everybody just stand up for a second
let’s get the energy moving I know you
want to stretch your legs and it’s cold
why don’t you introduce yourself to
somebody you haven’t met before so turn
around say hello I’m all about energy hi
so I felt because we’re in the Bible
Belt we can be a little all about
fellowship this is afternoon so thank
you and I’ll begin when I was in third
grade I was enrolled by my elementary
school in a program called GT C and what
GT c stands for is gifted talented and
creative and that program was designed
to allow a select few number of students
to develop and hone their skills in a
non-traditional a non traditional
schooling environment and looking back
on it I definitely think that somebody
made a mistake because I was not
necessarily gifted nor talented but what
I was was weird and so from an early age
I equated being creative with being
weird and I kind of still do but let me
tell you why that experience in third
grade is so important and pivotal to my
development is because in third grade
that was really the first time that I
realized that like my finger prints that
I was unique and it was really the first
time that I started to think that was
pretty awesome and so we all go through
kind of this moment of when we realize
our self so when you realize the concept
of self you naturally realize the
concept of difference when you realize
the concept of self you realize the
concept of difference and once that
pathway in your neurological processor
your brain is established there is no
turning back
so for creative individuals it sets up
it sets up this dilemma you know I might
to be creative or not and I obviously
chose to be creative social scientists
actually believe that the self is split
up into two different parts and the
first and most basic part is the
existential self and the existential
self has to do with the realization and
the internalization that you understand
that you are an object of this world and
that you exist over time and space and
the second part of self is the
categorical self and this is
an added layer of complexity in the
sense that it deals with the
internalization that you understand that
you are an object of this world who can
be experienced by others okay so the
existential self has to do with how you
perceive the world and the categorical
self has to do with how the world
perceives you and that is how we kind of
align in social sciences what the self
is all about so what’s the point and who
cares and how does this tie back into
creativity well simple
I believe that creativity is a tool that
can be used to uncover the truth about
us all and I’ll repeat that because as
Oprah says it’s a tweetable moment
creativity is a tool that can be used to
uncover the truth about us all so what
does that mean in graduate school I had
the opportunity the ability to study
consumer behavior and basically what
consumer behavior the discipline is
concerned with is examining how we
humans establish choice how we determine
preference how we establish loyalty so
we are those data geeks those survey
geeks those studies of behavior that
really kind of interview you on a
one-on-one basis on a group basis look
at your group dynamics invite you to
focus groups so we can really get to the
insights behind how you make a choice
and then in my day to day job as a
marketer it’s actually my directive to
understand how you make a choice and
then manipulate you into making another
choice that puts money in my pocket and
so that’s just how marketing works but
so what’s the point and who cares right
we all discover who we are we all
establish preferences we all established
loyalties but what I’ve known from my
postgraduate research and through you
know a couple decades of study and
through my own personal experience
experience having talked to hundreds if
not thousands of people is that there
are two central themes that we all carry
with us throughout the course of our
lifetimes and the first theme is a
supreme question that we all investigate
throughout the course of our lifetime a
supreme question that has to deal with
our origin so if you lie awake at night
thinking about where did we come from
how did
get here what’s the meaning of life all
of those questions in that that weird
space that keeps us up those are
questions of origin and then the other
thing that we carry with us is an
instinctual purpose and this might be a
little bit more tangible for you to
grasp our instinctual purpose is to
ensure survival and that has to do with
outlook and so ensuring survival could
be you know looking for what we’re gonna
eat later tonight it could be ensuring
that our family has enough money to last
beyond our death it could be ensuring
that our cultures and our values in our
way of life precede war it could be
ensuring that humans survive in an
instinctive level event so questions of
origin versus questions of outlook and
so how does this tie back into
creativity well I believe the creatives
have the keys to unlock the truth about
us all and one way that we draw nearer
to answering those questions of origin
and fulfilling our purpose of outlook is
through the process of learning and
teaching and so I’ve had to kind of
redefine what learning and teaching is
for me and there’s a couple teachers in
the audience so thank you guys I define
learning and teaching as such to learn
is to understand from where you have
come and to teach is to help navigate
where you should explore next so to
learn is to understand from where you
have come question of origin and to
teach is to help navigate where you
should explore next
outlook origin outlook see how that
works and so how does this tie back into
creativity and so I had to kind of
figure out what exactly I wanted to say
what is the difference between a
creative individual and a non creative
visual individual creatives have the
same hopes fears dreams the same themes
regarding origin and outlook but a
creative is focused on navigating that
information and learning and teaching
from a unique unpopular or new
perspective and that’s simple that’s the
difference creatives placed a lot of
self value in investigation of the
anomaly and teaching us all something we
may not have heard before you know in in
being that awkward person that draws the
ugliest the most ugliest art in the
gallery out there
right because that is an important part
of the human condition that is worth
exploring creatives naturally understand
that there is value there is power there
is awesomeness in those untold stories
and so we find ways to express that so
we’ve been navigating in this highly
academic theatrical space up here and so
I want to put this into practice I
mentioned that I’m a consumer behavior
list I study consumer behavior and and
conducted some postgraduate research so
I want to run you through three examples
three examples from the research and I
want you to just answer in your mind how
you naturally would respond and then
we’ll see how you line up with the data
so okay this is a fun exercise okay so
the first example is you are sitting
here at TEDx Vanderbilt University not
hard to believe right and you happen to
be sitting next to your mother and so if
I were to tell you that this was the
last chance that you would see or speak
to your mother what is one phrase that
you would say to your mother one phrase
to say to your mother if you were never
to see her again
okay so you’ve got that all right and
let’s move on second scenario let’s go
to the bathroom so we’ve all visited a
public restroom or at least hopefully
you probably have to go right now so
that’s okay so this example has to do
with choice you enter the public
restroom there’s the door there’s stall
number one stall number two three and
four these are identical stalls only you
happen to be a germaphobe so your goal
is to select the stall that you think
has the least amount of germs so which
stall do you choose one two three or
four okay got that in your mind in the
third example let’s stick with the
bathroom because potty humor is awesome
only in this example you’re no longer a
germaphobe you still have to go to the
bathroom and this bathroom only has
urinals only you step into the bathroom
from the door and there’s a man at
urinal number one so of the available
urinals two three or four which one do
you choose
okay so you’ve got that in your mind
right let’s go back so in the mother
example 97% of respondents in the survey
mentioned the word
said I love you to their mother that
would be the last thing that they said
so congratulations if you were in within
that 90% you are in line with what we
consumer behavior lists would call
normative behavior and what the young
kids will call basic and that’s great so
in the second example with the Stahl’s
so just about 90% of people opted for
stall number 3 as the one that they
thought contained the least amount of
germs and what’s really interesting
about that is is that because 90% the
overwhelming majority of people chose
stall number 3 you actually defeated
your goal of choosing the stall but was
least contaminated from germs so that’s
an argument for not being basic right
and let’s go to the urinal example ah so
there was no clear winner in terms of 1
out front winner but what we learned
from the research from the data is that
98% of people would choose either urinal
number 3 or urinal number 4 and so if
you are within that 2% and went and peed
next to the man you’re just awkward and
so these are funny examples meant to
highlight a point but what I’m trying to
get at is as a creative as a researcher
my works not done just because I know
what the majority of people would do the
awesomeness the power the value in this
research is taking that a couple steps
deeper and looking at those anomalies so
a case in point with a mother example
the interesting thing about that
research is that 3 percent of people did
not say I love you so what did I do
so what so what do we do and so in the
follow-up interviews I’m mining the data
looking for those key themes and pull
out one answer stuck with me a gentleman
had written down I forgive you I forgive
you and so that is an interesting part
of the anomaly that teaches us about the
hemming experience the ability to have
mercy the ability to forgive the ability
to have empathy and that is an
interesting quality that comes from
looking at in this example the anomalies
so just because I’m standing here in
this red dot I’m saying that I’m
creative it doesn’t mean that you’re not
creative do not subscribe to the notion
that creativity is only an expression of
art of music of dance or bad poetry
because that’s just not true
Albert Einstein was a creative Harriet
Tubman was creative you can be creative
if you love Excel spreadsheets you can
be creative and that’s what we pay our
accountants for if you are an athlete
you can be creative find a new route
design a new play if you are a
politician you can be creative it’s
certainly working for Donald Trump
creativity is certainly just the
validity for the argument it is the
process of connection creativity has the
ability to link our origin to our
outlook so if you subscribe to the
notion that there is value in learning
and that there is value in teaching then
you by definition have to understand the
power of the investigation to get there
and because you understand the power of
that investigation and what it yields
it’s essential that you find a tool that
helps you shine a light on the great
unknown
for me the tool that I use that I was
born with that I honed that I harnessed
that I developed each and every single
day is creativity and so I would invite
us all in this room and beyond on the
livestream to step inside ourselves as
creatives to reframe rework redevelop
how we think about the world and our
conventions to challenge those thoughts
those theories that seem so perfect and
complex and to encourage the next
generation of creative thinkers to do
the same because as we’ve just
demonstrated as we’ve just demonstrated
without creatives and creativity we’re
all just a bunch of normative behaviors
we’re all basics so don’t be basic thank
you that’s my time
let’s get the energy moving I know you
want to stretch your legs and it’s cold
why don’t you introduce yourself to
somebody you haven’t met before so turn
around say hello I’m all about energy hi
so I felt because we’re in the Bible
Belt we can be a little all about
fellowship this is afternoon so thank
you and I’ll begin when I was in third
grade I was enrolled by my elementary
school in a program called GT C and what
GT c stands for is gifted talented and
creative and that program was designed
to allow a select few number of students
to develop and hone their skills in a
non-traditional a non traditional
schooling environment and looking back
on it I definitely think that somebody
made a mistake because I was not
necessarily gifted nor talented but what
I was was weird and so from an early age
I equated being creative with being
weird and I kind of still do but let me
tell you why that experience in third
grade is so important and pivotal to my
development is because in third grade
that was really the first time that I
realized that like my finger prints that
I was unique and it was really the first
time that I started to think that was
pretty awesome and so we all go through
kind of this moment of when we realize
our self so when you realize the concept
of self you naturally realize the
concept of difference when you realize
the concept of self you realize the
concept of difference and once that
pathway in your neurological processor
your brain is established there is no
turning back
so for creative individuals it sets up
it sets up this dilemma you know I might
to be creative or not and I obviously
chose to be creative social scientists
actually believe that the self is split
up into two different parts and the
first and most basic part is the
existential self and the existential
self has to do with the realization and
the internalization that you understand
that you are an object of this world and
that you exist over time and space and
the second part of self is the
categorical self and this is
an added layer of complexity in the
sense that it deals with the
internalization that you understand that
you are an object of this world who can
be experienced by others okay so the
existential self has to do with how you
perceive the world and the categorical
self has to do with how the world
perceives you and that is how we kind of
align in social sciences what the self
is all about so what’s the point and who
cares and how does this tie back into
creativity well simple
I believe that creativity is a tool that
can be used to uncover the truth about
us all and I’ll repeat that because as
Oprah says it’s a tweetable moment
creativity is a tool that can be used to
uncover the truth about us all so what
does that mean in graduate school I had
the opportunity the ability to study
consumer behavior and basically what
consumer behavior the discipline is
concerned with is examining how we
humans establish choice how we determine
preference how we establish loyalty so
we are those data geeks those survey
geeks those studies of behavior that
really kind of interview you on a
one-on-one basis on a group basis look
at your group dynamics invite you to
focus groups so we can really get to the
insights behind how you make a choice
and then in my day to day job as a
marketer it’s actually my directive to
understand how you make a choice and
then manipulate you into making another
choice that puts money in my pocket and
so that’s just how marketing works but
so what’s the point and who cares right
we all discover who we are we all
establish preferences we all established
loyalties but what I’ve known from my
postgraduate research and through you
know a couple decades of study and
through my own personal experience
experience having talked to hundreds if
not thousands of people is that there
are two central themes that we all carry
with us throughout the course of our
lifetimes and the first theme is a
supreme question that we all investigate
throughout the course of our lifetime a
supreme question that has to deal with
our origin so if you lie awake at night
thinking about where did we come from
how did
get here what’s the meaning of life all
of those questions in that that weird
space that keeps us up those are
questions of origin and then the other
thing that we carry with us is an
instinctual purpose and this might be a
little bit more tangible for you to
grasp our instinctual purpose is to
ensure survival and that has to do with
outlook and so ensuring survival could
be you know looking for what we’re gonna
eat later tonight it could be ensuring
that our family has enough money to last
beyond our death it could be ensuring
that our cultures and our values in our
way of life precede war it could be
ensuring that humans survive in an
instinctive level event so questions of
origin versus questions of outlook and
so how does this tie back into
creativity well I believe the creatives
have the keys to unlock the truth about
us all and one way that we draw nearer
to answering those questions of origin
and fulfilling our purpose of outlook is
through the process of learning and
teaching and so I’ve had to kind of
redefine what learning and teaching is
for me and there’s a couple teachers in
the audience so thank you guys I define
learning and teaching as such to learn
is to understand from where you have
come and to teach is to help navigate
where you should explore next so to
learn is to understand from where you
have come question of origin and to
teach is to help navigate where you
should explore next
outlook origin outlook see how that
works and so how does this tie back into
creativity and so I had to kind of
figure out what exactly I wanted to say
what is the difference between a
creative individual and a non creative
visual individual creatives have the
same hopes fears dreams the same themes
regarding origin and outlook but a
creative is focused on navigating that
information and learning and teaching
from a unique unpopular or new
perspective and that’s simple that’s the
difference creatives placed a lot of
self value in investigation of the
anomaly and teaching us all something we
may not have heard before you know in in
being that awkward person that draws the
ugliest the most ugliest art in the
gallery out there
right because that is an important part
of the human condition that is worth
exploring creatives naturally understand
that there is value there is power there
is awesomeness in those untold stories
and so we find ways to express that so
we’ve been navigating in this highly
academic theatrical space up here and so
I want to put this into practice I
mentioned that I’m a consumer behavior
list I study consumer behavior and and
conducted some postgraduate research so
I want to run you through three examples
three examples from the research and I
want you to just answer in your mind how
you naturally would respond and then
we’ll see how you line up with the data
so okay this is a fun exercise okay so
the first example is you are sitting
here at TEDx Vanderbilt University not
hard to believe right and you happen to
be sitting next to your mother and so if
I were to tell you that this was the
last chance that you would see or speak
to your mother what is one phrase that
you would say to your mother one phrase
to say to your mother if you were never
to see her again
okay so you’ve got that all right and
let’s move on second scenario let’s go
to the bathroom so we’ve all visited a
public restroom or at least hopefully
you probably have to go right now so
that’s okay so this example has to do
with choice you enter the public
restroom there’s the door there’s stall
number one stall number two three and
four these are identical stalls only you
happen to be a germaphobe so your goal
is to select the stall that you think
has the least amount of germs so which
stall do you choose one two three or
four okay got that in your mind in the
third example let’s stick with the
bathroom because potty humor is awesome
only in this example you’re no longer a
germaphobe you still have to go to the
bathroom and this bathroom only has
urinals only you step into the bathroom
from the door and there’s a man at
urinal number one so of the available
urinals two three or four which one do
you choose
okay so you’ve got that in your mind
right let’s go back so in the mother
example 97% of respondents in the survey
mentioned the word
said I love you to their mother that
would be the last thing that they said
so congratulations if you were in within
that 90% you are in line with what we
consumer behavior lists would call
normative behavior and what the young
kids will call basic and that’s great so
in the second example with the Stahl’s
so just about 90% of people opted for
stall number 3 as the one that they
thought contained the least amount of
germs and what’s really interesting
about that is is that because 90% the
overwhelming majority of people chose
stall number 3 you actually defeated
your goal of choosing the stall but was
least contaminated from germs so that’s
an argument for not being basic right
and let’s go to the urinal example ah so
there was no clear winner in terms of 1
out front winner but what we learned
from the research from the data is that
98% of people would choose either urinal
number 3 or urinal number 4 and so if
you are within that 2% and went and peed
next to the man you’re just awkward and
so these are funny examples meant to
highlight a point but what I’m trying to
get at is as a creative as a researcher
my works not done just because I know
what the majority of people would do the
awesomeness the power the value in this
research is taking that a couple steps
deeper and looking at those anomalies so
a case in point with a mother example
the interesting thing about that
research is that 3 percent of people did
not say I love you so what did I do
so what so what do we do and so in the
follow-up interviews I’m mining the data
looking for those key themes and pull
out one answer stuck with me a gentleman
had written down I forgive you I forgive
you and so that is an interesting part
of the anomaly that teaches us about the
hemming experience the ability to have
mercy the ability to forgive the ability
to have empathy and that is an
interesting quality that comes from
looking at in this example the anomalies
so just because I’m standing here in
this red dot I’m saying that I’m
creative it doesn’t mean that you’re not
creative do not subscribe to the notion
that creativity is only an expression of
art of music of dance or bad poetry
because that’s just not true
Albert Einstein was a creative Harriet
Tubman was creative you can be creative
if you love Excel spreadsheets you can
be creative and that’s what we pay our
accountants for if you are an athlete
you can be creative find a new route
design a new play if you are a
politician you can be creative it’s
certainly working for Donald Trump
creativity is certainly just the
validity for the argument it is the
process of connection creativity has the
ability to link our origin to our
outlook so if you subscribe to the
notion that there is value in learning
and that there is value in teaching then
you by definition have to understand the
power of the investigation to get there
and because you understand the power of
that investigation and what it yields
it’s essential that you find a tool that
helps you shine a light on the great
unknown
for me the tool that I use that I was
born with that I honed that I harnessed
that I developed each and every single
day is creativity and so I would invite
us all in this room and beyond on the
livestream to step inside ourselves as
creatives to reframe rework redevelop
how we think about the world and our
conventions to challenge those thoughts
those theories that seem so perfect and
complex and to encourage the next
generation of creative thinkers to do
the same because as we’ve just
demonstrated as we’ve just demonstrated
without creatives and creativity we’re
all just a bunch of normative behaviors
we’re all basics so don’t be basic thank
you that’s my time
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