Bloomberg: “The New Magic Word for Branding is Collaborations”

Earlier today, a Bloomberg Quicktake: Explained video popped up on my YouTube screen. The title “The New Magic Word for Branding is Collaborations” mentions two words sometimes seen in the YCISL program – branding and collaborations (I also realize I don’t use the word “magic” much).

“…the magic that happens when brands co-mingle fans.”

In this video, Ben Schott talks about how well-known brands team together to create a blend that succeeds in explosive curiosity among existing consumers. He gives several commercial examples. Not that this strategy works every time, but it is a worthwhile simple strategy to apply our creative energy.

How this connects with YCISL:

• Divergent-Convergent Thinking – it would be useful to first use divergent thinking to list all the candidates for the collaboration. Next, a brainstorming technique like the one we use with sticky notes could list combinations and then convergent-ly sort these combinations from normal to crazy (reminder: recall that the point of this exercise is to find unique competitive ideas).
• Feature List – with the “crazy” candidates, primary feature lists would help set up a brand identity that satisfactorily provides RoI to the combining brands. Satisfaction would be based on (a) no negative effect on the original brand, and (b) a sensible fit between the brands that is supportive and associated.
• Fail Early, Fail Fast – Our rapid prototyping approach values weakness detection with low-cost investment of time, money and resources. This is a necessary refining step in the innovation process that challenges our fixed mindset and biases. We need to don our “Chief Detail Officer” cap (credit to Rory Sutherland) and appreciate the subtleties that result in powerful shifts.

Schott presents several good examples of collaborations that I would admit tickle our senses & move our sensibilities. One example that applies to me is his Beachhead category case of “introducing new shampoos to unsuspecting hotel guests.” My exposure to Le Labo Rose 31 Shampoo at some Fairmont Hotels set my high quality level impressions of both brands. I actually also prefer the small bottles associated with hotel amenities so the collaboration itself is a win.

What are the lessons for youth? Perhaps it is being aware of our collaboration mindset (a willingness based on a growth mindset) and the ability to act in a productive collaboration (ref. Mel Robbins’ 5-second rule). Put effort into teamwork and team-building.

Reflection: NIFTI Roundtable 2021 “Sustainability in Education”

“Envision an education where sustainability is a core academic subject. Imagine students empowered by global sustainability actions. The NIFTI Roundtable 2021 will bring together education stakeholders to brainstorm and shape a platform of curricula, courses and experiential learning programs to re-define how we learn about sustainability.”

The first NIFTI program (August 14 – October 2, 2020) was a seminar series coupled with a group discussion. In an idea for a followup activity, a NIFTI Roundtable was developed where there would be an organizing committee comprising a small select group of invited NIFTI students. The seed idea was to reverse the students’ roles as audience to organizers, and provide a leadership opportunity. The initial scope called for the students to invite an audience comprising students and educators from their school. The purpose of the roundtable would be to share viewpoints and experiences on a sustainability topic.

We had our organizing committee kick-off meeting on December 18, 2021. There were initially 4 students on the committee. We floated topics that would interest us as well as our prospective audience. At the second meeting on January 15, 2022, the topic of Sustainability in Education eventually stuck. We then discussed organizing timelines, roles and the agenda. We decided to have a Zoom meeting instead of a webinar mainly to allow for stronger engagement.

Progress on organization was slow with students managing with the disruptions to their schooling caused by Covid-19-related responses. After more than 8 months of intermittent progress and passed deadlines, the NIFTI Roundtable was scheduled as part of the Fall 2021 NIFTI program. The audience became the students in that NIFTI program and the panelists comprised educators and students. That firmed up the event date and audience. We then focused on the agenda to make it attractive and fresh.

We had the NIFTI Roundtable on December 3, 2021. We learned a lot about what the educators and students at Sekolah Bogor Raya were doing in the area of sustainability in their school environment. Several students shared their experiences in organizations addressing sustainability. Committee members served as hosts and engaged the panelists and audience in dialog. We had a Mentimeter poll. We had Zoom breakout groups for social networking. We had a brainstorming session. We created an Instagram hashtag so students could post ideas for educational activities on sustainability.

While the organization and delivery of this event was not easy, it was a worthwhile effort to bring us awareness about opportunities to get sustainability to a top tier level in education. The journey has just begun. And we hope others will join this effort to elevate sustainability in our lives.

Epilogue: We are planning on publishing an e-book on this experience. The organizing committee has been invited to contribute chapters covering the organizational effort and event notes. I also plan to author a YCISL White Paper on my reflections about what I learned about Sustainability in Education from this activity.

BOOK: Keep Going by Austin Kleon

It’s been a while since I finished reading a book all the way to the end – without skipping anything. “Keep Going” by Austin Kleon (2019) follows “Steal Like An Artist” and “Show Your Work” which I have reviewed previously in this wiki. His idea of separate analog and digital workspaces has been a concept that I bring up in YCISL workshops frequently to help students understand that there are two (or more) modes to make creative thinking work – such as in our divergent-convergent thinking exercise. The analog connects to the divergent thinking creative side whereas the digital connects to the convergent thinking focus side. This incidentally connected well when I read (actually I listened to the audiobook) of “Thinking, Fast & Slow” by Daniel Kahneman where he describes two systems that operate together to enable our thinking.

“Keep Going” continues the series in his concise and practical, personal and reflective style. The overall theme relates to a sort of biorhythm where his creativity vibrance rises and ebbs, and the resonance he has found in the personal stories of other creative artists to help him “keep going.”

“Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb.” Sad, but true. In the various frameworks we display in the YCISL, we have nodes with labels (the nouns) connected by actions (the verbs). This is especially embodied in the emotional intelligence framework where our awareness is connected by management. We also present design thinking as an exercise focused on both form (noun) and function (verb) in order to be compelling and complete. In terms of practice, think of the noun and verb as a pair and be creatively quick in coupling them. This would make an interesting YCISL exercise. For example, I could show a noun then have students come up with three verbs for that noun. The reverse of giving a verb or two, and asking students for a noun to match may also be good for thinking agility.

“One of my art heroes was a nun.” To me, this may be my most fascinating discovery in this book. After reading about her in the book, I Googled Corita Kent and found a treasure trove of things I could use in the YCISL program: (1) Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules, (2) “You are who we love.” A collaborative poem for Corita Day posted online at corita.org website, (3) the Corita Kent Art Collection, (4) the Finder, a simple tool used in “experimentation” to frame views, and (5) the term “Plork” combining the words “work” and “play”  and describing the resulting emotional uplift [reminds me of Richard St John’s TEDTalk where he says “It’s all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun.”]

“In an age obsessed with speed, slowing down requires special training.” In the basketball training paradigm that we use in YCISL, this means being able to switch modes – between ball handler and supporter, or between offense and defense. Speed (and focus) can be critical in some situations, whereas slowing down (assessment) is needed in others. In a reverse way, the YCISL also emphasizes a need to be able to engage in fast creative thinking in problem solving because education generally teaches us to store and recall.

“To slow down and pay attention to your world, pick up a pencil and a piece of paper and start drawing what you see.” The YCISL ITW workshops have been using drawing as a means to express the design thinking form and function. Perhaps more in line with Kleon’s “what you see” motive, we can use the drawing method in a problem statement finding exercise which would promote the attention to the world (or worldview) that we need. Does this have the same meaning as “Stop and smell the roses”?

“What you choose to pay attention to is the stuff your life and work will be made of.” The idea of listening filters and fidelity is something learned from “Understanding Other People” by Beverly D. Flaxington, and is the premise behind our workshop exercise in learning to turn off listening filters and fully listen to the information being transmitted. Paying attention to certain things and not paying attention to others is our way of filtering and prioritizing. How the rules of those filters are written and ordered affect our perception and consequently influences our mindsets and behavior. More importantly, our mannerisms and behaviors reflect these filters and shape our identity.

“Of course, to change your mind is to do some real thinking.” How do I know if I am doing some real thinking? I’m not sure, but I hope that I am able to do it at least some of the time. Personally, I am open to changing my mind as well as others changing their minds – so long as it isn’t in a vacillating manner or with ill intent. So long as the change is based appropriately in intelligent and intellectual navigation, it should be expected and welcomed. This connects with our YCISL interest in the growth mindset where we are open to new ideas and experiences that may turn out to be good or may turn out to be bad or non-events. But recognizing that real thinking is “hard work”, it might not be available all the time – although we should train ourselves to build stamina for it. In YCISL, I think our prototyping exercises and the concept of iteration strengthen us in mindset, skills and abilities so that changing our mind is practically normal and necessary with no dings on our self-confidence and sense of direction.

Why is the ETP relatively low? I didn’t mark as many parts of the book as compared to Kleon’s other two books. And what I did mark was isolated between pages 65 and 136, a total of 71 pages out of a 201 page book. Then again, the mark for Corita Kent would get a 10x impact factor (if I had such a factor) which makes me super grateful for this book. I recall my thinking being sidetracked in the latter part of the book a couple of times in a way that I started feeling disagreeable. The language used in the treatment of Marie Kondo’s tidying method pinged of singularity (eg, the use of the negativity words “propaganda”, “mania” and “fetishize” in a single sentence) and blocked my search for practical extensibility. It was good and interesting storytelling in the latter part of the book…the fresh air and the walks etc…but I was no longer on the same journey. I became a spectator. Oh well.

Kano Model & Sustainability-Smart Design Thinking

The Kano Model is an analysis method to categorize the features of a product and evaluate them in terms of customer impression and satisfaction in relation to the effort to insert those features. I heard about it originally from Rory Sutherland.

The basic idea is that there are critical features that you must get right and there are other features you need help deciding on including otherwise you might never deliver the product. The category buckets (according to Wikipedia) include:

Must-be Quality -> un-noticed when present, noticed when absent!
One-dimensional Quality -> if it’s there and I notice it, it could make me really happy or it could make me really mad (if poorly implemented).
Attractive Quality -> if it’s there and I notice it, it could make me really happy but it probably would not make me un-happy if it was poorly implemented.
Indifferent Quality -> things that usually go un-noticed by most people.
Reverse Quality -> things that, if overdone, could cause dissatisfaction.

It’s interesting to ponder on the application of the Kano Model to Sustainability-Smart Design Thinking. I use the term “Smart” here to push the oblique method of including sustainability features. Depending on the Kano Model category that a sustainable product feature falls into, the angle of obliqueness can vary.

For YCISL, we could develop an exercise where we design think a sustainable product with its feature list then tune the presentation of each feature in various oblique ways that optimize user satisfaction – especially the OOBE/first impression of the early adopter. In a way, if un-desirable but necessary features are present, a viable strategy may be to make it oblique such that it becomes an “Indifferent Quality” whereas it might be a “Reverse Quality” when fully frontal.

I don’t enough experience applying the Kano Model so the application to sustainability design thinking is pretty thin here. But it is another tool that could help a product designer tune their feature list and exercise creativity in doing so.

Thoughts: Building NIFTI 2.0

NIFTI 2.0

Last weekend, we kicked off the second year of the NIFTI program. I am calling it NIFTI 2.0 – The Sustainable Futures Initiative. Our primary focus will be on sustainability design thinking. There are many situations where sustainability design thinking is absent. The California water crisis is one.

The YCISL program sees sustainability design thinking as comprising smart programming, debugging and release to early adopters as prototypes. We will coach students to get divergent-convergent thinking to be instinctual and an essential ingredient of their emotional intelligence practice.

The new NIFTI will be less about career guidance, and more about upgraded and upgradable thinking skills. We will pollinate NIFTI with exercises from the ITW program so that students can envision what the next-generation of leadership needs to do – and how to do it.

If we were to give the current NIFTI group of students the challenge of solving the California water crisis, how would the divergent-convergent thinking process go? I think first we will have a long list of people who would be accountable. We will then have a comprehensive list of reasons for the water crisis perception. On the convergent side, we would design innovative solutions – perhaps a trio that get all stakeholders to realize we have a glass half full and the challenge is to get it more full, and not prevent it from getting emptier.

One of the premises I presented in the introduction to NIFTI 2.0 is “Sustainability has a PR problem” and that this explains why sustainability is stuck (stuck in the negatives as Alison Ledgerwood puts it) – and why it is so hard to move ahead. I am hoping that the NIFTI students will learn design thinking strategies to make sustainability behavior popular (like phenomenally popular) and practically naturally. And this leads to our NIFTI Roundtable 2021 topic of “Sustainability in Education.”

YCISL Skills Survey: Which skill group do you want to improve the most?

In 2019, we presented the idea of EQ-fying Schools, Classrooms & Learning in order to optimize the level of engagement. We postulated that current teaching paradigms exclude evaluation and optimization of emotional intelligence of students and the instructor, and that leads to fuzzy learning. We envisioned a smart dashboard for instructors that would help in course preparation. Data would include student academic records (mainly to identify gaps), learning strengths and weaknesses, and conditional preferences. For example, does the student typically need to be taught a math concept one or five times before it is mastered?

A creativity skills survey was designed and prototyped for a Stanford Sustainability Design Thinking course in 2020. A similar survey was then applied to various ITW workshops in 2020 and 2021. One of the questions (multiple choice) in the survey is “Which skill group do you want to improve the most?” In the YCISL context, this question is aimed at informing the instructor on student motivation and self-awareness. The survey is still in the prototype phase because we have had short programs and long programs, small groups and larger groups, and so on. So we are learning how the survey works in various settings.

However, I came across a YouTube video today on a cool way of displaying data in infographics so I thought I would try it out. The following infographic show the response to the above-mentioned question by a group of students from a university in Japan attending a YCISL Focus Group.

Almost half the students were interested in improving their creativity skills which is great because the YCISL program focuses on creativity (or more specifically creative energy). Many students were interested in improving their communication skills which is helpful to know since we have our elevator pitch exercise. Having this kind of information could help us balance our workshop agenda with accurate eq awareness & management.

Thoughts: Framing Your Design Thinking Story

In the YCISL program, particularly with the project work, we have been taking our asking questions design thinking method and placing it in a storytelling frame. When ideating concepts, teams have to ask Who? What? Where? When? Why? & How? questions regarding the story frame they wish to open presentation of their concept. The aim is to engage the viewer to share or empathize with the problem or need. In a Thinking Out Loud session I recently presented in, I had students “doodle” a scene where their product and user were together. I asked them to try to answer as many of the design thinking questions as they could through their doodle sketch. Working on such a sketch helps teams learn their concept’s positioning and application circumstance as well as opportunities for adding details and filling gaps.

The doodle sketch above reflects an exercise I have used where we look at sustainability in bathroom lighting.

Want to try this method? Here is a 3-step method to try:

1. Form and answer the design thinking questions.
2. Make a preliminary sketch using the answers.
3. Add details to the sketch to focus on one concept message (eg, your problem statement or your concept statement).

Bonus: give your sketch a title (could be your concept title).

Activity: YCISL Design Thinking Incubator

In June 2021, the first YCISL ITW-DTI (Design Thinking Incubator) was launched. The second was just concluded yesterday. The ITW-DTI focuses on design thinking iteration in order for students to get the feel for revisiting design ideas in a fast succession prototyping manner. This gets the “raw-ness” out of the ideas which we thought would be a useful lesson for design thinking newbies. Previous to the ITW-DTI, we had the ITW (Innovators Toolkit Workshop) which was more broadly skills-based and ended with just one presentation. In the ITW-DTI, students have had to give their presentations three times where each time there was a blast of experiential learning.

The ITW-DTI is a much faster program, but also attends to the “5-second Rule” phenomenon that was dragging the ITW program. By this rule and the more highly packed ITW-DTI schedule, the design thinking brainwork stays in the fast lane. Quick acceleration is key, but only needs to be pushed once. Making incremental improvements is a lot simpler too.

Compared to the earlier YCISL workshop programs that were on-campus and totaled many more contact hours, the ITW-DTI is an effective means of experimenting with design thinking with the potential to connect presence with action (EQ-talk). So long as the ITW-DTI experience along with all other YCISL programs spring the Aha! moments for students, I think we have something worth pursuing.

LinkedIn: Post by Anthony J James of “Fluidity” by designlibero

In my LinkedIn feed today, I noticed a post by Anthony J James commenting “Innovative design idea” about a dish drying rack with sections for small plants that would be watered by water that drips from the drying dishes. My reaction was “cool” idea and a wonderful idea using the convergence technique we use in the current YCISL ITW program.

But wait! There was more… There were negative comments aplenty. Many comments were based on lack of understanding and a resistance to the product idea being able to replace the traditional dish drying rack (fixed mindset, I would diagnose). Here are a few examples:

“What about the soap? Would that not be toxic to plants?” Careful how you use the word “toxic” because there are several beneficial plant applications for soap. You can also discard lightly soapy water into your garden (ever washed your deck or patio stone?) without harming the plants.

“Nice try, quite ingenious except lots of plants grow spores, mold, fungi, and insects larvae form their ecosystem and not ours.” Ummm…are you suggesting not having houseplants at all? Or would you like to have a 6 ft social distancing requirement from any plant?

“The person who designed it doesn’t wash dishes.” One of those responses that is most likely incorrect. Perhaps not the way you wash dishes.

“No herbs raised on detergent water will ever taste good or be good for your health.” Reminds me of the Mister Boffo phrase “Unclear on the concept.”

“It is likely that there will be trace of chemicals present in water, that might affect the plant?” Tip: The water you use has chemicals in it. Be it from water treatment, natural atmospheric dissolved gases, dissolved minerals from aquifers, etc.

There were many encouraging comments too. Mostly on the external form design which I agree is cool.

But what struck me is the lack of productive commentary. I don’t usually comment on LinkedIn, but since this product touches on so many personal and YCISL interests, I wrote:

“Iterate this idea. Forget hydroponics. Many houseplants (ie, indoor plants such as the ZZ shown) need humidity rather than constantly wet roots. The LECA balls would provide support and a porous way for humidity to rise to plant. Would suggest removeable bottom tray for periodic cleaning. Other applications would be micro greens or seed starting using seed starter mix where constant moist but not wet needs to be maintained, but would recommend pre-filter such as activated carbon.”

The idea is to collaborate, not object or discourage. Use your expertise, if you have it to share. Wonder out loud, if you like – but imagine the possibilities rather than close your mind. The surprising thing is the LinkedIn titles the negative commenters had; eg, Concept Designer, Team Builder, Entrepreneur, Consultant, and so on. Evident absence of growth mindset.

I would also further share that this product is called “Fluidity” and a full description can be found on the designlibero web site. First, note that the design is dated 2012. Then now also note this article dated November 23, 2020 “Scotts Miracle-Gro completes acquisition of company that makes home-grow kits” which reports how AeroGrow, the maker of the well-known AeroGarden, was acquired. The hydroponic countertop product was already finding a place in kitchens and other places around the home (let’s also remember the countertop composting worm bins!) where nature is succeeding over germaphobia. So I do feel there is a design genius within Fluidity. It just needs iteration based on constructive feedback and focus group testing.

If this was a YCISL DEZIGNBLÄST design project, we would be fully supportive and encourage iteration through further design thinking and divergent-convergent thinking. In the feature list exercise that we do, we would build Smart-app support, sustainability factors such as use of solar cells, and positivity in form and function. Then our students would craft a story to go along with this must-have product.

Just think…if this was made for college students living in a dorm. They would have just a few dishes, want late night snacks, and stress-relieving plants to look at and take care of. Find that early adopter to help you tell your story in a positive worldview.

PS. The other lesson is not to take criticism too harshly unless you have found reason to trust your critic. Do they have growth mindset and positive mindset skills (remember, it takes work)? Do they have emotional intelligence and an ability to brainstorm self-edit-free? Test their ability for active listening and mindful push/pull/centering.

Events: YCISL Innovators Toolkit Workshop (ITW)…Cartoon Examples

Here is a set of cartoons made in Pixton on the five YCISL Innovators Toolkit Workshop (ITW) skills that we focus on. Do these help the explanation of these skills?

*Source credit for magnesium-chocolate story: https://www.eatthis.com/news-americans-deficient-this-mineral/
**Dumpling image downloaded from https://www.clipartkey.com/