satori ethos: becoming aware of inner genius
For the past week I have been wrestling with God over two words. One being Satori, a Japanese Buddhist term meaning "enlightenment" or "understanding". The second word, Ethos, a Greek word originally meaning "accustomed place". Ethos forms the root "Ethikos" meaning "the state of being" - the inner source, soul, mind. According to the Oxford Dictionary it is defined as "the characteristic spirit, prevalent tone of sentiment, of a people or community; the genius of an institution or system"...
Satori Ethos, becoming aware of inner genius ...
Today I was in Church listening to my Mentor, Life Coach and Spiritual Father Dr. Victor L. Powell and it's like all of the dots started connecting together in my mind. I was first introduced to the word Satori about 4 years ago. And since then I have tossed it around loosely in various ways. It was not until the last 7-9 months once I received the word Ethos that Satori started to have meaning beyond it's surface structure. Satori alone is a very powerful idea however; when coupled with the word Ethos - we start to see a deeper idea, Satori + Ethos or "becoming aware of the inner genius of an organization". Dr. Victor L. Powell talked today about Leadership. He talked about how as Leaders we have to know the gifting(s) of the people around us to leverage the gifts properly for the purpose of creative project manifestation. Something that was striking to me, something that he said that absolutely blew me away was the idea that the problem, many times, is not the recognition of the gifts, the problem is the individual understanding his or her own gifts, in other words - knowing what THEY are designed to do...
So what if, just what if we could all understand what we were designed to do? What if we were all grounded in our purpose? What if we knew, without a shadow of a doubt what our roles are in the earth? Dr. Powell asked the question .. "Do you know what you were designed to do..." I thought about this for a second... I know what my gifting is, I have been blessed with a early understanding that I am a Designer. I think creatively without effort, I can look at just about any problem through the lens of design and manifest creative solutions. I am indeed a Designer. However; me knowing what I am designed to to has very little impact on the collective whole if the people around me do not know what they are designed to do. For example...
Say I have an idea for a new way to execute church services and my desire is to design this idea, manifest it into the earth. If I need administrators, that can execute the ideas that I develop I need the people who have the "inner genius" or "gifting" for administration to be rooted in what THEY are designed to do. If there is a graphic design element to the idea, I need the Graphic Designers to be grounded in their "inner genius" or "gifting" ... IF all of the parts are not working together, there is a great chance that my design will fail.
Designing or even leading from the strengths of many has a huge upside; however this upside has no effect if the "many" are clueless to their "inner genius" ... This is where Satori Ethos comes into play... I really feel that if a Life Development Coach type would dig deeper into this single idea, the idea could open new doors to collective innovation at many different levels...
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[+] Open Ideation - Satori Ethos for the organization - Discovering the inner genius of an organization
[+] Open Ideation - Satori Ethos for the individual - Discovering the inner genius of an individual
design + function: iPhone protection
(above) Casemate - Barely There case (front)
Everyone in my immediate circle understands my addiction for iPhone cases. I am absolutely obsessed with finding the right combination that ill not only protect what I feel is one of the most effective designs of the last 7 years, but also the combination that preserves the design.As a Carrier of the first generation iPhone, NOW the iPhone 3GS I have used at least 25 - 30 different cases, all in the pursuit of finding that perfect balance of design and function. With my iPhone first gen, I discovered an Atlanta based company called Casemate. I settled on a leather fixture from this company that bought what I felt was a perfect balance. So in my quest for the perfect combination for my iPhone 3GS I returned to common ground, Casemate.
Casemate Stealth screen protector and the Barley There matte black case. Perfection.
After trying a few different combinations I discovered that the Barely There case gave me exactly what I was looking for. The Barely There gives just the right amount of body coverage, while the Stealth screen protector not only provide premium coverage for the face of the iPhone (screen), BUT it also offers a unique privacy feature that keeps "peering eyes" out of your text conversations and browsing endeavors ...
(above) Casemate - Barely There case (back)
I really enjoy the idea of the logo cut-out provided by the back of the Barely There case - for the "brand fan" this is a HUGE plus, because the case allows you to protect your device, while maintaining the brand integrity - HUGE plus for me...(above) Casemate - Stealth screen protector
The Casemate Stealth "system" includes not only this incredible privacy screen protector BUT it also includes an adhesive back that adds ZERO mass to the body of your device, giving "naked device carriers" a huge alternative to just going absolutely naked (leaving the device prone to scratches and scuffs). I elected NOT to use the adhesive back, because I am pretty much spoiled by the Barely There case.
Conclusion ...
In all of my experimentation - this combination seems to be the ideal one for the individual who loves the design of their device, does not like bulk, and want to protect from the daily wear and tear of life.
Casemate
Compelling Idea: Wooden Mouse
Handling the vision of a Visionary
I have been wanting to write this blog post for a long time. I have been wanting to write this because over the course of my 17 year career I have found this topic probably the most difficult topic for people to wrap their minds around. NOW I am NOT talking about ALL people - BUT I am saying MOST people, and the reason why I say most is because out of all of the people I talk to on a daily basis, and share "vision" with, there is a slanted ratio of about 75% of the people who "totally miss it" and then there is that rare and much desired 25% "that get it".
What the heck am I talking about? Right??
Vision. I am talking about the birthing of a new idea. I am talking about those who have the "gift" of vision (visionaries), and those who are to be recipients of the gifts benefits (host) ... AND more importantly, I am talking about how this relationship is handled. AND I know what you are probably asking... "Vincent, you are a Designer, an Experience Designer to be specific... What are you talking about VISION for?" If you are reading this and you are a "Creative" you are going to quickly understand why I am compelled to write this, if you are NOT a Creative - Read on... I am going to open a new matrix of thought for you. Hopefully.
If a creative person comes into your space, and they give you an idea... It's NOT 100% the responsibility of that creative person to GIVE you the idea AND to execute the idea. Sorry. Nope. This is no how this goes... Not all the time.
Most creative people are visionary by nature. They have the ability to go into the future, see the possibilities of a thing, and bring that thing into right now context for the purpose of execution. This is a gift. AND when this happens, from time to time, what the visionary sees is not for their own handy-work BUT the thing that is bought into right-now context is the project of someone else, even though they were endowed with the vision...
For example: recently I had a vision for a book that I felt like that if it were written by a compelling speaker, it's subject matter could shift the minds of many people and bless many, HOWEVER; I am not a compelling speaker, NOR am I a writer... I am a designer. I shared this vision with a compelling speaker... They agreed that the subject matter needed to be heard, AND could articulate it clearly. It was a perfect fit for them. Upon leaving the meeting with the speaker, I felt like I had blessed them with something that could dramatically shift their career and be a blessing to THEM. After about a week, my phone would not stop ringing, the compelling speaker wanted me to write the content, design the book, and in an essence, manifest the book into reality ... Remember... I am NOT a compelling speaker, NOR a writer.
If given a vision from a Visionary, do not hold the Visionary responsible for manifesting what is being given. Not all the time. NOW from time to time I will have a vision or an idea that I KNOW I am supposed to have an intimate relationship with, however; there are times where I am simply a "carrier" and the vision needs a host. If YOU are the host of a vision, make sure you write the vision down, make it plain, and think about it carefully. IF you are going to carry the vision out, assemble the resources you need to manifest the vision into reality. Surround yourself with the people that you need to forward the vision. IF you are NOT going to carry the vision out, let it go. If the visionary has not made a clear and evident connection with you, and the particular vision, than it's a really good chance that the visionary was simply giving you a piece of something that they saw in the future that could open doors for YOU, not them, not in the sense of them having any hands or "minds on" relationship with the vision/idea.
This exchange happens more times than not. I can remember countless projects that I had vision for, gave them to a host, and felt obligated to see the vision come to pass. SO often I would be involved in projects that were not designed for me and my passion center my ethos, BUT it was suited better for the host and external resources. The visionary has to be able to let go, and the host has to be able to forward the idea OR both have to conclude that the timing is not good... There are no lost ideas, BUT there are ones that could be out of season.





