Change and Randomness

20 January 2015 Unknown 0 Comments

image found at brainpickings.org. Photograph by Deborah Coleman, Pixar

"The unpredictable is the ground on which creativity occurs." – Ed Catmull

I don't have much to add to the brilliant words of Ed Catmull on change and randomness, so I'm going to throw a lot of good quotes at you.

Change is our friend because only from struggle does clarity emerge

The stakes are so high, and the crises that pop up can be so unpredictable that we try to exert control. The potential cost of failure appears far more damaging than that of micro-managing. But if we shun such necessary investment—tightening up controls because we fear the risk of being exposed for having made a bad bet—we become the kind of rigid thinkers and managers who impede creativity.

So if change is unavoidable, why do we try so hard to keep the status quo. As an individual who is striving for long-term creativity, don't fight the changes. Flow with them. You don't want to end up like the music industry.

If all our careful planning cannot prevent problems, then our best method of response is to enable employees at every level to own the problems and have the confidence to fix them.

Some people think of changing your mind as weakness, but:

Steve Jobs was known for changing his mind instantly in the light of new facts, and I don't know anyone who thought he was weak.

Lastly, one of the best ways to get others or yourself to accept changes is to trick them or yourself. Pete Docter, a director at Pixar, would say "This would be a big change if we were really going to do it, but just as a thought exercise, what if…" or "I'm not actually suggesting this, but go with me for a minute…"

Another trick he used was goofing off:

It can feel like a waste of time to watch YouTube videos or to tell stories of what happened last weekend, but it can actually be very productive in the long run. I've heard some people describe creativity as 'unexpected connections between unrelated concepts or ideas.' If that's at all true, you have to be in a certain mindset to make those connections. So when I sense we're getting nowhere, I just shut things down. We all go off to something else. Later, once the mood has shifted, I'll attack the problem again.

So basically, YouTube is your friend when you want to be creative. Who doesn't like that solution, right?