Today, we have a very special episode for you all. We are joined by Maxim Gelmann and Caroline Hobkinson, two experts in their respective fields. Caroline is a Behavioral Anthropologist and Food Multisensory Expert who has been exploring the connections between technology, food, art, and our senses. If you're a fan of our show, you might remember her from previous episodes. And, Maxim is the Chief Stroodle at Stroodles Eco Tableware, a company that is on a mission to make our everyday items as eco-friendly as possible. Together, they've just launched Stroodled, a Sustainable Mindset Audit that aims to close the "Joy Gap" in sustainability.
Maxim and Caroline will talk about conscious consumerism, the challenges of changing habits, and how the Stroodled audit measures your positive impact. They'll also delve into how companies can use the audit to show their commitment to sustainability and the environment, and how we as consumers can make small changes to live our best lives in a more sustainable way.
In this episode, you'll discover:
-The "Joy Gap" in sustainability and how Stroodled is closing it by measuring your positive impact.
-The importance of conscious consumerism and how small changes can make a big difference.
-How companies can show their commitment to sustainability and the environment through the Stroodled audit.
-The role of positive reinforcement in promoting sustainable living, and how to manifest sustainability in your daily life.
-The connection between happiness and sustainability, and how you can live your best life while being mindful of the planet.
So, get ready to learn, be inspired, and discover the joy of sustainability with Maxim and Caroline on the Hihellosura Show
So, grab your coffee cup, sit back, and get ready to learn about the modern approaches to happiness and sustainability. Who knows, before you know it, you might just be reading Shakespeare with a Stroodles top hat on!
Get in touch with Maxim Gelmann and Caroline Hobkinson on Linkedin, and on instagram.

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Closing the Joy Gap: Conscious Consumerism & Sustainability with Maxim Gelmann and Caroline Hobkinson

Join us for the finale of our three-part series on the importance of human-centered design for innovation and creativity. In this episode, we'll be speaking with Kathryn and David Eastlake, innovators and residents of United Church homes. They will be sharing their unique perspectives on the impact of human-centered design and how it has led to more innovation and creativity in their community.
But that's not all! We'll also be exploring the secrets of blue zone living and how to find purpose using the purpose equation. Kathryn and David will share their own experiences and insights on how to live a fulfilling life in retirement.
👉About Kathryn & David Eastlake
Kathryn taught 7-12 year olds at public school, in business and technology for over 30 years. David worked for IBM for 38 years as a service technician and sang in the Barbershop Harmony Qurtets for 45 years.
They now both sing in the local community chorus and are committed to living out their purpose.
✍️ References on the show
Bluezone living : https://www.bluezones.com
Discovering and living into your purpose:  https://thepurposeequation.com

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Human centered design Finale with Kathryn & David Eastlake

Join us for the HiHelloSura podcast where we delve into the importance of human-centered design for innovation and creativity. In the second part of our three-part series, we are joined by Dan Miller, a Senior Executive Director in the post-acute healthcare industry with over 32 years of experience. Dan will be sharing insights on the impact of an innovation project and how putting consumers at the heart of creation has led to more innovative and creative solutions.
Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn from a seasoned expert in the field. Listen now and be inspired to bring a human-centered approach to your own work. Subscribe to the HiHelloSura podcast and be a part of the conversation on the importance of human-centered design for innovation and creativity.
✨About Dan Miller
Dan’s current role is the Senior Executive Director of the Northern Region of United Church Homes and have direct oversight of the Parkvue Community. 32 years of experience in the post-acute healthcare industry with roles as Administrator, Executive Director and CEO. B.S. in Business Administration from Heidelberg University. Have served on various boards for Rotary, the Chamber of Commerce, Wyandot Memorial Hospital Foundation, NAHCA National Board of Advisors, Pioneer Joint Vocational School advisory board.
🙌Get in touch with Dan Miller @dmiller@uchinc.org and on Linkedin

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Human Centered Design at 80 plus continued with Dan Miller

There's a lot of jargon around net zero, but what does it actually mean? And how can you make your organization net zero?

It might seem like a daunting task, but there are under-the-radar factors that could be negatively affecting your sustainability efforts. For example, did you know that your pension fund could be killing people?

Join Andrew Griffiths, Director of Community and Partnerships of PlanetMark to:
👉Debunk the jargon around net zero 
👉The basics of sustainability like forming a green team to catapult your organization to being net zero.
👉 Creating a win-win for both the planet and your bottom line profit. 
👉 Spot the under the radar factors that negatively effect sustainability i.e. potentially your pension. 

📣About Andrew 

Andrew Griffiths, Director of Community and Partnerships, Planet Mark, a sustainability certification that supports organisations and real estate to measure and continually reduce carbon emissions, and increase their social impact. Andrew, chairs the Institute of Directors National Sustainability Taskforce and was a member of the UK Government’s COP26 Small Business Taskforce, as well as the Advisory Board for the Global Sustainability Film Awards.He thrives at the intersection between technology and sustainability and remains stubbornly  optimistic about how these themes will align to influence and improve the future of our workplaces, planet, and wider society.

🧁Connect: 

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewthomasgriffiths/>
<https://www.planetmark.com>
<https://tedxsydney.com/contributor/bronwyn-king/>
<https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk>

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The surprising truth about net-zero with Andrew Griffiths

Join us with our guest Michael Hughes, a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in aging, technology and health. As the first Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer at United Church Homes, Michael is leading the organization's digital transformation efforts and is always on the lookout for new ways to engage and co-create offerings with residents. With a passion for reducing health and wellness risks, Michael has teamed up with AARP and later HiHelloSura to put residents at the heart of innovation. Tune in as we explore Michael's journey and learn about the impact that human-centered design has had on innovation for the residents of United Church Homes.
👉About Micheal Hughes
SEVP and Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer, United Church Homes. Michael joined United Church Homes in November 2021 as its first Chief Transformation and Innovation Officer. His work centers on leading UCH’s digital transformation efforts which includes developing its online platforms, evaluating promising technologies and finding new ways to engage and co-create offerings with its customers.
Michael has over 20 years of experience in aging, technology and health. He has held leadership roles at AARP, Surescripts and Senior Helpers and has particular interest in measuring and reducing health and wellness risks associated with social determinants of health. He is also active in the AgeTech space and has advised a number of startups on market entry strategy, UX development and business sustainability through volunteer work with AgeTech accelerators like TechStars.
📣 Get in touch on Linkedin searching for Michael Hughes.

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Human centered design at age 80 plus with Michael Hughes

Join us for a thought-provoking episode of the hihellosura show as we welcome Tisse Mallon, the founder of the How of Happy! Tisse, a quirky queer with a passion for human behavior, will challenge your traditional views on power and fulfillment. We'll discuss how the traditional skill set taught to us often leads to tension and manipulation, and how we need to focus on the "slow skills" like empathy, compassion, and listening to truly connect with others. Say goodbye to the fear-based, productivity-driven culture and hello to Tisse's game-changing strategies for emotional intelligence and global citizenship. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of the leading voices in emotional intelligence, who has presented at TEDx and other high-profile events. Get ready to expand your perspective and learn the art of connection.

👉About Tisse Mallon
A quirky queer with a wild passion for understanding what makes humans tick. Tisse is the Founder/Director of the Elar Institute, a school focused on the science of connection and the primary instructor of their flagship program, the How of Happy. For the past 16 years, Tisse has been producing events and teaching classes centered on emotional intelligence, applied neuroscience, and mindfulness. Tisse proudly promotes the ideology of Global Citizenship which involves a broader perspective of human rights, sustainability, and commonality. They believe emotional intelligence is at the core of peaceful humanity; realizing we are all connected – part of an organism that either thrives or suffers as a whole. Tisse has presented at TEDx Orlando, TEDx Poynter Institute, Pecha Kucha Orlando, Orlando Story Club, and AIGA’s Wellness By Design event among others.


Visit: https://howofhappy.com and when you sign up put in HIHELLO , for a discount. 

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The How of Happy with Tisse Mallon

In this episode, we'll be exploring what it takes to scale from a team of 10 people to a team of over 300,000. We'll hear from Esteban Garcia, a serial entrepreneur who has been through the process, and learn about the challenges and lessons he’s acquired along the way. We'll also find out how unexpected life experiences can help us to focus our energy and structure our lives in a way that feels meaningful and successful for us.

About Esteban Garcia
Esteban Garcia is a technology entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the industry. &nbsp; As of July 1st, Esteban is the CEO of Xpirit USA – a Microsoft Cloud consulting firm helping customers with their Cloud adoption by building Engineering Cultures.

Esteban has been in an entrepreneurial journey since 2007, having been part of several startups, with the most recent being Nebbia Technology, started in &nbsp;2014, with an exit in 2019 and a second exit in 2020.
Esteban has a passion for helping transform organizations through the use of technology, enabling teams to do amazing things while solving their business problems. He does this through mentoring, training, and working closely with teams to help them realize their potential.

Esteban is a frequent speaker at technical conferences throughout the world, he is a Microsoft Regional Director and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.

You can &nbsp; follow him on Twitter at @estebanfgarcia.

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Lessons Learnt from Scaling from 10 to over 300,000 People. Leading & Nurturing Teams & How Life Helps to Focus Energy & Structure Life with Esteban Garcia

Satalia CEO Daniel Hulme discusses the future of artificial intelligence, and how it will impact businesses and society as a whole. 

Hear about exciting new applications for AI that are already being used by companies like Tesco and PwC, and find out how you can apply AI in your own business. Satalia is on a mission to make innovation accessible and free for all. Join us as we discuss the implications of this abundance.

Learn how:
👉 AI help humanity.

👉 AI can become a catalyst for an abundant world. 

👉 AI is be perceived as ethically agonistic.

👉AI can help you, your team and your organization.

Get in touch: https://www.satalia.com/about or reach out to Daniel Hulme on Linkedin. 
About Daniel Hulme

Daniel Hulme (PhD) is a leading expert in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies, and is the CEO of Satalia. Satalia is an award-winning company that provides AI products and solutions for global companies such as Tesco and PwC. Satalia's mission is to create a world where everyone is free to innovate and that those innovations become free for everyone.

Daniel is also the Chief AI Officer for WPP and helps define, identify, curate and promote AI capability and new opportunities for the benefit of the wider group and society.

Having received a Master and Doctorate in AI at UCL, Daniel is also UCL's Computer Science Entrepreneur in Residence and a lecturer at LSE's Marshall Institute, focused on using AI to solve business and social problems.

Passionate about how technology can be used to govern organisations and bring positive social impact, Daniel is a popular keynote speaker specialising in the topics of AI, ethics, technology, innovation, decentralization and organisational design. He is a serial speaker for Google and TEDx, holds an international Kauffman Global Entrepreneur Scholarship, and is a faculty member of Singularity University.

Daniel is a contributor to numerous books, podcasts and articles on AI and the future of work. His mission is to create a world where everyone has the freedom to spawn and contribute to innovations, and have those innovations become free to everyone. He has advisory and executive positions across companies and governments, and actively promotes purposeful entrepreneurship and technology innovation across the globe.

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How the Future of AI will impact businesses and society as a whole with Daniel Hulme

Join, Kal Sahota, CEO and President of crowd source innovation Hero X. 

In today's business world, innovation is key to success. Implementing crowd innovation can help organizations to stay ahead of the competition and keep their business fresh and relevant. 

With over 25 years in corporate, primarily in Financial Services and her passion for innovation, Kal has been well positioned to understand the environment of current business and powerfully support Brands and Organizations in identifying strategies related to open innovation.

Kal, shares that the team at Hero X believe that the solution to the world’s problems are hidden away in the minds of people we just haven’t connected with yet.

Listen and discover how: 
👉The power of crowd innovation can help you solve for tomorrow’s seemingly.

👉 Genius can live anywhere and you are invited to  apply your own magic 

👉 A tattoo parlor played a pivotal role in the clean up the ocean Reseach 
👉 A Honolulu architect  solved the challenge of a bottle opener 

👉 Asking ourselves intensional questions in order to inspire and lead others.


Get in touch: 

https://www.herox.com
Launch a challenge: https://www.herox.com/i-want-to-launch-challenge
Help Solve a challenge: https://www.herox.com/sign-up

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How to Stay Ahead with Crowd innovation & the Power of Inviting Others to Apply their Own Magic with Kal Shota

Strengthen your leadership and innovation skills today with the world's leading practitioners of Arts-Based Experiential Learning, Fred Mandell and Harvey Seifter.

The last few years have reshaped the business landscape so profoundly that many corporate leaders are woefully unprepared for the rapidly changing demands of the roles they now occupy, and they know it.

The future depends on the ability of organizations and leaders to navigate a landscape shaped by disruption, uncertainty, volatility, and rapidly accelerating change. 

In 2019 Fred joined forces with Harvey Seifter, global pioneer in arts-based learning, to form Creating Futures That Work. (www.futuresthatwork.com) https://www.linkedin.com/in/hseifter/

As lead practitioners of Arts-Based Experiential Learning (ABEL), they have discovered this to be an emotionally resonant and transformational system that helps leaders, high potentials, and teams develop the creative, collaborative, and innovation skills they need to win the future. 

Discover: 
👉How to future-proof your career and your organization 
👉 How arts-based experiential learning can help you lead a great company
👉Why leaders need to be well rounded, strong and resilient


About 

Harvey Seifter, founder and director of Art of Science Learning (www.artofsciencelearning) and Principal Investigator of its two National Science Foundation grants, is one of the world’s leading authorities on organizational creativity and arts‐based learning. Through Seifter Associates (www.seifterassociates.com), the consulting firm he founded in
1995, Harvey has brought arts­‐based approaches to innovation, leadership development, teamwork and cross-­cultural communication to General Electric, IBM, AstraZeneca, Siemens, Real Networks, Johnson & Johnson, Chrysler, Novartis, Morgan Stanley, GlaxoSmithKline, Goldman Sachs, BMW, McGraw‐Hill, Columbia University Graduate School of Business (Senior Executive Faculty 2002 -­‐05), UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, New York University’s Stern School, Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo) and Université de Paris VIII.

Fred Mandell is a former award winning senior executive and business model innovator, visual artist, writer, teacher, social entrepreneur and transformation provocateur. He has developed emotionally resonant ways to teach individual and team skills, techniques and processes which accelerate innovative outcomes through arts based learning. His series The Leader as Artist has earned the number one rated course at MIT’s Sloan Innovation Period program.  He is the author of Can Art Save Us? (TGIAL) and Becoming a Life Change Artist; 7 Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Age (Avery/Penguin) with Kathleen Jordan.

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How to develop the creative skills you need to win the future, with Fred Mandell and Harvey Seifter.

Sometimes it's hard to see the wood for trees when you are stuck in your own success. Mark Tribbitt, PHD at Pepperdine University breaks down what he has seen over his years teaching MBA courses that focus on strategic management and entrepreneurship with an emphasis towards technology innovation, as well his leadership coaching. 

We cover: 
- How To Stop Limiting Yourself and Finally Start Leading And Innovating
- 3 Ways Leaders Get Stuck (And How To Break Free) 
- How To Stop Overthinking Everything And Start Making Things Happen
- The Mindset Shift That Will Help You Finally Lead And Innovate

Walk away recognizing where leaders get caught up so they you can learn ways to break free!

👉About Mark Tribbitt

Dr. Mark A. Tribbitt is a tenured professor of strategic management at Pepperdine University.  Prior to pursuing a career in academia, Dr. Tribbitt spent 14 years in the financial services industry in various leadership positions.  Most recently, Dr. Tribbitt was Vice President of Operations for JPMorgan, managing servicing and trading of a $350 billion mutual fund portfolio.  

Mark’s primary research interest deals with the intersection between corporate governance and corporate entrepreneurship.  His teaching focuses on strategic management, entrepreneurship, and management of technology and innovation.  

Mark is a member of several academic associations including the Academy of Management, and he has presented his work at multiple global academic conferences. He has also won numerous awards and accolades for his teaching.

Beyond his current faculty appointment, Mark is an executive coach and consultant.  He has consulted various firms in the areas of business development, operations management, and mergers and acquisitions strategies; and has coached executives and high potential individuals across a number of industries.

👉Get in touch with Mark Tribbitt on Linkedin

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How To Stop Limiting Yourself and Finally Start Leading And Innovating with Mark Tribbitt

Join Emma Pelfrey, multimedia designer, experienced photographer, videographer and I as chat in real life, about the lessons learnt to be yourself, in order to follow what personally drives you.

This path as most of us have experienced is not always easy, but Emma shares the clues that led her to identify that she was not in alignment, the effect that it has on her health and ultimately, how taking leaps repeatedly has helped her create a creative life that she is excited to wake up to everyday. 

Walk away learning: 
- The tell tale signs that the path is not meant for you. 
- How important it is to leave your ego at the door. 
- The ripple effect of empowering those around you to succeed.




About Emma Pelfrey 

Emma Pelfrey is a multimedia designer, experienced photographer and videographer, with a niche for entertainment. She has worked with
brands such as Absolut. She manages and designs for Color Me Places and is the studio assistant at Red Tape Gallery. 

Her work T-Shirt collaboration in 2019 with Color Me Places co-owner Ariel Hernandez, merged her brand The Saint Emma and his brand Penny Brave, leading to a huge Halloween pop-up.

Ask Emma Pelfrey, to create anything on a computer; websites, graphic design, 3D animation, music production. Anything!

She is most proud to create a life and career in art and design. She admits it is not always easy, as she has sacrificed a lot of stability but gets wake up and work her two dream jobs. A feat she would never take for granted.


Get in touch with Emma Pelfrey 

<https://www.maisonbluecreative.com/>
<https://www.instagram.com/maisonbluecreative/>
https://www.colormeplaces.com
https://www.redtapeorlando.com

Being yourself is your greatest strength with Emma Pelfrey

In this episode we are joined by Matt Wilcox, author of “the business of choice” where we deep dive into the application of behavioral science to give us critical insights for marketing magic.

We break down how the different building blocks that effect human behavior, hopefully shedding a light and giving you a blueprint for creating some persuasion. 

Spoiler alert our acronym for the chat is LENS! 

-[L] Perceived fear of Loss 
-[E] Ease 
-[N] "Now and Near — how time and physical distance affect our choices”.
-[S] Our decisions are effected by what we see other people doing Socially. 

 
About Matt: 
Matthew is is one of the pioneers of the application of behavioral science insights to the practice of marketing. His book, “The Business of Choice” was named M&SB’s “Marketing Book Of The Year and winner of the American Marketing Association’s prestigious Berry Book Prize, and the second edition was a medallist in the 2021 Axion Business Book Awards. He currently runs The Business of Choice, a behavioral insights and choice architecture consultancy that helps organizations make the choices they need people to make align with how people naturally choose.




The Art of Persuasion & Decision Making, with Matthew Willcox

In real life, sitting next to one another, Peterson Guerrier and I had the unique opportunity to talk.

Co-founder with Chris Jones of the multidisciplinary full service studio, Red Tape, they work with interior designers, architecture firms and corporate clients to create dynamic custom fine art, transforming spaces into experiences and connection opportunities. 

The Red Tape mindset shares: “we are not individuals, but a community of events, a community of human relationships that share a way of thinking. We form ideas through a collaborative process that encourage the exchange of varied perspectives.”

We discuss: 

👉 The creation process.
👉 Being a human.
👉 Being a renegade. 
👉 Suspending attachments 
👉 Being true to ourselves. 
👉 Pushing the limits of possibility. 
👉 Community and serving. 
👉 Leaving our egos at the door. 

Please share your perspectives of the episode, in the reviews. 

✨Check out www.hihellosura.com/think-differently to cultivate the mindset of unleashing your creativity. 

Get in touch with Peterson Guerrier 
👉Instagram @mr\_guerrier 
👉 Linkedin Peterson Guerrier 
👉 Www.redtapeorlando.com
👉 www.guerrierstudios.com

✨About Peterson Guerrier ✨
“Beauty is only the beginning of a conversation”. Peterson Guerrier grew up in Miami, FL, and attended Design and Architecture Senior High. Thereafter securing a Fine Arts degree from College of Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, MI.

Peterson Guerrier is best known for his work with the concept of duality. Whether through his painting or his photography, he has always expertly portrayed the juxtaposition between different extremes. In his paintings, Peterson's layering technique along with his use of color brings his works to life. 

When different elements of the paintings emerge they create their own intriguing storyline left open to interpretation.

Peterson’s work has been commissioned by various high-profile companies in hospitality and advertising. His work has been installed in Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas, and featured in Boutique Design magazine. He has shown in galleries across the country, including The Mennello Museum of American Art, Aqua Miami Art Basel, Snap Orlando!, City Art, The Grand Bohemian Gallery, Redefine Gallery, RGPL High Point market (NC), and X Contemporary Gallery at Art Basel, Miami. Peterson currently lives and works in Orlando, Florida.



Beauty is only the beginning of a conversation, with Peterson Guerrier

Join Caroline and I, as we discuss how to engage the senses in a highly digitized world.

Walk away understanding: 
- The impact that covid has had on our senses. 
- How neglected the apps in our body are compared to the apps on our phone. 
- The opportunity for brands.
- How our personality and taste interact.
- How eating beats can taste like venison while listening to carefully curated soundscapes.
 

About Caroline Hobkinson 

Caroline uses food and its rituals as performance and social commentary. She has been exploring and investigating the interrelationships between Tech, Food, Art and Senses. 

Born in Cologne in 1979, trained at Central Saint Martin’s where she gained a degree in Fine Art and SOAS where she studied the Anthropology of Food for a master’s degree, she has been creating events and sculptural installations, in galleries, museums and public spaces worldwide.

Operating within the intersections of art, design, technology, food and the senses Caroline has been giving numerous interactive talks and lectures on the subject of food and eating rituals for Unilever, Disney, Barilla, Space 10 and many others and her work and research has appeared in numerous publications. 

Get in touch with Caroline Hobkinson
@linkedin 
@Instagram 
www.carolinehobkinson.com



Engaging the senses in a highly digitized world with Caroline Hobkinson

We’ve all had conversations that feel real, and genuine. 

We instinctively know when they feel disingenuous and transactional. 

As a brand, your conversation with your “audience” is no different. How do we the purveyor of value have a real conversation with humans that really connects with them. Dare I say surprises them and gets them caught up in the conversation. 

Think about when countless hours have passed when you’ve been talking with the perfect stranger. 

This is our opportunity to design experiences that do just that. 

Joined by my guest Jamie Shaw, Global Creative Director for experience, creative and brand at experiential agency Cogs & Marvel. 

We discuss :

- The ability to story-tell using all the senses. 
- How forming a kaleidoscope team is the only way to go. 
- Jamies unusual background as a poet that informed her alternative approach.
- How the best ideas can start from a passion project and emerge to create a powerful movement (That Lady Thing).
- How truly injecting an unexpected emotion, made an HR benefits campaign the most raved about experience. 
- How to tune into your gut to make decisions . 
- AND there’s more.. so listen. 

About Jamie Shaw 

Jamie Shaw is a creative director at global brand experience agency Cogs & Marvel, a live and digital brand experience agency serving some of the world’s most innovative thinkers. 

She leads creative direction, brand, and experience design. Self proclaimed language obsessive (I’m so nervous about my inevitable typos), strategic brain with creative soul, rock snob, placemaker. Past-life poet. 

Cogs and Marvel, a Certified Women-Owned Business, inspires and connects people by finding better ways to create meaning through smart storytelling. Their chief value is summed up in the phrase, “Make It Better.”


Getting in touch with Jamie Shaw: 
Www.JamieShaw.net 
Www.CogsandMarvel.com 

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Reconnect to the Senses through Experience Design, with Jamie Shaw.

In this episode:
Don’t be like so many ‘I have an idea’ moments that never make it anywhere. This week is all about rolling up your sleeves and bravely choosing the solutions that others might not, protecting and nurturing them so you’ll feel confident walking them out the door. We’ll focus on a few more innovation secrets experts use to create winning solutions. 

I talk about and cover how to: 
Select the right ideas
Nurture, protect and build in feasibility into that ‘crazy’ ideas

If you love this and want to know more go to: https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity

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How to Confidently get those Ideas out of the Door!

Hey that. Welcome to the HiHelloSura Show I'm your host, Sura Al-Naimi.  I am so excited to be here and I'm so excited that you're here. And I know that I say that every time, but I really need it. Welcome, welcome today. And as always, I just want to say thank you so much for showing up.

Thank you so much for supporting thank you for all of your comments and all of your contributions for sharing the stories of how you have been applying everything. And every time we shot, I learned something new. So I am just getting richer and richer for it from your knowledge and from your experience.

So I'm indebted and super, super great. So today is the day. Today is the day where I really wanted to focus on this is like the building phase. I w you know, this is the bit that sometimes people are not quite as excited about within the innovation process, right?

This is where things get a little bit real, but if we are in the business of making a difference and getting the things that we really care about out into the wild, this is so important. And I say this about every single phase that it's really important, but it is every single phase is really important because without one of them everything falls apart.

So today I really wanted to focus on confidently getting those winning ideas out the door. And this is what I go into a lot of detail about in only sh your creativity masterclasses like week six six of six this is week six of the master class, and this is really important. So if we have solutions in our organizations, when we have solutions in our organizations, and quite often, it's really tough to choose which idea should be dedicated our energy.

Which are the ones that we should be dedicating our energy to actually nurturing and getting out into market. And you've invested so much energy so much time has happened up until this point. And it's really difficult for, in my conversations over the last 20 years, people have shared with me that it's really tough to sometimes make those decisions and for them to be strategic, versus who is the loudest person in the room or who is paid the most in the room, whether that's a zoom room or an actual room.

So in this episode, I really wanted to focus on like, how do we make the decisions for certain ideas to move forward. And then what are some top tips so that we can nurture those ideas? Because if you've really been brave and push the thinking, some of the ideas that you've come up with are not going to be immediately like your business model might not support it.

Your business might not be attuned to actually creating what it is. That you've imagined it might be quite a digression. And so how do we nurture those ideas and actually get them out into market. And I wanted to spend a little bit of time and give you some top tips of how to do that in this episode, because if you've listened to the previous shows and if you haven't, I invite you to we've gone through this journey of your originally finding out what your CRE creativity superhero strength is.

And what I mean by that is that we all have a propensity to approach it, creativity and innovation from a certain lens. We have a preference, right? It's really important for us to know our preference and our strengths so that we can be conscious of how we can contribute. We can be conscious of how we're getting stuck.

We can be conscious of other people's contributions so that we can collaborate with them best is having conflict. So you have done that already after that, you'll understand, the building blocks of creativity and innovation and how really it's like going to the gym. It's a habit that you invest in on a daily basis to do things in new and different ways for a positive outcome.

After that you got into aligning your forces for good. So that's where we really focused on, what is the challenge that we want to solve for thus as the one that we were given. And does everybody agree? And is it inspired. After that we went into your cousin is not your audience. So in that, tongue in cheek, but it's like really want to make something for our end audience.

So in order to do that, we actually have to understand our audience versus make assumptions about our audience. After that we got into making winning ideas. And what we really mean by that is that we want to push beyond the low hanging fruit. We really want to get into a new spectrum of thinking. We want to push the thinking into places that we've never gone before.

That might seem really scary and make a bunch of people really nervous. And we give ourselves Liberty to do that in that phase. But today is really about like, how do we make those decisions and how do we move forward? So that's what I'd love to contribute today. And often we have all of these ideas, but we don't want them just to wilt into these like wonderful decks.

We actually wants to make some decisions around them. So top tip number one, as hubs of making decisions is to really go back to what does success look like? Remember when you define success and if you did it. Define success for the project. What are the five tenants of success or the three tenants of success in order for your project to be successful.

And obviously profitability is going to be one of them. So we would actually don't even need to have that, but often, some of the tenants of success, baked in a consumer truth is it, is it something that's going to really be appealing to a consumer? Another one that is pretty, pretty standard.

Is in alignment with the brand, is it, does it convey the brand? And then there were other more specifics depending on your project. So if we can get really clear on what your success criteria is, then when you look at each idea, you can immediately tally them. According to that success criteria, drum roll.

And all of a sudden you're having a pretty objective conversation because it's not so much like this as the passion project, or I love this, or I love pink, or it should go out of, this port versus that port suddenly you're having a very educated conversation because you can say, this idea is a, out of a total performance there's five success criteria.

I can see that it is performing really well. With four out of five, there's this other idea which is being like the passion sort of idea so far, this one's only performing two out of the five success criteria. And what I look at this idea. I'm not really seeing a lot of opportunity to nurture it, to have it perform really well to go beyond the two out of five, whereas the one that's performing a four out of five, I'm seeing ways that I can nurture this idea.

So although this was perhaps the underdog this was maybe the idea that we didn't really think about or consider. Maybe we should actually give this another look. Top tip number one, go back to your success criteria and then see how each idea is performing. According to success criteria, top tip number two is see where the passion is in the room.

What are people most excited about and make that a blind vote? So often we have a voting system and we see somebody's boat for an idea. And then, there's a lot of group thing that happens. Like I'm swayed. Like I'm like, Ooh. Yeah, like maybe I like the idea too or equally maybe an idea gets no love.

And I feel really guilty about that. Who knows what kind of trauma or therapy I need to undergo, but I do, I feel really guilty about it. And so I suddenly launch in to try and make that idea reality. So by doing a blind task for your passion tasks, that can be really helpful. In order to get a read of the room genuinely versus, going beyond group think so top tip number one, go back to the success criteria and then see how ideas are performing top tip number two, see where the passion is in the room, in the zoom room in the global room.

But do it anonymously. Okay. So there's the first top tips for making decisions. Okay. So going forward, how do you nurture those ideas? How do you nurture them? Okay because the idea is new, it's going to need a bit of nurturing. So again, going back to the success criteria and looking at an idea, you can see how it's performing, maybe it's performing really well in terms of working for consumer truth, but maybe it's like lagging a little bit on the old aligned with the brand, for example.

And so that gives you an indicator of where you get to nurture the idea, that gives you an indicator of where to have your expansive thinking of let's think about ways in which we can address this. So that's one approach to naturing. The other approach is to and this is something that I've done a lot especially when I've got.

A really diverse team of individuals who've come together. Maybe they've actually come together just to see the solutions. They haven't actually been a pump process, which is not ideal, but it does happen. And so for example, in that instance, I would give them the ideas. And I would in the nurturing process, I was, that this happens for example, when you've got representatives from different states and they're like, like my state is very different to this state or different countries.

My country is very unique. This product won't work so often in this moment, I will actually give them the idea. And I say please. I'd love for you to look at this idea and share with me a couple of really major showstoppers, right? What could really stop this idea from being successful.

And then I'll just right next to that, I would love some solutions to help solve for that. So what have we done that immediately? We've got somebody who could be a potential resistor. We've also got somebody who has a very unique perspective because granted they are from a different state or a different country, and we are getting them to use that expertise for the force of good.

So they get to look at the. And they get to have a look at it and they get to poke a poke at it. But they have to poke at it with responsibility because right after they've done that, they need to provide some sort of solution for how to solve for it. So all of a sudden you're getting that expertise on your side.

Okay. So that is top tip number four. Okay. And then top tip number five, which might sound really obvious, but you can think about your solution and you can think about the different people, the different stakeholders that are really important to that idea succeeding. So you could have your stakeholder, like your original stakeholder, but then you might have your consumer you might have different departments of your organization.

Like you might have technology, our research and development, finance, et cetera. And step into their shoes and say, okay, so if they were looking at this idea, what could some potential challenges be that they would perceive in this idea? So it's a little bit like role-playing, if you can't actually get ahold of that individual, and once you've done that, you say, okay this is, these are some potential pitfalls that we're anticipating.

And and this is how we might actually alleviate for some of those. These are some solutions that we could actually bake him. So I getting ahead of some of the potential challenges and bolstering and nourishing, you getting your idea into a much stronger position to be able to survive.

The other thing that I would say is that with all ideas until we actually experience them, it's really tough for us to get excited, jazzed and onboard. What are the behaviors that would say is really been very important is to make something very experiential for the idea. So whether you're going as far as drawing pictures, whether you're going as far as actually setting a room.

So for example, I did a project once and it was focused around sports and it was around the festivities of sports and what happens. So we actually decorated the whole room and that kind of festive environment, as we were sharing the environment, the ideas, so that people got into that mindset, equally I've done projects that were focused on teen teen girls.

And so we, we actually decorated the room yet again. So that when people dropped in, they felt like they were a part of that actual world and it was very easy for them to receive for them to receive the solutions. If you're doing this digitally, what are some of the ways that you can make this as real, as possible to convey the mood, is there specific music is there something that you can invite your audience to perhaps eat while they're listening to your idea?

Maybe there's certain foods that create like a sense of nostalgia, for example are there specific smells that maybe you could post to them or get them to gather as ingredients that you could invite them to sniff as you're presenting a sentence solution. So if you're thinking about like a 360 experiential moment where you can make as real, as exciting the idea make it as vivid as possible.

One of the old examples that we always draw upon is the idea of. Joe Rody when he suggested the animal kingdom concept when it was a concept before it actually became a park and people had such a resistance, they said, we don't need yet another zoo. An animals are actually very exciting.

And so what did he do in order to make it real yet? She took a saber tooth tiger with him to the meeting. And all of a sudden people were very excited, slash very scared by the tiger. And for some reason he got funding for the project and now, animal kingdom exists Walt Disney world in Florida, by the way.

So any way that you can make ideas as vivid and as real as possible to go beyond the words. So people that actually have an experience is going to really get you a lot more into the buy-in from your stakeholders and your funding. And, even if you are the founder of an organization, thinking about, anything that you're bringing into the world is probably going to be something pretty new.

And if there are any bridges that you can create with your audience where you can say, it's like this, so there was a point where we had the horse and carriage, for example, and then before the call came to be, there was this thing called the horseless carriage.

And the whole Silas carriage look very much like the horse and carriage. But it didn't have a horse and it was our first iteration of a car, so we didn't go straight from the whole carrot. So the whole thing carried to car. We went to the horse's carriage. So what is your version of the horse's carriage?

So you can make that bridge so that you can create that understanding with your audience and get that buy-in get that excitement from. So those are my top tips to you for confidently getting those ideas out the door. So just as a recap, the first one is go back to your success criteria and assess the ideas that you have, the solutions that you have according to the success criteria.

The second one is see where the passion is in the room by voting on the ideas, but doing a blind vote so that people aren't swayed. The third one is look at the idea, according to how it's performing on the success criteria, and then be very expansive and nourishing in the areas where it looks a little bit depleted.

Then next one is get the get stakeholders to identify potential roadblocks and the idea, and then are to provide solutions. The next one is to think about the idea from the perspective of different stakeholders and then to identify roadblocks and provides. And then finally make it as vivid and experiential as possible so that people immediately understand and create a bridge to this new concept that you're sharing with them.

So those are my top tips for getting a confidently, getting those ideas out the door. And as I mentioned, I go through this in so much more detail in Alisha creativity, monster class. So in unleash your creativity masterclass, we, we roll up our sleeves, we get sweaty and really get involved. So you bring your challenge and then you actually get to take your challenge through using these activities.

And we'd like guidance and through, worksheets and templates and community. You'll get the help to confidently get your ideas out the door, which is really exciting. So if you're interested in doing that and learning more, go to hi. Hello, sarah.com forward slash only show creativity.

And that's where you'll see in week six, that's where we come focus on confidently, get those ideas out the door and that's where you can join, which would be very exciting. It's already really exciting. We've got some amazing smart people go through it right now. They're having a blast and they're making a really big difference to that organization in the process and would love love, love for you to join as well.

Because as I mentioned before with all of your stories and all of your experiences and all of our communal brain coming to gather, which is really what is happening in these moments, I am learning so much we are all learning so much and we're growing stronger as a consequence. And that, if you can't tell by my voice and if you can see my facial expressions, I am really jazzed and so excited about all of this.

Yes, I can't emphasize enough how exciting it would be for you to join, because I just love all of this and I've seen it make a difference over the last 20 years. And I'd be so excited if we could do it together, cause it's always, for me, it's always more fun if we can do it together. This is the episode today and I'm thrilled that you could join and I am, I'm always so happy to see how you are actually applying these into your world, how you're applying these into your real life scenarios.

People use them for business. People have used them with their family life. People have used them to navigate challenges within their partnerships. So I'm always so excited to hear back from you because we're learning together as always. So today thank you for joining can not wait for you to join next time.

And I love hearing from you when you share with me what it is that you want to hear about what are the challenges that you're facing, what is happening for you? I really do want to know because then I can then I can answer your questions. I can provide information and these shows, these shows are for you.

Then we can we can grow together and we can have the content be for you and continue to grow with you. That's it for now. And looking forward to you joining next time.


Energized by your problem solving gifts. For sure! Grounded in innovation and creativity. Check. Ready to align forces. Heck yeah! But, wait….you still need THE IDEA! That out-side-the-box solution your customer goes crazy for. Module five will get you there. But, big warning: Don’t go back to your own experiences to create the familiar. True innovation is often unfamiliar. A little scary. It feels exciting. 

I talk about and cover how to:
Expose what sabotages you from coming up with great ideas
How to jump out of your usual, side stepping that to effectively come up with bold solutions

If you love this and want to know more go to: https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity


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How to Find made to Win Ideas!

In this episode: 
Nothing against your cousin, but how often have you seen things created because the person who holds the budget likes the idea or thinks their cousin would? A groundbreaking solution won’t win if it doesn't win with your customer. It won’t drive business, and it’s honestly where a lot of innovation fails. 

I talk about and cover how to:
Step into the shoes of those that you are creating for. 
Bring others on the journey so you can all intuitively make solutions your customer cares about

If you love this and want to know more go to: https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity

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This episode is sponsored by 
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. <a href="https://anchor.fm/app">https://anchor.fm/app</a>

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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/message
Support this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/support</a>

Remind people, their Cousin is not your Audience!

Hello, and welcome to the Hi Hello Sura. Show I am your host, Sura Al-Naimi. And I'm just so thrilled and just so honored that you're here every time that you show up and you provide the feedback that you provide, it just makes me so excited to share more in the future. So thank you so much now, today, I really wanted to focus on this area of getting everybody on the same page.

So often I speak with individuals and there's a massive struggle, not so much in having the ideas, but actually deciding what the challenge is about and what it should be about what the opportunity is about versus what is originally given to us. And so today I really wanted to spend a bit of time unpacking how we can actually do that within our teams and in our organizations and how powerful that can be.

It's the push pause in order to fast forward with any of our projects and any of our initiatives. And, it's very dear to my heart. We call it aligning the forces for good. So it's a little bit of a superhero theme, but today I want to give you a four top tips on how to make sure that you're aligning your falsies, that you're choosing the right challenge and that you're making it super inspiring.

And really this effort that you can put in at the beginning of projects or initiatives, or even if you're a bit farther along, actually coming back to this point in order to course correct. There was say that when a rocket goes launches there are so many like millions of micro adjustments that ended up happening to make sure that it arrives at its destination.

And so we're really spending this time right now to make sure that we are getting the right destination and that way during the project, we can do those course corrections. So my first top tip for you when you're thinking about actually I just want to hold on. I want to steady on for a moment or push pools.

And I want to just dispense a moment to share with you what I've been hearing and what I've been experiencing with clients at Disney or gap or Kaiser to share with you what happens when we don't push forward. And I know this is going to sound really familiar to you, but I wanted to spend a moment just going over it so often.

We get a project and then we we run off or we go get it done. And then maybe a month later we come back and we realized that other people have a different understanding of what this project is really about. So sometimes we're a month or a few months or however much money investment.

And we realize that one, not everybody is on the same page. And two, it's not really the challenge that we should be solving for. So often we get very disenchanted or aggravated or oh, like what was the point of all of that? And so we really want to avoid that. Or there are other times when everybody is on the same page and everything is flowing really smoothly.

And, we've done that due diligence to push pause to really assess what it is that we're supposed to be solving for. And we found out actually, you know what, we're in exactly the right place, but by doing that, we can feel assured that everybody has that understanding and we can move together a speed, so we only have to be one degree off at the beginning to be miles apart later on.

And especially when we're thinking about a big organization or actually, even a couple of people let's be honest about it. There's so many different viewpoints to be considered. It always makes me think of the, I believe it's the seven blind men or it could be sex.

You can you can do a little bit of research and let me know what you find out. But the story goes is that one of the individuals starts to describe what they are feeling and what they are touching. And so they'd say, this really, this feels like a sturdy. This feels like a tree trunk.

And then somebody else said, this actually feels very ropey it feels like a piece of rope and somebody else went on to say, this feels like a snake and so on. And and then later on, it was actually discovered that what they were all touching was an elephant that touching it from different aspects.

And so if we think about any challenge or anything that we're facing, we are all quote unquote, right? In terms of the reality that we're experiencing. But we are just seeing it from a different perspective. And each perspective is really valid, because that, all those perspectives made art the elephant.

So if you think about the challenge that you're looking to solve, and you're looking at it from the perspective of marketing operations, sales, finance, we such in development or even people who have varying degrees within the same department, bringing everything together will give us that full picture of of the elephant.

And so this is, this is why this phase is so important for any kickoff, for a project at the beginning of a project, in order to ensure that innovation actually happens. And so we really want to be going after those big opportunities versus the thing that's just handed to. And so when I think about that, four top tips to ensure that we're doing that tip number one is, as I hinted out with the elephant example, we really want to make sure that we are in fact asking a spectrum of questions, getting all the information from all the different perspectives.

And often I will have a conversation with somebody and be very enraptured by the conversation and then I will leave and then suddenly realize I've got, no information about the budget or certain constraints or success criteria. I've spent so much time talking about, what the issue is, getting some history backgrounds I might've asked who is involved.

But it's very depending on the conversation I'm having with somebody, it could be very easy for me to spend that time and not get all the information that I need. And if we're thinking about somebody, we're talking to somebody and there's just like a scarcity in terms of their availability, making sure that I'm like, okay, what are all the questions I need to know?

Okay. What is what's going on? What's the background? What do they already tried? What does success look like? What are the constraints, let's put some dreaming into that. And then we have a really well-rounded perspective and viewpoint for this challenge. So top tip number one is ask a broad spectrum of questions, so that we're really getting to the heart of what's going on top tip.

Number two is once you've got your challenge, pressure test tested is the challenge that you've been given broad enough or does it need to be narrower? So when we say broad sometimes challenges are utopian and sometimes. Solving for world peace. And that's great if actually we have the time, money and resources to do that, that sometimes we really don't.

And so what is really important at this point is to create a bunch of different options. So we have our challenge and we make it a bit broader by asking, why like why is this important? What would this be solving for? And then once we do that, we ask the question why, again, by asking why we get to make our challenge broader.

And if we ask the question how then we're actually making it narrow up, and by doing that, we're creating a buffet of options of what our challenge could be, what we could be going after. And, the original challenge that you might have might be exactly the right one. Or we might say, actually this was a little bit too narrow.

 Let's take it up and watch or additionally this is a, we need to get this done in a month within these constraints and this budget, and this other piece of work is already happening over somewhere else. We should really make this narrow one. I remember reporting.

I did while I was at Disney. And we got the project challenge, which was to bring more individuals into the sales center. And once we dug around a little bit with the with the project and the target audience, we actually found out that the target audience that their appetite it was not to actually be physically somewhere.

And so with that, we've got the opportunity to make the challenge a lot broader to reimagine and to pioneer the whole marketing and sales process from start to finish. And within that, some aspects could have delivered more individuals to the sales center, but equally we would be able to reimagine the sales and marketing process in a way that would actually appeal to this audience, this particular instance, it was a millennial audience.

And so we were able to come up with a lot broader solutions, holistic solutions that are actually a lot more successful, ultimately at driving the sales that they were looking at versus just keeping it narrow, to get more people in our sales center. So that's top tip number two is pressure test, is this challenge broad enough or does it need to be now.

So now top tip number three is to also task, what's in scope and what's out of scope for products. And so often we we don't really know that some principle of something is important to us until we have something in our hands and we say, oh, no, not that I'm not sure what I wanted, but it's not actually that.

And so in this phase, it's really important to understand the principles for success for your project. And so a very easy way to do that is to come up with some ideas. That's it could be wild and fantastical or you could actually think are pretty realistic ideas for your project.

And then from that place, you could show the stakeholders and say, what about this? And the idea here is that they respond to whether it's in scope or out of scope but really focusing more on the principle of the idea first is the actual idea. So for example, if I said how about we introduce a gold toilets to the the new retail experience and the stakeholder might say, that's in scope.

And the reason that it's in scope is because, a gold toilet would create buzz and it would be unique and it would be memorable. And so the takeaway from that would be that memorable, unique, and buzz-worthy are things that are important to the stakeholder. And we can put the gold toilet to the side, unless of course, they're very adamant about that gold toilet.

So tip top tip number three is make sure that you are getting the principles for success. So that you have the guardrails or the sandpit in which you're creating with, and, this has been particularly important because for example, I worked on a project that was very focused on commissions and sales.

And one of the things that we asked was what if the revenue could be compensated in a way that you would organize tips at at the local bar, right? And the stakeholder pools and thoughts about it. And then they said, actually, yes, that's in scope because we would like to have a differentiated way of of rewarding individuals that is actually compelling.

That is fair. And that motivates everybody to be involved in the sale of this product. And so that was a real game changer for the project and to have that clarity was super important as. So now top tip number four. So you've done a lot of playing with what your challenge is and getting all the information.

But what are the places that challenges really fall short is the way that they are expressed. And so the challenges that we want is to be compelling and to be inspiring. And so we talked at number four is to actually make the challenge inspiring and to use the language that is evocative. To avoid a lot of the jargon, so often we're in an industry and we can't help ourselves by using these acronyms and things that nobody else understands, but us and that kind of makes us feel really great about it.

But when we're thinking about setting up our innovation challenge or creativity challenge at the more that we can make it accessible to people, the more human that we can make up, the more excited people are going to be to actually work on it. If you can give you a project, an exciting name that could be a covert project in just be for all of you.

Then thats you see also very exciting because it's not very exciting to work on, F Y 15 expansion project, but, it could be really exciting to welcome project rainbow, for example, and this is just for you, but imagine getting a meeting invite from project rainbow, I'd be pretty excited to go to that meeting.

So these are the four tips. Let me just remind you. So the first one is to ask the spectrum of questions. The second one is to pressure test. If the, if what you're, the challenges is too broad or too narrow, the third one is to define scope, where are you playing for this project? And and the fourth one is to to make sure that your challenge is expressed in a really inspiring.

So this is the really the fundamental push pause at the beginning of any project before you launch forward. And it really allows individuals to speed up and this is, what I call aligning the forces for. Good. And this is the one of the first phases within innovation when you're kicking off any projects.

And this is what I go into a lot of detail in the unleash, your creativity calls. So if you want to actually find out more about that, then hop onto hi, hello, sarah.com forward slash unleash your creativity. And there's a whole description around aligning your forces for good. And, within the course, I go into a lot of detail into each tool and then we have the exercises.

And what's great about that is that you could actually apply it to a challenge that you have not only are those examples and case studies, but you would actually get to apply it to your specific challenge. And so this is a really great when we think about going to the gym and flexing muscles, throughout our career throughout our roles as leaders whether leading within a team or we're taking up a leadership role within our family or partner.

This is really great to initially have that moment where we're just asking ourselves hang on. What is it exactly that we're solving for here? And is this the right thing that we can be solving for, or we could be going after? So that's what we have today. This I'm really excited to share with you about the push polls and aligning with forces for good.

And a lot of the time as I've been sharing this with individuals, they've said, that we have no shortage of ideas in our organization, but the bit where we get stuck is actually getting our senior executives to be on the same page and to actually buy into the project. So this is a really great way.

Of bringing diverse individuals together to make sure that everybody is on the same page so that you can get the funding for the project so that you can get the continued ambassadorship for the project. And having a touch point at each phase within innovation means that as tiny tweaks are happening by the end, when you're presenting or you're pitching, it's actually no longer a pitch.

It just becomes a no-brainer where people are like yeah, like obviously that's where we've arrived. And I feel like I've been with you this whole time and yeah, of course we need to do this and how can I help you? So this is just, this is one of the secrets that really enables us to make a difference in our workplace and in the projects that we're working on by getting that initial.

Bye in perspective. And I actually just genuine contribution because if people see something that they've been no parcel of then there's usually something that they wish they'd been able to contribute. And by that time, if you've created your solution, if you've if you've got this really beautiful, gorgeous presentation it's almost the cake is baked, so they don't feel like they're really able to contribute.

And sometimes that hinders the ability to move projects forward. So really excited to share that with you. Again, if you want to really get into the nuts and bolts of, building the muscle memory to do this, check out a hi. Hello, sarah.com forward slash unleash your creativity.

I'm really excited that you decided to join today. And as I said at the beginning, every time he joined, every time you leave a review, it just makes this so exciting to build this community, to hear from you, to also hear from you in terms of what is important to you, what you want to hear about the challenges that you're facing.

I'm really thrilled to be able to hear about that and then bake that in to future podcasts, future communications. So that's all for now. And so grateful that you decided to join today. I'm your host, Sura Al-Naimi, until next time.


In this episode: 
Okay, so you have a project, and you’re ready to get going. But, how do you know if you’re solving for the right thing? Putting energy into the ‘right’ challenge vs the first one you see = bigger impact + saving energy, time and money. You create real growth, instead of spinning your wheels and making itty bitty change. 

I talk about and cover how to:
Avoid the pitfalls of rushing to solutions to save energy, time and money
How to get to the heart of the problem 
How to get everyone one on the same page and crystal clear so that you’re all running with force in one direction!

If you love this and want to know more go to: https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity

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This episode is sponsored by 
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How do you Align the Forces for Good?

 Hello, and welcome to the hi. Hello, Sura  Show I am your host, Sura Al-Naimi . And I'm just so thrilled and just so honored that you're here every time that you show up and you provide the feedback that you provide, it just makes me so excited to share more in the future. So thank you so much now, today, I really wanted to focus on this area of getting everybody on the same page.

So often I speak with individuals and there's a massive struggle, not so much in having the ideas, but actually deciding what the challenge is about and what it should be about what the opportunity is about versus what is originally given to us. And so today I really wanted to spend a bit of time unpacking how we can actually do that within our teams and in our organizations and how powerful that can be.

It's the push pause in order to fast forward with any of our projects and any of our initiatives. And, it's very dear to my heart. We call it aligning the forces for good. So it's a little bit of a superhero theme, but today I want to give you a four top tips on how to make sure that you're aligning your falsies, that you're choosing the right challenge and that you're making it super inspiring.

And really this effort that you can put in at the beginning of projects or initiatives, or even if you're a bit farther along, actually coming back to this point in order to course correct. There was say that when a rocket goes launches there are so many like millions of micro adjustments that ended up happening to make sure that it arrives at its destination.

And so we're really spending this time right now to make sure that we are getting the right destination and that way during the project, we can do those course corrections. So my first top tip for you when you're thinking about actually I just want to hold on. I want to steady on for a moment or push pools.

And I want to just dispense a moment to share with you what I've been hearing and what I've been experiencing with clients at Disney or gap or Kaiser to share with you what happens when we don't push forward. And I know this is going to sound really familiar to you, but I wanted to spend a moment just going over it so often.

We get a project and then we we run off or we go get it done. And then maybe a month later we come back and we realized that other people have a different understanding of what this project is really about. So sometimes we're a month or a few months or however much money investment.

And we realize that one, not everybody is on the same page. And two, it's not really the challenge that we should be solving for. So often we get very disenchanted or aggravated or oh, like what was the point of all of that? And so we really want to avoid that. Or there are other times when everybody is on the same page and everything is flowing really smoothly.

And, we've done that due diligence to push pause to really assess what it is that we're supposed to be solving for. And we found out actually, you know what, we're in exactly the right place, but by doing that, we can feel assured that everybody has that understanding and we can move together a speed, so we only have to be one degree off at the beginning to be miles apart later on.

And especially when we're thinking about a big organization or actually, even a couple of people let's be honest about it. There's so many different viewpoints to be considered. It always makes me think of the, I believe it's the seven blind men or it could be sex.

You can you can do a little bit of research and let me know what you find out. But the story goes is that one of the individuals starts to describe what they are feeling and what they are touching. And so they'd say, this really, this feels like a sturdy. This feels like a tree trunk.

And then somebody else said, this actually feels very ropey it feels like a piece of rope and somebody else went on to say, this feels like a snake and so on. And and then later on, it was actually discovered that what they were all touching was an elephant that touching it from different aspects.

And so if we think about any challenge or anything that we're facing, we are all quote unquote, right? In terms of the reality that we're experiencing. But we are just seeing it from a different perspective. And each perspective is really valid, because that, all those perspectives made art the elephant.

So if you think about the challenge that you're looking to solve, and you're looking at it from the perspective of marketing operations, sales, finance, we such in development or even people who have varying degrees within the same department, bringing everything together will give us that full picture of of the elephant.

And so this is, this is why this phase is so important for any kickoff, for a project at the beginning of a project, in order to ensure that innovation actually happens. And so we really want to be going after those big opportunities versus the thing that's just handed to. And so when I think about that, four top tips to ensure that we're doing that tip number one is, as I hinted out with the elephant example, we really want to make sure that we are in fact asking a spectrum of questions, getting all the information from all the different perspectives.

And often I will have a conversation with somebody and be very enraptured by the conversation and then I will leave and then suddenly realize I've got, no information about the budget or certain constraints or success criteria. I've spent so much time talking about, what the issue is, getting some history backgrounds I might've asked who is involved.

But it's very depending on the conversation I'm having with somebody, it could be very easy for me to spend that time and not get all the information that I need. And if we're thinking about somebody, we're talking to somebody and there's just like a scarcity in terms of their availability, making sure that I'm like, okay, what are all the questions I need to know?

Okay. What is what's going on? What's the background? What do they already tried? What does success look like? What are the constraints, let's put some dreaming into that. And then we have a really well-rounded perspective and viewpoint for this challenge. So top tip number one is ask a broad spectrum of questions, so that we're really getting to the heart of what's going on top tip.

Number two is once you've got your challenge, pressure test tested is the challenge that you've been given broad enough or does it need to be narrower? So when we say broad sometimes challenges are utopian and sometimes. Solving for world peace. And that's great if actually we have the time, money and resources to do that, that sometimes we really don't.

And so what is really important at this point is to create a bunch of different options. So we have our challenge and we make it a bit broader by asking, why like why is this important? What would this be solving for? And then once we do that, we ask the question why, again, by asking why we get to make our challenge broader.

And if we ask the question how then we're actually making it narrow up, and by doing that, we're creating a buffet of options of what our challenge could be, what we could be going after. And, the original challenge that you might have might be exactly the right one. Or we might say, actually this was a little bit too narrow.

 Let's take it up and watch or additionally this is a, we need to get this done in a month within these constraints and this budget, and this other piece of work is already happening over somewhere else. We should really make this narrow one. I remember reporting.

I did while I was at Disney. And we got the project challenge, which was to bring more individuals into the sales center. And once we dug around a little bit with the with the project and the target audience, we actually found out that the target audience that their appetite it was not to actually be physically somewhere.

And so with that, we've got the opportunity to make the challenge a lot broader to reimagine and to pioneer the whole marketing and sales process from start to finish. And within that, some aspects could have delivered more individuals to the sales center, but equally we would be able to reimagine the sales and marketing process in a way that would actually appeal to this audience, this particular instance, it was a millennial audience.

And so we were able to come up with a lot broader solutions, holistic solutions that are actually a lot more successful, ultimately at driving the sales that they were looking at versus just keeping it narrow, to get more people in our sales center. So that's top tip number two is pressure test, is this challenge broad enough or does it need to be now.

So now top tip number three is to also task, what's in scope and what's out of scope for products. And so often we we don't really know that some principle of something is important to us until we have something in our hands and we say, oh, no, not that I'm not sure what I wanted, but it's not actually that.

And so in this phase, it's really important to understand the principles for success for your project. And so a very easy way to do that is to come up with some ideas. That's it could be wild and fantastical or you could actually think are pretty realistic ideas for your project.

And then from that place, you could show the stakeholders and say, what about this? And the idea here is that they respond to whether it's in scope or out of scope but really focusing more on the principle of the idea first is the actual idea. So for example, if I said how about we introduce a gold toilets to the the new retail experience and the stakeholder might say, that's in scope.

And the reason that it's in scope is because, a gold toilet would create buzz and it would be unique and it would be memorable. And so the takeaway from that would be that memorable, unique, and buzz-worthy are things that are important to the stakeholder. And we can put the gold toilet to the side, unless of course, they're very adamant about that gold toilet.

So tip top tip number three is make sure that you are getting the principles for success. So that you have the guardrails or the sandpit in which you're creating with, and, this has been particularly important because for example, I worked on a project that was very focused on commissions and sales.

And one of the things that we asked was what if the revenue could be compensated in a way that you would organize tips at at the local bar, right? And the stakeholder pools and thoughts about it. And then they said, actually, yes, that's in scope because we would like to have a differentiated way of of rewarding individuals that is actually compelling.

That is fair. And that motivates everybody to be involved in the sale of this product. And so that was a real game changer for the project and to have that clarity was super important as. So now top tip number four. So you've done a lot of playing with what your challenge is and getting all the information.

But what are the places that challenges really fall short is the way that they are expressed. And so the challenges that we want is to be compelling and to be inspiring. And so we talked at number four is to actually make the challenge inspiring and to use the language that is evocative. To avoid a lot of the jargon, so often we're in an industry and we can't help ourselves by using these acronyms and things that nobody else understands, but us and that kind of makes us feel really great about it.

But when we're thinking about setting up our innovation challenge or creativity challenge at the more that we can make it accessible to people, the more human that we can make up, the more excited people are going to be to actually work on it. If you can give you a project, an exciting name that could be a covert project in just be for all of you.

Then thats you see also very exciting because it's not very exciting to work on, F Y 15 expansion project, but, it could be really exciting to welcome project rainbow, for example, and this is just for you, but imagine getting a meeting invite from project rainbow, I'd be pretty excited to go to that meeting.

So these are the four tips. Let me just remind you. So the first one is to ask the spectrum of questions. The second one is to pressure test. If the, if what you're, the challenges is too broad or too narrow, the third one is to define scope, where are you playing for this project? And and the fourth one is to to make sure that your challenge is expressed in a really inspiring.

So this is the really the fundamental push pause at the beginning of any project before you launch forward. And it really allows individuals to speed up and this is, what I call aligning the forces for. Good. And this is the one of the first phases within innovation when you're kicking off any projects.

And this is what I go into a lot of detail in the unleash, your creativity calls. So if you want to actually find out more about that, then hop onto hi, hello, sarah.com forward slash unleash your creativity. And there's a whole description around aligning your forces for good. And, within the course, I go into a lot of detail into each tool and then we have the exercises.

And what's great about that is that you could actually apply it to a challenge that you have not only are those examples and case studies, but you would actually get to apply it to your specific challenge. And so this is a really great when we think about going to the gym and flexing muscles, throughout our career throughout our roles as leaders whether leading within a team or we're taking up a leadership role within our family or partner.

This is really great to initially have that moment where we're just asking ourselves hang on. What is it exactly that we're solving for here? And is this the right thing that we can be solving for, or we could be going after? So that's what we have today. This I'm really excited to share with you about the push polls and aligning with forces for good.

And a lot of the time as I've been sharing this with individuals, they've said, that we have no shortage of ideas in our organization, but the bit where we get stuck is actually getting our senior executives to be on the same page and to actually buy into the project. So this is a really great way.

Of bringing diverse individuals together to make sure that everybody is on the same page so that you can get the funding for the project so that you can get the continued ambassadorship for the project. And having a touch point at each phase within innovation means that as tiny tweaks are happening by the end, when you're presenting or you're pitching, it's actually no longer a pitch.

It just becomes a no-brainer where people are like yeah, like obviously that's where we've arrived. And I feel like I've been with you this whole time and yeah, of course we need to do this and how can I help you? So this is just, this is one of the secrets that really enables us to make a difference in our workplace and in the projects that we're working on by getting that initial.

Bye in perspective. And I actually just genuine contribution because if people see something that they've been no parcel of then there's usually something that they wish they'd been able to contribute. And by that time, if you've created your solution, if you've if you've got this really beautiful, gorgeous presentation it's almost the cake is baked, so they don't feel like they're really able to contribute.

And sometimes that hinders the ability to move projects forward. So really excited to share that with you. Again, if you want to really get into the nuts and bolts of, building the muscle memory to do this, check out a hi. Hello, sarah.com forward slash unleash your creativity.

I'm really excited that you decided to join today. And as I said at the beginning, every time he joined, every time you leave a review, it just makes this so exciting to build this community, to hear from you, to also hear from you in terms of what is important to you, what you want to hear about the challenges that you're facing.

I'm really thrilled to be able to hear about that and then bake that in to future podcasts, future communications. So that's all for now. And so grateful that you decided to join today. I'm your host, Sura Al-Naimi, until next time.


In this Episode
There is much confusion and mystery around creativity and innovation, making it often feel expensive or out of reach. Or, something only “experts” can do. No reason it has to be this way! Let’s break it down, dismantle it and take it off its illusive pedestal, leaving you with a no-nonsense understanding and application of the concepts. 

I cover the creativity and innovation building blocks so you can: 
Get grounded in creativity fundamentals to remove guesswork and create a common understanding 
Turning barriers into enablers to open windows to even more innovation opportunities
Understanding the forces that might impede your creativity so you can overcome them to be an innovation superstar

If you love this and want to know more go to: https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity

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This episode is sponsored by 
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. <a href="https://anchor.fm/app">https://anchor.fm/app</a>

--- 

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/message
Support this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/support</a>

How do you set the Stage for Creativity?

Hello, and welcome to the hi. Hello, Sura  Show I am your host, Sura Al-Naimi. And I'm just so thrilled and just so honored that you're here every time that you show up and you provide the feedback that you provide, it just makes me so excited to share more in the future. So thank you so much now, today, I really wanted to focus on this area of getting everybody on the same page.

So often I speak with individuals and there's a massive struggle, not so much in having the ideas, but actually deciding what the challenge is about and what it should be about what the opportunity is about versus what is originally given to us. And so today I really wanted to spend a bit of time unpacking how we can actually do that within our teams and in our organizations and how powerful that can be.

It's the push pause in order to fast forward with any of our projects and any of our initiatives. And, it's very dear to my heart. We call it aligning the forces for good. So it's a little bit of a superhero theme, but today I want to give you a four top tips on how to make sure that you're aligning your falsies, that you're choosing the right challenge and that you're making it super inspiring.

And really this effort that you can put in at the beginning of projects or initiatives, or even if you're a bit farther along, actually coming back to this point in order to course correct. There was say that when a rocket goes launches there are so many like millions of micro adjustments that ended up happening to make sure that it arrives at its destination.

And so we're really spending this time right now to make sure that we are getting the right destination and that way during the project, we can do those course corrections. So my first top tip for you when you're thinking about actually I just want to hold on. I want to steady on for a moment or push pools.

And I want to just dispense a moment to share with you what I've been hearing and what I've been experiencing with clients at Disney or gap or Kaiser to share with you what happens when we don't push forward. And I know this is going to sound really familiar to you, but I wanted to spend a moment just going over it so often.

We get a project and then we we run off or we go get it done. And then maybe a month later we come back and we realized that other people have a different understanding of what this project is really about. So sometimes we're a month or a few months or however much money investment.

And we realize that one, not everybody is on the same page. And two, it's not really the challenge that we should be solving for. So often we get very disenchanted or aggravated or oh, like what was the point of all of that? And so we really want to avoid that. Or there are other times when everybody is on the same page and everything is flowing really smoothly.

And, we've done that due diligence to push pause to really assess what it is that we're supposed to be solving for. And we found out actually, you know what, we're in exactly the right place, but by doing that, we can feel assured that everybody has that understanding and we can move together a speed, so we only have to be one degree off at the beginning to be miles apart later on.

And especially when we're thinking about a big organization or actually, even a couple of people let's be honest about it. There's so many different viewpoints to be considered. It always makes me think of the, I believe it's the seven blind men or it could be sex.

You can you can do a little bit of research and let me know what you find out. But the story goes is that one of the individuals starts to describe what they are feeling and what they are touching. And so they'd say, this really, this feels like a sturdy. This feels like a tree trunk.

And then somebody else said, this actually feels very ropey it feels like a piece of rope and somebody else went on to say, this feels like a snake and so on. And and then later on, it was actually discovered that what they were all touching was an elephant that touching it from different aspects.

And so if we think about any challenge or anything that we're facing, we are all quote unquote, right? In terms of the reality that we're experiencing. But we are just seeing it from a different perspective. And each perspective is really valid, because that, all those perspectives made art the elephant.

So if you think about the challenge that you're looking to solve, and you're looking at it from the perspective of marketing operations, sales, finance, we such in development or even people who have varying degrees within the same department, bringing everything together will give us that full picture of of the elephant.

And so this is, this is why this phase is so important for any kickoff, for a project at the beginning of a project, in order to ensure that innovation actually happens. And so we really want to be going after those big opportunities versus the thing that's just handed to. And so when I think about that, four top tips to ensure that we're doing that tip number one is, as I hinted out with the elephant example, we really want to make sure that we are in fact asking a spectrum of questions, getting all the information from all the different perspectives.

And often I will have a conversation with somebody and be very enraptured by the conversation and then I will leave and then suddenly realize I've got, no information about the budget or certain constraints or success criteria. I've spent so much time talking about, what the issue is, getting some history backgrounds I might've asked who is involved.

But it's very depending on the conversation I'm having with somebody, it could be very easy for me to spend that time and not get all the information that I need. And if we're thinking about somebody, we're talking to somebody and there's just like a scarcity in terms of their availability, making sure that I'm like, okay, what are all the questions I need to know?

Okay. What is what's going on? What's the background? What do they already tried? What does success look like? What are the constraints, let's put some dreaming into that. And then we have a really well-rounded perspective and viewpoint for this challenge. So top tip number one is ask a broad spectrum of questions, so that we're really getting to the heart of what's going on top tip.

Number two is once you've got your challenge, pressure test tested is the challenge that you've been given broad enough or does it need to be narrower? So when we say broad sometimes challenges are utopian and sometimes. Solving for world peace. And that's great if actually we have the time, money and resources to do that, that sometimes we really don't.

And so what is really important at this point is to create a bunch of different options. So we have our challenge and we make it a bit broader by asking, why like why is this important? What would this be solving for? And then once we do that, we ask the question why, again, by asking why we get to make our challenge broader.

And if we ask the question how then we're actually making it narrow up, and by doing that, we're creating a buffet of options of what our challenge could be, what we could be going after. And, the original challenge that you might have might be exactly the right one. Or we might say, actually this was a little bit too narrow.

 Let's take it up and watch or additionally this is a, we need to get this done in a month within these constraints and this budget, and this other piece of work is already happening over somewhere else. We should really make this narrow one. I remember reporting.

I did while I was at Disney. And we got the project challenge, which was to bring more individuals into the sales center. And once we dug around a little bit with the with the project and the target audience, we actually found out that the target audience that their appetite it was not to actually be physically somewhere.

And so with that, we've got the opportunity to make the challenge a lot broader to reimagine and to pioneer the whole marketing and sales process from start to finish. And within that, some aspects could have delivered more individuals to the sales center, but equally we would be able to reimagine the sales and marketing process in a way that would actually appeal to this audience, this particular instance, it was a millennial audience.

And so we were able to come up with a lot broader solutions, holistic solutions that are actually a lot more successful, ultimately at driving the sales that they were looking at versus just keeping it narrow, to get more people in our sales center. So that's top tip number two is pressure test, is this challenge broad enough or does it need to be now.

So now top tip number three is to also task, what's in scope and what's out of scope for products. And so often we we don't really know that some principle of something is important to us until we have something in our hands and we say, oh, no, not that I'm not sure what I wanted, but it's not actually that.

And so in this phase, it's really important to understand the principles for success for your project. And so a very easy way to do that is to come up with some ideas. That's it could be wild and fantastical or you could actually think are pretty realistic ideas for your project.

And then from that place, you could show the stakeholders and say, what about this? And the idea here is that they respond to whether it's in scope or out of scope but really focusing more on the principle of the idea first is the actual idea. So for example, if I said how about we introduce a gold toilets to the the new retail experience and the stakeholder might say, that's in scope.

And the reason that it's in scope is because, a gold toilet would create buzz and it would be unique and it would be memorable. And so the takeaway from that would be that memorable, unique, and buzz-worthy are things that are important to the stakeholder. And we can put the gold toilet to the side, unless of course, they're very adamant about that gold toilet.

So tip top tip number three is make sure that you are getting the principles for success. So that you have the guardrails or the sandpit in which you're creating with, and, this has been particularly important because for example, I worked on a project that was very focused on commissions and sales.

And one of the things that we asked was what if the revenue could be compensated in a way that you would organize tips at at the local bar, right? And the stakeholder pools and thoughts about it. And then they said, actually, yes, that's in scope because we would like to have a differentiated way of of rewarding individuals that is actually compelling.

That is fair. And that motivates everybody to be involved in the sale of this product. And so that was a real game changer for the project and to have that clarity was super important as. So now top tip number four. So you've done a lot of playing with what your challenge is and getting all the information.

But what are the places that challenges really fall short is the way that they are expressed. And so the challenges that we want is to be compelling and to be inspiring. And so we talked at number four is to actually make the challenge inspiring and to use the language that is evocative. To avoid a lot of the jargon, so often we're in an industry and we can't help ourselves by using these acronyms and things that nobody else understands, but us and that kind of makes us feel really great about it.

But when we're thinking about setting up our innovation challenge or creativity challenge at the more that we can make it accessible to people, the more human that we can make up, the more excited people are going to be to actually work on it. If you can give you a project, an exciting name that could be a covert project in just be for all of you.

Then thats you see also very exciting because it's not very exciting to work on, F Y 15 expansion project, but, it could be really exciting to welcome project rainbow, for example, and this is just for you, but imagine getting a meeting invite from project rainbow, I'd be pretty excited to go to that meeting.

So these are the four tips. Let me just remind you. So the first one is to ask the spectrum of questions. The second one is to pressure test. If the, if what you're, the challenges is too broad or too narrow, the third one is to define scope, where are you playing for this project? And and the fourth one is to to make sure that your challenge is expressed in a really inspiring.

So this is the really the fundamental push pause at the beginning of any project before you launch forward. And it really allows individuals to speed up and this is, what I call aligning the forces for. Good. And this is the one of the first phases within innovation when you're kicking off any projects.

And this is what I go into a lot of detail in the unleash, your creativity calls. So if you want to actually find out more about that, then hop onto hi, hello, sarah.com forward slash unleash your creativity. And there's a whole description around aligning your forces for good. And, within the course, I go into a lot of detail into each tool and then we have the exercises.

And what's great about that is that you could actually apply it to a challenge that you have not only are those examples and case studies, but you would actually get to apply it to your specific challenge. And so this is a really great when we think about going to the gym and flexing muscles, throughout our career throughout our roles as leaders whether leading within a team or we're taking up a leadership role within our family or partner.

This is really great to initially have that moment where we're just asking ourselves hang on. What is it exactly that we're solving for here? And is this the right thing that we can be solving for, or we could be going after? So that's what we have today. This I'm really excited to share with you about the push polls and aligning with forces for good.

And a lot of the time as I've been sharing this with individuals, they've said, that we have no shortage of ideas in our organization, but the bit where we get stuck is actually getting our senior executives to be on the same page and to actually buy into the project. So this is a really great way.

Of bringing diverse individuals together to make sure that everybody is on the same page so that you can get the funding for the project so that you can get the continued ambassadorship for the project. And having a touch point at each phase within innovation means that as tiny tweaks are happening by the end, when you're presenting or you're pitching, it's actually no longer a pitch.

It just becomes a no-brainer where people are like yeah, like obviously that's where we've arrived. And I feel like I've been with you this whole time and yeah, of course we need to do this and how can I help you? So this is just, this is one of the secrets that really enables us to make a difference in our workplace and in the projects that we're working on by getting that initial.

Bye in perspective. And I actually just genuine contribution because if people see something that they've been no parcel of then there's usually something that they wish they'd been able to contribute. And by that time, if you've created your solution, if you've if you've got this really beautiful, gorgeous presentation it's almost the cake is baked, so they don't feel like they're really able to contribute.

And sometimes that hinders the ability to move projects forward. So really excited to share that with you. Again, if you want to really get into the nuts and bolts of, building the muscle memory to do this, check out a hi. Hello, sarah.com forward slash unleash your creativity.

I'm really excited that you decided to join today. And as I said at the beginning, every time he joined, every time you leave a review, it just makes this so exciting to build this community, to hear from you, to also hear from you in terms of what is important to you, what you want to hear about the challenges that you're facing.

I'm really thrilled to be able to hear about that and then bake that in to future podcasts, future communications. So that's all for now. And so grateful that you decided to join today. I'm your host, Sura Al-Naimi until next time.


Whether you know it or not, the way you solve problems is your superhero creativity strength! Seriously. It’s what sets you apart when taking on a challenge. And, it’s important you use your powers for good, and know when to pull in other’s superpowers to create innovation. (There’s even an IBM Whitepaper that shows teams that understand this increase successful solutions that make it to market!). Find out how: Accessing your unique approach to creativity so you can harness strengths for success 
Identifying your signals for sabotaging creativity to prevent derailing important missions
Spotting creativity in others to complement your ideas and innovation 

If you’re interested in learning more join me here: https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity

--- 

This episode is sponsored by 
· Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. <a href="https://anchor.fm/app">https://anchor.fm/app</a>

--- 

Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/message
Support this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/hihellosura/support</a>

You’re a Creativity Superhero! Want to know more?

How low that and welcome to the hi. Hello, Sergio. I am your host Sera. Our Naimi. So as always, I am so happy that you're here and just really humbled by the generosity of you showing up and sharing with me, your experiences and reviews that you share and the experiences that you've had in terms of applying what you've had on the high-low series show just mean the wild teammate.

And as I always say, I'm just always learning so much as you're sharing the stories of the applications. And I felt like we're learning together, which is really exciting. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And today on the episode, I really wanted to focus on you actually.

I always wanna focus on you, but like this is, you'll see what I mean in a minute. And this is really about harnessing and focusing on your creativity, strengths and becoming aware of what your unique creativity strength is. And so what do I mean by that? I wanna reveal in this episode exactly what I mean by that.

And I've talked about this before. This is not the first time I've talked about it, but I just can't help myself because this is something that is so important. And this is something that I use everyday. I use with teams every day and the minute that they have an awareness of it, it just, it's such a game changer.

And it's, and it's so personal as well, which is what makes it really exciting. And it's why. At the beginning of my only show creativity masterclass. It's why I actually begin there because I want to begin with you. And once we have an awareness of of our strength, our creativity strength it opens up so much.

And so I always focus on that at the very beginning of the journey before we even get into our creativity like mindsets and innovation process and innovation tools like it's no, we have to stop everything that we're doing. I really get grounded in your creativity strength.

So in this episode, I want to share with you what that means what the different flavors are and how you can spot those individuals out in the wild how it could be helpful for you and how how you might currently be getting stuck by over-relying on your creativity preference. And, ultimately that awareness can get you unstuck.

And additionally, you might be getting really secretly or not. So secretly annoyed with certain team members or even some family. Partnerships where you're just like, oh man, I'm really annoying me, but now I'm going to share some stuff with you. And you're going to just say, I'm just going to say, you're welcome because you're going to really like it.

So let's get stuck in. Okay. So different. They're all different creativity, preferences or strengths. And we need these different preferences in order to get innovation out the door. So sometimes we call them creative problem, solving styles and order for innovation to happen. We have to have the clarifying innovation problem creative problem solving style.

We need to have the ideation. We need to have the development. Are we to have the implementation and we need all four, we need all four for innovation to actually get out. the door And so if we can understand where our preferences, so our preference is exactly that it's our preference. It's where we get energy it's where we still, we feel flowy.

It's where we feel like where like in all superhero strengths, it's why we feel like we're on fire. It's what people would pay us. I don't know, a thousand dollars an hour to do. It's where we feel most aligned. It's where people compliment us the most. So that's our preference, right? But it's not, our preference is not to say that is actually our ability because, we can actually flex into these other areas too, but it's really important for us to know our preferences and all this body of work by the way, is not just me getting jazz handed about it and getting super stoked and excited.

Although I do get very jagged handed and super stoked. I'm very excited about it. This is actually based on 65 years of empirical evidence. I research it's it's by an assessment called foresight and it's used in six different continents. And it's used across industries has been used at Disney has been used at NASA.

It's been used with the Navy seals, so we are not messing around. And also there's more, I always have more for you. There is an IBM white paper that showed an independent white paper that showed that people that knew that preferences, their creativity preferences that teams that knew that had a higher correlation of getting innovation out the door increased collaboration and a reduction in conflict, which are all amazing things.

So I want to share with you some of the archetypes, and I want to just see if you recognize some of them and if you did actually want to get to know for sure, actually do the assessment, then you can you can reach out to me and you, and we can do that. And then I will debrief you on it and all the glorious things.

And equally, if you wanted to really get into it in week one of unleash your creativity. This is why we start with via creative superhero. And so you would do your assessment and you would get to know where you are. We would do all those reflections there as well.

So there's many roads to Rome and I'm just providing you with a couple of them right now. So let's get into it. Okay. This is really exciting stuff. The fast one is the clarifying. So The Clarifier likes to ask a lot of questions clarify will never make assumptions. The Clarifier really just wants to really understand what is the challenge that we're solving for?

Why are we solving this challenge? What's involved? What is the another research project? What's being methodical and deliberate and have the opportunity to ask a lot of. Which is really exciting. And we really need those clarifiers at the beginning of these projects to figure out what is the potential of what we could be working on versus what we're immediately given.

So they're really the strict, like the strategic mindedness really comes in with a clarifying. One of the ways that a clarifier might, and with others is by asking a lot of questions, providing way too much information, right? Overburdening you with information, and there might be just be like a bit of analysis paralysis.

So if you recognize your minds yourself as having a preference for clarifying, then you know, we really need you obviously but like these might be some of your watch outs and this might be where you get stock in projects and can't move forward to the next phase. So it's really good to be aware of that.

And what are the things that you can do is not only can you be aware of it, but you can acquire skills in the other areas so that you can flex those muscles. And I always say that these tools and these skills are just like going to the gym, we're building some muscles. And so you're getting those muscle wraps in so that they become a bit more intuitive, but equally you can have other members of the team who have a high preference there too.

And so you can collaborate. So the next phase of innovation is that of the ideator. So just as it sounds, this individual is big picture thinking can pattern spots from one thing to the other can come up with some very conceptual ideas which is very exciting, the really neat space to be imaginative and to play and to think of all the infinite possibilities.

So really give an ideator that space, but equity ideators, you might annoy others by being a bit too abstract by not sticking to any one idea. That could be a real challenge. And your lack of commitment to ideas, and then also you might get agitated with people when they just don't get your idea because it's too abstract and too whimsical.

Okay. So that's your watch out. The next one is that of the developer. So the developer likes to weigh up options. They want to create a workable solution. They are really want to look at the pros and cons to everything which is like so needed before we get an idea out into market. But the challenge with a developer is that, maybe they're going to be tweaking the idea too much.

It's never quite perfect. So that could be the Achilles heel for the developers. And now let's have a little look. The implementers, the implements is like a Nike, just do it individual. And this person is just kinda like, why are we still talking? We can just get this going. I can fix this they're unflappable.

They really like to grab something and put something real out into the world so they can get a lot of momentum behind projects. These are the people that get the thing out the door. The Achilles heel is that they might get half the projects out the door. They might also just get really annoyed with people if they don't feel like they're being as responsive and offering things in a timely way to their requests.

So that's the implementer. So listening to those four, I'm not sure which ones are, you're resonating with or your oh my gosh, that is so me and you might actually be a combination. You might be a combination of two or three or even four, if you're all four, then you're an integrator, which means that depending on the team that you're in or the situation you can actually rise to fill any one of those positions, which is wonderful.

But then your watch out is that maybe your opinion, isn't always hard, or maybe you're not always reflecting European. So this is really top level and what's exciting is that the different combinations like our different archetypes and it's really lovely to be able to go deeper into it and to actually spot people out in the wild.

But also to think about, If you think about your strengths and with that, we can think about, what are your over extensions? What is your Achilles heel? What are you noticing is getting in the way of you making the difference that you want to make in the world and actually am having the impact, like where are the points that you're getting stuck and where is the potential to get unstuck?

And part of that is a skill acquisition, where you can build the tools and the awareness into the other areas, which is what we go into in unleash your creativity. But the other thing is finding those allies, finding those creative, create your superhero team, your sidekicks are, create your oceans 1113.

So if you think about your current the people that you work with, whether you're an entrepreneur or your arm in an organization, you're an entrepreneur who is it that you're currently collaborating with? Is there a gap, is there a gap that you need failing. And then when you think about your organization or you think about that team you're in, I had a conversation with somebody today who was high implementer and as we were discussing things, she said, I think that actually the other team members that I have are probably a lot of ideation.

We, which is great because that means she has ideation, but then also it's challenging because then she's the only implementer. And so how do we move things forward in our instance? And so one of the things that we suggested as bringing in some of that clarifying ability and also bringing in that developer right into the team and, and so these different combinations can play really nicely with one another because different combinations can become really great collaborators.

So for example a developer's gonna find the challenges with a solution and an ideator is going to fill those challenges. So if you have the two of them working together, then that's very exciting equally. A developer might be refining a solution, but not really not really stopping. So if we provide a developer with the insight from a clarifier, which is, what is the success criteria.

But then all of a sudden, a developer has a grade with which to assess the ideas and to actually make them better and to refine them if you're walking with a high clarifier and an ideation, then it's really wonderful to have developers and implementers, get the ideas out the door. So I can speak for myself. I peak pretty high on clarifying and ideating and that I don't really I have a neutral to low peak preference for the development and implementation. So I make sure to surround myself with people who are more inclined that way. And I also check myself at the door.

If I find myself resisting putting something out into the world, then I know exactly what I'm doing. And I had to give myself a good nudge to get. So these are some of the archetypes, and these are the things that you can draw upon on a daily level to get unstuck, to collaborate, to reduce conflict within your teams and within your projects.

Because ultimately we want to have amazing things going out into the world that actually make a difference. And this is one way to access that. And if I mentioned, if you want to know more about that, go to hi, hello, sera.com forward slash unleash your creativity. And that's where the last class is. And this is be a creativity superhero, which is week one.

This is like the kickoff. This is the exciting moments at the very beginning where you get to find out your specific preference. And then from that place, or we go on a journey together to, to, you were bringing your own challenge that you want to solve. And then over the sequence of the different weeks, we together will help crack that challenge.

But it's really important that we start off with you and your lens and how you see things in the world. Because that's how you're going to assess things, and as a leader, it's really important for you to know the lens in which you're looking at the world, because that's probably the lens that you're looking at your team and their success and their productivity.

And so how valuable is it to have this information to also be able to recognize the other contributions that that the team is bringing and to value all of that and be able to assemble it with the different projects, be able to allocate time to each of these activities so that we can get innovation out the door.

So if you want something done fast, then you would put like with like on a project, but if you want something that is truly innovative, that is breakthrough, that creates that disruption. That's where you, we want that diverse team to drive innovation out the door. So that is that is our focus on your creativity strength.

That's what we're focusing on today. I'm really excited to hear from you about who you think he might be who you think your partner might be, or who you think your best friend might be. Do you think your teammates might be, and the way that's showing up in the walk and in your interactions, and maybe just maybe knowing about all of these.

Maybe it creates a shift in our perspective and it creates a shift in behavior. I really would love to hear from you about the impact that has. And just to hear your stories, just to hear the real life stories from your real life, and maybe like any obstacles that you're finding or any successes that you're finding.

And that way we can share that with the group and that we can continue to get better to continue to learn from one another and contribute to each other's growth. So I'm just, I'm always thrilled that you're here. I'm always in super deep gratitude that you're here and until next time, just so happy.

And thank you for joining and I  am your host sewer Ali.


If the muse, inspiration, creativity ‘leaves’ you how do you keep flow and get unstuck? 
How do you shatter inherent limiting beliefs to uncover possibility? 
How can you focus on strategic What question to tap into purpose and creation? 

These are just some of the compelling topics David Kinigson and I discuss on this episode. 

About David Kinigson 

David Kinigson, author of “What is Your What?” “Mind Set In Action,”. With more than 40 years experience as a leader in personal development and transformational education. A practitioner in a variety of arts, academics, and disciplines, David’s methodology draws from his diverse background, studies and life experiences. He has held numerous positions including: creative director, education director, author, performer, stylist, artist, photographer, consultant, mentor, ghost writer and career coach.
Get in touch with David at @DavidKinigson or DavidKinigson@gmail.com


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Find your What & Shatter inherent Mindsets with David Kinigson

Sitting on project that needs shipping? Waiting for the perfect time to get into the zone with your creativity. Thinking Happiness, is a consequence of your circumstance? 

In this episode, Stas, and dig deep as we have both been on our journeys. With the launch of his book the Happiness Manual, available on Amazon, and my launching of Unleash your Creativity, we discuss some of the dark nights of creation, doubt, sabotage, and what it took for us to finally ship! 

Bonus, Stas, shares some of the truth nuggets from his book! 

Join us, get his book, and more ! 



About Stas Arsonov

Founder of Think Clever, author of the Happiness Manual. Stas Arsonov is an integrative health coach based out of Los Angeles, California. Stas works to help his coaching clients live with intention, establish morning routines and uncover their limiting habits. 

The Happiness Manual: A Guide to Your Daily Self-Mastery is an empowering handbook boasting a collection of inspirational stories and transformative practices designed to help you overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of experiencing more happiness in your life.

BOOK!! Amazon: The Happiness Manual: A Guide to Your Daily Self-Mastery


Want to accelerate and Unleash your Creativity for innovation, join us for the masterclass:
https://www.hihellosura.com/unleashyourcreativity 



Moving through creativity blocks. Exercising Happiness. Shipping your projects with Stas Arsonov.

When we are stuck we can often be spinning our wheels. The reason is that we are relying on a system that is not giving us access to new thinking . In this episode I introduce the idea of filing cabinets, which is our brains natural way of organizing information. If we stay in the same cabinet expecting a different answer, well then we are just crazy. I share how to access different resources by looking elsewhere to jump start your creativity and resources.

Walk away knowing:
👋 How your mind works and why it works the way it does.

👋How to jump into another filing cabinet to find resources you already have

👋How to bring those resources back to your challenge, to get UNSTUCK. 



 

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Accessing the Filing Cabinets of Creativity

Hey there and welcome to the hi. Hello Sera show. I am your host sewer, our naming on this particular episode, which I have labeled, accessing the filing cabinets of creativity, which I know some of my writer friends will hate because they'll be like, Sarah, what does that mean? Nobody is going to know what that means.

So, uh, this episode is all about bringing that to life. So we have our minds, which are Incredibles. So we're going to deep dive. Well, not really deep dive that much because I'm not a neuroscientist confession time, but I'm going to share with you how your mind organizes information and how that's absolutely amazing, but really it can get in the way of your creativity unless you know how to use it differently.

Then I'm going to share with you how you can actually use it differently to enhance your creativity and your resources. And then I'm going to share with you a few examples of how I have done that in my personal life, as well as in my professional projects in innovation and creativity. So let's dive in.

All right. So what do I mean by filing cabinets? Now, when we think about all the experiences that we've had in our lives, that's a lot of experiences I would imagine. And so in order to create efficiency so that we can move through the world and we don't have to figure out how to tie our shoe laces every day.

Our mind organizes experiences with like, with like, and so that way, when you come across something that looks a little bit like something that you've already experienced, it says, ah, I know what this is. We don't have to do this all over again. And so by default, you're able to move faster and more efficiently.

So let me give you an example. Let's imagine there was a point in your life where you learn how to open a door. Right. And so you're like, okay, it kind of looks right. Tangle up for the most part. And there's generally like this thing that is within arms reach and I, I pushed down on it or a tenant around, and that gives me access to move the door either towards me or away from me.

And I can walk through the door. And so the next time you see something that looks like that, you're like, ah, I so have this, I know exactly what's going on. And then you jumped through the door, uh, and uh, hopefully you open the door first versus run into it because it's made out of glass. That has never happened to me.

I promise. So this is the beauty of your mind. And so it's almost like a filing cabinet or Edward DeBono likes to use the metaphor of rivers. So we create streams of consciousness. As we have these new experiences, the little droplets, they come down onto this gorgeous mountain. I imagine it's gorgeous.

And then like, with like plasters, That creates, uh, you know, streams of experiences. And over time, these streams become fast running rivers, uh, which is wonderful. So if you think about any area in your life where you have a deep well of expertise, you have a really wide river, or you have a massive filing cabinet, and that is gorgeous.

That's wonderful. But the trick is the thing is, is that when we are thinking about creativity or tapping into resources, that really gets in our way, because we're looking through this filing cabinet and we're like, why isn't there anything new here? Why can't I come up with new thinking? Why am I so stuck?

And so if you're looking to get unstuck, if you're looking to tap into resources, you're gonna have to go into a different filing cabinet. And so that is wonderful because instead of having to reinvent the wheel, there's already an amazing system that exists somewhere else that you're already actually practicing.

And so the trick is just, just to tap into it. And so by tapping into that, but you become more resourceful and you're able to be more creative about the challenge that you're facing. Now, let me give you a few examples. I was having a great conversation with a girlfriend recently and, you know, we've obviously been going through COVID and, um, there was some irritation that was occurring for her, with her husband.

And she was like, I'm just, I'm so annoyed with him. He's. He's annoying me. And I'm sure this is transferable to anybody that, uh, unfortunately, or fortunately means a lot to you, uh, that sometimes, you know, um, we are not our best selves around that individual. And I said, you know, um, what, what, what is it she's like, I don't know.

I just, I'm just, I'm just irritated. I, I, uh, you know, and he's, he's there and, uh, you know, it's, it's always like that. So I said, okay, great. So, um, you know, how. Let's imagine you were meeting up with an old friend, uh, how would you show up if you are with an old friend? And she was like, Oh man, I would be so excited.

I'd be like really in a great mood. And I said, well, you know, what, if you'd had a bad day, she would call, I would just put that to the side or I would tell my friend about it, but I wouldn't have any sense of expectation of her fixing it. I would just be like, Hey, I'm sharing this with you. And then we would just laugh about it.

I'm like, Oh, that's so cool. So as we went through it, we found that the filing cabinet a friendship was way more resourceful, allowed her to be way more creative, uh, when she interacted with her partner. So the next time she interacted with her partner, she was actually able to show up in a very different light because she had adjusted her perspective and she was also able to tap into some scripts that she was already really, really great at.

With her friends, but that she had kind of lost in her partnership with her husband. So that's one example, a personal example of how we can tap into a different filing cabinet. Now let's have a look at something with regards to work, right? So when I think about some of the projects that I've done with Disney, um, there were many instances where we had to tap into different filing cabinets to come up with solutions.

We'd been stuck. For example, we, we were working on a campaign, uh, which was focused on a Hispanic, Hispanic audience. And so this campaign, we were looking to really appeal to this audience. And in order to do that, we really had to tap into that mindset, but we hadn't really been able to do that successfully historically.

And as we started to do our research, we discovered that this audience, uh, you know, unlike other audiences who only got together for Thanksgiving, uh, you know, or like those special occasions or funerals or weddings, This audience relished getting together frequently on the weekends, you know, extending their property so that they could have bigger, bigger barbecues.

This was, you know, a few years back, uh, pre COVID. Um, And so we were like, wow, like that's really interesting. Uh, it's almost like they have their own bubble. Um, and so why is it that Disney would be attractive to them because they already have their own bubble. And, and, and in, in a way, Disney is also a bubble.

So who else, um, does, you know, bubbles or the berm really, really well. And like, how can we explore this area? So we actually thought about a bunch of different things and we landed on talking to one of the founders of a camp at burning man. And now for those of you who are not familiar burning, man, um, is this massive art installation that happens in the desert where over a hundred thousand people, uh, would gather historically to create all and to be together.

And then by the end of the festival, they would clean everything up and it would be as if they had not existed. And so this was a real bubble bum experience, and we really wanted to understand the script, uh, and the ways of being and the principles of the bum. And so we interviewed this individual and then we were able to extract some of those learnings back into our Hispanic campaign, which actually ended up being one of the most successful marketing campaigns that we'd had at Disney in over 20 years.

So there you go tapping into a different filing cabinet, accessing resources, super, super helpful. And we can do this in really simple ways as well. So if you think about. Disney, uh, instead of calling people, our customers, we would call them our guests. Right. So if you had a guest coming to your house, in what ways would you treat that guest in a very different way?

I would imagine to the way that you would perhaps treat a customer, right? So that it's completely a different reframe. Often in my innovation and creativity workshops, I talk about, uh, wanting to open up a, a carwash and I solicit ideas from individuals about, you know, what could be in this car wash. And as you can imagine, this.

The standard ideas of, I need the blue brushy thing and I need the pine smelling thing that goes in the car. And those are the kinds of ideas that we're generating when I asked that question. But then when I flip it and I tap into a different filing cabinet and I say, well, you know, actually I want to open up an auto spa.

And then all of a sudden the ideas change, right? All of a sudden I'm getting these different ideas that are way more luxurious. So all of a sudden, you know, I have Joe Malone perfume. Yes. And, uh, you know, I have, um, a fancy designer, uh, designing all the attire of the people that are working there. And there's a man in cure in petty for the car tires, as well as a Manny and petty for the owner while they wait.

Right. So by shifting out and tapping into a different filing cabinet, we're able to access more resources. So you might be saying to me also, like, how do we, how do we do this? How do we know which filing cabinet to go to? I really, um, wherever you are stuck, when you think about it, you're like, Oh, what do I, what do I desire?

What am I craving more of? What would be great. Um, and then going to that place where you have already exhibited that greatness or where it already exists in the world. Right. So, uh, going back to the Disney example, if we're looking to be a super hospitable and to like, not be transactional, right? What wild and what filing cabinets always super hospitable and not transactional.

Well, when we have guests over our home, hopefully, you know, um, And so really it's about doing that. So you might find that that resource is available within yourself. So, you know, where else, what other situations have I really demonstrated, uh, the best version of myself. So going back to the example at the beginning, where I talked about my girlfriend, who, you know, was getting a little bit stuck with her husband, But, you know, she showed up amazingly and, and, you know, all sparkly with unicorns and rainbows when she thought about hanging out with one of her girlfriends.

And so she's like, Oh, okay, I have this in me. Uh, and I was just kind of, you know, being unresourceful and this other situation. So I can tap into that. And so that's a very simple way to jumpstart your creativity and your resources so that you're able to have new thinking, um, for different things. And when I think about, you know, personally, of course, during COVID, there've been a lot of things where I've I've, you know, I've been really getting.

Right. Um, I've been really craving, um, a trip. You know what I mean? Thinking about Costa Rica, for example. And I remember a time where I had a place and it was lovely and we'll go for a walk on the beach and I was very healthy and there were just these lovely, um, These lovely, lovely cafes everywhere, and everything was super healthy.

And, uh, I was getting particularly stuck here because I wasn't moving my body as much. Uh, and I was eating a lot of, you know, more comfort food. And I said to myself, gosh, like I'm just, I'm really not feeling motivated to move my body. Um, I'm really feeling compelled to, um, you know, eat multiple burgers, uh, and not space them out.

So I said to myself, like where, where in, in what other situation have I experienced? Uh, something where I haven't been feeling this way and I landed on Costa Rica and rather than say to myself, okay, well, I had to go to Costa Rica. I said, okay, well, how can I bring Costa Rica here? Right. How can I bring the filing cabinet of Costa Rica here?

And I thought, okay, well, You know, I can order some fresh juices, uh, from somewhere local, so that they're available to me. Um, I recall that when I was in Costa Rica, I was doing a yoga in a, you know, like, like a beautiful kind of Treehouse, for example. So I said, okay, well, something about the novelty of doing yoga in a different location was very exciting to me and also felt like a very special occasion.

So here in my home, you know, it's like, can I carve out some space and create a ritual and create a very special occasion when I do my yoga practice. So can I like some candles and have some incense and have some gorgeous music rather than saying to myself? Oh, okay. I guess I'll go do my yoga. Can I make it a treat?

Something that I look forward to versus something I've got to do? So just as a recap, Our brain organizes like with like, which is very helpful. It helps us be super efficient in the wild, but when we are looking to be creative and we're looking to be resourceful, we can access different filing cabinets that are already super successful.

So we say, okay, what is it that I'm looking to do right now? Where else does this already exist in, in what other situations have I really been at? Bad-ass at this? Have I been really amazing at this? And then, you know, what, what was I doing? You know, what kind of w w what things were happening, what mindset was I am, and then bringing that resource back to the original challenge, the original place of feeling on stock, feeling a little bit.

In a place of despair, uh, where I'm spinning my wheels and repeating the same thing and then, you know, opening up that space. So there you have it, uh, accessing, um, the filing cabinets of creativity, you know, so you can be powerful. I'd love to hear from you what you think of this episode and maybe, uh, as you have experiences of where you do this, I'd love to hear from you about that as well.

So, thank you so much for joining on this episode. I'm your host, Sarah Al Naomi. And, uh, if you like this episode and you would like to give it a thumbs up or a view, please feel free to do that. And equally, if you'd like to subscribe so that you are the first to be notified of the episodes, please go ahead and do that well until next time.

Thank you so much.


In this episode we tap into the power of habit to create more of what we want as a person, in our lives, in our community. If we are the sum of our actions, then how are we intentional about the ones we want in our lives, and how do control, alt, delete the ones that are no longer serving. 

Joined by Heather Fox, behaviorist and founder of Techpawlogy LLC, she shares just how.

Heather works with a mix of mechanisms such as science and technology to change behavior in animals and their humans. She believes that being a lifelong learner in understanding patterns/systems is the key to reaching our full potential in creating positive changes within ourselves and within others.

We unpack how to do this for the tiniest of habits and go onto to stacking this into the life or grand vision that you are seeking to create. 

Get in touch with with Heather Fox through Techpawlogy on instagram or her website.

Also contribute to the Aurora Blue Aggression Initiative, by using Venmo to Techpawlogy. Your donation, provides individuals with an aggressive animal, access to a behaviorist, enriching the lives of the pet, the owner and the community.

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Breaking + Creating Habits to Reach our Potential with Heather Fox

In this episode we dive into Human Design, with Ahram Arya, former industrial designer at Nike, now turned Human Design Guide and coach. We explore what it means to have mastery and knowledge of yourself, almost like having an owners manual. Imagine that! From that place you can create, move and negotiate in alignment with the way your ‘true you’. 

This is a way to get unstuck and move with ease and speed. If you have asked yourself the question, why am I here, what is my purpose, this might be the episode for you. 

The method allows you to work from a position of knowing that is unique to you, and from that to be able to work from a position of strength. If you are here to personally grow, learn and evolve yourself, this may be a catalyst for you. 

He asks a critical question: There is a code to manifesting what you want, but first, what are you willing to do differently?

About Ahram Arya:
Ahram is a Coach, Human Design Guide, and Healer inspired to unlock your higher purpose and your power to create.

“I coach that the flow-state, spirituality, and creativity are all the same thing - but we have to support all three.”

He combines wisdom from his own spiritual path with 20 years of experience as a creative director, story-teller, and industrial designer with top brands including Nike. “I was the guy at the whiteboard bringing people together to create solutions through collective vision. Now I mix spiritual laws with proven strategies that transform individuals and teams with the power of what is.

Get in touch with Ahram Arya: 
Www.ahramarya.org or his name on Instagram and other social platforms. 



Find your Purpose through Human Design, with Ahram Arya

On this episode, we are exploring how you can partner with future in order to create your future as opposed to feeling uncertain about it. We are joined by Ronni KImm, who helps clients and people in organizations imagine what is possible.

We look at the world building, which is often used in gaming and film, and apply some of those principles to future scenario making. 

In this episode walk away with:
The idea of mapping scenarios for your future.
How to enter creation in a state of discovery
How to partner and dance with your future versus feeling uncertain 


About our Guest
Ronni Kimm is the founder of Collective Future, a design and innovation consultancy based in Los Angeles. Her work focuses on utilizing human-centered design and storytelling to imagine new possibilities for the future. Project outcomes have included everything from strategic directives, digital prototypes, immersive AR/VR experiences, and narrative dinners. Ronni has led future-focused initiatives for Autodesk, Clif Bar, Ford, Nike, and VF, among others.

As an educator, her background includes lectureships, and visiting artist/critic roles at the ArtCenter College of Design, California Institute of the Arts, Cal State Long Beach, General Assembly, Otis College of Art & Design, SCI-Arc, UCLA, and USC. As part of her exploration of new meanings and forms, Ronni loves to incite conversations and collaborations with brilliant thinkers and doers whenever possible.

Contact our guest 
Hello@futurecollective.com or at www.futurecollective.com

Support by subscribing to the show by visiting www.hihellosura.com/show


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Make your Future. Tap into World Building with Ronni Kimm

I invited Andy Didorsi, because for as long as I have known him, when everyone is zigging he is zagging. As a serial “this is what the world needs, let’s make it happen” person, he has constantly been told no, not yet, only if you, and still finds a way through. 

On the “side”, he is the head marketing officer for Basecamp and Hey (their new amazing email service).

When Covid “arrived”, I saw that he had pivoted his business within a few short months. 
He asked himself would I get on a bus right now? With bills and employees to pay, what do people really need right now? What would be useful? 

From the Detroit Bus company, (TOM style providing a ride for a ride) into an FDA approved sanitizer provider (bottle for a bottle), Arsenal of Clean was born. 

AoC, donates thousands of gallons upon gallons of sanitizer to frontline workers and other people in need.

As well as ‘chemisting’, managing Paper Street, a small business incubator in Ferndale for the little guy who finds it hard to get space to work, he is part of 59 people Basecamp. Spread worldwide, they were doing remote since 1999. 

They vote with their dollars and are against the creepiness of tracking their customers. If you’re looking for a makes-common-sense yet hadn’t existed until now email service, Hey, is your place to go for real privacy and oh my gosh, I’m saying it , emails becoming fun again.

In our conversation Andy and I talk about:
- A no is not always a no 
- How to be useful
- What it takes to 180 pivot your business - how Arsenal of clean was born
- Grabbing footholds with dear life and growing that position 
- How to stay sane during Covid 
- How to stop getting in your own way to ship and put your ideas out into the world 
- How cool the email service Hey is!!! (I’m a big fan).


Getting in touch, supporting and learning more about Andy

You can reach him on Twitter and Instagram both at @ThatDetroitAndy 

https://arsenalofclean.com

https://thedetroitbus.com

Learn more about Andy : https://thedetroitbus.com/andy-didorosis-story/

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Covid Pivot! From rides to sanitizers with Andy Didorsi

As an entrepreneur, philanthropist, reporter turned medical administrator, 2010 Olympic torch barer, survivor of three different types of eating disorders, Kaitlyn shares with us lessons of resilience, how she has reframed fear, failure and pain to empower her journey in heart-led leadership. Kaitlyn believes those who create an extraordinary life and achieve their highest vision share one fundamental power: the ability to overcome any fear or personal limitation. This motto has allowed her to chase her wildest dreams. She believes, “Everyone in life has a personal story of excitement, love, desperation, hurt or a driven message.” She has used this as her fuel. As CEO and founder of Reel Stories. Real People., Inc’s, whose recent focus is the making of Empty - a film dedicated provide education and inspiration to schools for those who might be suffering or on the cusp of suffering from an eating disorder. To help this film come to fruition donate here: www.reelstoriesrealpeople.com Get in touch with Kaitlyn Chana on all platforms as well as her: www.kaitlynchana.com

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Leading with Heart, with Kaitlyn Chana

In this episode you are invited to join us for an multi sensory experience. Think Willy Wonka mixed with electronic music. We will be exploring the interplay of sounds with food perception with food anthologist Caroline Hopkinson and creative, apple credo writer, Anita Strebenauch. 

We will explore the interrelationship between food and flavor.

We are inviting you to eat special ingredients, listen to custom designed pieces of music, and experience the impact that they have on each other. 

Drawing on the latest gastrophysical research into sensory perception, the music uses exact sonic frequencies and musical gestures calibrated to enhance the mouthfeel, flavour and provenance of each ingredient. 

We are not manipulating a flavor but modulating and highlighting what is already there. There is no right or wrong. Some sensations will be stronger than others. 

So sharpen your ears and explore with us the fascinating relationship between sound and flavor. 

Prepare by grabbing one or more of the following ingredients: 

1. Coffee lozenge or a plain cup of coffee
2. Popping candy 
3. A 2x3” piece of seaweed
4. Honey lozenge 
5. Gum jaw breaker 
6.Glass of water 
 
AND bring plenty of Curiosity 

If you’d like to participate but would rather Caroline handles the ingredients, you can purchase a lockdown kit from https://unusualingredients.co/lockdown-kit-1

Think of this as yoga for your mouth. 

 Feedback from the experience include:

“The experience is like a weird popping candy connection to the universe”. Caroline Hopkinson 

“ In Harry Potter there was gilley weed. It felt like the seaweed was a mechanism that let me go underneath the water and let me be ok in this totally foreign environment where I wouldn’t normally be able to breath.“

“Takes you back to your seven year old self, so it is sonic time travel” Caroline Hobkinson 

Get in touch with:

Caroline Hobkinson 
www.carolinehobkinson.com or https://unusualingredients.co. on Instagram @caro\_hobkinson.

Anita Stubenrauch 
Linkedin or at www.causeeffectcreative.com or www.makeandbelieve.co

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Experience a change in taste perception with Sonic Tasting, Caroline Hobkinson & Anita Stubenrauch

Getting your idea sold, launched and love your job doing it. Welcome to the intrapreneur’s joureny. Karen Holst shares that ideas at the very end are going to be the very best version of what they should be, versus what you thought they were going to be.

In this episode
Bringing a new innovation into the world as an entrepreneur has it’s host of challenges. Doing this within as an organization brings to the foreground it’s own perils, twists and dips. 

If you are the kind of person who thrives on seeing ideas come into reality, Karen Holst, entrepreneur turned intrapreneur shares with us the key learnings and highlights from her book Start-Within, to making that journey.

Karen and I discuss as a Doer within an organization, what it takes to Get Ready, Get Set and Go forward to getting your idea launched.

She shares that in the end the idea in her head is going to look very different by the time it is launched. It’s going to be the best version of what it should be, versus what she thought it would be.

“What is locked up in my head may not be what it’s going to come out to be, I have to do the small experiments, share, get feedback, along the way iterate move forward and that is what all of this work looks like, its not just this idea locked up in you, and it comes out the way you believe it should, you’re involving many people you are taking many steps, and at the very end its going to be the very best version of what it should be, it won’t be what you thought it was going to be”. Karen Holst

 


Get in touch with at Karen Holst- https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenholst and the @ www.start-within.com. 

About Karen Holst: 
Karen Holst is an entrepreneur turned intrapreneur. She co-founded educational technology startup MyEdu, formerly Pick-A-Prof (acquired by Blackboard), and transitioned to intrepreneurial roles within the California Department of Education, IDEO, Autodesk, and LinkedIn Learning.

From government agencies and non-profits to startups and Fortune 500 companies, Karen has worked with organizations of varying sizes and across industries to help their leadership unlock creative potential and empower their employees to innovate. Her expertise on innovation has been featured in TechCrunch, The New York Times, NPR, The Chicago Tribute, CNN, and more.

Karen currently teaches courses through LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com), serves on the board of Thrive Education, and mentors entrepreneurs through TechStars and Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program.




The Intrapreneur’s Journey to Getting Ideas Launched, with Karen Holst

Harnessing the positive anchors that surround food and drink, explores and brings to life the new rituals that we can establish in liu of old ones that we might have released while at home. From the perspective of food artist and anthropologist Caroline Hobkinson we unpack the power of rituals that provide us with new anchoring, grounding and navigation.

In this episode we explore the notion of food and drink rituals from the perspective of anthropology, with guest Caroline Hobkinson. We unpack the concept of enhancing rituals that serve, anchor and ground, that we can make our own, which become fundamental to purposefully navigating our days. 

The power of the mind and it’s perception are opened up. This altered mindset of mindfulness, savoring experiences to be truly present - even to the unpacking of the dishwasher.

We share with you the Unusual Ingredients project and you are invited on the next show to experience sound, accompanied by certain ingredients, which will modulate and enhance each ingredient. 

The headline is that our mind and experience are all open for coaching, coaxing, and exploration. We can choose the experience that serves our higher creative intention. 

Unusual ingredients is a multi-sensory project bringing to life the relationships between sound and flavour through live musical events and an album. 

Drawing on the latest gastrophysical research into sensory perception, our music uses exact sonic frequencies and musical gestures calibrated to enhance the mouthfeel, flavour and provenance of each ingredient. Think Willy Wonka mixed with electronic music and cutting edge cross-disciplinary science. Unusual ingredients is created by musicians Jacob Thompson-Bell and Adam Martin, and food artist Caroline Hobkinson.


You can reach Caroline at:

www.carolinehobkinson.com or https://unusualingredients.co. on Instagram @caro\_hobkinson.

You can get your own kit for the Willy Wonka ingredient sound experiment, the Lockdown kit https://unusualingredients.co/album . The kit for the five ingredients is 10 British Pounds, $13 including postage. 

The ingredients are: 

Popping Candy
Coffee Sweets
Seaweed
Bubble Gum Stopper Candy
Honey lozenge

If you would like to experience this sourcing your own ingredients, visit Spotify to look at the Unusual Ingredients playlist.


About Caroline Hobkinson 


Caroline Hobkinson is an anthropologist exploring and investigating the interrelationships between Tech, Food, Art and the Senses. 

Born in Cologne in 1979, trained at Central Saint Martin’s where she gained a degree in Fine Art and SOAS where she earned a master’s degree in the Anthropology of Food, she has been creating events and sculptural installations, in galleries, museums and public spaces worldwide. She has published and co-authored numerous research and academic papers on the neuroscientific workings of eating and conducted anthropological qualitative research into food and drink habits and rituals.

Operating within the intersections of technology, food and the senses Caroline has been giving numerous interactive talks and lectures on the subject of food and eating rituals for Unilever, Disney, Barilla, Space 10 and many others and her work and research has appeared in numerous publications. She has recently co presented a 3-part series on multisensory aspects of cheese, due out in summer 2020.

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Harnessing the Postive Anchors of Food & Drink with Caroline Hobkinson

Staying grounded throughout the day, allows us to live our lives with intention and purpose, navigating through the ambiguity of what a day may throw at us. Integrative health coach, Stas Arsonov and I uncover the techniques to infuse groundedness into our day. 

Episode

In this episode we explore the concept of what it is to be grounded, how we can be active participants, versus having a day happen to us.

Moving with intention and purpose throughout our day is always important, and the muscles reps really come into action during times of ambiguity. 

Join my conversation with Stas Arsonov, integrative nutritiona coach, founder of mind and body optimization Think Clever, as we do just that.

We define what it is to be grounded, simple techniques to access that state, beginning the day with a ritual to carry with you throughout your day. 

Stas refers to the following resources:
Meditation: Calm, Headspace and Insight Timer.
Short intense bursts of exercise: Tabata

About Stas Arsonov

Founder of Think Clever and Citta Nutrition Cittanutrition.com, a stress management supplement, Stas Arsonov is an integrative health coach based out of Los Angeles, California. Stas works to help his coaching clients live with intention, establish morning routines and uncover their limiting habits. 

With a background in healing body-work, nutrition, and fitness. He spent the past decade immersing himself deeply in mind and body optimization and learning from some of the great masters in the field of ultimate wellbeing.



Returning to grounded with Stas Arsonov

As an entrepreneur we often give life to an idea and then are faced with the task of nurturing it and having it thrive. Navigating between a creativity mindset and an order systems and processes mindset is like mixing oil and water, they do not mix and yet both are critical. We explore why they are important in innovation, how to tap into and shift between the two worlds to create sustainable success to the endeavors you put your mind to.
In this episode we explored the infinity loop of creation and maintaining that creation, by looping from a creative, inception big picture mindset of creativity, into an orderly systems and processes mindset of Order. 

Asking which one is more important would be like asking do you prefer breathing in or out. 

We bring to life that we are able to shift either by ourselves or others. Ourselves being the acquistion of skills and tools in the alternate area, and through others by tapping into individuals who already have a disposition or energy in areas different to you.

About Heather Papoulis

Heather is the founder and CEO of Techpawlogy; training pets through positive tech. She teaches people how to train their pets pain free and fear free focusing on a balanced relationship of affection, respect and trust. 

As a behaviorist, she’s worked with big cats, dolphins, elephants, horses, killer whales and wolves to name a few. Heather understands behavior and habit creation; she uses a mix of motivators and redirections to identify 
our current point A and move purposefully to a desired point B of transformation. 

Heather unlocks these mechanisms through a mix of psychology, philosophy and science in a fluid and applicable way. She believes through understanding our own behavior as wells as how we connect with others, we can reach our full potential and create positive change.

As a leader you can occupy one mindset but sustainable success requires that you have the ability to tap into both. 

 
https://www.techpawlogy.com/hihellosura

You can get in touch with Heather Papoulis at: www.techpawology.com and for our podcast listeners: www.techpawlogy.com/hihellosura, as well as on instagram and other social mediums. 


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Navingating between Creativity & Order with Heather Papoulis

On this episode we are joined by Ex-Apple creative veteran, Anita Stubenrauch. Over the course of her 13-year career, she reimagined Apple's credo, designed presentations given to Steve Jobs, and was Angela Ahrendts' speechwriter. She shared with us her approach to helping individuals and organizations author the stories they want to live into.

Whether you are developing your personal brand, tapping into the truth of your team and organization or have a new something happening that needs sharing, Anita guides us through the thought provocations that get our whispers to reveal themselves and start shouting loud. ——————————-
On this show we explore how to craft the story of you as a human in the world, your projects, team, organization. We uncover how to unlock your true purpose and the impact you want to create in the world. 

This Anita calls the backstory! By having a clear focus, you are empowered to draft yourself as the hero in your own story and are able to move through the world with confidence as you have a clear sense of self. 

We explore how to get the answers to these universally applicable, soul searching questions, which include being able to create a climate of radical transparency, and daring to have audacious dreams.

Some of the questions include: 
1. Why are you here?
2. What do you do? 
3. What makes you different? 
4. What is you personality? 
5. Who here for? 
6. What do you value? 

As we know it takes a moment to suspend the busy, the judgement and step into a space of possibility. 

Tips for temporarily suspending our inner critic:
1. Recognizing that it is there to help - say thanks!
2. Ask yourself if you won the lottery, would your dreams change?
3. Ask those that care about you, when you are at your best, why are you here. What is your purpose? 

A deep dive into how to craft your story, your plot, how to add the twists and turns that make it compelling and true are available at her course: 
https://courses.causeeffectcreative.com

Get in touch with Anita Stubenrauch on Linkedin or at:
 https://www.causeeffectcreative.com.

About Anita Stubenrauch 

Anita is an Apple Inc. creative veteran. Over a thirteen-year career, she authored Apple's new credo, designed presentations given to Steve Jobs and the Board of Directors, and was Angela Ahrendts' executive speechwriter. She also wrote for Jeff Williams, Eddy Cue, Jay Blahnik, and Matt Fischer, among many, many others.

She left Apple in 2018 to tackle my most ambitious project yet—founding The Land of Make+Believe and Cause:

The Land of Make+Believe: a transformational fourteen-acre creative retreat center where unlikely heroes learn to slay their dragons. For artists, activists, and social impact organizations.  Cause:Effect Creative—helping individuals and organizations author the stories they want to live. 





Craft your Hero Story with Anita Stubenrauch

Being courageous is leaning into the things that make us afraid, and seeing if you can unlock creativity in that moment. To share one of your ideas, is an act of courage. In this episode we learn how to harness courage, to understand our insurmountable sphere of influence for impact, and from that place how to build an ecosystem and supports our audiacious vision. 

In this episode we share what it means to be courageous as a leader, team and organization. People have been known to think that creativity happens when everything is right, but the moments when an outcome or transformation happens is usually when we are in a place of great difficulty. To share one of your ideas, is an act of courage 

Being courageous is leaning into the things that make us afraid, and seeing if you can unlock creativity in that moment.

As a leader, we have a sphere of influence that has ripple infinity potential. Knowing how powerful we each are, we get to decide what responsibility that presents and what we are going about it. 

Companies want to get to the future faster while staying ahead of their competition. However the pieces that need to be present, the pathway to breakthroughs might not seem so obvious.

We need to show up at different altitudes in life to move things forward. When we are stuck, we have altitude sickness so a change in perspective gives us the ability to go higher. 

If you really want to solve a challenge , make your challenge harder, increase the altitude, go up in vision and purpose, rise up into an altitude that you haven’t been before. 

The five levels of altitude enquiry relate to Core, Enablers, Growth, Bridges & EcoSytem. 

Get guided access to the altitude questions, as well as a downloadable template, from Kyle at:
 
https://www.becourageousinnovation.com/hihellosura
password: hihellosura. 

You can get in touch with Kyle Hermans at: www.becourageousinnovation.com, as well as on linkedin and instagram. 


About Kyle Hermans
Kyle is the Founder, CEO of Be Courageous, the global growth platform helping leaders and organizations master their future today through courageous breakthroughs in culture, strategy and Innovation. Kyle’s group facilitate Start Up's, Scale Up's and Fortune brands to create, grow and sustain purpose driven cultures and businesses, unlock rapid growth and mindfully impact the future.



How to Be Courageous & Have Breakthroughs with Kyle Hermans

In this episode we cover :
The quest for sustainable innovation continues from E1. In this episode you get to understand at a deeper level where your unique creative thinking fits into innovation, how this feeds into the collaboration of the team and organization. Russ Schoen, shares case studies from around the world of how people have used FourSight to turn up the volume on their performance and move out tension into collaboration to solve complex business challenges within the likes of start-ups and Estee Lauder.&nbsp;
In this episode we unpack deeper how FourSight has been used globally to help teams and organizations solve complex business challenges across industries and company size.&nbsp;
Understanding our lens for problem solving&nbsp;
- It helps unlock what your preferred approach and style is when solving a challenge.Do you prefer to solve within the lens of clarifying, ideating , developing, implementing or a combination? All four are needed to create sustainable innovation.
- Russ, shares the highs and lows of each preference type, where they thrive, where they might get stuck, and what to do to make that preference type be happy.&nbsp;
- The &nbsp;lows for each type are analysis paralysis (clarifier), project leaping (ideator), perfectionism, (developer), control (implementer).&nbsp;
- Teams that do not perform as smoothly, are not aligned on what is needed at the moment in the project, as teams tend to be blind to individual preferences when engaging in problem solving.&nbsp;
- Knowing our preference lets us make sure that each phase in innovation gets the due attention.&nbsp;
- We are able to short cut conflict when we spend and put the energy in right place.
What shall we do when we do not have all the preferences in a team?&nbsp;
Our preference is not ability. For those moments we can use tools to make jobs easier, to bolster where we do not currently have a preference.&nbsp;
What happens when we are not aware of our blind spots?
- Blind spots to preferences have helped explained symptoms in organizations. For example a company started laughing when it was revealed that they were skewed heavy in ideating and implementation. It helped explain why their 30-35 SKUs had failed when they went to market.&nbsp;
- It also explained conflict and tension within an organization where the leadership were heavy Implenentors and the managers heavy Clarifiers.&nbsp;

Departmental Preference Skew
- Certain departments have been identified as leaning heavier into certain preferences than others:&nbsp;
- Marketing - ideator /Implentor&nbsp;
- Engineer &amp; Accounting - clarifier/ developer&nbsp;
- Sales - implentors&nbsp;
How to Outperform Others&nbsp;
- An independent IBM study showed that teams who were aware of their FourSight profile and had a problem solving process to follow tended to outperform other teams when delivering innovation, as they were aware of their blind spots and were able to ensure that they touched base with each stage integral to delivering innovation.
Who is this for?&nbsp;
- This is for teams who want to take it up a notch and create higher performance, as well as for teams who are experiencing tension.&nbsp;
- This can benefit Start-Up organizations to infuse more structure as well as it has been proven with Este Lauder.&nbsp;
For an even deeper dive into how to unlock the creative potential of your organization, you can get in contact with Russ Schoen at Russ@FourSightonline.com, or myself at www.hihellosura.com.&nbsp;

Get a Common Language to Innovation with Russ Schoen

Setting bold innovative goals can be a challenge when you have experience in an arena, or when it has never existed before. In this episode you get to jump the belief chasm, accessing the seemingly fantastical, through the power of storytelling. This will enable you to give yourself permission to both create innovative bold goals for your organization and then activating them into reality.
In this episode we unpack why creating bold innovative goals can be challenging. How to overcome the challenge and then from that space harness what you have created into an action plan.
Creating anything new requires a suspension of current reality. Our inner critic is there to protect us in these situations from looking like a fool at work, to share with us what is currently happening in the market place, what has happened before based on experience.&nbsp;
It’s important to give ourselves permission to create the new and bold otherwise we will be duplicating everything that has preceded. Innovation requires us to live on the fringes.&nbsp;
In order to do that we need to tap into our child like mindset which is full of curiosity and wonder, uninhibited by reality and gently ask our inner critic to take a seat.&nbsp;
The challenge is that when we look to set goals, our mind is great at sharing with us all the obstacles that we can ensue.&nbsp;
But wait there is salvation. If we step into the future and look back telling the stories of all the incredible things that have passed, our mind also accepts it as true. It works in our favor to make it all a reality.&nbsp;
This tool, is a great short cut to access the met

While the inner critic does that, we cue the Kyle Cease technique for creating goals:&nbsp;
Step 1: The Three Month Share&nbsp;
Partner up with someone. Choose who will be person A and person B.&nbsp;
Person A look at Person B, and say: “You never guess what has happened since we last spoke three months ago. Since three months ago so much has happened. Let me tell you.” Then you will proceed to share with them all the fabulous things that have happened in the last three months.&nbsp;
Person B your role is to nod, smile and look very positive. Nothing more. Nothing less. Do not ask them about feasibility, reality, budgets.&nbsp;
Do this for five minutes and then switch roles.&nbsp;
Step 2: The Six Month Share&nbsp;
Then do this for 6 months. And switch roles.
Step 3: The One Year Share&nbsp;
Then do it for 1 year. And then switch roles.
Step 4: The Super Charge Zone&nbsp;
After this Person B, your role is to take the strands of what has been shared with you by person A and super charge their story. For example, if they talk about wanting to be a thought leader in their field, you might say, well I hear that Forbes and Fast Company are knocking on your door. Or that Oprah has invited you for dinner yet again.&nbsp;
Super Charge for five minutes and then switch roles. &nbsp;
Step 5: The Action Plan&nbsp;
Based on this new story that you get to tell, ask yourself: “what are the three steps that I need to take immediately to lean into this reality?” This is your activation moment for action planning.&nbsp;
This process is applicable for all aspects of your life including your team and your organization to get them set for creating vision for a project and the future.&nbsp;
If you would like help creating a Roadmap of the Future for your team, get in touch at hihellosura.com

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Create Bold Innovative Goals: Daring to Dream

Hi. Hello. Some of you have been asking me about how I create my podcast. As you quite fancy making one of your own. You said I've been meaning to do this for a while, but is it complicated? Do I need to invest a whole bunch of software? Well, I've actually been using anchor by Spotify since the beginning, and I really love it because it has everything that I need in one place.

I can edit and record my podcast from my phone or my computer. I actually use my iPad. And when hosting an anchor, after that, I can distribute my poll cost on to any listening platform like Spotify, apple cost, and. It has everything that I need in one place. And the thing that I love about it is that it's also totally free.

So if you're interested, download the anchor app or go to anchor dot F M to guest.

Welcome and join me today on the HiHelloSura Show podcast, where I decode and deconstruct the stories, secrets, and skills of the creators of our time. If you are looking to challenge the status quo and get new perspectives, join me as I share with you practical ideas. That you can use to impact your life and help those around you today.

Hey, back on, welcome to the podcast. I am your host, Sura Al-Naimi. Today we are going to be focusing on dreaming. That's right. You had me dreaming when we think about the year ahead and the decade ahead. This is the perfect opportunity to dream. If not now, when I ask you. And so often as adults, when we think about dreaming, AKA setting goals, we sometimes limit ourselves.

It's natural for us to do that because we have a lot of experience. We have. All the reasons, all the obstacles of why things won't work. And so in this episode, I'm going to be unpacking that in terms of innovation and creativity at work, um, within your personal life, if you want to be creating those leaps, you are going to need to think differently.

And be able to touch into different resources in order to even set those goals, to begin with and give your mind access to all the resources that it needs to be able to fulfill these beautiful, bold, audacious goals. So I'm going to be covering the spectrum of thinking and how on the outer edges, that's where all the amazing GCs creative ideas live.

And then from that space, we're going to be talking about. How to tap into that type of thinking so that you actually give yourself permission to open up that window and a little bit about also, why is it that, you know, we all hindered and we don't let ourselves go into that space to begin with. And as I mentioned, these are things, these are tools that you can use within your personal life, as well as in business.

And so here we go. Well, let's get on with it. So why is it that we need permission to dream to begin with? That might sound a little bit funny if you've ever watched a young child play and tell you a story that doesn't seem to be any limit, any ceiling to the ability to think of bold, audacious. Super creative things.

And the reason that is, is that kids are naturally creative in the sense that their mindset is curious. They ask a lot of questions. They don't have any experience that inhibits them in the opposite direction. So they don't understand that, you know, Putting a ladder, a step ladder next to a building and using it as a tool to get up into space, uh, might be a little bit challenging.

They have no, no faculty around that. And so the cool week we call it the childlike mindset. So what our kids really great, our kids are amazing at being curious at, uh, being imaginative, being on inhibited. And then let's flip over to the adult light. We have plenty of experience, plenty of expertise. It's fantastic.

It's kept us alive pretty nicely. It meets us really amazing at analyzing things and prioritizing things. And we know that when we tried to put the step ladder next to the building, it flew away or it hit somebody on the head. And so now we don't really want to use that step. To do things with. And so our experience is what has made sure that we've got all these amazing things done to begin with.

And so the adult, like mindset is very, very important, but when we step back to our goal, which is permission to dream dreaming big, we need to, for a moment in time, the step into the kid, And so in order to that, we need to engage with that element of curiosity and we, our adult life mindset, or maybe you were going to reframe that and say our inner critic, if you will, we want to ask our inner critic to, to have a break, to take a load off, maybe have a latte, say, have a cocktail just for a moment.

And. And why do we want to tap into this kid light mindset? As I mentioned? Well, if we think about the things that have been truly innovative in our time and really create. At that moment of inception when they first came to be, they didn't really seem very realistic. They didn't seem that they would work with the current reality that we, we were faced with, that we have around us.

So I'll give you a perfect example. If I was to tell you that you could go to. And sleep on a stranger's couch and it will be a wonderful experience and that you would still come out alive. You know, at that moment in time, it would have seen very upside, probably, uh, quite illegal and probably quite dangerous actually equally, if I'd said you could get into a stranger's car at three o'clock in the morning and they would just magically appear and they would take you where you wanted to go.

And again, You would remain intact and alive. You might thought I, you might've thought I was a little bit crazy. And so this really relates in innovation to this concept of, of the spectrum of thinking. So in order for us to be truly innovative, we might start in the world of analogy, metaphor, things that seem really absurd.

So we're really in our wishing. And then once we've thought of a concept that seems very fanciful after that, that's when we can bake in the feasibility. So we always say that you can bake feasibility into something that's new and intriguing, but you can't bake you and intriguing into something that's already feasible.

And so that's why we want to start in that space and then work backwards. And that relates really to this concept that I'm about to share with you, which enables you to. To dream big and also gives you permission to dream. So that's one aspect of why we want to go into those fringes, uh, in order to really create something new.

Now, the other aspect of that is that when we think about goal-setting, like, let's say, I say to, I am going to launch, you know, 800 podcasts within the next 365 days. When I say that, as I say that out loud in my book. My mind is freaking out. It's thinking about all the things that can get in the way we're doing that, thinking about all the different obstacles.

So really it's getting of the way of me even proclaiming this goal or this task. Right? So if I think about all the other things that maybe I want to share with you in terms of what my goals might be, I might restrict those. I might restrict those because it just takes my breath away in terms of all the.

That I won't even say them out loud. Right. And so this comes back to the way that our mind works. So our mind is like a Google search engine. So when it's looking forward, it's thinking about all the different obstacles. It's printing all the different data points of why. Something might be challenging to achieve, because again, it wants to be super helpful.

Our mind is very generous and it wants to be very helpful. So one way to shortcut that is by stepping into the future and looking back and looking back and retelling all the stories as if they've already happened. So I haven't gone crazy while I'm suggesting you. Is that you pretend we can, we can pretend this was something very small.

We can pretend that it is tomorrow. And I am telling you all about the amazing things that happened yesterday, AKA today. So I could say, oh my gosh, you never guess what happened yesterday. It was the most incredible day. All these amazing things happened. I felt like this. It looked like that this person called me, this was a success.

This flow. And I would start to tell you all the amazing things that had happened in that circumstance. The mind actually has no idea whether you're telling the truth or not. And so it generously accepts it as true. When it's looking back. And so this is so powerful for us because when it accepts it as truth, it's taught us to generate all the other amazing things that can happen.

And it also starts to think about all the different resources that can come to POS in order to empower this new reality. And so what we want to do is we want to holler miss this trickery or this generosity of the mind, and this, it did not moment. That the mind is actually willing to, you know, take a break.

The inner critic Grada is willing to take a break and we are actually able to tap into the abundance of our childlike mindset, our dreaming state, that metaphorical kind of. And so what I wanted to share with you is that this is a phenomenal exercise that you can do to map out your year. You can make out Mack out or map out role that the success of a project, um, anything that is on your mind, you can start to visualize how incredible it is.

And so this wonderful human called Kyle cease introduced me to this exercise and he is a comedian turned transformation coach. And I did this exercise with him in a room with 3000 other people, and it was such a powerful exercise. And since then, I've been doing this with clients, for myself personally, and we're friends.

And again, it's just a great way to give ourselves permission to dream and then get into action. And so it goes a little, something like this. I mentioned earlier that you're stepping into the future and you're looking back. And so what you want to do is you want. First of all find somebody else. Who's willing to do this with you.

Just go and grab somebody, but don't get arrested. Find somebody who's willing to do this with you, and then choose who, who is going to be person a and who is going to be person B. And it's, it's very simple. So at the beginning, you're going to kick it off your personnel. You're going to kick it off. And you're going to say to that person, oh my gosh, you never gaff all the amazing things that have happened since I saw you three months.

And then you're going to share with that individual, all the amazing things that have happened. So, as I mentioned, it could be, you know, you felt a certain way, things looked a certain way. You worked with certain people. These projects came to pass. People were bragging about certain things. You're proud of certain things, and you would go and talk with that individual and share with them all the amazing things that have happened.

And we're going to put a place marker. We're going to put a place marker for three. So all of the things that happened in the last three months. And so here's the trickery, the other individual person. Your role is to not profusely be super excited and just look super, super positive and not say anything other than that, apart from maybe some oohing or some orange, or that sounds amazing.

That's incredible. And so at this point you are not going to be offering any solutions or any feasibility or any bills, nothing like that. Absolutely nothing. So today you're going to talk for a total of 10 minutes and I know that seems like a lot. There might be moments where you're going to pause and that's totally fine in those moments you can say.

And I totally love that. So if you can't think of anything to say, you can say, oh, I totally love that. And so you will talk for 10 minutes and then at the end of those 10 minutes person B it's your turn, it's your turn to tell the other individual what you have been loving for the last three months. Got it.

Got it. So. Wonderful. I suggest you set a timer because you you're really going to get going on this. Then you're going to switch roles. They're going to practice with six months. You got to tell you under the vigil, all the amazing things that have been happening within the last six months. And again, just wherever your mind wants to go, wherever your mind wants to go and then switch.

And then finally, we're going to do this with one. You've got it one year. So another 10 minutes to tell the other individual, all the incredible things that have been happening in the last year and then switch. So this is, this is the first part of the exercise, right? Three months, six months, one year back and forth, back and forth.

10 minutes. Now, this is where again, it gets even more exciting. I know that you didn't think it could get even more exciting. This is where you are going to be able to supercharge the other person's story. So you've been listening, you've been super excited and maybe somebody said to you, you know, I have become a thought leader in my industry.

I'm recognized people want to talk to me. So maybe when you're supercharging that person's. You say something like, you know, I know things have been going really amazing for you. And I hear that fast company really wants to talk to you. And so do Forbes and Oprah Winfrey and eat on mosque are inviting you over for dinner.

And you're not quite sure if you have time and this is the story that you're going to be super charging for that other individual. And you are going to do that for the other individual for a total of 10 minutes. I think it's so much fun, so much fun. So beyond the fun of. All of this time, I'm going back and forth, back and forth.

You finally given your mind access to this childlike mind, mind state you've asked the inner critic to politely have arrest. And then from that space, that's when you can bring out the adult like-mind fat, right? And so you formed this beautiful story of what can be, you've told it in the past tense. So your mind has accepted it as.

Now you can sit down and action plan. Now you can sit down and say to yourself, okay, based on this future that I want to lean into, what are the four steps that I can go and execute on within the next week to 10 days? You know, who do I need to call? What do I need to read? What tiny step do I need to take to lean into making this future a reality?

And so this is the task. Everybody it's called Kylego. Kyle cease is the individual who shared it with me originally. And this is the wonderful way of giving your team, giving your organization, giving a project, giving something passel that you want to achieve wings, right? So that you can really create this new reality.

Your body can start to feel. This new reality, you can get excited. You can get ramped up about it. And then from that space, you can start to take action because it's the little steps that you take that are going to compound over time into creating this new creative, innovative future for yourself for 2020.

And for decades to come. So I highly recommend it. Let me know if you have any questions. Let me know if you would like to try this out with me. And if you enjoyed this podcast, please, please, please, please feel free to rate it for us because we always appreciate that until next time have a wonderful day.




Sustainable innovation, need not be an illusive unicorn. In this episode you get to understand where your unique creative thinking fits into innovation, where you get stuck and where you can collaborate to get creative solutions out of the door.&nbsp;

In this episode we unpack how to create sustainable innovation. Whether we are working with creative problem solving, design thinking, lean or sprints, different thinking styles are critical in each phase to get innovation out of the door.&nbsp;

An independent IBM study shared that those trained in creative thinking styles, an assembly created by FourSight TM. &nbsp;were more effective at delivering impactful innovation.&nbsp;

The four creative thinking styles are:
Clarifiers - lets not make assumptions&nbsp;
Ideators - where are all the possibilities&nbsp;
Developers - lets create a workable solution&nbsp;
Implementors - Just do it, lets get this out of the door

Preferences are not indicative of ability, they just show us where we come alive and get energy.&nbsp;

Knowing what your preferences are lets you know where you can plug into the innovation process and where you have gotten stuck, spinning your wheels.

Understand how to increase collaboration and reduce conflict, by understanding another’s preference. Suddenly that annoying thing they do becomes just the thing you need to get innovative solutions out the door.

FourSight has over 60 years of research and is currently used in 6 continents across industries.&nbsp;
 
If you are interested in getting a summary of the dark and light side of your creative thinking preference, get in touch at www.hihellosura.

E.38 – Closing the Joy Gap: Conscious Consumerism & Sustainability with Maxim Gelmann and Caroline Hobkinson

E.37 – Human centered design Finale with Kathryn & David Eastlake

E.36 – Human Centered Design at 80 plus continued with Dan Miller

E.36 – The surprising truth about net-zero with Andrew Griffiths

E.35 – Human centered design at age 80 plus with Michael Hughes

E.35 – The How of Happy with Tisse Mallon

E.34 – Lessons Learnt from Scaling from 10 to over 300,000 People. Leading & Nurturing Teams & How Life Helps to Focus Energy & Structure Life with Esteban Garcia

E.33 – How the Future of AI will impact businesses and society as a whole with Daniel Hulme

E.32 – How to Stay Ahead with Crowd innovation & the Power of Inviting Others to Apply their Own Magic with Kal Shota

E.31 – How to develop the creative skills you need to win the future, with Fred Mandell and Harvey Seifter.

E.30 – How To Stop Limiting Yourself and Finally Start Leading And Innovating with Mark Tribbitt

E.29 – Being yourself is your greatest strength with Emma Pelfrey

E.28 – The Art of Persuasion & Decision Making, with Matthew Willcox

E.27 – Beauty is only the beginning of a conversation, with Peterson Guerrier

E.26 – Engaging the senses in a highly digitized world with Caroline Hobkinson

E.25 – Reconnect to the Senses through Experience Design, with Jamie Shaw.

E.24 – How to Confidently get those Ideas out of the Door!

E.23 – How to Find made to Win Ideas!

E.22 – Remind people, their Cousin is not your Audience!

E.21 – How do you Align the Forces for Good?

E.20 – How do you set the Stage for Creativity?

E.19 – You’re a Creativity Superhero! Want to know more?

E.18 – Find your What & Shatter inherent Mindsets with David Kinigson

E.17 – Moving through creativity blocks. Exercising Happiness. Shipping your projects with Stas Arsonov.

E.16 – Accessing the Filing Cabinets of Creativity

E.15 – Breaking + Creating Habits to Reach our Potential with Heather Fox

E.14 – Find your Purpose through Human Design, with Ahram Arya

E.13 – Make your Future. Tap into World Building with Ronni Kimm

E.12 – Covid Pivot! From rides to sanitizers with Andy Didorsi

E.11 – Leading with Heart, with Kaitlyn Chana

E.10 – Experience a change in taste perception with Sonic Tasting, Caroline Hobkinson & Anita Stubenrauch

E.9 – The Intrapreneur’s Journey to Getting Ideas Launched, with Karen Holst

E.8 – Harnessing the Postive Anchors of Food & Drink with Caroline Hobkinson

E.7 – Returning to grounded with Stas Arsonov

E.6 – Navingating between Creativity & Order with Heather Papoulis

E.5 – Craft your Hero Story with Anita Stubenrauch

E.4 – How to Be Courageous & Have Breakthroughs with Kyle Hermans

E.3 – Get a Common Language to Innovation with Russ Schoen

E.2 – Create Bold Innovative Goals: Daring to Dream

E.1 – Improve innovation: Know your creative thinking style