tom peters: top 10 to-do's

Design

A few years ago I received a book from a Colleague that absolutely changed my views about design. In-fact, it was this book that really pulled me from behind my computer and put me in the face of Designers, CEO's and Thought Leaders. It was this book that helped me understand that with (at this time) 13 years of design experience, a long list of happy clients, and awards to show-off, I was STILL a novice on a very big landscape. This book: "Design" - by Tom Peters, is what really started me on this journey of Design Thinking as a craft. It was not until MUCH later that Tim Brown of IDEO bought some strong foundation to the thing I had been operating in for about 4 years at this point. 

Today I want to share 10 nuggets out of this book, 10 "art of facts",  that you can chew in and perhaps get a better understanding of what the heck we are all supposed to be doing in the space of design... This list resonates with my soul. 

Thanks Tom. 

TOP 10 To-Do's 

1. Be a "Soul" supplier. At every point n your Design process, do a soul-check on what you are creating. In other words: Don't think "pretty". Think "profound". 

2. List your "loves". Get a little notebook, or open a file on your computer, and keep track of product and service offerings that earn your .... Enduring Ardor. 

3. Harness your "hates". While you are busy at #2, keep track of stuff that earn your ... Absolute Enmity. Think about the common attributes of the stuff on both sides of the ledger. 

4. If it feels good, dote on it. Cultivate a fingertip feel for Design-induced Emotional Attachment. Find a way to carry "it" around with you ... just as I carry around my turnbuckle!! 

5. Be of service. Foster a Design-driven approach to the way that you develop not just lumps of stuff... but also service offerings and business processes. (That means YOU, Finance Department Head) 

6. Hunt for bargains. Look inside your medicine cabinet, your toolbox, your kitchen cabinet, Learn from items therein that are low in cost and high in Design impact. 

7. Judge EVERYTHING by it's cover. Make every package worthy of it's product. Just because Design is not a surface thing (per se) doesn't mean that surfaces don't matter. 

8. Watch for signs. Monitor the signage all around you for examples of Soulful Direction and Woeful Misdirection. 

9. Be true to forms. Invest time, energy, and Design Know-How to the creation of all (ALL) business documents

10. Rage on. Get mad, and get even - with companies that offer shoddily designed stuff. Remember It's their fault, not yours. 

Tom-peters

Tom Peters

jeff martin: the spanish matador

Matador

Photographer/Photo Journalist: Jeff Martin
Project: The Spanish Matador
Complete Project: http://ow.ly/106Wm (Powered by Behance)

design the soul. design thinking the spirit.

"If design is the seat of the soul, then I would argue that design thinking is the playground of the spirit..."

tom peters: an incredible look at a well designed finance department

I imagine... 

A Finance "Department" with a Musician, a Poet, an Artist, an Actress, and an Anthropologist. As well as some Numbers Dudes. THIS "Department" stands for ACCURACY AND INTEGRITY. BUT it is also a ... Scintillating Business Partner. Its members are not drones. They do not hide behind dense, obscure Excel spreadsheets filled with arcane figures. THEY ARE EXCITING. THEIR IDEAS ARE EXCITING. Their presentations are exciting. And clear. And beautiful. BECAUSE THESE NEW-BREED "FINANCE PEOPLE" ARE ... DESIGN DRIVEN. 

Author: Tom Peters 
Book: Design, 2005

stop running all over the place and get someplace...

Kids_running_on_grass

I am sitting here looking at my TweetDeck desktop, watching all of the tweets, reading all of the busy profiles, and I had a flash back of something my mom always used to say... 

"Boy!!! Stop running all over the place, and get someplace, and sit down!" 

Wow... WOW!!! How relevant was she? Right? 

One of the greatest challenges to the designer is focus. ABSOLUTE, focus. And when I say design, I don't want you "boxing" that in. I am not talking solely about "graphic design" or "industrial design" I am talking about ALL design ... the design of systems, the design of services, products, brands, blogs, widgets, EVERYTHING and WHATEVER!!! It's hard for the creative mind to stop "running all over the place" and get "someplace" and "sit down".  Being able to get someplace, and focus there, concentrating all of your creative energy is one of the keys to robust innovation. Focusing on one project at a time; lessens the chance of a project, DESIGN, being watered down and diluted. 

Take your time, stop running all over the place, get SOMEPLACE and sit down with your IDEA (singular, not plural) and put some real thought into it. Craft THE idea in your mind, and bring it to realization... We are waiting on you. Do it. 

narrowing it down...

"It's not life that's complicated... It's humans that "muddle" things up." 

are we really anywhere close?

Are we really anywhere CLOSE to what we are capable of as humans? This video blows me away every time I see it...

Enjoi.

personal branding: hajj flemings

"It's not what you SAY you do, it's what you are actually doing... This is the essence of your personal brand..." Hajj Flemings, Personal Branding Expert

the power of your one thing

"When you tap into that one thing, that thing that you were designed to do, there is provision there..." Dr. Victor L. Powell

After a brief meeting that we had after church this past Sunday, Dr. Victor L Powell, my mentor, life coach and Satori Ethos™ Luminary reminded me of this fundamental truth. "When you tap into that one thing..."

The difficulty in this for most people is not knowing what the "one thing" is or what I like to call the "ethos" is, however; it is blocking out all of the "noise" surrounding the ethos so that it can be manifested in the earth.

As soon as you can shut out the noise, and break the dependence of exterior confirmation, or in better terms, "the opinions of men", the sooner you can gain a deeper understanding of your inner genius, your one thing.

if your are not being nurtured you are being abused. period.

Earlier I posted a quote on Facebook ... 

"Never wrestle with people who can't affirm and build you... If you are not being nurtured, you are being abused." 

How true this is. Imagine the spouse that is experiencing spousal abuse, let's for example purposes say the wife is hitting the husband, abusing him, yet on non-hitting days, the wife is loving the husband fully and apologizing for the injury caused just the day, hour, min before... The fact that the wife is saying sorry, does not erase the abuse. 

Affirmation and nurturing are the same. I can't build you one day, and on the next day tear you down. It's in the instance of tearing you down that I begin to steal your destiny (word scars) and extract you from a frame of mind that is conducive to your optimal ethos. 

Joy Reiman of BrightHouse talks about the nurturing of ideas ....