Check out the photos from our inaugural community social. The idea is to truly build the BGI community to add value to all. The next one is coming up on February 23. If you’re interested, you can register on Eventbrite.
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BGI
The Power Of Creativity
It’s not wonder we have a population that lacks creativity—we spend most of our lives getting creativity beaten out of us. We’re taught the importance of reading, writing, math, science, and other “core” subjects, but are often taught that we must let go of our “hobbies” such as drawing, painting, playing an instrument, acting, etc. when it’s time to “get serious” about life. If we exhibit any deviant behavior we’re told to “act right” or “be like everybody else.” The problem with being like everybody else is that you become just, well, like everybody else.
I remember undergraduate school at Southwestern University, a small, liberal arts school in Georgetown, TX. I majored in business…minored in both sociology and communications studies. When I inquired about somebody’s major, they often hung their head in doubt as they stated, theater, performing arts, or art history.” Others would say with disgust, business, math or biology. I always wondered why so many people where ashamed in the things they loved and spent so much time studying things they loathe. But it makes sense. We live in a culture that celebrates conformity and formality. We use terms like band geeks and theater types to describe people who produce things we often value more than education while we hold doctors, lawyers, and businesspeople on pedestals.
I don’t know. I find it sad that so many of us lead an existence based in denying ourselves true happiness. We look up to the rebels—the Steve Jobs’ of the world—the ones that said “’f’ it, I’m doing what I want.”
If we are going to produce the business leaders with vision, compassion, and courage needed to tackle the increasingly complex problems we are facing, we have to cultivate creativity. Where is your passion really? If you’re not following it, now is the time to start. It’s never too late. Never too early.
View more presentations from Michael Maine.
I love the History Channel. I don’t know how accurate everything, but it really makes me think about things in a completely different way. Growing up, I was never much into history. The way it was taught always made it seem very boring. One day, I read the book, “Lies my teacher taught me.” I loved that book. One of my favorite podcasts is “Things You Missed In History Class.” I often find myself now researching things that happened in the past. Now I pay much more attention to how things happened before and try my best to understand why. Understanding the past makes understanding the present so much easier—so much more fun.
That’s why I was fascinated with a recent show on the History Channel. They were talking about ancient Roman technology and methods for building roads, buildings, and transportation. They build many different models of chariots based on the needs of various market segments. Even back then, they understood the importance of building a product that worked for the end user. I’m drawing parallels with what I’m learning in school with everything around me. It feels good to have those connections being made.