You probably don’t know who Jack White is. Then again, maybe you do. So let me say it this way, until earlier this morning I didn’t know who Jack White is. But I’ve recently learned something important from him, something I want to share about creativity through this 2-minute except of an interview with him. It’s actually something I know to be true from my own experience, but I seem regularly to forget, and so I appreciated the clear reminder about the relationship between creativity and freedom. Before getting to his insight, though, consider this description of Jack from Wikipedia: He has been ranked No. 17 on Rolling...

While almost any day seems like a good day to hear from Kid President, Fridays work especially well. And so today it’s Kid President on how to be an inventor. Or, really, Kid President on creativity. Three things that struck me, and then I’ll stop and just ask you to watch and enjoy the four-minute video: 1) You can’t be afraid to make mistakes if you want to invent something awesome. Mistakes come with experimenting. Indeed, you learn the most from your mistakes. As Kid President says, “It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s not okay to give up.” 2) You don’t have to do this alone. In fact, it’s really hard to. The idea of the...

Ask most people if they think they are creative, and they will likely drop their eyes, if not their heads, and answer – often very quickly – “No.” Somewhere along the line, we have decided – or probably were taught – that creativity requires some measure of genius, the ability to see something no one has ever seen, to do something completely novel, to develop an original idea or invention. Framed that way, it’s highly understandable that most of us feel like we don’t measure up. But what if creativity is far less the solitary pursuit of the inspired genius and more an attentive regard for the ideas and contributions of...

Interested in being more creative – as a writer, artist, parent, employee, pastor, student, problem-solver? PBS’s wonderful Off Book series devoted one of its episodes to this question, culling the interviews of an author, cognitive scientist, computer scientist, and filmmaker to produce a vivid and fast-paced nine-minute video to address this question. And the answer? Well, there is no single answer, but among the many helpful insights shared was the need to push beyond the boundaries of your comfort zone, the openness to failure, the willingness to work with and learn from others, and the eagerness to work hard. As one of the...

It’s said that once, upon being asked to address a boys preparatory school on the nature of leadership, Winston Churchill offered a brief but valuable speech. “Boys, never give up. Never. Never. Never.” I thought of that when I watched this video illustrating part of an interview with Ira Glass, host of Public Radio International’s This American Life. I’ve been a huge fan of Ira’s for years. His quirky, humorous, generous, and tremendously insightful take on not just issues but life itself has been the heart and soul of This American Life, perhaps my favorite podcast for long drives. In this part of the interview, Glass makes an...