CPSI #55

The 55^th running of the Creative Problem Solving Institute was held this past week in Danvers, MA. It's the oldest conference most of us know of, sustained annually by the high energy that participants bring as well as their commitment to the sponsor, the Creative Education Foundation.

We heard Sarah Miller Caldicott talk about Thomas Edison, his charismatic optimism and his use of the analogical thinking that the human brain really enjoys. Claude Stein reflected on the Essence of Leadership: identifying a message, finding true heart and then convincing and persuading others. Dean Kamen distinguished invention, which is usually about technology, from innovation which is usually about people. He also had the best one-liner for the week: the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits. Keith Sawyer told us about the creative power of collaboration, using improv theatre as an example of how it's not so much the individuals as the interactions between them. His experience suggests that everyone can be creative, and that creativity always emerges over time and always involves sharing and collaboration.

For the week I attended the Tools and Techniques component of the Facilitating Creative Leadership track. Our large and revved-up group learned about the work of Guy Aznar; his flow from concept to image and then to sensation is one I'll explore further in the context of Theory U, Arthur M. Young and systems thinking's iceberg. Especially cool tools were the Ladder of Abstraction, How-How and the Problem Police.

As usual, I captured what I could in my journal from day to day. To some extent it was hit and miss because we were rarely allowed to just for long periods of time without getting up and doing something. Many kind people commented on what I was doing, expressed curiosity about it and asked if they could take a look at week's end. For them, the pages are reproduced here through Picasa.