What began two years ago as a ’stunt’ in Sydney, Australia, where the local World Wildlife Fund members rallied citizens, politicians, businesses and civic organizations to get lights turned off in Sydney Harbor for an hour, an event they called ‘Earth Hour‘, this year on March 28 grew into a worldwide event with over 1,800 cites around the world and an estimated one billion people participating. (more…)
The idea that two seemingly unrelated or conflicting points of view can be synthesized into a new and rewarding perspective is at heart of improvisation. The ability to resolve conflict by identifying and playing productive games is the secret to creativity, innovation and, ultimately, entrepreneurship.
Warm heart of Disney animation meets Steve Jobs’ cool tech to produce Pixar.
Choir songbooks plus moribund 3M R&D project yields PostIt notes.
Simplicity of a 32-word landing page plus complexity of human language brands Google.
Here’s a great example that surfaced this week on the BBC showing how improvisers resolve conflict to conjure up fresh ideas. Thanks to our friend James Dean Conklin (iconic actor meets bop on the head to shape a uniquely evolved human being) for calling it to our attention.
Phillip George, a designer from Australia, was ‘inspired’ by a series of riots on Sydney beaches in 2005, in which the Surf crowd attacked the Sufi crowd. George has produced a series of surfboards featuring beautiful Arabic designs that’s being shown right now in Australia as a museum exhibit. Right on, duddah!
In my role as Chief Storyteller for the Live Earth concerts, I had the good fortune to share scenes with major players in the global environmental movement. People like Al Gore (who had the thousand yard stare going), Kevin Wall (who dreamed it up and made it happen) and John Picard (who convinces players like Oprah Winfrey and British Petroleum to focus on the environment). I got to talk with Sam LaBudde (the eco-warrior who alerted the world to how the tuna industry was killing killing dolphins). I kept hoping Julia Butterfly Hill (who lived in a redwood tree for two years to keep redwoods from getting logged in Northern California) would appear, but she never came around. Dang.
In April, a little more than three months before the concerts, I am in Live Earth’s Los Angeles production office, which is now at full boil. Damon Cason, who’s in charge of the films, is on the phone dealing with Joaquin Phoenix’s people. Andre Mika and David Parks, who are designing the media architecture, tack maps and index cards on the walls that depict the global satellite config. Jose Caballer and his team from The Groop crank out design work like Junior Warhols. Lily Sobhani, the worldwide event manager, is on the phone serving as some promoter’s suicide hot line. Tom Feegel, the Chief of Staff, is trying to figure out what to do with a hundred pairs of hybrid shoes that just arrived from Keen. Daniel Dao, in charge of on-site promotion is looking at stadium maps on two computer monitors while moderating a global conference call about the placement of banners, and how those banners will be printed with biodegradable ink on recycled material that will itself get recycled after the show. Cathleen Lewis and Kerry Craft are on a speaker phone talking Smart Car through its ticketing arrangements in Berlin. The head of PR, Christina Schake, is plotting for a band of scientists who call themselves Nunatak to perform live from Antarctica on the day of the event. Kevin saunters through, showing Cameron Diaz around and introducing her verrrrrrry selectively to certain people, me not being one of them. 
Dang.