Fredrik Härén's Blog, page 12
January 28, 2024
Be Alltruistic. (Episode 114)
Interview with Ola Litström, VP Digitalization and Training Platforms EMT at Höganäs AB.
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Here’s a lesson in how to approach business:
Do not go for selfishness, ie “lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure”. Selfishness might benefit us sometimes, but it’s not a strategy for long-term winning.
But also, do not go for altruism, i.e., the “disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others.”
Altruism is the opposite of selfishness. And while altruism might sound like an honorable strategy, let’s be frank: true altruism is rare, and altruistic people are few and far apart.
Instead, go for “Alltruism” – “An interested and selfish concern for the wellbeing of all.”
Yes, Alltrusim is a made-up word, but it’s a word I think we really need.
Business is built on the concept of caring for others – in a way that benefits yourself.
Business is built on Alltrusim.
And Alltrusim works well, perhaps that’s why business is built upon it.
An example:
You are sitting in a room, and someone throws a hand grenade into the room.
An egoistic person runs out of the room to save herself.
An altruistic person throws herself on the grenade to save everyone else except herself.
An alltruistic person throws a sandbag on the grenade and saves not just everyone else, but also herself.
Clearly, both for the person and the rest of the group the Alltrustic mindset is the best.
The Golden Rule states, “Treat others as you would want to be treated by them.”
The Alltruistic Rule states: “Treat others in a way that benefit them – as well as yourself – the most.”
And that’s why the Alltruistic mindset works so well for business. A great salesperson will give the best solution to the client – what they truly want and need – while at the same time making his commission.
If we are just egoistic in business, we end up with Ponzi schemes.
If we are too altruistic in business, we will go out of business.
I learned about Alltrusim from Ola Litström, VP Digitalization and Training Platforms EMT at Höganäs AB. Höganäs – founded in 1797 (!) – is the world’s leading manufacturer of iron, metal, and ceramic powders.
Ola gave me a perfect example of Alltrusim in business.
When a customer wants to return a product which they are not happy with, Höganäs will offer to come to their clients and offer to diagnose the production processes of the customer to find better ways for the customer to operate. Because Höganäs has realised that often there is not an issue with Höganäs’s product, but there is something else wrong in their customer’s processes that the customers have wrongly attributed to Höganäs’s products. So Höganäs goes in and looks at the whole process to find the actual error.
It’s short term egoistic – Höganäs doesn’t want the products returned. So, if they can find what’s actually wrong, they do not get those products returned.
It’s long term egoistic – by helping the customer they get to keep the business.
It’s strategically egoistic – it builds deeper relations with the client.
But it’s also altruistic, they help their customer develop better processes without charging for it.
All in all, it’s Alltruistic – it’s “an interested and a selfish concern for the wellbeing of all.”
Ola told me: “Egoism is not just often morally wrong, it’s also not very effective in business. And when it comes to altruism, let’s be honest: there just aren’t enough “angel like rich people” in the world to fix our problems with no personal gain or benefit involved.
But Alltrusim works. In the big and in the small. In personal life and in business.”
He gave an example of wearing a mask during the pandemic. It was good to help you from not getting sick, but also good for helping others not get sick if you were infected. Egoistic and altruisitc, in other words: Alltruistic.
Alltrusim is the mindset that works for business.
Be alltruistic – Approach what you do with “An interested and a selfish concern for the wellbeing of all.”
The post Be Alltruistic. (Episode 114) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 19, 2024
The Admin Monster is eating up humanity (Episode 113)
If you ask people what they think is the biggest creativity killer, they will often reply “lack of confidence, fear of making mistakes etc”.
I think they are wrong.
I think the biggest creativity killer is “admin work”.
While fear is killing the creative spark of people who lack creative confidence, meaningless, tiresome, time-consuming, and redundant admin work is killing the creative sparks of actual creative people with confidence.
People who would just love to create – but who are forced to fill out forms, time reports, etc that should have been automated long ago.
If an administrative task can be removed, automated, or reduced, it should be.
There is absolutely no reason to keep an unnecessary administrative task – but there are many reasons against keeping it.
It costs time and money, and it steals time – but more than anything else, it suffocates creativity.
One company that has taken on the Admin Monster is the recruitment team Moody’s. Melissa Barch Katz, who is SVP – Talent Attraction Strategy & Innovation at the company told me how they had done a determined review of admin work that could be reduced, removed or “robotized”.
The job of recruiting people should not be about drowning by screening 500 resumes, filling out reports or booking meeting with candidates, it should be about creative problem solving and connecting with candidates.
Creative work. Not admin work.
So Melissa and her team worked to automate things like sorting out the right resumes, booking meetings etc.
Melissa described the strategy they have for introducing new tech: “Tech should make you more human.”
What a simple and profound message.
The Moody’s recruitment team will be aiming to reduce the admin work for their recruiters by 40% (!) over the course of the next year with their new tools.
Time that can now be used for more productive, more creative and more fulfilling work.
Melissa: “Our recruiters can now do more sourcing, spend more time with the business, have longer and deeper conversations with candidates and so on.”
Imagine how many millions of hours each day that humanity is spending doing soul crushingly boring admin work that could have been reduced, removed or “robotized”.
Now don’t get me wrong, some admin work is needed, but we should question each and every admin task to see if we could get rid of a person doing it, because it sucks the creative energy out of almost every single creative person.
I will go so far as to say that admin is not work.
Admin is something that takes you away from doing your work. From creating.
In short: Admin kills work.
It steals time.
It steals energy
it steals the human experience.
Admin eats up humanity.
The admin monster is evil – and people like Melissa, who are actively working on reducing the admin work for their people, are heroes.
What admin work could you get rid of for yourself, your team or your clients by reducing it, removing or “robotising” it?
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The post The Admin Monster is eating up humanity (Episode 113) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 18, 2024
Competence Triangulation. (Episode 112)
Interview with José Angel Gutiérrez Goutréz. José is today HR Director, El Puerto de Liverpool.
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In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points.
“Competence Triangulation” is the process of understanding your optimal skills and competencies by trying your expertise in totally different industries.
I was inspired to write about Competence Triangulation after having a very inspiring discussion with José Angel Gutiérrez Goutréz. José is today HR Director, El Puerto de Liverpool the largest retail company in Mexico.
José has worked in HR for Daimler (vehicles), IDESA (chemicals) and now Liverpool (department stores). One, an MNC, one a family owned company and one a local listed company.
Three totally different industries, with different challenges, different corporate structures and ways of working.
José: “Car factories are huge and complex, a chemical plant can be super efficient being run by just 8 people, and here, (at Liverpool) we have 75,000 employees, but every department stores is its own echo system. I have seen three totally different worlds, but HR is always HR.”
When you, like José, switch between such totally different industries – while at the same time sticking to your expertise – you get both the re-inventing of yourself that comes with starting over in a new industry you know nothing about – as well as getting a good understanding of what are your own “non-negotiables”, ie things that do not change even when your world changes.
You get refreshed and stay solid at the same time.
According to José his diverse industry experience has helped him expand his horizons in a way that makes it easier to connect with humans – something that is crucial when working in HR.
And putting himself in these totally different worlds has made it clearer for him to see who he really is as an HR manager. At every new career challenge he has been able to keep what is working while trying new ways of doing things where there is room for improvement.
José: “HR is HR, but HR is different everywhere.” and then he gives me an analogy: “Golf is golf, but every hole is different. If you want to become a really good golf player you cannot just play one hole, you have to play many different courses. That way, you get to experience many different environments while at the same time, you perfect your very own swing that is your swing regardless of where you play.”
José: “Having worked in (diverse industries) has helped me get a deeper understanding of what I am an expert on.”
How and when have you practiced Competence Triangulation to help yourself become the best version of your professional self?
The post Competence Triangulation. (Episode 112) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
Push and Pull innovation. (Episode 111)
Interview with Martin Toscano , President, Evonik Industries de Mexico.
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There are many different ways of looking at innovation. Here’s one interesting way: Learn to differentiate between “pull innovation” and “push innovation.”
Push Innovation is where a company comes up with ideas that they think will work for their customers and goes and presents them in order to get new business.
Pull Innovation is when the company goes to the customer to find a problem that they have and then try to solve it.
Pull Innovation is much more difficult because it forces you to go against the built-in “flow” of internal innovation and instead needs you to position yourself around the customers and their problems.
But both ways have value and merit.
The value of Push Innovation is that it pushes your clients into changing in ways they might not have thought about or did not think they were ready for.
The value of Pull Innovation lies in its closer connection to the customers’ strategy and goals.
I was inspired to think more about the concept of “Push and Pull Innovation” after having a conversation with Martin Toscano , President, Evonik Industries de Mexico. (Evonik Industries de México is the Mexican subsidiary of Evonik Industries AG, a leading global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Germany.)
Martin told me about how many companies, including his own, historically, have had a mindset of “build it and they will come”. That if the company comes up with some new, innovative molecules or solutions their customers are going to buy it. Very much of “push innovation”. And don’t get him wrong, Push innovation can be very successful. He shared how Evonik had invented a bio-degradable shampoo formula that they were able to bring to some of the largest shampoo producers in the world.
But he then reflected on how his company now, much more, is working on “pull innovation”. For example, how Evonik learned that fish farmers needed an alternative to small fish to feed to their salmon farms and how Evonik, based on this insight, developed a fermented corn solution that works very well.
One solution based on innovation pushed out from the company, one pulled in from insights from the clients.
According to Martin pull innovation is the hardest.
It’s hard to get people to think from the perspective of someone else’s business and not your own.
Sometimes we need to push innovation. Sometimes we need to let us be pulled to innovate. The combination of both gives you the most of the benefits since you would be acting along the whole value chain – you are participating with your products and technologies and not just with the shareholder who is buying your product, but using other players along the value chain to push (or pull) for you to get your product and technologies rolling into the value chain.
The message here is not to choose between pull or push innovation but to realize that they require quite different kinds of skillsets, competencies, and expertise.
Sometimes we need to push innovation. Sometimes we need to let us be pulled to innovate.
But make sure you know which technique you are using and which one works best in any circumstance you are in.
The post Push and Pull innovation. (Episode 111) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 12, 2024
Become Creative Energy. (Episode 110.)
Interview with Jorge Lopez-Doriga, Chief Communication and Sustainability Officer at AJE.
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In my job as The Creativity Explorer I get to meet so many very creative people. People who embody the very essence of creativity. It’s the best part of my job and a privilege.
I can live on these meetings for days. I recall one of these unforgettable meetings held sometime back, with Jorge Lopez-Doriga, Chief Communication and Sustainability Officer at AJE – the 5th largest beverage company in the world.
I wish I would have just recorded our conversation and put it up as a podcast, because it’s hard to summarise Jorge’s views on creativity, but I will try. But in honor of our conversation I will not just reference what was said, instead I will take the creative liberty to publish the essence of the message of our conversation about creativity. Some of these lines Jorge said, some of it I wrote based on what he said.
Read it slow and reflect.
Become Creative Energy.
– There is no separation between you and the world.
– What you see is energy that functions.
– All the past and all the future is included in today.
– When you access the source of everything, you enter the creative source.
– It gives you a vision of what to do.
– Get rid of your point of view. When you do, you get the whole picture.
– The world is being created and dissolved at every instance.
– Do not hold on to your ideas. You need to constantly question your approach.
– Ideas are not yours, they pass through you.
– Connect with the infinite unknown.
– Find the source where all is coming from.
– Turn the creative light inwards. They are called in-sights after all. The direction is clear. Go inwards.
– When you look at the surface of the mind you only see what is shallow. The surface is choppy, the calm is in the deep. Dive down there.
– Ideas come to us. They are not yours. Make sure you are open enough to receive them. Remove the interference.
– Do not just listen, become listening.
– When you really listen and see, you do not see objects or hear sounds – you see energy.
– Aim for a space that is a combination of emptiness and consciousness.
– This is not something you have to learn – it’s something you have to remember.
– Real art is transparent, you do not see paint and a canvas, you see something else.
– Creativity in the natural revolution – you have to find your source of creativity.
– It’s about returning to the source.
– Become the question – but do not look for the answer.
– When you ask questions all doors are open. When you look for answers all doors close except one.
– The problem with answers is that they make you think you know something.
– When you tap the creative source you cannot help but to respond – you get so much energy.
– How can you be tired with all the energy that exists in the source?
Become Creative Energy.
The post Become Creative Energy. (Episode 110.) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
Ideamonds – small, brilliant ideas. (Episode 109)
Interview with Diana Mondino, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Argentina.
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Yes, “Ideamond” is a made up word. I just made it up, after having a discussion about creativity with Diana Mondino early this year. Diana is a woman who wears many creative hats. In addition to being recently appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Argentina, she sits on the board of Loma Negra (a huge cement company), has co-founded a leading private university in Argentina, is the CEO of a FinTech and much, much more.
During our discussion, I learned a lot about creativity, but I was especially inspired about how Diana was passionate about the many small, but brilliant, ideas, that move the world forward.
To illustrate, what I now have decided to call “an ideamond”, she mentioned the person who, many years ago, came up with the idea of colouring the three pages of a triplicate form in three different colors to make it easier to show which one goes to the client, which one goes to the company and which one goes to the government.
A small, but brilliant idea.
That is just what constitutes an “ideamond” – that the idea is small, but brilliant.
Just like a diamond.
Yes, the world needs big, world-changing ideas for our many large problems, but it’s the “diamonds” that help to improve the lives of most people.
Few things make me happier than stumbling upon a solution created by someone who had a brilliant “ideamond”.
And the world is filled with potential for more of them!
All we have to do is to dig where we stand and say: “How could this thing be improved in a small – but brilliant – way?”.
The post Ideamonds – small, brilliant ideas. (Episode 109) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 11, 2024
Ideamond. (Episode 196)
This week’s newsletter is inspired by the latest episode of my series ‘The Creativity Suite‘.
Ideamonds – small, brilliant ideas.
Yes, “Ideamond” is a made up word. I just made it up, after having a discussion about creativity with Diana Mondino early this year. Diana is a woman who wears many creative hats. In addition to being recently appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Argentina, she sits on the board of Loma Negra (a huge cement company), has co-founded a leading private university in Argentina, is the CEO of a FinTech and much, much more.
During our discussion, I learned a lot about creativity, but I was especially inspired about how Diana was passionate about the many small, but brilliant, ideas, that move the world forward.
To illustrate, what I now have decided to call “an ideamond”, she mentioned the person who, many years ago, came up with the idea of colouring the three pages of a triplicate form in three different colors to make it easier to show which one goes to the client, which one goes to the company and which one goes to the government.
A small, but brilliant idea.
That is just what constitutes an “ideamond” – that the idea is small, but brilliant.
Just like a diamond.
Yes, the world needs big, world-changing ideas for our many large problems, but it’s the “diamonds” that help to improve the lives of most people.
Few things make me happier than stumbling upon a solution created by someone who had a brilliant “ideamond”.
And the world is filled with potential for more of them!
All we have to do is to dig where we stand and say: “How could this thing be improved in a small – but brilliant – way?”.
Would love to know your thoughts. Comment on LinkedIn.
Fredrik Haren, The Creativity Explorer
The post Ideamond. (Episode 196) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 6, 2024
The Assignment (Episode 108)
Interview with Stiven Kerestegian, Head of Disruptive Innovation at IKEA Group.
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Have you ever been completely overtaken by a creative project? Have you experienced the feeling when there is this one creative thing that you just have to finish, that pushes virtually everything else in your life out of the way? Like if you are on a mission.
Then you have received The Assignment. The Assignment – with a capital A – is the description of when creativity takes over a person.
The Assignment is larger than the person. Bigger than life.
Or, in the words of Stiven Kerestegian: “It’s an Assignment from the Universe.”
Of all the creative people I have ever interviewed Stiven has one of the most impressive creative CV’s I have ever seen. He has led the Open Innovation practice at LEGO Future Lab, was one of the first contributors to the X-box for Microsoft as well as lead designer of several iconic mouse & keyboard products and today he is Head of Disruptive Innovation at IKEA Group. (He even proposed an Ipad-like device for Kodak before Steve Jobs created the actual Ipad, but Kodak was not brave enough to pursue it then, so Stiven left.) Oh, and he founded and still runs, an ethical shoe brand, Chilote Shoes (https://chiloteshoes.com), on the side. He is a creative powerhouse.
And many times during his career he has been given The Assignment.
Stiven described the feeling you feel when an Assignment takes over: “You do not know why you need to do something, but you are 100% sure you have to do it.”
Stiven has put up the four rules of The Assignment. They are:
– Thou shall not compromise
– Thou shall be comfortable with the uncomfortable
– Thou shall be a servant to the assignment
and finally:
– Love. And do not fight it.
Let’s break these four rules down:
– Thou shall not compromise
When you are on an Assignment you are on a mission, but the mission is not yours. It’s given to you and you need to make it happen. No matter what.
– Thou shall be comfortable with the uncomfortable
When on an Assignment you need to trust the process. Think of a person being pushed by a strong current. There is no meaning in fighting it. Just let it drag you with it. A powerful idea that has gotten a hold of you will pull you with it. Let it.
– Thou shall be a servant to the Assignment
Understand that when an Assignment has decided to bring you in then this is not just “your idea” or “your creative project”. The creative project has a life of its own, you are just the human vessel chosen to push for and manifest it. It has a purpose and energy of its own and your job is to help that idea become a reality. So do not take the role of “the creator”, or think of yourself as “the master of the idea”. Instead, think of yourself as the servant of the Assignment. The one that helps the idea reach its full potential by using your experience and resourcefulness to make it so.
and finally:
– Love. Do not fight it.
Just like true, unconditional love lets you surrender, in this same way, you need to surrender to the Assignment. Surrender, not in the meaning of “giving up” but in the meaning of “not resisting”. Let the Assignment guide you, and trust that it will, simply because the universe has converged you with this Assignment. One has little choice but to surrender to it just like true love.
Stiven explained to me that it’s equally important to learn to identify an Assignment when it invites itself to you, as well as learning to know when the energy of the Assignment has left you and when it’s time to move on to another creative project. Just like how a surfer needs to learn both how to see a wave before it comes to her as well as needing to know when to jump off the wave to go out for the next one.
Let me give you an example of the Assignment. A couple of years ago I suddenly got an urge to build a geometric dome on the island I live on. I do not know where that idea came from, but suddenly I got obsessed with the idea. I started researching dome builders, applied for a permit from the government but it was rejected. I then researched ways to have the decisions overruled. Got another no, but I kept pushing. People told me to just give up, but I kept arguing with the local government. Finally they – for some magical reason – changed their mind and gave me approval. When the dome arrived I literally pushed away every other thing on my todo-list and spent two days – non stop – building the dome. I just stopped to sleep. It’s a small, almost silly, example but it illustrates the energy that the Assignment gives a person to get an idea done.
The Assignment is different from Flow. Flow is a state where ideas and results just seem to flow naturally. Assignment is a state where you feel overtaken by one creative project and it feels like that project is directing and pushing you. Flow is enjoyable. Fulfilling the Assignment can be, but doesn’t have to be. But while flow is a state of mind, the Assignment is a state of being. Of giving yourself up to the task of making a specific idea happen.
The next time you feel you have been given the Assignment, embrace it.
The post The Assignment (Episode 108) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 5, 2024
Insights are explosions of possibilities. (Episode 107)
Interview with Elisa Romo de Vivar, Strategy & Insights Director at Danone.
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Most people seem to think that the moment we have an idea is the most powerful part of the creative process, but I would like to argue that another aspect should get more attention – the moment when we get an insight.
Sure, ideas are powerful, magical, and absolutely and utterly wonderful. But insights are even more powerful, even more magical, even more wonderful.
While an idea is a potential solution or an approach to a problem or situation, an insight is a deep understanding or revelation about a topic.
And with a great insight comes the potential for a whole host of possibilities, ideas and moments of clarity.
I recently had a discussion with Elisa Romo de Vivar, Strategy & Insights Director at Danone about insights. In her previous job, she was in charge of, amongst other things, Cerveza Victoria – a local beer brand in Mexico with a lot of tradition. As they were trying to revive the brand, they were researching Mexican consumers’ attitudes to their country, traditions, and identity. During the research they realised that there was a built up urge for more pride in Mexico. People were feeling that they were ready to be proud of their old Mexican traditions again. But they also had a second insight: while people wanted to be proud of their traditions again, the traditions felt a bit old and out of fashion.
Based on those insights, Elisa and her team created a campaign around “Día de Muertos” (the day of the dead) where they added color and modern design to the traditional black-and-white style of the tradition to bring it into modern day. It was a huge success, all thanks to the insight that Mexicans were ready to be proud of their old traditions once again. Based on this success Cerveza Victoria has done multiple campaigns based on other Mexican traditions that got a modern twist.
Elisa: “The country was ready for it, and we were able to read the needs of the people and become that Mexican product that stood for the new, proud Mexico.”
I asked Elisa about the feeling of having an insight, and she said: “When you have a big insight you get that ‘Oh-my-god-something-is-happening-feeling’. An insight is something that sparks possibilities.”
According to Elisa a powerful insight should have three things:
– It should reveal a human truth
– It should contain a bit of tension
– It should awaken a desire
Insights, or “the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something”, move your world. They make it almost ridiculously easy to come up with good ideas and they make you see a new reality.
As powerful as insights are, they are harder to develop than ideas. According to Elisa one reason that people do not get so many insights is that they are not willing to invest the time and effort needed to gain new insights.
But we really should, or to quote the words of Elisa Romo: “Insights are really moments of pride. When we have a deep insight, we change the world for the better.”
So, invest more time and effort to explore how you could get more and more powerful insights and you are bound to have more and better ideas.
The post Insights are explosions of possibilities. (Episode 107) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
January 4, 2024
Bispective. (Episode 195)
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Bispective is a made up word created by combining the Latin word for “two” (bi) with the word “perspective” where “spec” means “to observe”. A person with Bispective is a person who can look at a situation from two perspectives.
For example:
– A salesperson who previously worked as head of procurement, who can now understand how people who buy services think.
– A person who becomes a parent, and can now understand both how it feels to be a child, but who can now also take the perspective of a parent.
Where do you have “Bispective”, and how is it giving you a creative edge?
Would love to know your thoughts – please comment here.
Fredrik Haren, The Creativity Explorer
The post Bispective. (Episode 195) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.
