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Updates for July 2007
Happy Canada Day! As you can see, we've made some slight changes to this site in preparation for some visual design modifications that will be coming down the pipe later this fall. For now, we're focusing less on design and more on content and making sure that what we're delivering is what our community wants to see. We've got a bunch of great content features planned so stay tuned! We're also actively looking for a few more content contributors to join our team over the next few months, so if you're interested drop me an email.
Interactive Screen 0.7 program announced
From August 12 to 17, the Banff New Media Institute is hosting "Interactive Screen 0.7: User Friendly Is Not Enough!". Each year the majestic mountain setting of Banff is host to a mix of international and Canadian new media luminaries and rising stars. For 12 years participants have come to Interactive Screen at BNMI to reflect on the current state of new media and the shape of things to come.
iStockphoto in-depth case study
Came across this detailed case study written by Calgary blogger Kempton Lam and Nisan Gabbay, focused on the story of iStockphoto, and its evolution from a free community site into one of Alberta's biggest digital media success stories. iStockphoto is a Calgary-based online community for photographers and a source of high quality, low-cost stock assets.
VIDFEST 2007 program launched
The Vancouver International Digital Festival is an event for the top creative minds working in digital media. Attracting visionaries from games and digital entertainment, Web 2.0, interactive design, animation and mobile applications, it is an annual ‘must-attend’ in Vancouver, Canada. The event includes international business matchmaking, ‘big picture’ conference sessions on the latest trends and markets in digital media, a recruiting fair, high-level seminars for creators, designers, and producers, and loads of networking parties.
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Calgary start-up stumbles its way to $75 million
">SFGate tells the story of former Calgarians Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith and Justin LaFrance, and their path taking their Internet startup StumbleUpon into the white-hot center of the latest technology boom in the San Francisco Bay area. After toiling in obscurity for four years, the founders pulled together an A-list of Silicon Valley investors in late 2005, moved to San Francisco in early 2006, and rode the Web 2.0 wave to success. Last month they sold their 14-person company to eBay for $75 million.
Sega, BioWare to create Sonic RPG for Nintendo DS
Sega of America Inc. Sega Europe Ltd, and Edmonton-based BioWare Corp. on Thurs. announced a partnership to create a new role-playing game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise for Nintendo Co.'s Nintendo DS handheld. The unnamed new offering is scheduled to debut in 2008.
Record-Breaking Attendance at nextMEDIA 2007
This year, more then any other, has been the year of the digital media executive, and nextMEDIA - The Future of Digital Content, held June 8-10, in Banff was the place to be, scoring record delegate attendance from leading digital media executives from around the world. The sold-out, three-day event, which wrapped on Sunday with a fascinating question and answer session with BBC Director General Mark Thompson, attracted close to 350 attendees.
Oda pledges funding for new media at Banff TV fest
Warning that Canada's new media creators are falling behind their counterparts around the globe, Heritage Minister Bev Oda pledged a $29-million renewal of the Canada New Media Fund on Sunday.
"The rate and speed in which Canadians are moving into the new era seems to be lagging behind those in some other countries," Oda said during her opening address for the Banff World Television Festival.
Washington State Market Access Program announced
The DMAA is organizing a Market Access Program focused on Seattle, Washington from July 16 to 19, 2007. The program is aimed at Alberta-based digital media companies in the areas of web technologies, interactive design, and online game development, that are looking to do business with companies in the Washington State region. Washington State is a global leader in digital media development, with one of the largest concentrations of companies in the world.
Creative Universe Making
I have had the pleasure of working in an intensely creative environment these past few months. I make no bones about the talent I am currently encountering in my daily work. It is fun, exasperating, inspiring, exhausting work. I am fortunate and blessed to be doing what I do.
Since last March and more specifically since the middle of November, when the funding finally came in, I have been part of developing a creative property originally called Technosaurs and more recently called the C.I.E. or the Central Institute for Exploration. The project is a creative property that invites tweens to join a secret "kids only" society that is dedicated to exploring the world around them.
One of my favourite tenets we came up with was "seek your own proof." This is such a cool idea and so important to kids growing up in a world that is more and more subtle shades of grey. By combining that tenet with "be respectful of everyone and everything," we are able to encourage our community to not just seek, but also pay attention to everyone around them.
While I enjoy waxing poetic about the ideals behind our project, I also can't emphasize how much FUN it is. The games and the stories we are planning to unleash are cool! I know they are cool because the little kid in me (who is well nurtured, as my wife often remarks) keeps thinking "Oh cool!" I also have two very capable litmus tests who tell me straight up whether something is lame or not. My daughters are both tweens who are merciless in their assessments. I can tell immediately if our team has hit the mark with an idea or not.
Time and again, though, I must take a step back from all of it and think, "does this all make sense?" Sure we are doing cool stuff, but is the world we are creating something our discerning and impatient audience will believe? Is our audience going to suspend their disbelief and buy-in? That moment in Peter Pan when Pan turns to the audience to get them to participate in bringing back Tink is a do or die moment. I think this is the kind of anticipatory anxiety that I have too. Is our audience going to buy-in? I hope so... it is so much fun to play in this place.
Returning to my roots and discovering new growth
Prior to June, I don't know exactly when, I encountered an old friend at a recording of the CBC radio show "Quirks and Quarks." We were there because my eldest daughter had been invited to ask the panel of experts a question. The Timm's Centre was packed and a fine time was had by all, especially Naomi who had the pleasure of being the only person to say the word "gross "on air as it was a keyword in her question.
After the show, there was a brief reception in the lobby where I chatted with my friend. At one point in the conversation, he inquired if I was still involved in theatre or was interested at all. I replied that his question was an interesting one as I had not had many opportunities come my way to get involved again. Were I to encounter the opportunity, I would most likely embrace it. He told me that he was involved with a Fringe play and thought that I would be a good fit for the cast. He suggested that I get in touch with the director and see what came of it.
I did.
Then I lost the information.
Weeks went by and I got caught up in the activity of my life.
Then I found the information.
I had a feeling I should follow up.
I did.
The audition was the next day. Did I have a monologue. It seems that some memories fade and others are made of a more indelible type of memory ink. One of my old stand-by pieces was still there in my head. So audition I would.
And audition I did. I arrived and performed my old stand-by "Adam", a quirky poem by a farmer poet named Nicholas Biel. I don't normally offer up poems in auditions as they tend to put the make the audience a tad uncomfortable. Theatre directors have learned that "poetry" and actors don't mix well. Adam however is a delightful piece that performs as a monologue as easily as any Shakespearian soliloquy.
In the audition, I also did a few readings. These are referred to as "cold readings" as there isn't much time to review the play or prepare interpretations of the piece. You just read and interpret the words, their meanings and the emotional subtext of the character on the fly. It is a tricky kind of activity and can throw many off their game. I enjoyed the opportunity as the character was one whose thoughts were written directly on the page. I just played it as honestly and openly as I could.
It worked. The director called me a couple weeks later to offer me the opportunity to join the cast. I would play Victor, the oldest brother.
The rehearsal process was unique, but that is another blog post.
After an 11 year break, it seemed I was about to venture back into the bardic ways.
More to come...
Owen
A Logo Story
My logo is a globe that appears to be bouncing on a large spring. The tagline I unofficially associate with it is, "I've got the world on a spring." This is a line that feels more like a line from a song (this is a not so subtle nod to Frank Sinatra's "I've Got the World on a String") that it does a marketing slogan. I wanted that feeling.
What are the ideas/sentiments that come along with this?
1) I am hard of hearing and it is a self-effacing laugh that I often have with those around me when I inadvertantly hear something other than what was said. It often leads to a mildly amusingly, but often hysterical communications hiccup.
2) This "creative hearing" helps me stay fresh. Ideas are always heard through the quirkiness of my unrealiable hearing. As such, I have learned to re-interpret my hearing in ways that are much like the way Wierd Al Yankovic re-interprets songs.
3) Springs are shock absorbers. Our world, our society, and we ourselves can use a shock absorber from time to time.
4) Springs are random. There are some properties that drive the bouncing of a spring, but if you have ever watched a jack in the box, or bounced on a bungee cord off a platform, you know the sensation of a little bit of uncertainty and random chaos that a spring can provide. Chaos is a wonderfully creative force.
All these ideas play into the logo that I use now. They sum up some key ideals that I wander around with and share with those I work and play with.
OB
Future Shock
Future Shock
This panel session focused on how money is being spent by today's
game developers. The comments here are what I was able to glean and
do not represent direct quotes from the individuals named.
$50 M to spend how would you spend it?
Todd: small company, $15M Development, $30M in the bank for interest,
not dictated by budget or time, but dictated by design goals, what do
we want to do, we look at what we want the end result to be and work
back. PC is core base for development. 360 is compelling platform,
architecture is like the PC. have a window into what PS3 devKits. 3
platforms (PC, 360, PS3). Work with Activision,
Ray Muzyka (BioWare|Pandemic): focus, investment in tools,
development of community. Online brand. Immersive worlds, Jade
Empire, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect. What are our core competencies?
Story, characters, etc. Long, rich games in order to build depth of
immersion. Build out game engine and focus on community building.
Continuous ongoing support, post-release, continue to support the
iterations of the game. BioWare's mission is to associate its brand
with quality.
Jon: Asian market focus, online games publishing operations
capabilities; mobile, online casual, These games cost about $1M per
game to develop, $50M goes a long way.
Lee: Start with asking "what do consumers want?" Look for trends
evolving, market analysis, portfolio analysis, internal studios work
on what has a high chance of success, market, portfolio, development.
Farm out the riskier projects to external developers.
Management strategy:
Todd: everyone at id is a "doer" let the stars be the stars in what
they are good at and not managers. These "stars" have high level
guidance with the teams, leverage the publisher's skills at being a
producer. Small developer, art, programmers, designers. Make tools
that makes people's time more efficient. The artist's will never be
done. Final artistic task at the end of the process, but managed in a
way that ensures the final artwork doesn't wreak havok with the
engine and codebase.
Ray: gamble is possiblity of the market not being ready to accept the
idea. having more than one focus helps deal with risk. Genre blends.
Multiple platforms...
Lee: there is no silver bullet, everyone is excited about project,
every project goes through stages ranging from excitement to
complacency, a realistic assessment of the game in development cost
compared to the appropriate amount of investment... when do you pull
the plug on a project that is going south.
Console?
Ray: Xbox 360: investment from the publishers needs to... publishers
need to have buy-in and be ready to distribute the title,
Jon: online is based on microtransactions.
Elevation Partners was an opportunity both ways. EP is a private
equity fund.
id is partnering to do a Doom RPG mobile app. Somewhat adversarial
relationship with publisher. Everyone want something more
valuable.... If you have lemons, make lemonade.
How do you feel about the new consoles?
Lee: stay agnostic. Wii is going to have its own market, its own
niche...
Jon: the new consoles cost more and take longer to make new games.
Nintendo DS is blowing away the PSP.
Ray: localization strategy is needed as we look to taking our games
to multiple locales...
What is a casual games?
Jon: 15 minute game play.
What are your thoughts on using Universities for R&D?
Todd: Don't really use for R&D, alot of companies in the area...
Prefer to use people who have experiencial knowledge even on the
amateur "mods" environment. Schools are trying to do real game
development.
What keeps you up at night?
Lee: Development cost. Quality versus cost effectiveness.
Ray: only time I get to play games.
The New Game Maker: what companies are looking for in new talent.
The New Game maker.
This session focused on the skills and knowledge that today's game
developers are looking for in new members for their team. The session
was lead by Ben Sawyer who took on the task of herding the panel
towards the more philosophical aspects of the new game maker. His
goal was not to focus on the technologies and tools that drive so
many of these conversations. Here is what I was able to capture from
the flurry of information that the panel was eager to share with the
audience. Understand that this is my paraphrasing of their comments,
not a direct quote of their statements.
What are the trends you see in the gaming industry?
Greg Zeschuk (BioWare|Pandemic): gap fillers are great, multi-purpose
type of person who can play easily in a variety of areas but also
able to be a specialist... a team player who does one thing great,
but can pinch-hit as needed.
Alan Yu: smaller teams that are more nimble and more innovative,
teams less than 7 seem to be the magic number.
Christopher Erhardt: neat new ideas; average gamer is 29-35 broader
age base; it is getting more challenging for small developers to
tackle new titles on AAA environment, the new game maker needs to use
a whole bunch of tools effeciently;
Sarah Branscom: challenges are about getting content into the games,
resources outside of the game industry to help, communications is a
challenge, potential skill set shortage in areas of communications,
writing and content creation
Amy Bendotti: layering, production team based as opposed to single
person, created more opportunities.
Haden Blackman: interested in how stories are told, simulation based
gameplay is a focus, caused a re-tooling, changing the way that they
think about what a game is
Where is the current state of talent? Where are we lacking?
What new skills?
Greg: Academic background, find a physicist to do game physics,
moving towards more specialized knowledge bases, attracted to a
biologist who codes rather than a coder who knows biology.
Christropher: wants students to have skills that go beyond gaming,
what happens when a person no longer wants to (heaven forbid) be in
the game industry? What transferable skills do they have?
Amy: DigiPen is preparing their students really well for the industry
As a sidebar a discussion ensued around process of game development
and how game developers are meeting the challenges of large team
based projects.
Agile Methodology & Scrum meetings are taking the spotlight in terms
of how teams organize and manage themsleves. One of the panelists
remarked, "I don't know how we ever got by without the scrum."
What can a person do to get attention from potential employers?
Number one: do mods, go do stuff with existing games to show your
passion for the industry.
Will Wright Interview at E3
An interview with Will Wright
Will Wright is the creator of cornerstone gaming environments SimCity
and the Sims through his company Maxis. His most recent creation is a
game called "Spore" that takes the user's exploration of simulated
environments beginning at the micro and through to the macro level.
In this presentation he spoke about gaming trends and the future of
user created content.
Will is trying to create a synergy of biology, chemistry, physics and
astrophysics in a single title. This game focuses on the immersion
experience and plays with a huge set of variables to provide the
level of randomness and chaos that represents the forces of nature we
experience in the real world. Will's experience with game creation
has spanned every level of macro and micro environments ranging from
SimEearth to SimAnts. These titles were true open-ended experiences
that allowed the users to impose their own desire to construct or
destroy the world they created.
Part of the challenge that Wright has faced over the years is
ensuring that the user's mental model of what the game is and how it
should work was consistent and congruent. "The user immediately
develops an expectation of what the game will do and the world they
will experience when they pick that box up off the shelf," says
Wright. The game experience begins well before the game is ever played.
The interview shifted to a production overview and a question of the
optimal development team size came up. The largest team that Will has
work with was around 120 to 140. At this size, many compromises were
made and the effectiveness of the team was questionable. As a result,
the peak optimal team size for Will is about 70 to 75 people. 25% or
less of this team size is associated with content development.
Some points of wisdom that Will shared included (I summarize these
ideas):
- In the absence of good design is bad design, not no design. This
applies the design of game.
- games, like cars, should be designed AND engineered. Don't expect
the player to be willing to learn a whole new set of controls just
for your game.
Perserverance
Funny how some may look at the variety of my various careers, successes and failuers and wonder, "what is this guy doing?" My resume appears to look like a sequence of jobs that would only appeal to an ADHD person. I don't have ADHD. What I have is a desire to actively manage my career. I have a shelf life of two years. Either I am moving up or I am moving out. When I look at my resume, I see a sequence of growth choices. Every job has been a step along my path. I don't pretend to make all the right choices, but even the wrong ones prove to be a preparation for what comes next.
For example, my first foray into the world of work as an Internet professional was at the start of the "boom." The now infamous .com bubble was happening as I made my transition from theatre to IT. I was happy to have a foot in the door on a new career, and everyone else in the game was giddy with the new, fresh world of a wired weirdness. I wasn't out of place. However, my first foray was a bust. I partnered with a person who did not share the same philosophical outlook as I did. He failed me, and I failed him. Did I waste my time? Heck no! This was the first step. It lead to the next step which was an opportunity to build a customer help desk service for a cable provider. The key words here are "cable provider." In 1997, cable providers were not in the Internet Service Provider business and there were no existing models for how a customer help desk for an "always on" cable modem would work. The only metric we had for measuring our success were existing cable television support calls (simple technology with little troubleshooting), or telephony based internet support (complex technology, but short calls due to the inability to troubleshoot and connect at the same time).
I digress. The progress continues. Every step of the way has been some new skill, attitude or knowledge that is building who I am and what I do. So it is with all of us, I think. Each one of us grow, learn, and explore. This doesn't need to be career, some of us see our job as a tool to allow us to be our "true" selves. My grandfather worked his entire life as a custodian in a school. When he retired, he managed to distinguish himself as a wood carver and was quite well known in the Okanagon Valley (his name was Ernie Brierley). Could he have chosen a different path? Yes. Might he have acheived greater things? Perhaps. Was it ultimately what he wanted? I think my grandfather made the choices that he wanted to make. Even if they were choices that he felt forced into. He, on some level, accepted those choices. He loved his family, he loved his wife, he wanted stability and reliability. Did he die happy? I would like to think so.
What he did was persevere. He held onto his dream of being a wood carver for all his life. He was always handy with tools and practical things, but I never thought of my grandfather as creative. His creativity came in the last years of his life. In his own way, he persevered. He kept his dream alive so when the opportunity to persue it, he was able to realize it.
Perseverance is not success. It is not failure. It is neither. It is both. Perseverance, to me, is the doing of whatever that doing is, in whatever capacity you have to do it in. I am a dancer, singer, musician, or athlete. Perseverance is able actually doing those things regardless of the obstacles. I know many people whose perseverance outshines others who have managed to gain fame and fortune doing the same thing.
When we watch someone doing something, we only see the output of their present existence. We don't realize the history they stand on. We don't see the preparation, the growth, or even the starting point. We don't all start from the same place. The next time you decide to criticize, consider this. What is the individual's level of perseverance. Do they deserve your venom or your praise?
This may seem a corny example, but I recently watched some of the "Dancing with the Stars" television series. What amazed me was the fact that this awful dancer was in the finals. He even made it to second place! A much better dancer was cast out by the audience before he was! I had to think on this. It is rare that I am able to see wisdom on television, let alone "reality TV." But here was an interesting story. The audience appeared to resonate and reward this awful dancer because of his perseverance and the fact that he had zero dance training. What they didn't appreciate was the better dancer who had prior training as a girl. She was good, but not as heroic as the dancer who came from nothing and managed to win people over.
Find strength in the joy of doing. Perserve!
- OB
Failure
I have often faced failure. Some failure I have faced in front of many, many people. This is what can happen to an actor. Failure with props, failure with memory, failure with a number of things that can leave most folks befuddled at best and huddled in a fetal position on the floor at worst. I have miscalculated the trajectory of a bicycle and run headlong into a very solid pillar (one of the few on the stage) just before a musical number that I had to sing and dance in. I have had to improvise my way through scenes that just went wrong and all the while keep my audience convinced that what they were watching was fully planned and intended. Even while everything around us on stage may have been failing, they show had to go on... and it did. I am pleased to say that I have never completely lost in the face of some of the most insurmountable odds.
Failure is a familiar tool for me. I was born with a major failure. I have never had 75% of my hearing. This apparent deficit could have been interpreted by my family as a reason to excuse any inability to do certain things. Fortunately, this isn't what happened. My family believed that I could be anything I wanted to be. They empowered me to pursue some of the craziest things. Crazy, that is, for a kid who had to wear hearing aids every day. When I was 8, in 1976, I was determined to be an astronaut. I drew up my plans for a spaceship that could fly into space and then return to Earth like a plane. My dad sent these plans off to NASA. He wasn't going to spoil my dream. I got a whole pile of cool stuff back from NASA including artist sketches of a soon to be launched space craft called the Space Shuttle. I was one of the teeming millions that watched in awe on April 12th, 1981 when that space ship left our planet. I still have the letter they sent. Sadly, I don't have that packet of cool stuff. I think I donated it to one of the schools I attended. The memory of those pictures though are permanently etched on my brain.
So I didn't become an astronaut. I didn't become a Lifeguard, even though I got as far as my Bronze Cross. I didn't become a professional drummer even though I played briefly in a Scottish Marching Band. I didn't even become a famous actor even though I achieved a successful career for almost 12 years and performed roles on stage and television. Sure I have had failures, but were they really?
Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, said "if you want to succeed, double your failure rate." Failure is a tool. Like a hammer, if we don't learn how to use it we will hurt. My perception of failure is different from many and I find myself tolerant where others would not. This is sometimes misunderstood as indifference. Fear of failure is like being afraid of a hammer. Just get your thumb out of the way and you will be fine. Use failure as a tool, get past the idea that failure is somehow wrong or bad or even avoidable and start using it.
It is interesting that childhood is all about failure. Failure to walk, failure to tie your shoes, failure to feed yourself. Children don't stop when faced with failure. They keep on. I think fear of failure is learned. We are taught to fear anything less than success. Even if that success is mediocre and easily won. Most of us would prefer to succeed at something that everyone else succeeds at, than risk doing something that no one else has done and failing.
i cherish my failures as much as my successes. They make me what I am. I embrace them, celebrate them, and share them. There is no shame in it. Even if someone tries to convince you to be ashamed, you don't have to be. The point is to learn from what they have to offer and avoid repeating that pain. We all learned to walk. Why? Because falling down hurt, especially once we no longer had the padding of a diaper on our bums.
Cherishing failure does not mean that the pain goes away. Every failure I have ever had and ever will have stings. Some have longer lasting stings than others, but make no mistake, they hurt. But like all pain, they are also unavoidable and natural. I don't like phrases like, "failure is not an option." Actually it is an option, but what is your pain tolerance? When the pain outweighs the tolerance, the tolerance for failure decreases. Risk mitigation arrives to help alleviate potential failure pain.
So what does it mean to try? Well, real trying is honest and earnest. Half-hearted attempts are intentional failures. They fall in the "why bother" category. You might as well hang up your skates and go home. Invest in your attempts. Invest everything you got. Don't hold back.
Sometimes the flip-side of the coin is our fear of success. We try, we succeed. Oh crap... now what. Now we have to live up to our success. Now we need to practice understanding that success is the same as failure...
OB
Seeing
There is something about the eyes are mirrors of the soul. When I think about what it means to see, I find myself comparing seeing with seeing much like there is hearing and listening. As I was growing up, my parents would sometimes say, "you aren't listening to me." Interestingly, this wasn't a statement that I somehow magically closed my ears (though in my case this is possible; I just turn off my hearing aids). This was a statement that even though I had heard the message, I wasn't tuned into it. I wasn't listening to it. It is a subtle shift. I am not aware of a word in the english language for "seeing" that reflects this same subtlety that is express by contrasting hearing with listening.
Both hearing a listening are active words, you do them at the time that the event is occurring. Seeing is also active. Perhaps this is what drove Sand to choose use the phrase "learning to use one's eyes" where the word "learning to see" would never suffice. The power of comprehension of visual input is all at once survival, entertainment, and meditation. It is the ability to see chaos but to comprehend beauty and organization. Looking at the shape of a cloud we can see that there is huge levels of randomness, chaos, and unstructured disorganization. When we comprehend the shape of the cloud we see incredible tiny actions of turbulence, expansion, contraction, condensation, evaporation, and see the harmony of the whole system.
When I read the book "Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Geick, I was struck by the beauty of what once was completely random and chaotic results from certain mathematical formulae once there was an opportunity to really see what kinds of shapes these things created. They became known as fractals. Mandelbrot and others ushered in the realization that for countless years scientists, engineers and mathemiticians had written these formulae off as "nonsensical equations."
Just because we have trouble comprehending something, doesn't give us the right to shrug it off, rule it out or dismiss it. The same goes for our intuition. Sometimes we have ideas, thoughts, or inspirations that we can't explain. We can't comprehend where these ideas come from. Every single person has them. Some act on them. Others dismiss them as folly. Still others treat them as "holy" or "thoughts put in your mind from the Devil." I place these two last groups together because the interpretation of "holy" or "evil" is really dependent on the perspective. Case in point is St. Joan d'Arc. This is a person whose inspirations were hailed as both "holy" and "evil!" She ultimately died for an ability to comprehend her world on a level that many others could not.
Intuition is a gathering place of the senses. As human beings we are genetically wired to take in all the input from all our senses in order to comprehend our environment. Somehow we are able to go beyond that and move into the realm of intuition. An example is a doctor who is able to comprehend a patients symptoms and is able to offer a diagnosis that is not necessarily a direct result of analyzing the data set resulting from various reports and tests. There are many examples where a doctor has managed to solve a problem through an intuitive sense of what all the data means. Sometimes this gets reported as "well it just didn't feel right" or "I had a gut feeling" or "something was tingling in my mind." I am interested in learning more about the nature of intuition.
Heinlein in "A Stranger in a Strange Land" coined the word "grok." This word means the ability to comprehend something at a level akin to synergy. I have found that I apply "grokking" to an ability to comprehend something even though the data available is imcomplete. We as human beings are also wired to fill in the gaps. "Seeing" sometimes invlolves filling in the gaps or reorganizing the information in order to comprehend it. This can sometimes be very useful and sometimes can lead to unfortunate dismissive behaviour. "This is nonsensical. Discard it," is our brain's way of saying that the observation or input is outside this pattern matching wiring we have. Einstein had trouble comprehending Quantum Mechanics and for many years dismissed it. The theoretical scientist who calculated that 10 neutrinos from the Sun would impact with Chlorine atoms causing them to decay, was unable to have his calculations proven by experimental data for 30 years. He spent most of his scientific career defending what he knew to be true. It wasn't until more sophisticated instruments and new revelations of the characteristics of neutrinos proved that he was right. Just because we have trouble comprehending the Truth doesn't mean it isn't in fact true.
OB
Passion
As with every creative endeavour, the leader who assembles the team seeks dedicated driven talent. This dedication is often characterized as "passion." The unique spin on this is the middle part of of the first sentence, "... who assembles the team..." Every team I have participated in is based on something that can turn any hot-blooded skinner cold - compromise. Compromise is disguised in many clever ways like collaboration ("I want you two to collaborate on that texture."), direction ("I think that idea needs a little more direction."), and brainstorming ("Let's all get together and brainstorm your idea."). Depending on how this compromise is characterized can make or break the level of passion your team has.
Collaboration, direction, and brainstorming are all valuable tools in the leadership toolkit, but like any tool they can be used for good or evil. The trick is to embrace the creative spirit and encourage the same with your team. What is this creative spirit? An article I read once on unleashing your creativity describes several techniques to enhance your creative thinking. These techniques centre around a return to an almost child-like innocence. Easy to conceive but challenging to do for many.
In my experience, as we grow from child to adult we learn about our environment. Part of that learning includes experiencing pain. Pain causes protective instincts and develops inhibitions. Being teased about your silly dancing. Being advised by a parent that you can't get a job by drawing. These events help us avoid further pain. This can also have the opposite effect for some. The pain is what drives them to excel. They have an axe to grind and something to prove to the world. Both of these can result in a person making their talents a protected and exclusive entity. The challenge is that these talents are now not available for a team. Team passion is all about "play."
I define passion as an ability to sustain an intense enthusiasm. Passion is about the will to suffer the challenges of failures to celebrates the successes. Passion is about approaching each new obstacle with the same enthusiasm and strength of will as the first. Not the previous obstacle, but the very first when you went in with fresh eyes and immense enthusiasm.
Not many people can do this. Not many can look at this kind of activity and maintain that level of innocence. Conventional wisdom says learn from your failures and avoid making them in the future. We are naturally wired to avoid pain. Failure is often painful. But it doesn't need to be. Depending on what you are doing, failure is vital to success. NASA would never have made it to the moon without umpteen failures. The point of failure is to learn.
A fool fails twice at the same thing. A fool punishes first-time failure. It takes a wise leader to understand the power of first-time failure and use it as fuel to drive the passion of the team.
What kills passion? Fear of pain. If failure is punished, failure equals pain. Let's contrast this for a moment. Some say pain means gain. My fitness coach used to drill me with that mantra. PAIN MEANS GAIN! Fair enough, but here the pain is being used as a motivator not as a hinderance. Pain that defeats comes in the form of comments like, "I knew that idea wouldn't work" or "Why did you waste so much time on that?" We all do it. We do it to ourselves and each other. The second a team starts to attack itself, you are dead.
Why do teams attack themselves? Ego. If the team is a group of egoes, it's not long for this world. Even if it is a group of individuals, it is vital that the team think as a single entity where the ego of the team is the shared ego of everyone. One person's idea is not owned by them. This takes a humility and willingness to share that I have not often found. On those rare occasions that I have been privileged to be part of a team that behaves this way, we were unstoppable. In the process we sacrificed our individuality.
Passion is rooted in the Latin "pati" which means "to suffer." Team-based passion is created through the ability to suffer the loss of your individual ego. The trick here is that EVERY MEMBER of the team must do this or all is lost. I sound melo-dramatic, but trust me, the second one individual ego shows up, two things can happen. EIther the team dissipates and you are left leading a group of individuals, or the team ejects that ego and is now incomplete and must go through a process to rebuild and recreate itself. Fact is, the phoenix that rises from the ashes is not the same bird that was consumed by the destructive fire.
Think hard about your willingness to be passionate and your ability to "leave your ego at the door."
OB
