Social Media, Creativity and Innovation in Canada

I was watching the Lang O’Leary exchange last night from my comfy berger chair with my laptop connected to a twitter tool – when I heard the CEO of the Canadian Business Development Bank — discuss the dismal failure of small and medium sized businesses to innovate and it dawned on me that I could be facing a tough market for a long time simply due to the prevailing Canadian business mindset which is very conservative and risk adverse. As a single entrepreneur, I am not going to be able to shift that anytime soon. I did not do the survey or write the report that says Small & Medium sized Canadian business gets a D for Innovation. The fact that we are ranked 14 out of 17 worldwide for our lack of creativity and innovation is however, shocking. “Yikes”, I said outloud. The cat jumped up. I almost dropped my laptop. Could it be that bad? Way worse than what I had thought but totally in line with what a good friend, who works with Google insiders, said to me some time ago about the state of Canadian business – “They are doomed on their own local markets, if in the next 5 years, they don’t get connected with their consumers online”.

While Marketing is an integral part of business- its first role being to determine if there is even a market for a product – it never fails to amaze me the number of businesses who still think that they can rely on word of mouth as a viable long term strategy for marketing their product or service in a high technology city, province and nation.

Technology of course is the most innovative of industries as it relies on that “analytical computing machine” which has now connected the entire globe in a web of communications. Technology, Communications and Media have now merged in cyberspace and for the most part small Canadian businesses are nowhere to be seen along the information highway (remember when we actually called it that here in Canada?) while the virtual social media space is becoming more and more crowded with consumers, your friends, family and business associates, all piling on in search of information on health, wealth, love and stuff to buy – Canadian businesses are nowhere to be found….not in search, not in the social networks. They are lucky if they have a website, out of date, static, boring with a contact phone number.

I have been blogging on this topic for some time now. In fact, over a decade ago I was in much the same position trying to sell business owners on the idea of having a website. At the time they could see no advantange to cutting print costs or being found on the new medium of the internet. It was a hard sell. Much the same as it is today.

Now that a business should have their marketing focused online you would think that the need for those who are creative thinkers, indeed the creative class would to be embraced, employed and hired to work with them to create a new level of productivity and success. Sadly small businesses are missing in action and if you are tying to secure work a larger client make sure that you have a freshly minted undergrade degree in marketing from a University which did not even touch on social media or have you study the history of media aka MCLUHAN in Canada. Even though creativity (dare we say ART/Apple) and TECHNOLOGICAL (electronic/MS) innovation has transformed BIG business culture over the last three decades, heaven forbid they actually hire someone with the knowledge, skills and experience of this history who could base their innovative marketing strategies on the nature of media, someone who could engage in the type of experimentation needed to sail the uncharted waters that are the sea of Social Media.

With a virtual “tsunami” of tools, apps, methods, numbers, metrics, stats, strategies available today where even medium-sized businesses think that being creative means having a personal facebook account with pictures of the last party you went to or a blog filled with some sort of trivia that reminds one of a content farm.

Feeling depressed about the D GRADE Canadian businesses got on innovation, I googled for a quck fix – the phrase “quotes on innovation” for something positive and the search engine pulled up, guess what? — Quotes on Creativity and Innovation. It seems you cannot have one with out the other. Duh? And yet time and time again I am smacked down for being too creative and too innovative…

So while I stuggle to “sell” the idea of social media to small and medium sized business in Canada at least I now know who is to blame for the conflict. It is not me..it is not my problem, I have an ART SCHOOL Education, I know how to innovate, how to problem solve, how to imagine, how to visulize, how to be flexible, be open, be transparent, be engaging. The problem lies with the make money mindset that has no idea how to connect with consumers in the 21st Century when their is an oversupply of goods and a lack of attention from consumers who are now in control!

This time, I am on the side of the banks. While I may have very little capital in the bank since no one wants to fully engage me to execute any serious social media in Canada — they preferring to sit on the fence and watch their customers disappear down the information highway instead….I will do as I have done for decades now. I will ride out the wave working remaining in the moment of the NOW Revolution of Marketing.

It may be too much to ask for a “standard” small business to innovate on its product offering…but it would be nice if they had the vision to innovate in when it comes to their marketing strategy. Same old product, new way to market and sell it. Now there is an idea.

There are only two options here you either adopt social media or you are swept away. Time waits for no man or woman. Above us is the global connected techosphere where the big boys play. Learn the rules of the game and pay to win Canada. FYI, the name of the game is not HOCKEY – forget the pre meditated brain injuries in this game it is all about BRAINS, Creativity and innovation!

Do Creative people need solitude?

While attending art school at SAIT in Calgary, years ago, I read the The Labyrinth of Solitude by Mexican author Octavio Paz….in it he writes:

Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone, and the only one who seeks out another. His nature -if that word can be used in reference to man, who has ‘invented’ himself by saying ‘no’ to nature consists in his longing to realize himself in another. Man is nostalgia and a search for communion. Therefore, when he is aware of himself he is aware of his lack of another, that is, of his solitude.’

This week I am across a post from the artist’s network Behance which poses the question “What is one of the most crucial commodities for creative people that’s also becoming increasingly difficult to obtain in the 21st century? The answer: Solitude”

Great article with quotes from the poet Rilke who says to follow what is difficult. While I recognize the importance of solitude for soul-searching and creativity – I feel that right now on this planet – it is a time for connecting, especially online. The big question is how to connect to like-minded creative individuals and work together to solve some of the pressing issues that face us globally -that is DIFFICULT.

Increasingly as we will work more and more in solitude, from a home office, winding down on the “great white commute” and integrating our work into our lifestyle we take control of our time and manage it accordingly. As long as technology remains up and running we can stay connected to our networks and the ideas, news and information flowing through them…

This past week, a dear friend in Australia, who works in technology and just set up his own server, posted on Facebook that the floods of Queensland were encroaching on the home he and his wife share. Since he was iPad enabled he remained connected on Facebook while friends commented on his posts with prayers and well wishes. Thoughts are things. The floods stopped literally outside the driveway of his home and his next post was of preparing a camp style meal for his wife….

With the internet keeping us in touch – should we wish to be so – it is the best of both worlds…alone and yet connected. Alone and yet, not lonely.

Today it is heavy snow in Toronto. In the last hour I connected online already with lots of folks…as the snow continues to fall. Now it is time to get out and shovel and in the solitude of that activity I will contemplate my reason for being and the wonder of it all….

Are creative people filtered out on their way to the top?

Here it is, before the end of 2010 a google alert just came across my path linked to Fortune article about how being creative, especially during a recession is not a good idea…. It goes something like this “if you are bubbling over with fresh creative ideas — put a lid on it if you hope to become promoted”. I guess this explains why I am self employed, demoted right out of the system and still struggling to retain my autonomy with potential clients who even when considering hiring me will ask for your ideas on Search and Social media then after I make a few off the cuff suggestions to gauage their SM acumen find them declaring that those “stratagies” simply will not work with their current marketing as this is the way we do it and the way we have always done it”. huh?

As I see it there is no “way to the top” by being a Creative. You start at ground zero and work at making something new instead. If you are good you broaden your network and distribute a few ideas or memes, perhaps they even go viral and get shared, creating influence. Now there is an idea that’s time has come, eh? If you are an idea obsessed superstar you create a start up. The rest of us muddle through as consultants or freelancers.

I am working my way through the best books of 2010 – a list compiled by “brain pickings” on ” business, life and mind” which by the way, I was able to download onto my ipad – through the KOBO app. I just finished reading “Cognitive Surplus” . As I mentioned in an earlier post three of the top books have to do with ideas and creativity. Cognitive Surplus first which is all about how everyday people (users), what the author calls the world’s amatuers, are taking the time formerly spent watching TV and doing something online that is “participatory”. The byline of the book reads “creativity and generousity in the connected age”.

Clearly the companies that Fortune article is referring to are not connected and by extension – NOT generous. If they were they would be singing a different song. Like the fact that Google gave all its employees at 10% raise for 2011 or that Facebook has alot of former Google employees on staff. My favorite quote in the book is one that goes something like “even the lamest creative act, is still a creative act”

Which brings me to the two key philosophies behind the my thinking on creativity and work.

1. Who ever controls your time controls your mind
2. As humans we are creative (i.e. SOCIAL) beings

Happy Creative 2010! Get your Search On!

When considering what to do over Christmas I came across a list of best books for 2010

Reviewing the list I was both shocked and surprised to find the top three books were about Creativity and Ideas but happy that I could download 2 of the 3 of these books on my ipad through the KOBO application.

I was shocked because these book are NOT reflective of the current state of the Canadian business world at all – and I would hazard to guess that is the case in small town USA as well. While I am still waiting for the trickle down effect on Richard Florida’s notions of Creative Culture in Toronto, with a new mayor who aims to run the town for profit only and whose first words were that the “party” around the notion of “green” is over it is back to the basic Burger culture with all hopes of a larger sphere of cultural influence extending outside the core of G20 Ground Zero to the burbs resounding like a large methane fart….

For the most part small businesses do not even have a budget for the most creative part of their business plan loosely called “marketing”. Further — they totally miss the tie in between creative sales and marketing, never mind the fact that social media is NOT free, you have to pay someone who “gets it” to do the job of curating all that stuff….

I was surprised because the recessionary mindset loves to bash the Creative even though they are the only ones with the talent to generate ideas in the new knowledge ecomony, witness Google giving its employees 10% raise for Christmas and 26 year old Mark Zukerberg being names TIME Magazine’s “Person of the Year”

If I were to sum up the 2010 year with respect to the number one discussion with my clients -sadly it had nothing to do with Search and Social Media always revolves around a struggle over ideas and creativity. This is contrary to the very notion of the creative act, which is about FLOW. Again and again we reach an impasse where my creativity is questioned over their knowledge of their business offering. This encompasses everything from the smallest decision on ad word copy or to large campaign concept. It hurts my head, heart and mind as I never win the duel and it makes me wonder when the 50K I invested in ART school training will EVER be recongnized as having any validity whatsoever…

“Success benefits the body, but failure develops the Mind”

And yet I soldier on, with sword in hand a daughter of ART the Farmer.. I read an article yesterday on the web that asked why Big Business is having so much success in Social Media and the answer is the same as it was in the old days of Advertising – Big companies employ small Creatives, like myself – who have “unique” ideas and who go to bat for them at the boardroom table and argue passionately for their right to execute them in order to engage users with the brand and ultimately drive sales…go figure, what a concept…duh…

It is not the BIG company per say that embraces the idea of Creativity, rather – it is individuals within the organization or those hired by the organization to create ‘buzz”, generate new ideas and execute them. They take the risk and the big company funds it. Win or loose Big Biz has no choice for someone must be reading the books on how Creativity RULES – I would guess it is what McLuhan called the “print bastards”. Creativity is not an experiment, it is a business imperative. Read the top three book on the list above and tell me if this is not the case argued again and again….

What happens with small businesses is that they have the “employee/employer” mentality in which only the BOSS has really good ideas. They may hire marketing “experts” but do not want to surrender even for one minute their vision for their brand…and so it quickly turns into the “I am paying you to….scenario” to which I reply with attitude, “paying me to do WHAT??? the same old same old?” And yet – the expecations at the end of the day are that you will elevate them to ROCK STAR status.

The reality is that small business in Canada is so far behind the times that it is not funny. Not only should they take on a true leadership role and “delegate” the task to those who have expertise in the area of idea creation — in 2011 those BIG companies who are really progressive will be hiring creative types who know how to engage the audience, get them to interact and make applications for just that purpose.

Speaking of creative companies, Google is celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary in SEARCH and has created a great little application on You Tube that let’s you get your “Search On” Check it out by Googling You Tube / Search On. Here is my contribution to the Search On Stories…. Time is ART 2.0 Just as it was in the daze of Disney — I believe in happy endings in which good triumphs over evil….lol…

Who blogs? Why the creative class natura…

Who blogs? Why the creative class naturally check out this link for the Visual low down on the Whole Ho ho ho down…

http://www.flowtown.com/blog/whos-in-the-blogosphere?display=wide

Watching Richard Florida at The GREAT RE…

Watching Richard Florida at The GREAT RESET book launch at Rotman School

My Summer Saga I Pad Mega Media Adventure

“Well I actually think, behind the crisis is, the kind of the inflection point or the transformation point. If you look back at the two previous crises, and I’m actually writing a book on this, it’s called The Great Reset, hopefully you’ll invite me back to talk about it when it comes

out in April or May. But if you look back on previous crises, they’ve always been associated with the rise of new economic systems. So, the crisis of 1873 was associated with the rise of the first industrial revolution, and it gave rise to the second. The crisis of the 1930s was the rise of the second industrial revolution and these big steel companies and auto companies, and then we figured out how to make the society work.

This is really a crisis, not just of the financial markets and wanton spending and too much credit, it’s a tectonic crisis that’s associated with the rise of a new economic order.” – Richard Florida from HP interview today ……   http://bit.ly/cJXu5J

It has been 4 months and the Crisis to which Richard speaks above has become for me – an ongoing EPIC adventure akin to that of Don Quixote.

Love the media in the Don's hand, is it a long poking ipad thingy?

Armed with an Ipad, in the Spring I set out to take my business of sales and marketing consulting to the next level only to find myself filled with the creative angst of the Shakespearean query:  ”To Be or Not to Be?”  which played out in spades over the spring and summer on a number of different levels with a number of different clients and their needs, wishes and demands. If I had the time or inclination to write down all the bizarre and laughable details it would be too much to believe, so allow me to speak in the sweeping terms of the times in which we live – and say that I have been off tilting at the windmills which represent old media vs new media while at the same time poking away at the Creative vs the Scientific, parrying between Male vs Female ways of thinking, engaging in left vs right brain processes and finally, lunging at LIFE and DEATH.

It all began April 20th with the BP fiasco which for me resulted in a long mediation on Modern Art and the Death of Culture

Google death of culture and see who else has taken this subject on...

And so it was that I sashayed into a self interest course over the summer on “How to Die Well” thinking not of myself or those who I know but rather of our Culture as a whole, our Western culture which is now experiencing a deep grief and inability to come to terms with the loss of so much human, animal and plant life on daily basis due to its terrible inbalance which no man can correct. Indeed is seems that such a thing is impossible this late point in the game of western lifestyles, business practices and modes of thinking. I hoped for some reason to gain insight into what words I might be able to offer in the face of this ongoing  crisis. What ensued was a deep and often dangerous one sided discourse on life and death in the 20th Century lead by a leading expert who had failed to factor in …as they all seem to do….the effects of Media on the one hand and the natural balance of Life on the other which left me wondering, as usual, if my $50,000 art education investment was ever going to bear any fruit other than making me, once again, the OUTSIDER that Colin Wilson describes in his non fiction book on Artists.  Further, It left me grieving for the days when people still knew who McLuhan was in Canada. The expert heading up the session had attended Harvard and has worked in big Canadian Hospitals assisting over one thousand people in the face of their death. Still, like a fish in water what he was not aware of the environment that he lives – the Electronic Environment that McLuhan wrote of and how it that changed everything about our culture – including our response to Death and Dying…

As an artist, I have long embraced the concept that my Western Euro-Centric culture is on its death bed, a simple study of the works of the poets and painters shows this as a fact. What we see now are the final death throes of the demise of all our existing cultural institutions. For those who went to art school and studied the history of art this is not a new concept by any means. The absolute terror that this expert had seen over and over again by those facing death was the result of the TOTAL oblivion of their cultural memory which was delivered by the mercenary armies of the print bastards – armies who wiped out European Pagan and sacred culture and left all remaining scared of its monsters and demons and hungry ghosts and severely disconnected from any form of collective memory of ancestory in a matrix of disharmonic time which pits one race against another…

At one point the questions was posed as to why we were so terrified and disconnected when confronted with our own death or that of our family or loved ones. I tweeted out the word: “ARMIES”.

Buddy was completely taken back, shocked at the single keyword  which escaped my mouth like the a bird eating a small seed, quickly. The word came at him from what he thought was left field and he dismissed it as having no relevance to the rest of the conversation. All I can say is you cannot study the Media Theory of McLuhan for over 10 years and not know his theory on print and its relationship to citizen armies. If McLuhan is dry then try Bob Dobbs and the  ”Print Bastards”. Same difference.

Greatest Salesman who ever lived!

http://bit.ly/ccDw4h

The theology holds that “Bob” is the greatest salesman who ever lived, and has cheated death a number of times. He was famous for his SubGenius publication, SubGenius Pamphlet #1 (a.k.a. “The World Ends Tomorrow And You May Die”) (1979).

Whatever. If looks could kill I would have obliviated after that word “ARMIES” flew out of my mouth. From there on in I was cut off from an opportunity to expound on McLuhan or Bob Dobbs and had to listen instead to hours of discourse on Beuwolf, which incidently had been required reading prior to class.

I had googled the word Beuwolf and done the wikki check and found that it was some old english manuscript which made my hair want to fall out at the very thought of reading it so I got the equvilent of the Coles notes, reading the kids version which I picked up at Indigo. Before the class I scanned the book and looked at the pictures.

Shortly after my word was dismissed the history lesson began. I soon revealed my ignorance of British history by saying I did not know who Cromwell was. Back in my room later on I googled: Citizen armies on my IPAD and landed on the page below. The image says it all but the page honors McLuhan. DUH. Somewhere in a past I recall that I actually made an animated short on this concept — it is in storage somewhere…. Someday when I retire from this rat race or the world becomes truely aware of the environment in which we exist – and no, I do not meant the toxic slug of the old captains of industry — I will digitize my animated short and post it online…for now it is enough for you to study this picture and visit the link.

The Death of Western Culture

http://byronik.com/diss08.html

ipad for the Creative Class, forget the “netbook” people

For months now I have been thinking about buying a netbook for sales and marketing purposes….You see – I develop sales tools and do marketing creative and while me  big old 17″ HP laptop is great for in -home use… I hate having to pack it up and cart it around….just too big and heavy…I have hesitated on getting a notebook cause I went down the road of getting a cheaper laptop on my first try – but of course my work is graphic heavy and audio dependent and the old text based world view laptops simply do not hold up….so I moved up to the HP…not being able to afford an apple air book…

Now I can thank Steve, again, for a creative solution for peps like me….in fact I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these babies…it is ideal for a new sales presentation that I am developing…

What does it do?

1. browse

2. email

3. Video

4. Games

5. ebooks

This is what Steve calls a ” Third category device”, a must have for all creative types..check this out you can turn it anyway you want! look at whole webpages…turn it right round baby right round…and it has the almost life size key board! for the must have TEXT….

the Wall Street Journal said…

“The last time time we say this much excitement about a tablet it had some commandments written on it” .

For more on this device from the boss of creative…check this link…http://bit.ly/a7CA4Y

Creative mindset/billion dollar thinker Mashup

Map of the creative mind above

http://bit.ly/R5DTV

Now….about your mindset ….check out this website if you want to try to figure out how your mind set might appear. Then ask your collegue, client, boss, wife, partner or lover to map theirs and see if they are a “match” with yours. Simple eh? oh yeah, baby….just BOGGLES my mind!

Defining the Creative Class thru the Creative Process of “fitting in”

It certainly has been a while since I have had the time to blog on Creativity. I find that new clients consume so much time and energy at the start of a new relationship.  For me, learning what the client wants and how they want it done is all consuming. It involves that process of undergoing a whole new learning curve: the how “to fit in” part. A whole new relationship is formed. It is kinda like falling in love – one has to have a great reserve of emotional intelligence to deal with the “Great Expectations”  – as one undergoes a mutual exploration of strengths and weaknesses. This is especially true in sales where the expectations after hiring are very high and you are kinda sorta expected to deliver on them immediately even though you have yet to learn how the client wants things done, never mind the new script, new presentation, new words, new stance, new research to be assimulated and insights to be gained and then delivered – OR the creative ideas that you throw out as a matter of course, which may or may not be found acceptable to your new partner as you struggle to position yourself in their eyes. In this scientifically based world there are such high demands on deliverables  (shareholders), I should know by now that most only pay lip service to the creative process…

Yes, I have been buzy with a new client. At the same time I was working on a project for another.  Time has slipped by. I managed to slip in the odd tweet  – as microblogging is so 140 characters. Blogging requires more thought, planning and time.

I watched a great video hosted by HP the other day on the Creative Class with, who else?  Richard Forida. This is the video link for it.http://bit.ly/8OP5W – although it seems to be having a java script error for me this evening…if it does not work try this one, all audio,  all Richard…http://bit.ly/d0Qwk

The video is excellent. In it Richard speaks to an American from BIG IDEAS about the Creative Class. Basically, Richard keeps saying to the American,  “…. up in Toronto we are doing this or we are doing that…to encourage the development of the Creative Class….” This is is such a paradigm shift for us “not so confident” Canadians when it comes to innovation. But hey, Richard says we are now living in a POST AMERICAN world. Love that post modern….a whole new school of thought. We are so used to visiting our “American cousins” in order to find out what is happening in the area of innovation. It is a complete flip -peroo…of course, Richard is an American but hey, Toronto is his City and the party does not start till he shows up. http://bit.ly/6rtd2O. Richard says Toronto is “LIKE A GIANT POST GRADUATE CENTRE”  (And to think, I never even graduated from Art School…never mind University…I took off in search of what else….a more stimulating location…another culture…)

In addtion, to the video there is this article on the Creative Class posted at the HP page….from Trump’s School of Wharton

Overview

The term “creative class” does not refer to art school graduates working day jobs in coffee shops. And while it does include creative pros, such as art directors and designers, the “creative class” is more than a creative department. It’s what social theorist Richard Florida describes as “people in design, education, arts, music and entertainment, whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or creative content.”

The Creative Class in the ‘New Normal’ Engaging the Client

According to Wharton marketing professor Jerry Wind, creativity is something that can be learned and enhanced. “Companies can actually enhance the creativity of their people. And leadership can do a lot of things to create a creative culture – one that encourages people to take risks and find creative solutions. It requires encouraging experiments and lessons from failure. Employees should be encouraged to take risks, and know that it’s ok to fail as long as you learn from this.”

Adam M. Grant, professor of management at Wharton and an organizational psychologist, says, “Most creative professionals have a particular end user in mind.” Often the end user is a client of the business, he says, but the end user could be a coworker or anyone else who uses the product. “When you connect creative professionals to the end users,” says Grant, “when they hear the needs those end users have, that encourages the creative professionals to empathize with the end users and find practical ways to help them.” The satisfaction gained from finding a solution to the end user’s problem is often a reward unto itself.

But making that connection isn’t always easy. According to Grant, a lot of creative people don’t get to see the impact of their work or meet the end user. And that’s unfortunate. He offers an example from the technology realm. “If I am designing software programs, one of the things I need to do is gain an understanding of the user’s perspective, watch how they use software and tailor my design to how the end user actually works. But a lot of organizations don’t establish that connection between employees and end users.” Establish that connection, he says, and designers will add value by creating more useful products.

Open Innovation and Technology

Professor Wind adds that a great deal of a company’s creative class innovation may come from the outside. “You realize from the beginning that not all ideas will come from inside. So you open yourself to the outside – including customers – in solution design.” He calls P&G a pioneer in open innovation. “They get about 50% of their products from outside P&G. It used to be much smaller. Even with a 9,000-person R&D group they could not deliver the innovations they needed.”

Wind points to another example of open innovation, this one in advertising: “Look at what’s happening in user-generated content.” Wind says that the most effective TV commercial of the last Super Bowl was the ad for Doritos, which was developed by consumers. “This came from a culture of innovation,” he says. “The more you create such a culture, the more you engage customers in the solution, then the higher the likelihood of coming up with more valuable solutions to them and to the company as well.”

Innovation in technology is especially important in the U.S., says Wind. “We historically believe we have the dominance in R&D and innovation. But we’re losing that dominance. In China and India they are developing sophisticated high-tech products. Singapore has a government office of creativity. It focuses on innovation, communication and creativity.”

Identifying and Optimizing Creative People Creative people breathe life into their organizations. They inspire those around them. So, how can management learn to identify and tap an organization’s creative problem solvers? According to Darren Rowse, vice president at blogging network b5media, highly creative people display a number of traits – curiosity, for one. Creative people tend to ask how, why, and what if? Creative people tend to confront challenges, not run from them. They believe that no challenge is too big to be overcome. And creative people persevere. When the going gets tough, creative people keep going.

Rowse and other creative professionals believe that smart managers should look for these traits among their people. When creative people are identified they should be given more opportunities to solve problems. Whether making difficult tasks easier, dangerous jobs safer, or complicated programs simpler, creative problem solving can add value to practically any organization, especially today.

According to Adam Grant, “We’re moving from an information age to a conceptual age. We need more creative professionals who can identify new problems and solve them in ways that haven’t been considered before. “Research by Teresa Amabile at Harvard and Sigal Barsade and Jennifer Mueller at Wharton shows that positive emotions can drive creativity. Enthusiasm and excitement often drive good ideas; these emotions make us more cognitively flexible. We tend to make more connections between different kinds of ideas, and see things from different kinds of ideas, and see things from different angles.”

Gay Pride Parade in Toronto….”a leading indicator” of an emerging Creative Culture