Fredrik Härén's Blog, page 2

The goal is not freedom – the goal is authenticity. (Episode 255)

I was interviewed by a large German newspaper for three hours, yesterday. We talked about everything from creativity, living on an island and about my approach to life.

I was asked: ”You seem to have built a life of freedom – not many people have been able to do that.”

I replied: ”The end goal is not freedom. The end goal is authenticity. What you want is to use your freedom to live an authentic life. Many people have freedom, but they are still not happy or fulfilled. Freedom without authenticity is meaningless. It might even make you miserable.

Aim to live a life of authenticity. A life where you are true to who you are and who you are trying to become.”

Felt like that message needed to be shared with more people.

 

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The Creativity Suite. Episode 157: Avoiding the darkness that is the creative eclipse

Interview with Angela Chiara Lento, Sales Director Italy for FrieslandCampina.

 

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Have you ever been in a situation where one person’s personality, character, position or ego takes over to such an extent that the creativity of others, or even yourself, is killed or seriously damaged?

 

Then you have been exposed to a “creative eclipser”.

 

My question here was rhetorical, because of course we have all been “eclipsed” at some point as creatives.

 

But here is a more difficult question to answer: Have you ever BEEN a Creative Eclipser – Someone who is overshadowing the creativity of others by taking up too much space, energy, or attention?

 

The uncomfortable answer to that question is: “Yes, you most probably have.”

 

I learned about Creative Eclipse from Angela Chiara Lento, Sales Director Italy for FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s largest dairy companies. Angela bravely shared with me her journey of recognizing how, earlier in her career, her strong creative profile and natural drive often eclipsed the ideas and contributions of others.

 

Angela’s tendency to eclipse was rooted in her speed of thinking and her inherent creative DNA. She described how her quickness to grasp and develop ideas often left others struggling to keep up, stifling their creativity. “I was frustrated when others couldn’t immediately grasp my ideas,” Angela recalls. “I didn’t have the patience to wait or to listen to their ideas.”

 

The turning point came when senior management provided Angela with feedback. This feedback was a revelation for her. It was painful, but it sparked a crucial realization: her approach was limiting the creative potential of her team. Determined to change, Angela hired a coach who got Angela to rethink the value of pushing ideas down other people’s throats.

 

One thing the coach asked Angela to do was to make a big “X” in her notebook every time she felt the urge to close the discussion with her solution already in mind, instead of holding back to give others space.

 

In the beginning there were A LOT of X:es in my notebook…”, Angela said laughing as she reflected on how she used to behave.

 

But over time, this exercise helped her develop the discipline to hold back and allow others to contribute. “I’ve come to understand that creativity is a collaborative effort. In the past, I didn’t give others the opportunity to share their ideas as much as I should have.”

 

Angela explained how her previous approach left her team feeling paralyzed or silent, more focused on executing her ideas than on challenging them or suggesting improvements. At the time, that’s what she thought she wanted, but looking back, she now sees how it stifled the potential for even better ideas.

 

Today, a more wiser Angela understands that creativity is a collaborative act, and we should do our best to not eclipse each other. Or, as she beautifully puts it, “I went from thinking I had to be ‘the creative star’ to realizing that true creativity is a night sky full of tiny stars shining together.”

 

After all, when we’re in the throes of creative euphoria, it’s natural to want to share that energy. But mature creatives know the value of pausing in those moments – of listening to others and giving them the time they need to evaluate and contribute to our ideas. This takes practice.

 

The word ”Eclipse” means “an obscuring of light”, and a “Creative Eclipse” is the “obscuring of creativity.”

 

The etymology of the word Eclipsed can be split into the word “ek” meaning “out” and “leipein” meaning “to leave” – to “eclipse” is to “to leave out”,,” and a “Creative Eclipse” is to “leave out the ideas of others”.

 

If you want to nurture creativity, don’t worry about experiencing a “creative block”, -worry about becoming a “creative blocker”,” someone who stifles the creativity of others by overshadowing them.

 

SUGGESTION:

 

The next time you sense a creative eclipse happening, don’t be afraid to call it out. Simply say, “I feel there’s a creative eclipse here right now. Let’s see if we can bring everyone back into the creative light.” It might feel a little uncomfortable, but doing so will greatly benefit the creative process at that moment.

 

Angela’s testimony serves as a powerful reflection for both the eclipser and the eclipsed, reminding us that it’s possible to share the creative space – and it’s always better when we do.

The post The Creativity Suite. Episode 157: Avoiding the darkness that is the creative eclipse first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

How do you inspire entrepreneurship in others? (Episode 254)

Last weekend, we organized a cafe on the island we live on. Most of the job was made by our three kids (9, 12 and 14)
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One of the over 100 guests that came to our island asked me: ”Why do you open up your home like this?” I replied: ”It’s a great way to introduce the idea of entrepreneurship to our kids.”
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They got to learn about planning, selling, customer service, and calculating profit, pricing etc.
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And they loved it! I am convinced the chances of them becoming entrepreneurs in the future increased by a fair amount because they got to experience “running a café.”
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Taking deliberate steps to try to inspire creativity and entrepreneurial thinking in others is a gift more people should be gifting.

 

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The post How do you inspire entrepreneurship in others? (Episode 254) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

The Creativity Suite. Episode 156: Innovation Hunger Assessment

Interview with Kien Foh Lo, President and CEO of Continental Automotive in Singapore.

 

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Here’s an insight many companies overlook: You can only innovate at the speed your clients are ready to accept innovation, but different customers have different levels of “Innovation Hunger”. The trick with Innovation Hunger Assessment, is to assess how much innovation you can push on your customers.

 

Maximising the innovation push will maximise your speed of innovation.

 

One business leader who espouses this idea is Continental Automotive Singapore’s President and CEO, Kien Foh Lo. For an hour or so I sat down with Kien Foh Lo to discuss this interesting and important topic.

 

Continental, if you did not know, does way more than just the tires that they are famous for. Its Automotive group sector, which employs about 92,000 people around the world, develops and produces all kinds of parts for the mobility industry, from parking radars to window projection solutions to software defined vehicles and much, much more.

 

According to Kien Foh Lo their different automotive customers have different innovation needs. Some need help with improving their processes, some want to be pushed to the limit to be able to be the first to introduce the latest technical solutions on the market. The job of the people at Continental Automotive Singapore is to understand how much each customer wants to be pushed.

 

Kien Foh adopts this concept that he calls “the 3R of listening” – it stands for Receive, Review and Respond. It’s all about Receiving ideas, demands and suggestions from the customer, Reviewing what to do with this information and then Responding quickly and correctly to the right things.

 

It’s more than just “listening to the customer” – it’s about understanding how much innovation their customers are able to receive and – more importantly – what kind of innovation they are ready to receive.

 

Kien Foh Lo: “We need our people to be curious, to challenge the status quo and to be hungry to nudge our customers forward but just the right amount that they can ‘handle’.”

 

Kien Foh Lo calls this “the positive push”. 

 

If you know which client to push, in what direction and with what level of force, you will maximise the effect you can get from your innovation.

 

After all, cutting edge innovations that no clients want is not going to bring you success.

 

And just producing the same old solutions that customers always wanted is not going to bring you progress.

 

But, pushing the right innovation, to the right customer in a way that makes the customers appreciate being pushed will bring you both progress and success.

 

To be able to do that effectively you need “Innovation Hunger Assessment” (IHA).

 

Final Thought: Do you assess how much innovation you can push on your different customers based on their “innovation hunger”? 

 

The post The Creativity Suite. Episode 156: Innovation Hunger Assessment first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

Live a life without enemies. (Episode 253)

I had the absolute privilege of interviewing Varghese Thambi who had a 48 year long career in banking which started as a teller in India and took him all the way to being a successful CEO for a bank in Uganda.

(Now, at the age of 69, he just took a new job at Pepsi.)
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We had a lovely conversation about creating a mindset of genuinely praying for the success of one’s enemies as that creates a mind that is light and free – something that is great for many reasons, including being great for being creative.
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So lesson of the day: Live a life without enemies.

 

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The post Live a life without enemies. (Episode 253) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

Surprise. (Episode 252)

Don’t just go for “inspiration”, go for “surprise”.

Things that surprise you rattle our minds in the most delightful way. 

Today, for example, I learned that at Rimi Estonia 46% (!) of their customers have bought pizza in their stores at least once in a year (!). 

(I would have guessed something like 5-10%)

They sell “store made” pizza and it’s a huge success. 

I love to learn things that surprise me. It keeps the mind awake.

 

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LANDED! (Episode 251)

All you need from a conference is ONE insight. 

For me, speaking at The Asia Professional Speakers Convention gave one profound insight around being The Creativity Explorer: LANDED. 

Let me explain: it’s easy to think that ”explore” means to travel. But then you miss the point. 

Instead, you need to fully ‘land’ when you arrive somewhere to be able to explore it. 

To be present. To be there. 

No matter if I am giving a speech, interviewing someone about creativity – or just staying at home with my kids, I need to ‘land’. 

This might not be profound for you, but for me it is. 

So now I have those words ‘LANDED’, that I wrote down during the convention, as my screen message on my phone. 

 

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As a reminder to always land where I am – while I continue to explore. 

Ps; here is a picture of me having landed back on the island after a 16-day Asia speaking tour! 

 

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Embrace YNWA but don’t forget WYOW. (Episode 250)

This is not a post about Liverpool becoming champions, it’s a post about creativity. 

 

I recently watched the magical game that sealed the title (congratulations!) together with 300+ fans in Singapore. 

 

The hotel had drastically underestimated the crowd and the queue to order a drink was 50 people long and slow. 

 

People waited patiently for ever. 

 

So, I walked out of the venue and into the lobby bar just outside the venue that had zero queue and bought a drink that I then could bring back to the venue…

 

The queue for ordering food in the bar was even longer. 

 

I went to the reception and asked for the ”room service menu” and asked for an exception from having to be a hotel guest to order room service and had them deliver the food to the venue. 

 

Everyone else queued for ever to get ”bar bites” – I sat in my chair and had a proper meal delivered to my seat. 

 

”You’ll Never Walk Alone” is wonderful as a concept. To collectively thrive forward together.

 

But don’t forget WYOW – ”Walk Your Own Way.”

 

Creativity is getting ahead of everyone else, without any inconvenience to anyone else.

 

Watch video / post your thoughts on LinkedIn.

The post Embrace YNWA but don’t forget WYOW. (Episode 250) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

The Creativity Suite. Episode 155: Compliance Innovation.

Interview with Cassandra Moons, Legal Director Privacy, Product and Corporate Compliance and Data Protection Officer at TomTom.

 

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Few would put the two words “compliance” and “innovation” next to each other. At least without putting a “v.s.” in-between.

But compliance doesn’t have to be an enemy of innovation. In fact, it can be a catalyst for it.

But only if you have the right mindset.

One person who has that right mindset is Cassandra Moons, Legal Director Privacy, Product and Corporate Compliance and Data Protection Officer at TomTom, the digital maps and location technology company.

She estimates that 90% of compliance officers are, what she calls, “police officers”. People who think that “compliance” means to “act in accordance with a wish or command.”

And, ok, technically, that is what “compliance” means.

But the job of compliance is very different from the word compliance.

Or at least it can be.

Cassandra is one of the proposers of compliance (the job) as an active, creative role of finding new and exciting business opportunities that could reveal themselves when new regulations are being introduced.

New regulation, per definition, means that something in the market is changing, and when something in a market changes, new opportunities can arise.

Cassandra also empathises the role of compliance (the job) to introduce new rules and regulations in a way that inspires the rest of the company instead of making them see these new rules as “necessary evils” or worse.

Cassandra: “It’s about not presenting (new compliance rules) as “this is what you have to do”, but as “how could this work for our company?” When you look at it that way you get more freedom. You feel that you are in charge.”

Just because most people hear “follow a command” when they hear “compliance” doesn’t mean you have to. You can also look at it as an invitation to innovate around this new legislation.

The etymology of the word “compliance”  is actually more inviting than the current meaning. The Latin word *complire” comes from “complere meaning “to fill up,” as in “fulfill, finish a task”.

Compliance does mean that you have to comply with a new rule or law, but HOW you choose to approach this task to fulfil it is totally up to you.

You can take the lazy and uncreative way out and just implement the changes you need to make.

Or you can take a creative and an innovative approach and use these regulated changes to identify new market opportunities, challenge your old business practices and foresee future changes.

It’s up to you.

I asked Cassandra: “If 90% of compliance officers are just “police officers” making sure that new regulations are being implemented, what should we call the last 10% who use these changes as a catalyst for change?”

She replied in a second: “Compliance Innovators!”

Is your compliance officer a “compliance innovator”?

Is your company using compliance as a way to trigger innovation or as a way of killing it?

 

The post The Creativity Suite. Episode 155: Compliance Innovation. first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.

Are you going slow enough? (Episode 249)

The older I get, the more I take time to rest.

You could look at that as a weakness. Like I am an old “machine” that needs more downtime.

But I look at that as a strength. 

Slowing down makes me more in-tuned with everything.

It can be a nap, an extra day off, or a 15-minute break to garden in the middle of the day before I go back to writing.

So, it was so refreshing and wonderful to see a conference include “resting” on the agenda. 

At a conference I spoke to a few days ago, the organizers had set aside 20 minutes for the delegates to lie on soft mats in a room to just pause and land before the conference started.

 

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It created a group that was calm, attentive and very present when it was my time to speak.

I would go so far to say that every conference would benefit of starting off with some kind of resting exercise to get the audience to “land”.

In a world that is pushing “hustle”, perhaps we need a bit more “grace” where people are not just moving fast, but moving with intention, clarity, and serenity. 

To be able to do that we need to slow down. 

Are you taking enough breaks in your life?

When everyone seems to be asking if you are going fast enough, ask yourself: Are you going slow enough?

The post Are you going slow enough? (Episode 249) first appeared on The Creativity Explorer.