thanks for the intro so our theme today
is elusive creativity and I’m gonna
spend the next 15 minutes to explain to
you why creativity need not be elusive
as we have heard for many of the great
speakers before me today creativity can
be different to different people and
there are infinite number of ways to
express creativity that’s the beauty and
joy of creativity but it can be really
frustrating too so I’m sure all of us
here have had moments where we’re stuck
we can’t think of any ideas and real
like and some of us probably have to be
signed to fade at some point in our
lives and said you know what I’m just
not that creative
well I’m here to try to convince you
that with work anyone can learn to be
creative and there’s actually a way to
hack this I’m going to tell you how it
all starts with a change of mindset
perhaps the biggest roadblock that most
people have is the notion that
creativity is connected to intelligence
there’s another common thinking that
creative people are just born that way
creativity is a gift that’s just given
and you have no control of it there’s
another hurdle which is the common
confusion between artistic ability and
creativity being artistic means you can
paint you can draw we can compose music
and create works of art but being
creative actually simply means using
your imagination to create and solve
being an artist being great artists is
creative but you don’t actually have to
be an artist to be creative we are
creative all the time we just don’t
realize it for example if you try to
cook at home looking at a recipe you
don’t have other ingredients but you
somehow create a meal out of what we
have anyways that’s creativity
if you were pulled by Google Maps that
is traffic ahead somehow you figured out
an alternative route to get to a
destination on time that’s also
creativity so as Steve Jobs actually
said in one of his interview back in
1995 on the Wired magazine
he said that creativity is actually just
about connecting things and he also
explained that creative people you know
sometimes actually they’re really guilty
because they don’t really know how they
did it they just saw something so the
first part of his quote connecting
things has really stuck with me but the
second part seems to be a counter
argument of what I’ve just told you but
as he explained further in his interview
in the magazine actually that these
creative people the way they create this
magic seemingly it’s actually just
because they have had more experience in
their life or they’ve thought more about
their experiences than other people so
the key to hacking creativity is
realizing that these things that you use
to connect in the creation process are
actually not Astra that these things can
be broken down into two core elements
knowledge and create knowledge and
experience you might have seen something
similar before from buffer we can take a
little bit deeper here what I mean by
knowledge and experience so we have
these dots these dots represent what you
know the discrete pieces of information
and data that you gain from talking to
people from reading from watching and
from listening and here you start to
connect the dots your experience give
you the context allow you to see
patterns and to be able to draw lines
and start connecting the dots but wait
that’s actually one more way to connect
dots here there’s probably more than one
way because if you look at the number of
dots and number of lines that you have
effectively the more dots you have the
more lines you have that’s exponentially
more ways to make connections so
basically
we invest our time in expanding our
knowledge and experience our creativity
ability should be able to expand extra
nationally as well and this is the crux
of creativity you can train up your
creative muscle to do that you’re not
only to know as much as possible but you
also need to experience as much as
possible so let me take cooking again as
an analogy it’s not that I like to cook
but it’s an easy analogy it’s not just
about the ingredients it’s actually
about how you use the ingredients and
that’s also usually more than one way to
cook the same ingredients right and if
you’re a big foodie like me I think one
of you are and you probably have heard
of Ferran Adria who is the head chef at
El Bowie in Spain and he’s well known to
be one of the world’s greatest chefs
famous for his never-before-seen dishes
where he combines flavors and texture
and temperature
he created ways of cooking that no one
has ever seen before so for many years
he famously only opened a restaurant for
half a year because for the other half
of the year he’s travelling experiencing
new things getting inspirations and new
ideas so look at the way we visualize
creativity here fara Ferran adrià has
abundant knowledge he knows how to cook
and he knows how to use all these
ingredients but it’s important to note
that he appreciate the significance of
gaining experience every year this
allows him to create new ways of cooking
fresh every time he comes back this is
how you end up with bread rolls made of
foam and also 3d printed sugar
sculptures made in his kitchen
and aside from cooking the same logic
can be applied to business too like Reed
Reed Hastings the CEO of Netflix
he also famously takes six weeks off
every year to travel and gain new
perspective
on his decision-making the same thing
works for Richard Branson too and as you
know probably he spent a lot of time in
his private island unfortunately not
every one of us here would have the
luxury to help ourself be creative but
the main point I want you to take away
with is that creativity is enabled by
knowledge and experience and these days
with your phones and Kindles acquiring
knowledge is actually really easy on the
go and in real time however knowledge
alone is not enough we need experience
to connect the dots – and these are the
actually this experience is actually the
part that gives you the context your
ability to see patterns
Michael Ventura the American novelist
actually summarized that really well he
said that without context information is
just a dot the unfortunate reality is
that we have limited capacity we only
have 24 hours in a day how can we work
and study and have all these obligations
and have new experiences at the same
time right that’s the sad reality and
there’s no way around it seemingly but
actually just a way to hack it so the
secret to hacking creativity is by
having conversations conversations can
expand and multiply your experience
simply by engaging in meaningful
conversations with people maybe your
friends your teacher your colleague your
mentors and experts in your field
perhaps or in another field you can gain
new context by talking to them about
their experience their insights and the
ideas and the neat part is these are the
things that are not published you can’t
find them on Google you can’t find them
in books and cumulatively over time you
should be able to expand your experience
base with these conversations to allow
you to see patterns better and in fact
the concept of hacking creativity
through conversations is already widely
observed through businesses
think about brainstorming sessions where
teams sit together and bounce ideas off
of each other focus groups is another
example where external part is brought
in and you talk to a target audience
gain there get a sense of their
experience and take that into account in
the product development or idea
generation cycle these conversations are
hacks to the creative process businesses
that are conducive to innovation
actually have systems and processes in
place to facilitate internal and
external conversations and that’s why
myself and my team at Lync is really
excited and passion about what we do
because we’re about connecting people to
express for conversations and repeatedly
we have seen examples where our clients
actually gain this secondhand experience
that really contributed to their bottom
line in the future I foresee a greater
integration seamlessly with this in
external innovating in conversations in
businesses and that facilitates our role
to be creators and innovators within
this businesses because as as AI develop
more more processes that we have today
is going to be automated if you could do
a quick search on a on the Internet
obviously you would see all these you
know changes that are coming up the
biggest fear is that you know machine
will one day replace you in and we have
reach actually a stage where being
creative is not just important for
artists and designers being creative is
also important for everyone to stay
relevant in the future workplace and as
such I would like to take my own advice
and provide three key elements that we
have served as striving creativity one
creativity needs confidence you need to
be company in yourself trust your mind
that believe that ideas will flow have
the confidence to talk to some strangers
have meaningful conversations to take
risks and embrace failures
their turn back there to expand your
horizons most creative ventures started
out as silly ideas among conversations
among friends such as a B&B that started
off as renting out mattresses and today
you can actually rent out your own
castle second creativity needs time we
need to invest time in creating new
knowledge and experience and we need to
also invest time to think about what you
know and what you experience once these
two ingredients are in place with
knowledge and experience the last part
of the creation process is usually
unconscious we often hear that best
ideas comes from one taking when one’s
taking a shower or when once we need to
fall asleep at least that’s my case the
best idea can also show up when you have
conversation or when you’re doing when
you’re doing things that are totally
seemingly unrelated but the point here
is that creativity needs time to brew
you need to be patient and let your
brain work through the information in
context if you invest more time in
actually expanding your crew your
knowledge and experience training up
your creativity muscle you’re gonna be
better and better at connecting the dots
and finally creativity needs work it
comes from it comes down to your
willingness to engage to think deeply
and to engage remember to keep adding
the dots and bringing a seeking of new
ways to connect them to be intentional
in seeking out meaningful conversations
with others be curious about topics
that’s even beyond your daily scope of
work or studies and I believe that at
some point in the future creativity will
actually be a necessity experience and
creativity cue experience and creativity
are actually what differentiates us from
AI we simply cannot afford to let
creativity elude us
we shouldn’t resign to the notion that
creativity is elusive let not be let’s
not be limited by time and less Hector a
tivity with conversations so I would
challenge you today on your way home put
on your phone look up and try to strike
up a conversation with a stranger you
might actually experience a new horizon
seek out the opportunity to have the
meaningful conversation at that extra
line and connect some more dots thank
you
[Applause]
is elusive creativity and I’m gonna
spend the next 15 minutes to explain to
you why creativity need not be elusive
as we have heard for many of the great
speakers before me today creativity can
be different to different people and
there are infinite number of ways to
express creativity that’s the beauty and
joy of creativity but it can be really
frustrating too so I’m sure all of us
here have had moments where we’re stuck
we can’t think of any ideas and real
like and some of us probably have to be
signed to fade at some point in our
lives and said you know what I’m just
not that creative
well I’m here to try to convince you
that with work anyone can learn to be
creative and there’s actually a way to
hack this I’m going to tell you how it
all starts with a change of mindset
perhaps the biggest roadblock that most
people have is the notion that
creativity is connected to intelligence
there’s another common thinking that
creative people are just born that way
creativity is a gift that’s just given
and you have no control of it there’s
another hurdle which is the common
confusion between artistic ability and
creativity being artistic means you can
paint you can draw we can compose music
and create works of art but being
creative actually simply means using
your imagination to create and solve
being an artist being great artists is
creative but you don’t actually have to
be an artist to be creative we are
creative all the time we just don’t
realize it for example if you try to
cook at home looking at a recipe you
don’t have other ingredients but you
somehow create a meal out of what we
have anyways that’s creativity
if you were pulled by Google Maps that
is traffic ahead somehow you figured out
an alternative route to get to a
destination on time that’s also
creativity so as Steve Jobs actually
said in one of his interview back in
1995 on the Wired magazine
he said that creativity is actually just
about connecting things and he also
explained that creative people you know
sometimes actually they’re really guilty
because they don’t really know how they
did it they just saw something so the
first part of his quote connecting
things has really stuck with me but the
second part seems to be a counter
argument of what I’ve just told you but
as he explained further in his interview
in the magazine actually that these
creative people the way they create this
magic seemingly it’s actually just
because they have had more experience in
their life or they’ve thought more about
their experiences than other people so
the key to hacking creativity is
realizing that these things that you use
to connect in the creation process are
actually not Astra that these things can
be broken down into two core elements
knowledge and create knowledge and
experience you might have seen something
similar before from buffer we can take a
little bit deeper here what I mean by
knowledge and experience so we have
these dots these dots represent what you
know the discrete pieces of information
and data that you gain from talking to
people from reading from watching and
from listening and here you start to
connect the dots your experience give
you the context allow you to see
patterns and to be able to draw lines
and start connecting the dots but wait
that’s actually one more way to connect
dots here there’s probably more than one
way because if you look at the number of
dots and number of lines that you have
effectively the more dots you have the
more lines you have that’s exponentially
more ways to make connections so
basically
we invest our time in expanding our
knowledge and experience our creativity
ability should be able to expand extra
nationally as well and this is the crux
of creativity you can train up your
creative muscle to do that you’re not
only to know as much as possible but you
also need to experience as much as
possible so let me take cooking again as
an analogy it’s not that I like to cook
but it’s an easy analogy it’s not just
about the ingredients it’s actually
about how you use the ingredients and
that’s also usually more than one way to
cook the same ingredients right and if
you’re a big foodie like me I think one
of you are and you probably have heard
of Ferran Adria who is the head chef at
El Bowie in Spain and he’s well known to
be one of the world’s greatest chefs
famous for his never-before-seen dishes
where he combines flavors and texture
and temperature
he created ways of cooking that no one
has ever seen before so for many years
he famously only opened a restaurant for
half a year because for the other half
of the year he’s travelling experiencing
new things getting inspirations and new
ideas so look at the way we visualize
creativity here fara Ferran adrià has
abundant knowledge he knows how to cook
and he knows how to use all these
ingredients but it’s important to note
that he appreciate the significance of
gaining experience every year this
allows him to create new ways of cooking
fresh every time he comes back this is
how you end up with bread rolls made of
foam and also 3d printed sugar
sculptures made in his kitchen
and aside from cooking the same logic
can be applied to business too like Reed
Reed Hastings the CEO of Netflix
he also famously takes six weeks off
every year to travel and gain new
perspective
on his decision-making the same thing
works for Richard Branson too and as you
know probably he spent a lot of time in
his private island unfortunately not
every one of us here would have the
luxury to help ourself be creative but
the main point I want you to take away
with is that creativity is enabled by
knowledge and experience and these days
with your phones and Kindles acquiring
knowledge is actually really easy on the
go and in real time however knowledge
alone is not enough we need experience
to connect the dots – and these are the
actually this experience is actually the
part that gives you the context your
ability to see patterns
Michael Ventura the American novelist
actually summarized that really well he
said that without context information is
just a dot the unfortunate reality is
that we have limited capacity we only
have 24 hours in a day how can we work
and study and have all these obligations
and have new experiences at the same
time right that’s the sad reality and
there’s no way around it seemingly but
actually just a way to hack it so the
secret to hacking creativity is by
having conversations conversations can
expand and multiply your experience
simply by engaging in meaningful
conversations with people maybe your
friends your teacher your colleague your
mentors and experts in your field
perhaps or in another field you can gain
new context by talking to them about
their experience their insights and the
ideas and the neat part is these are the
things that are not published you can’t
find them on Google you can’t find them
in books and cumulatively over time you
should be able to expand your experience
base with these conversations to allow
you to see patterns better and in fact
the concept of hacking creativity
through conversations is already widely
observed through businesses
think about brainstorming sessions where
teams sit together and bounce ideas off
of each other focus groups is another
example where external part is brought
in and you talk to a target audience
gain there get a sense of their
experience and take that into account in
the product development or idea
generation cycle these conversations are
hacks to the creative process businesses
that are conducive to innovation
actually have systems and processes in
place to facilitate internal and
external conversations and that’s why
myself and my team at Lync is really
excited and passion about what we do
because we’re about connecting people to
express for conversations and repeatedly
we have seen examples where our clients
actually gain this secondhand experience
that really contributed to their bottom
line in the future I foresee a greater
integration seamlessly with this in
external innovating in conversations in
businesses and that facilitates our role
to be creators and innovators within
this businesses because as as AI develop
more more processes that we have today
is going to be automated if you could do
a quick search on a on the Internet
obviously you would see all these you
know changes that are coming up the
biggest fear is that you know machine
will one day replace you in and we have
reach actually a stage where being
creative is not just important for
artists and designers being creative is
also important for everyone to stay
relevant in the future workplace and as
such I would like to take my own advice
and provide three key elements that we
have served as striving creativity one
creativity needs confidence you need to
be company in yourself trust your mind
that believe that ideas will flow have
the confidence to talk to some strangers
have meaningful conversations to take
risks and embrace failures
their turn back there to expand your
horizons most creative ventures started
out as silly ideas among conversations
among friends such as a B&B that started
off as renting out mattresses and today
you can actually rent out your own
castle second creativity needs time we
need to invest time in creating new
knowledge and experience and we need to
also invest time to think about what you
know and what you experience once these
two ingredients are in place with
knowledge and experience the last part
of the creation process is usually
unconscious we often hear that best
ideas comes from one taking when one’s
taking a shower or when once we need to
fall asleep at least that’s my case the
best idea can also show up when you have
conversation or when you’re doing when
you’re doing things that are totally
seemingly unrelated but the point here
is that creativity needs time to brew
you need to be patient and let your
brain work through the information in
context if you invest more time in
actually expanding your crew your
knowledge and experience training up
your creativity muscle you’re gonna be
better and better at connecting the dots
and finally creativity needs work it
comes from it comes down to your
willingness to engage to think deeply
and to engage remember to keep adding
the dots and bringing a seeking of new
ways to connect them to be intentional
in seeking out meaningful conversations
with others be curious about topics
that’s even beyond your daily scope of
work or studies and I believe that at
some point in the future creativity will
actually be a necessity experience and
creativity cue experience and creativity
are actually what differentiates us from
AI we simply cannot afford to let
creativity elude us
we shouldn’t resign to the notion that
creativity is elusive let not be let’s
not be limited by time and less Hector a
tivity with conversations so I would
challenge you today on your way home put
on your phone look up and try to strike
up a conversation with a stranger you
might actually experience a new horizon
seek out the opportunity to have the
meaningful conversation at that extra
line and connect some more dots thank
you
[Applause]
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