Send a brain pic? Is this the question my kids will ask? #Neurodesign

Send a brain pic? Is this the question my kids will ask? #Neurodesign

Jan Auernhammer is an Executive Director NeuroDesign Research, Executive Director People-centered Business Design Research, Research Engineer & Lecturer at Stanford (about to start at UTS) and the picture above is a picture of his brain.

As he shared an insightful and inspiring talk with my design practice this morning, I giggled to myself as I saw one of our designers say "very personal showing his own brain activity" and I immediately replied "Send a brain pic? Is this the question my kids will ask?". What is more intimate than your neural oscillations? So I asked Jan, "do I have consent to share a picture of your brain on my Linkedin" and he gave me permission.

I have written in the past about neurological privacy but today I want to talk about the future of neurodesign as I see it in terms of the practical applications of this sort of work for business and for life.

Understanding self is one of those broad stroke topics that we know is helpful, but some of this research really takes it all to a new level. If we are able to pin point when we are generating ideas and then take time to understand the activities, environment and interactions that led to these ideas we can find ways to literally architect better ideas.

Good ideas, innovative ideas have been valued by businesses and society for centuries. We know the cost of legacy thinking and of incremental ideas, we also know the value of innovative and game changing thinking and ideas. So how might businesses generate better quality ideas? The answer lies somewhere between the pixels and the synapses.

Creative thinking is valuable right? I have run workshops for thousands of people over the years and in my own lived experience, the number 1 block to innovation is the belief that only certain people are creative. These sorts of blocks have been written about by the fathers of design thinking James L. Adams or Bob McKim from Stanford, The perceptual, emotional, intellectual and expressive blocks or the "fear of messing up" on all fronts as we discovered through our recent proprietary research understanding our 18-24 year old customers. Fear gets in the way of our best endeavours, including our desire to create better products, services, experiences in our businesses and also in our lives.

Jan and his fellow colleagues at Stanford have run some pretty amazing research projects, from understanding what is happening in our brains during design processes. One example was a study in which students who participated for 8 weeks in a creative thinking class and another group 8 weeks in a new foreign language class. The hypothesis was of course that you would learn a new language from the foreign language class and that the brain activity would show an increase in brain activity in this capability. The findings showed differences in brain activation in the tasks, you could see students who had spent 8 weeks learning creative tasks in a creative gym in D-school performed better on creative tasks, equally the language students performed better in language tests. This was a lovely piece of evidence that showed that creativity can be learned. We can get better at it. You can rewire your brain and it sounds like it may take as little as 8 weeks of playful creativity!

So what are some practical tips for improving your own creativity and creative thinking? (so that in the future if someone asks for a brain pic you can proudly show you've been doing the work ;) )

  1. Dust off your learning pants and strap in for the ride... improving your own creativity and creative thinking will require a little unlearning and relearning to challenge your thinking, your blocks and uncover new ways of doing things, some great resources here: https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources
  2. Reconnect with your inner child, the little person you once were who saw wonder in the world and maybe even believed they were creative, maybe they didn't have a fear of messing up or saying the wrong thing? You may need to do a little reflective journaling or talk therapy to clear any blockages here, we all hold onto the perception of pain in the form of memories from experiences that have shaped our beliefs. Understanding these experiences with compassion and allowing ourselves to forgive, release the blocks and allow new ways of thinking and being to emerge is what many people these days call "the work".... yes it requires some conscious effort.
  3. Spark Joy! What makes you smile? What makes you laugh? Playful banter, positive engagement, conflict, speaking up and creating psychological safety are all positive energies in the design process. When we are 'real' and allow 'play' we allow better ideas to emerge, there is even some evidence to prove it: https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/innovation-and-the-power-of-positive-thinking
  4. Have FUN! Growing your brain can actually feel quite uncomfortable, think about landscaping a garden, as you pull out weeds and plant new seeds there are lots of other things that can happen, worms and bugs can get disturbed in the ecosystem, as our minds fire and wire new neural pathways and seek to prune old ones (use it or lose it as my favourite neuroscientists Dr Fiona Kerr and Dr John Medina say!) it can all feel a bit confusing, PLAY is natures answer to this, as we play our way through newness we scaffold new ways of thinking and being without all that FEAR that blocks innovation.
  5. Join a community, Community belonging?boosts physical and mental health. Being part of a vibrant community gives people a sense of belonging, which reduces the risk of mental health issues, lowers heart disease mortality, and contributes to better overall health,* says AHC.

Some fun talks to get you thinking:

The Neuroscience of Creativity, Perception, and Confirmation Bias | Dr Beau Lotto | Big Think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2P5vW-nVc

Dr Fiona Kerr - Changing Our Minds: How great leaders rewire brains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6GvsIEOofs

Amanda Johnstone

Founding CEO @ Transhuman. TIME Next Gen Leader. LinkedIn Top Voice in AI. International Keynote Speaker

1 年

Creativity can be learned! ??

Sarah-Jane Whitehead

Head of Health and Safety

2 年

Wow! Sounds interesting Sarah Nally where do we sign up??

Deborah Douglas (previous Pitout)

Mentor /Podcaster @SafeTea, Promoting Creative Leadership/ Lead Auditor ISO45001, 9001 & 14001, Integrated Risk specialist /Leading Safety, Critical Risk and Governance @ASB Bank

2 年

Awesome can’t wait to hear more about it

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