A summertime aside

I’m keeping lighter hours for the summer this year, and it has meant that most of my projects have lost a bit of momentum…but it has also meant a bit more time to get out and explore, to sit down and read for a while, and to indulge the random whims of the children. I have a month of random day trips coming up, as well as a similarly random trip to the Pokemon World Championships (an actual and real thing).

But it means I’ve also got this persistent nagging reminder in the back of my mind that I haven’t published here for a while. I’m currently working on a substantial write up of the Smart Creative Leadership course1, but for this week…

Some Links, perhaps?

• A confession: I’ve been meaning to write something about Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary Get Back since January because it’s a mesmerizing look at the pitfalls and possibilities of the creative process - and it’s somewhat liberating to see how even some of the greatest creators of our time struggled. But I also read this article, and I’m not sure I have a whole lot more to add to it2.

• I love the use of extreme constraints as a way to generate some unexpected insights and ideas. Consequently, I found this consideration of a world without flying completely fascinating.

• I dropped a mini-thread on Twitter about some misconceptions about innovation. This article on improvements in EV battery technology is such an excellent example of the way that gradual improvements lead to breakthroughs.