To Hold or Transform: Technical vs. Adaptive Challenges
218 hours ago
A technical challenge is solved through currently available knowledge and tools.
It is usually an external problem that requires a discrete solution which allows you to continue business as usual. They are challenges we know how to solve. Its what we do most of the time.
An adaptive challenge is something that cannot be solved through what we have at hand.
It requires you to observe, explore, listen, be vulnerable, experiment and collaborate. It requires to you transform yourself.
Most of our days are filled addressing technical fixes, such that we might not know how to respond when we are faced with a scenario that requires us to grow. Our first response might be to apply existing tools; we may fool ourselves with this for a while. But sooner or later we’ll notice that the problem remains.
This is the case with the sustainability-povery-economy-spirituality mega-crisis. The common sentiment is that global warming is a technical challenge that can be solved by wind turbines and biodiesel. Yet the problem persists. This is because climate change is actually a symptom of human cultural and behavioral imbalance. This cultural malaise is the adaptive problem we face as a species.
To confront an adaptive challenge, start with inquiry and self-examination. Then muster the inspiration to overcome your immunity to change.
In what ways might I transform as an individual to meet this challenge, and be better off for it?
How can our public discourse and social norms shift and grow with fresh insight to transcend limiting beliefs, resulting in a renewed public sphere?
How then might new ways of seeing the world and interacting in it enable biophysical systems to become healthier to the benefit of all?
Can art be a tool for adaptive inquiry?
In the spirit of self-examination, here’s a little self-portrait I did today to express the notion of “pondering self-transformation.”
Prints for Sale!
05 days ago
by Jay Standish
in Art
Due to popular demand, I’m finally selling my art!
Note: these prices are for maximum size and resolution stretched canvas prints that are part of a Limited Edition of 50 per piece at that size. I am also planning to do a larger run of a Limited Edition of 300 of smaller size canvas prints that would be roughly half the price and around 40% smaller on average.
If you’re interested, shoot me an email using the form at the bottom of this post.
Click the image for a larger view.
The Spectacle of Mind: 45″ X 35″ $600
Squiggly Mycelium: 25″ X 50″ $450
Aquaphonic Ripple: 35″ X 28″ $400
Warlock Totem: 46″ X 12″ $325
Arbol Azul: 20″ X 32″ $300
Bliss Jungle Triad: 20″ X 25″ $250
Architectonic Shifts: 31″ X 20″ $325
Email me if you’d like to talk about buying a print!
Warlock Totem
05 days ago
by Jay Standish
in Art
I don’t think I’ve posted the most recent version of this piece:
Arbol Azul
05 days ago
by Jay Standish
in Art
I don’t think I’ve ever posted this piece here. When printed, I cropped the bottom off a bit….
Ideation or Masturbation? Design Thinking in Business
51 week ago
I’m relatively new to the business world, so the apparent “new wave” of design thinking infiltrating business just seems natural and native to me. But the old-timers seem to be variously enthralled and irate with the influx of process-centric aesthetes that seem to be occupying boardrooms more and more these days. So what is this newfangled stuff, and does design thinking really matter, or is it just a passing trend?
Design thinking is an approach to solution-generation best suited for problems that are ill-defined in contexts that are dynamic and complex. Its a way to find fascinating patterns in the mundane, and inject human creativity and empathy into any experience. Translation: design thinking is magic. There are a million different frameworks, 5-step iterative processes and other lenses through which to engage design thinking.
Innovation, it is said, is no longer a strategic option but an operational necessity. So the Monty Burns of the world are left with no recourse but to hire designers to turn a pad of sticky notes into a wad of cash. POOF! VOILA! And so begins the hype:
- Count BusinessWeek among the enthralled. They did a special report a few years back, glorifying the design process with excited claims like, “…design activity such as design-related employee training boosted a company’s revenue on average by 40%….”
- Apple is oft-cited as proof that good design can lead to breakaway business performance.
- Oprah is also down for the cause. She did a raving interview with Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” Obviously, Mr. Pink thinks that creative thinking is here to stay.
- Fast Company actually has an entire web brand, Co.Design, devoted to design for business innovation.
- School of Visual Arts in New York is even starting up a Design for Social Innovation masters program, on the heels of Standford’s d.school that just opened in 2005.
But not everyone is so quick to join the bandwagon. Peter Merholz wrote a cautionary article a few years back over at Harvard Business Review, warning companies not to outsource innovation to design consultancies. FastCo.Design has also done quite a few articles about this very subject, discussing the challenges of managers who expect to buy breakthroughs when their companies really need to bake creativity into their culture.
So why has design thinking become so attractive and popular? Well, perhaps it is the complexity of doing business that has accelerating for the past 20-some-odd years. Although some business leaders are trying to embrace this complexity, many may also seek refuge in design as a way to find the simplicity on the other side of complexity.
Regardless of how the role of design thinking might change in business, I find it useful because it feels like play. And I’ve noticed that I get my best work done when I’m playing- that is, in a state of creative flow, embracing adventure rather than dreading the unknown.
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My own little contribution to design thinking in business has been this card deck that I co-created with Alan Rosenblith as part of the Symbionomics project. Each card has a generalized pattern that can be applied to your current business context to generate new ideas- sort of a Tarot deck for business. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure:
