached to a fishpond, along with a sculpture —“sculpture as a scientific laboratory,” explains Godwin. It serves as inspiration for student teams participating in the challenge, which asks them to design a working model for an affordable and renewable way to grow food. Sun Curve Simmons says students are “finding inspiration from nature” and incorporating green design and technology as they work to create a “beautiful, but functional” solution. They will share their ideas via videos, slideshows, sketches, and other artistic channels. Other ways to combine science and the arts abound, says Simmons. Students can

draw or act out a tree’s life cycle. They can write a poem or play about a scientific process, such as decomposition of leaves. Studying famous naturalists such as Darwin “shows how important their drawings and detailed field journals have been to the preservation and advancement of scientific thought,” notes Liftig.

Renee Wilcox challenged her students “to design and build a vehicle that could travel down a ramp in a straight line for at least 100 cm.” Her students created drawings of and wrote about their designs and presented their final products to their classmates in “commercials complete with 9

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advertising drama and student-created jingles.”

ARTS CAN HELP LEARN SCIENCE

At this point, the debate in America about art and science is coming to a conclusion: the disciplines very much need each other. Explaining the Universe: Why Arts Education and Science Education Need Each Other, author, scientist, and educator, Alan Friedman, said almost 10 years ago "I am a science educator who finds this story (of the Universe) deeply fascinating and profound." But most children do not know this story. “The solution is not just finding more good science teachers and developing good science curricula, but also encouraging more and better arts education." The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), was even more adamant when they issued a paper in 2010 called "Reaching Students Through the Arts,"

emphasizing how "Teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are discovering that by adding an "A" -- the arts -- to STEM, learning will pick up STEAM." Whether we call it STEM or STEAM is not that important really. What is important-crucially important-- is that the arts and art integration greatly enhance the learning process and give people the "new thinking skills" they need for the creative economy. Closer home, can Indian schools look at such novel ways to make science more appealing to students? We sure hope so.

"Teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are discovering that by adding an "A" -the arts -- to STEM, learning will pick up STEAM."

Sources: 1. http://www.artstem.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/09/ WhyArtEdandScienceEdNeedEachOther.pdf 2. http://scienceblogs.com/art_of_science_learning/2011/03/16/helping-students-relate-to-sci-1/ 3. http://www.artofsciencelearning.org/3rd-year-project-update-report/ 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-m-eger/arts-based-learning-of-st_b_8724148.html? ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in 5. http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=56924 6. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/07/11/artists-and-scientists-more-alikethan-different/ 7. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/08/22/from-stem-to-steam-science-andthe-arts-go-hand-in-hand/

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“Design is not a job skill, it is a life skill, one that touches every aspect of your life. “

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Tête-à-tête A conversation with Sudhindra V, Chief Design Officer India at IBM Interactive Experience, Digital Experiences Architect and Strategist

Concurrence: How has the last year been for IBM in India? What have been some significant achievements and milestones from a design perspective? Sudhindra: The last year has actually been one of the most significant years for the company. It has been truly transformational, and we have launched several initiatives to embed design as a culture in the organization. We have some distance to go, but the initiatives over the last year and a half have been a fantastic start. We have launched 20 studios around the world and are very excited about the way the future is shaping up for the largest experience design firm in the world.

(IXM) is poised for explosive growth. In a way, all the preparation of the last year or two is like the apparent chaos in an artist’s studio that precedes a great work of art. The kind of work we are planning is going to be transformative and as a consequence we will add more businesses, more clients, more people.

Concurrence: What are some strategies and tools adopted at IBM to promote Creativity and Innovation among its employees? Sudhindra: We are in fact very conscious of the way we plan to incorporate design into the culture of the organization. Three things will help us achieve this objective. First, hiring the right set of people, be it from leading design schools, design agencies or lateral hires with the desired skill set. Second, establishing the physical infrastructure. We already have 20 studios and we plan to scale that up to a lot more

Concurrence: With this in mind, how do you visualize 2016 rolling out? Sudhindra: It’s going to be tremendously exciting. The market conditions are conducive and we intend to capitalize fully on this opportunity. IBM Interactive Experience 12

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soon. We will also hold design workshops in these studios, not just for our employees but also for clients. Third, a wellestablished design thinking framework. We are very clear that design thinking will be a core focus for the organization and are confident that we have the right ingredients to make that happen.

Concurrence: How would you define design? Sudhindra: Design is not a job skill, it is a life skill, one that touches every aspect of your life. I believe that design is an attitude. When you’re a designer, you’re a leader; you’re creating a world, one that doesn’t exist yet. But design has also become a much-abused term. I believe designers should take the responsibility to make sure the essence of design is retained.

Concurrence: How do you achieve that fine balance between aesthetics and functionality? Sudhindra: People mistake design for a beautiful screen, when it really goes so much beyond that. Yes, a product needs to be aesthetically pleasing, but equally, or more important is functionality. But like Steve Jobs said, the most important question to ask is, how does this product change my life? This goes well beyond both aesthetics and function. A phone might have a beautiful screen, and work well enough, but for a mother calling up her child’s school in a panic, what role does it

play in her life? Does it enable, or does it hinder? Companies that have been able to understand this vital aspect have been enormously successful.

Concurrence: What are the elements of good design, in your opinion? Sudhindra: First, and foremost is peoplecentricity. As a designer, I want to design and then get out of the way. The focus should remain on the customer and what he needs. Second, design is iterative. There is no such thing as the best design, because a fantastic product today will be redundant tomorrow. The most effective design is what works well, for that moment. Third, it is important to recognize that design is not an output, but a process.

Concurrence: That is absolutely true. Design is a process, and a creative one at that. In your view, how does creativity help an organization evolve, both for business sustenance and growth? Sudhindra: I recall this study that was conducted a couple of years ago. The CEOs of several large companies were asked what they thought was the most important ingredient for success. The surprising answer across the board was c r e a t i v i t y. E v e r y o r g a n i z a t i o n h a s constraints, but it is these constraints that birth true creativity. They say that even an iconic product like the Volkswagen Beetle 13

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Concurrence: We are keen to explore how learning from the world of the arts and the process of the artist can benefit businesses across the world. In your opinion, what are some key areas where you see businesses learn from the world of arts and the artists? Sudhindra: Art has preceded design for thousands of years, if you go back to the first cave paintings made by man. And while it has inspired design, art has always been very individualistic. Art is not created with the intent to please and in its purest form, is the expression of the artist. Design, on the other hand is engineered to meet an objective. If design is the solution, art inspires that solution. As a designer, you

want engineering solutions that can evoke emotion, like only the most powerful art can. A good example of this are the new robots, which though engineered, take an

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was born out of constraints. It helps connect the dots, and in a world with increasingly scarce resources, helps generate previously unseen solutions. Predictability has s u ff e r e d , a n d 2 0 - y e a r e c o n o m i c forecasts are no longer viable. In t h i s environment, creativity has become more relevant than ever before. A lot of companies have realized this, and are attempting different ways to spark creativity and move away from the traditional focus on process. I have tried a few experiments myself, and they have worked wonderfully to create energy in my teams.

art form. Usability is important of course, but at times that need not be the most important thing; desirability is. A violin is not easy to use, but the quality of the experience it gives makes it worth the effort. If you think only as an engineer, you create a product, but if you think like an artist, you create an experience. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to believe I am an experience artist.

If you think only as an engineer, you create a product, but if you think like an artist, you create an experience. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to believe I am an experience artist.

Concurrence: What are your expectations from organisations like The Painted Sky, that promote ArtBased Training Initiatives? How can 14

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they improve their oﬀerings and training outcomes to be more relevant in the current scenario?

want my guests to look at the time when they are with me, but just focus on having a good time. It has worked wonderfully.

Sudhindra: I am very excited about Concurrence: What have been your companies like The Painted Sky that are key learnings, being both associated poised exactly at the intersection between with the world of arts and leading a business and art. A lot of people don’t even know about these companies, so I’d say highly creative organization? the primary responsibility is to educate and Sudhindra: Leadership, for one. I am a spread awareness about what you do, and more empathetic leader. I am at ease in the possibilities of it. The second, is setting any environment and can adapt to new standards and benchmarks. The third, is situations. I have led really large teams and staying true to your I believe I have core – being artbeen able to based, because that Design has taught me to see the person, u n d e r s t a n d is the real people better and the human being behind the role. differentiator. If I were represent them to draw a design a p p r o p r i a t e l y. parallel, your work Most important of has to affect people on three levels – all, I have learnt to not just deal with visceral, behavioural and reflective, i.e., it ambiguity, but embrace it. Design is also has to work for clients, it has to tell a story, intensely humbling; regardless of how and it has to move people. successful your last product has been, you have to be willing to go back to the drawing Concurrence: Finally, Sudhindra, the board and start all over again.

man. With a lifetime in design, creativity has been a core facet of your p r o f e s s i o n a l l i f e . Ho w h a s t h i s impacted you as a person? Sudhindra: It’s been life changing. I am more evolved as a person, more empathetic. I am able to think broad, and think big. Family and friends say they seek my opinion because I am able to connect the dots. A colleague once requested me to give a presentation on her behalf because she said I was able to explain it in human terms, and I think that has been the real transformation for me. I don’t see people for the roles they play, but for the human behind it, and that’s an art. People with a design mindset also have it spilling over into their homes. For example, I don’t have a clock in my living room because I don’t

Sudhindra V is Chief Design Oﬃcer India at I B M I n t e r a c 8 v e E x p e r i e n c e , D i g i t a l Experiences Architect and Strategist. A People Leader, he is an advocate of Emo8onal Design and is passionate about aesthe8cs and usability. His interests include exploring and developing interfaces that shape behavior and habits and that enhance the quality of everyday life.

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Image credit: www.play.google.com

Conquering "I am not the Creative type" Phobia Dr Samir Shrivastava

I must confess that I was stumped when my South Africa-based corporate trainer friend, Rajni Nair asked me to share my thoughts on "How Business can learn from Arts." She gave me a 1000-word limit and left me wondering how to approach the task. But now, when I pause to think about what Rajni wants me to do, I realise that examples of art influencing the world of business are all around me. For instance, there is growing literature on the influence of design thinking on business. Then there is the famous anecdote about how Steve Jobs' exposure to the art of calligraphy profoundly influenced his thinking and

ultimately took industrial design to new heights. More recently, one notices that scholars have been studying electronic games to generate insights on intrinsic motivation and work design. Indeed, the business world has gained a lot from the arts in general, and the creative arts in particular. Sometime ago, while preparing for my class on "Creativity," I had come across a TED Talks lecture by David Kelly, the founder of the highly influential US design firm, IDEO. In that talk, David described how an insensitive school teacher 16

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destroyed the creative urges of a thirdprimes one to undertake an impending task grader and probably gave the child a longwith confidence. lasting creativity phobia. Later, David went Assume that your aim as a corporate on to meet Albert Bandura(AB), a trainer is to convince a bunch of cynical psychologist who had discovered a method executives that they are all highly creative to cure people of their phobias. Thanks to and that they could collectively produce an AB, people petrified of snakes would find oil painting (or a sculpture or whatever) that soon themselves taking snakes into their would command a $10,000 price tag in the laps. How could AB achieve this? The commercial art market. Let us now see answer was in the application of his notion how one might apply one's knowledge of of "self-efficacy." I will devote the balance self-efficacy to this art-based training of my thousand words to this notion. An intervention. understanding of the theoretical principles that underpin self-efficacy should come in If such an exercise has run before, it would handy to corporate trainers as they design make sense to show video clippings of their art-based training interventions. As people working in a similar workshop and David Kelly their end product. observed in his Even if an exercise is talk, his being run for the first Self-efficacy may be defined as one's experience time, it would pay belief in one's ability to achieve heading IDEO dividends to share had also taught evidence of how a whatever it is that one sets out to him that people group of amateurs achieve. really could be mastered some skill cured of their fear that they thought was of not being beyond them. The creative. He implied that he too, through recommendation just made, of course, trial and error, had stumbled upon the pertains to the fact people can learn from principles of self-efficacy. observing others. However, the most potent contributor to self-efficacy tends to Self-efficacy may be defined as one's belief be progressive mastery. The trick is not to in one's ability to achieve whatever it is that initially expose people to anything that one sets out to achieve. People increase could destroy their confidence. This implies their self efficacy through four ways: (i) taking baby steps -- tasks or exercises Progressive mastery: doing something ought to be made progressively difficult. themselves and gradually becoming better Ideally, the executives could be tasked to at it; (ii) Learning through observing others: make prototypes and gradually master the seeing that folks similar to themselves had relevant techniques in the initial sessions. actually managed to achieve the goal in In effect, AB's work tells us that at times it question; (iii) Receiving verbal affirmation: can be counter-productive to throw people words of encouragement from a in the deep end. knowledgeable and trustworthy source tend to be beneficial; and (iv) Emotional Furthermore, at each stage, it would be arousal: a positive gung-ho mood that useful to get an expert to provide honest and constructive feedback to the 17

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executives. As noted above, people do respond to receiving verbal affirmation. Finally, before the executives get to work on their "commercial" art project, they could be shown evidence of what a previous project managed to achieve. For example, an auction result that fetched a

The work done in the area of selfefficacy and at IDEO suggests that there is a creative spark in each of us. handsome amount for a charitable cause could be highlighted. Articulating a larger cause to emotionally fire up executives for their impending task should work. Once the artwork gets completed, the executives could be de-briefed. In all probability they would be highly receptive to the trainer in identifying the four self-efficacy enhancing techniques that were used to produce the desired goal. The aim of course would be

to convince the executives that the techniques could be used to generate a creative solution under virtually any context. Interestingly, AB's work has been used to improve student performance in primary and secondary schools, control risk-taking behaviours of AIDS patients, improve athletic performance in the sports arena, and so forth. The work done in the area of self-efficacy and at IDEO suggests that there is a creative spark in each of us. In the main, we need some hand-holding in the initial stages and words of affirmation. What better way than an art-based training project to help people from the business world discover this powerful truth? Such a journey of self-discovery can not only do wonders for the bottom line of a firm, but it can also produce self-confident individuals who are unafraid to tackle big challenges across all walks of life.

Dr Samir Shrivastava is a Senior Lecturer (Organisa5on Studies and HRM) at the Faculty of Business and Law, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Prior to joining Swinburne's Faculty of Business & Enterprise, Samir was a postgraduate fellow at Bond University. He had earlier served in the Indian Army as an infantry oﬃcer for over 11 years and also freelanced as a management consultant. Samir has taught across a range of subjects including Organisa5onal Behaviour, Strategy (Capstone unit), Human Resources Management (HRM) and Entrepreneurship. He currently oﬀers a postgraduate course in Strategic Human Resource Management. Informed by systems thinking, Samir is interested in developing and tes5ng theore5cal frameworks that would allow one to bridge the macro-‐micro divide in the HR and organisa5onal behaviour area in general, and the organisa5onal learning area in par5cular. Samir's secondary interests lie in organiza5onal jus5ce and organisa5onal responses to accidents and disasters. Samir's work has been published in journals such as Human Rela5ons, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Human Resource Development Interna5onal, and Journal of Management & Organiza5on.

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Fast Company

Coding Is An Art - Software People Should Learn "Art Thinking" The tech world is being inundated by design gurus preaching "iteration!" But thinking like an artist can be more profound for programmers—and more natural. Amy Whitaker

If you have ever not walked in on someone using an airplane bathroom, you are familiar with the work of David Kelley who, in his first job at Boeing, created the Lavatory Occupied sign—and then went on to be a pioneer in the field of design thinking. Design thinking is a flexible and iterative, almost scientific methodology that adapts the stages of product design— observation, analysis, planning, and testing —into a framework for solving problems in

any field, ensuring that things are usable, and bathrooms stay private. We all know about design thinking and its value in software. But there’s another kind of thinking no one talks about—artistic thinking. If design thinking asks, "how can we do it better?" art thinking asks something fundamental: What is possible? Design thinking values empathy with users —it’s how a company like Boeing rapid19

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prototypes better planes. Art thinking comes first—it’s right there with the Wright brothers as they crash-land, figuring out whether flight is even possible.

Design Thinking vs. Art Thinking Designers usually begin with a problem to be solved. As Tim Brown, one of Kelley’s cofounders in the design firm Ideo, wrote in the Harvard Business Review in 2008, design thinking is "a creative humancentered discovery process… followed by iterative cycles of prototyping, testing, and refinement." In the same way that entrepreneurs are asked what pain point their product addresses, designers are asked what solutions they can find.

Art and design thinking can go hand in hand, offering rigor in a Q&A form. But leading from questions shifts the perspective—from an external brief to an internal compass. It allows people to bring their whole selves to work, to contribute from a place of authenticity and selfknowledge. Art thinking embraces the possibility that any of us might reinvent the world, not just make it incrementally better. For software builders who can effect change at massive scales, this way of thinking is especially powerful.

Redefining Art To Include Software

The German philosopher Martin Heidegger published a 1947 essay called "The Origin of the Work of Art" in which he grappled with Although the design defining art as a A work of art is something new process can be full of category. To give a "eureka!" moments and sense of how hard that in the world that changes the true contributions to is to do, Heidegger world to allow itself to exist. how we all live, what it worked on the essay misses from art thinking from 1935 until 1960, is a comfort with the and only stopped possibility of failure. In design thinking, you because he died. The definition that I implicitly believe a solution is possible. In would borrow from Heidegger’s essay is art thinking, you are leading from questions this: —trying to ask the biggest, messiest, most important questions, even if you are not A work of art is something new in the world sure you can answer them. Accepting that that changes the world to allow itself to you might fail actually frees you to fumble exist. inelegantly, to learn, even to waste time. Even if you move forward unpredictably in What that means is that if you’re at point A, fits and starts, you stand a greater chance you’re not going to point B. You’re of the brilliant breakthroughs that create instantiating point B. Focusing on solutions rather than meet demand. Art thinking finds the best outcome in the Point A world. created the first iPhone; design thinking Focusing on questions creates a new made it a manufacturable, cultural world, in a large or small way. phenomenon. 20

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“Design thinking is a creative humancentered discovery process… followed by iterative cycles of prototyping, testing, and refinement.” - Tim Brown

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Things To Remember For Coders Deep In The Weeds Watching people invent point B worlds can create tricks in perception where—because they have created a new world—we forget how uncertain the work was when they started at point A. It is easy to think other people’s creative work was always there, a foregone conclusion. Of course the Beatles wrote those songs and the Wright brothers invented flight. The outcomes seem almost predetermined. In 1967, Edward Jones and Victor Harris published a paper called "The Attribution of Attitudes" in The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. In it they described a bias in perception so acute they dubbed it a fundamental attribution error. We have a tendency to look at other people’s behavior as fixed and our own as situational. We think, that guy’s a jerk, but I’m having a bad day. When looking at other people’s creativity, it is very easy to think, that guy is a creative genius, and I am stuck.

When you are inside your own creative process, you are really in the weeds. Everything is subjective and changeable. But if you’re looking at other people’s creativity, it is a fixed external reality.

When you are inside your own creative process, you are really in the weeds.

It is easy to think other people’s creative work was always there, a foregone conclusion. Of course the Beatles wrote those songs and the Wright brothers invented flight. The outcomes seem almost predetermined. Everything is subjective and changeable. But if you’re looking at other people’s creativity, it is a fixed external reality. You have a view of their work from 30,000 feet, after the fact of its creation. Forgetting that their process was difficult and uncertain can discourage you from embracing that process yourself. Imagining that other people are also in the weeds humanizes them. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “We do not know today whether we are busy or idle. In times we thought ourselves indolent, we have afterward discovered, that much was accomplished and much was begun in us. All our days are so unprofitable while they pass, that 'tis wonderful where or when we ever got anything of this which we call wisdom, poetry, virtue. We never got it on any dated calendar day.” It is easy to forget the delicacy of creative breakthroughs. It is easy to imagine that they happen only for the hardest working person hunched over the chemist’s bench, or for the most creative person having a Don Draper three-martini lunch. Working life and leisure are not as separate. And discovery of the new world is not as mappable. The stories of Whitfield Diffie and Thomas Fogarty illustrate this point. 22

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Take A Whole-Life Approach To Innovating Whitfield Diffie is the mathematician and computer scientist who invented publicprivate key encryption—which is to say Whitfield Diffie enables secure transactions and some modicum of privacy on the Internet. This idea of splitting the key, of combining your private password with a public key to unlock access, came to him not while he was in a S i l i c o n Va l l e y research lab but while he was housesitting for his mentor. He had the idea while he was walking into the kitchen to get a Coke. He was prepared for the insight—by his self-taught tour driving cross-country in a Datsun 510 scouring libraries for books on encryption and taking a job in the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford. But in the moment, he was neither slaving away nor praying for insight. In fact, he had nearly given up hope that he would do anything of value. Diffie’s wife, Mary Fischer, said that the night before his breakthrough, "He was telling me that he should do something else, that he was a broken-down researcher." The insight would still take a longer process to refine, over many months working with his collaborator Martin Hellman. But the insight came to the original and prepared mind of a man whose

friends joked he had had "an alternative lifestyle since the age of 5." As Steven Levy wrote, "at one time, it looked like Diffie might slip into obscurity as an eccentric hacker who never made much of his genius for math and his laserfocus mind." But then Diffie came up with "the most revolutionary concept in encryption since the Renaissance." Another example is Thomas Fogarty, who is credited with pioneering non-invasive surgery. In the 1960s, Thomas Fogarty invented the balloon catheter. It is a device that enables a simple cardiovascular surgery. It is still used over 300,000 times each year and has saved an estimated 20 million lives. Fogarty invented it when he was in high school. He was a self-professed juvenile delinquent who had to be either "busy or supervised." At the age of 13, he was given a part-time job in a hospital solely because hospitals were exempt from child labor laws. He saw a problem: At the time, if a patient had a blood clot, the surgeon would open up the length of the artery to remove it. Many patients died. Many others had to come back for amputations. So he went home and tried to figure out a better way. It wasn’t just that he invented a better device; it was that he changed the surgical paradigm. People thought back then that "the bigger the incision, the better the surgeon." To make the device, Fogarty had to attach a vinyl catheter to the finger of a latex 23

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glove. But no glue existed then that would make them adhere. So he tied them together with knots instead. The only reason Fogarty knew how to tie knots was that he used to cut school by jumping out the window to go fly fishing. The skills and experiences from his leisure life made his medical breakthrough possible. The engine was not his expertise but his curiosity. Art thinking represents this kind of wholelife approach, despite the pressures toward efficiency or the psychological desire to know something will succeed.

Freeing Yourself From "Productivity" The main, paradoxical gift of art thinking is its freedom from productivity. Wasted time might be exactly the lateral move that opens up the field of play. Roger Bannister, the runner who famously broke the fourminute barrier in the mile, actually nearly gave up and went away on a hiking trip with friends just before his times improved.

At its worst, art thinking provides a cover for mediocrity and laziness because no outcome is required. But at its best, it can create the openness and stability from which true, and often unexpected, breakthroughs can occur. Art thinking is not a world of quick wins and assured success. You may not come up with the best solution right off the bat. You may have to wean yourself off of the

constant need for external validation, which can be terrifying in culturesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;corporate, academic, or otherwiseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;where advancing or keeping your job is based on exactly that sense of meeting outside goals and expectations. At its worst, art thinking provides a cover for mediocrity and laziness because no outcome is required. But at its best, it can create the openness and stability from which true, and often unexpected, breakthroughs can occur. Artistic process requires leaning in to an almost existential uncertainty. And restlessness in the face of uncertainty is a human problem. Everyday life offers a master class in how to maintain attention and intention in the midst of flashing message lights, constant breaking news news, expectations of instant feedback, and crippling administrative process or days of meetings. It is hard to stay open to broad questions, not just quick wins. As Tim Brown writes, "We believe that great ideas pop fully formed out of brilliant minds, in feats of imagination well beyond the abilities of mere mortals." We are seeing that work from the outside, without the messy failures and weedy false starts. The myth of artistic genius is a hardy category, but usually a fictional one.

Six Ways to Apply Art Thinking 1. Schedule Studio Time. If outcomes are uncertain, the discipline is in the process. The goal is simply to cordon off protected time. Google 24

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20% time is a process goal, out of which came AdSense and Gmail. 2. C o o r d i n a t e . I n s o m e s m a l l companies, teams of computer programmers often report out to each other at day’s end, just to share what they are working on and to hold themselves accountable. Often, work is lessened. One person has already written a portion of code and can share it. For art thinking, managers could think of monthly meetups as the equivalent of an artschool pin-up. 3. Prove the Rule by Disproving it. If art thinking has the risk of failure, then embrace failure as a brainstorming tool. What are the biggest, most important, most relevant questions that you believe certainly that you cannot answer? How can this list help you arrive at the big question you do want to work on? Art thinking and game theory converge. 4. Go Off the Grid. In one of his workshops, the stress-reduction guru and doctor Jon Kabat-Zinn draws nine dots on a blackboard—a 3x3 square. He then invites anyone in the room to connect the dots using only four straight lines. The way to solve the puzzle is to go outside the confines of the original question, to draw broad sweeping lines that extend far outside the corners of the square. In any meeting or work, when you are most driven to conclusion, ask yourself the question you are trying to answer. You may have articulated the question with assumed limitations, like trying to draw lines inside the space of a box. The

pause lets you realize the actual question is bigger. 5. D e s i g n a t e p r o d u c e r s . H u g h Musick, longtime associate dean at the Institute of Design in Chicago, makes a case for the category of the "producer." A producer is a person who midwifes the creative idea into the practical world. Designating one team member as the producer frees the rest of the team to explore the unworkable big risk, big reward space. A department can have a producer role, or in a strategic review planning session, team members can take turns acting as the producer or go-between in bluesky and budget-planning modes. 6. Cultivate a whole-person culture. A fraction of now-famous artists— and a handful of now-famous CEOs —were nearly kicked out of art school, or fired from early jobs. Creating space and acceptance for others to bring their full creative potential to work—navigating shame and resilience, as in the work of Brené Brown—makes it easier to keep the Whitfeld Diffies and the Thomas Fogartys engaged in the team instead of making balloon catheters at home after work. We will always want tools for solving problems. We will always strive to work hard and be productive. But we must also leave space for the moment when truly great ideas strike. As Whitfield Diffie said of his famous invention: "I went downstairs to get a Coke and I almost lost it. I mean, there was this moment when—I was thinking about something. What was it? And then I got it back and didn't forget it." 25

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Book Review

The Eureka Factor: Decoding the Aha Moments

“Eureka!” As every schoolchild knows, Archimedes was settling back in a warm bath when he noticed the water level rising. In one microsecond, he had solved the problem of how to determine the purity of a knobbly gold crown that the king had sent him by measuring the amount of water it displaced, and thus computing its volume and density. So he leapt out of the bath naked and ran off down the Smyrna waterfront shouting: “Eureka! I have found it!” In The Eureka Factor, neuroscientists John Kounios and Mark Beeman give many other examples of this kind of lightning bolt of insight, but back this up with the latest brain-imaging research. Eureka or aha moments are sudden realisations that expand our understanding of the world and ourselves, conferring both

personal growth and practical advantage. Such creative insights, as psychological scientists call them, were what conveyed an important discovery in the science of genetics to Nobel laureate Barbara McClintock, the melody of a Beatles ballad to Paul McCartney, and an understanding of the cause of human suffering to the Buddha. But these moments of clarity are not given only to the famous. Anyone can have them.

Eureka or aha moments are sudden realisations that expand our understanding of the world and ourselves, conferring both personal growth and practical advantage.

And that is what is so delicious about these “aha!” happenings - that they arrive without the slightest sweat or toil, usually completely 26

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formed. Paul McCartney woke up one morning with a tune in his head. He jotted it down, played it on the piano, added a few words and there was Yesterday. “If you’re really lucky, they just arrive and you kinda just write ’em down,” said Sir Paul.

what the relationship is between insight and intuition, and how the brain's right hemisphere contributes to creative thought. One of the most telling examples Kounios and Beeman give is of an American fireman called Wag Dodge. He was leading a team of 15 fighting a blaze which they, suddenly, had to try In a book perfect for readers of Charles and outrun. The fire was moving too fast for Duhigg's The Power of Habit, David them, so Wag stopped, took out a match and lit Eagleman's Incognito, and Leonard Mlodinow's the dry grass ahead of him. When the grass Subliminal, the cognitive neuroscientists who had burned through, he lay down in the ashes discovered how the and was saved. brain has aha moments Thirteen of his —sudden creative comrades died. Things like rewards and deadlines insights—explain how The solution was they happen, when we encourage analytic thought but are the known to the Plains need them, and how Indians but not to we can have more of the Fire Service. A enemy of insight, while daydreaming them to enrich our lives sudden insight had and fantasising all prime the pump. and empower personal saved him. Using and professional MRI scanners for a success. series of cognitive problems has revealed some areas of the brain In The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman work when we consciously analyse a problem, explain how insights arise and what the while other areas light up when we have a scientific research says about stimulating more “eureka” moment. Kounios and Beeman of them. They discuss how various conditions identify several stages of insight. First there is affect the likelihood of your having an insight, an impasse, next a diversion and finally when insight is helpful and when deliberate illumination. Things like rewards and deadlines methodical thought is better suited to a task, encourage analytic thought but are the enemy 27

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of insight, while daydreaming and fantasising all prime the pump. The true value of this book lies in the practical, research-based tips it offers readers in order to create more moments of insight in their own lives. For instance, did you know that sensory deprivation is helpful in problem solving? (In other words, when you get stuck—turn off the lights! Better yet, take a shower.) Furthermore, your most “creative” time of day will typically be when your analytical powers are at their lowest point—meaning that if you are a person who is most efficient and sharp in the morning, save your broad-thinking, creative work for the nighttime. Written in a lively, engaging style, this book goes beyond scientific principles to offer productive techniques for realizing your creative potential—at home and at work. The authors provide compelling anecdotes to illustrate how eureka experiences can be a key factor in your life. Attend a dinner party with Christopher Columbus to learn why we need insights. Go to a baseball game with the director of a classic Disney Pixar movie to

learn about one important type of aha moment. Observe the behind-the-scenes arrangements for an Elvis Presley concert to learn why the timing of insights is crucial. True, creative thinking may come more easily to some than to others–the book draws a distinction between “Insightfuls” and “Analysts”; you can probably guess which type is more receptive to those elusive “aha” moments–but as The Eureka Factor posits, anyone can increase the frequency of insights in his or her life by understanding the brain science behind “aha” moments, and cultivating the conditions necessary for them to occur. Accessible and compelling, The Eureka Factor is a fascinating look at the human brain and its seemingly infinite capacity to surprise us. Sources: 1. http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/17/birth-greatidea-321279.html 2. https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/262006937/ The-Eureka-Factor 3. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/johnkounios/the-eureka-factor/

Kounios, J and Beeman, M. The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain. New York: Random House, 2015.

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Have Work, Will Paint. Major Meghana Rajeshwar (Retd) I have always felt somewhat left out when intervention. Ha. Weeks became months and people talk about meditation and how then years, but the butterDlies remained a powerful and transformative it has been for resolute brown. them. Every time I have tried it, I have found my mind full of noise, and no, it does not Until one day, when work had fried my brain quiet down. It starts wandering, towards the to an incoherent crisp and just getting million tasks on my plate that day, the thorny through the day looked like a Sisyphean problem I am grappling with at work, the impossibility. My inbox was exploding, but I complex decision of what to cook for dinner. paced the house like a caged cat, unable to Meditation has never left me feeling focus, unable to relax. Music, books and refreshed; it usually leaves me irritated or camomile, they all retreated in disgust. I drowsy. Until I discovered painting. Now I happened to chance upon a box of acrylic p a i n t , a n d have to concede, I remembered the sad have NO artistic brown butterDlies talent whatsoever. I have always felt somewhat left out banished to the back In fact, I am one of those poor sods who when people talk about meditation and o f t h e c l o s e t . A cobwebbed rescue have been eternally m i s s i o n c u r s e d . I a m how powerful and transformative it has a c c o m p l i s h e d , I s u r r o u n d e d b y been for them. dashed to the dining annoyingly talented table. Shoving the friends who seem to d e t r i t u s o f t h e produce masterpieces morning aside, I sat down with colour and with just a Dlick of their Camel-‐wielding hope. For the Dirst Dive minutes however, I wrists. stared, the naked insects as intimidating as a blank sheet of paper. Finally, I picked up the What then, possessed me to pick up the brush. When in doubt, choose black, I brush? Literally, Diguratively, yes, all of that. It decided Dirmly. Dipping the brush into the all began with a shopping trip. Of course, velvety paint, I gingerly applied the Dirst when one spends a signiDicant portion of stroke. Then another. And another. After the one’s life shopping, most anything begins initial awkwardness, the brush learned to with a shopping trip, but that’s neither here trust me. Black layered beautiful black. What nor there. Anyway. At the time, the dessert next? Red, I was sure. As I helped the Dirst of plate-‐sized clay butterDlies had shone with the butterDlies try on her new outDit, I felt my artistic promise. Maybe the fumes of jaw unclench, and my tense Dingers loose creativity in Dilli Haat had gone to my head, their death grip on the poor brush. I became or maybe it was just the Delhi heat. I actually aware of my breathing, which had slowed believed I could transform the hunks of down to a less frenetic rhythm. As the noise brown clay into colourful objets d’arts, artful around and within me quietened, I began to tchotchkes, whatever. With no divine 29

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hear, and to listen. The problems I had grappled with for several days paid me another visit, but this time round they brought friends – options and solutions hitherto unconsidered. Some I met with a smile, some with a snarl. Through it all, my brush never faltered, my eyes seeing nothing but blank canvas. Editorial limitations prevent any more of a blow-‐by-‐blow, but enough said. By the time I was done with Brown ButterDly #2, I was ready, even eager to get back to work. The pain that had clung to my neck like a spiteful poltergeist seemed to have disappeared. Oh, who am I kidding; but said poltergeist seemed to have left a kinder sibling in charge. They say art is the new “in” thing. Adult colouring books are all the rage; Secret Garden has toppled 50 Shades of Grey from the bestseller lists. Noted p s y c h o l o g i s t s a r e recommending going back t o t h e drawing board (or book, as t h e c a s e may be). Apparently it’s the new path to mental peace. Naysayers of course, scoff at the idea of adults colouring in books like little children. (I’m convinced naysayers go to a special school somewhere. Masters in Naysaying, anyone?) They insist that doodling is a more honest form of self-‐expression.

century, as a way of getting people to focus and to allow the subconscious to let go. Now we know it has a lot of other stress-‐busting qualities as well." Michaelis refers to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's book Flow where colouring is deDined as an autotelic activity, an immersive and absorbing behaviour that is rewarding in and of itself. “Engaging in autotelic activities”, he says, “has been shown to improve concentration and a sense of agency. Autotelic activities tend to decrease anxiety and self-‐consciousness. As an added beneDit, colouring requires the use of Dine motor skills, which can reduce the impact of age-‐related losses in dexterity. Colouring can also bring back fond memories from childhood, which contributes other positive feelings to the mix. Colouring reduces stress

Honest or otherwise, adult colouring books form a big part of Amazon’s bestseller list. And it looks like they are here to stay. Clinical psychologist Ben Michaelis was quoted in the HufDington Post as saying, “There is a long history of people colouring for mental health reasons. Carl Jung used to try to get his patients to colour in mandalas at the turn of the last 30

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by drawing your attention to a concrete and repetitive activity. This increases your focus and activates portions of your parietal lobe, which are connected to your sense of self and spirituality. Incidentally, these are the very same areas that are active during meditation and prayer. When you choose different colours or types of implements (e.g., markers vs. crayons) the parts of your brain that control both vision and creativity become active.” Indian women are no strangers to the therapeutic effect of art. Every morning, millions of Hindu women step out of their homes, freshly washed and fragrant from their morning bath, toss a bucket of water to clean the front yard, and go on to create

exquisite, intricate designs on the ground, using little more than deft Dingers and chalk powder. Called rangoli in some parts of the country, kolam in some others, they look like close cousins of Jung’s mandalas. Festival days are marked by the use of fancier materials like Dlower petals and coloured sand to Dill in the designs, more colours, larger, more elaborate designs and sometimes oil lamps. Though the practice is falling prey to urbanisation and the attendant proliferation of apartments, many women still consider it an auspicious start to the day. Huddled over a morning cuppa in my pitifully small apartment balcony, I watch the lady in the sprawling house next door go about this familiar morning ritual. Sari hitched up above her calves to prevent it

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from getting soiled, she hunkers over the washed granite stones. A bowl of chalk powder is clutched in her left hand. She dips in with her other hand, takes a large pinch and releases a Dluid line on the ground. Dip again, release again. Her Dingers move Dluently, creating works of art from memory and imagination. Sometimes she starts with a matrix of dots to use as a template, other times she draws freehand. She never refers to a design.

There’s something for everyone, and all it requires is the will to try something new. So, to those who are wondering, what happened to the butterDlies? Did I produce a masterpiece after those mystical hours with paint and brush? Come on. I said painting is meditative, I didn’t say it can turn mayhem to Monet. But that’s not really the point, is it?

In the way of modern city life, I have never spoken to her. I imagine she would say that the simple ritual calms her, the repetitive rhythm creating a quiet mental space for her to sort through the day’s agenda. A fat yellow Labrador is sprawled nearby, watching her patiently, well-‐used to the routine. It is interesting to note that he never disturbs the rangoli, although that might be more a Pavlovian response to a hairbrush on his rump than an appreciation for his mistress’s art. Mandalas or rangolis, today there is a huge range of colouring activities designed to unleash the Picasso cowering inside each of us, shushed by unreasonable societal expectations and a compulsion to follow “adult hobbies”, whatever that means. Sources: 1. h-p://www.huﬃngtonpost.com/entry/why-‐coloring-‐is-‐good-‐for-‐the-‐mind-‐body-‐and-‐ soul_b_8421922.html?secDon=india

Meghana is a trainer with The Painted Sky and runs workshops on Intermediate and Advanced Presenta;on Skills, Communica;on Skills as well as Type Iden;ﬁca;on through MBTI. An MBTI Cer;ﬁed Prac;;oner and an avid student of Transac;on Analysis, she believes in leveraging psychology to transform the way corporates work. She cul;vates and enjoys diverse interests ranging from trekking and wri;ng to learning languages. She has recently discovered pain;ng and its immense poten;al. 32

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Open Lab on Design Thinking â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Human Centred Designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; In Bangalore in March.

15 participants from 3 countries, spanning 6 organisations and 5 functions. Facilitated by Sudhindra V., Chief Design Officer, IBM India.

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