Strands of Genius: How the Army Builds Creative Thinking Skills, Spiky Points of View, Capture Ideas Faster

Guest curated by Tim Leake, Founder & CEO @ Let's Lightbulb

Nov 09, 2023

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, TIM LEAKE ::

LOCATION: Culver City, CA

Hey there all you creative brains,

I have a robust, yet eclectic background of experience — roughly in order, my roles have included: copywriter, creative director, innovation consultant and trainer, public speaker, and agency CMO. I’ve been lucky to know Rosie and Faris since the “creative director” phase of this journey and am grateful for the constant inspiration ever since. Since I wanted to put all of that experience to work in a single job, the only logical next step was to start my own thing. (In a bit of serendipitous timing, Rosie was literally the first person I told about this plan — over Japanese food in LA earlier this year.)

It’s called Let's Lightbulb, and it’s all about helping leaders reconnect with their creativity — and in turn, helping turbo-charge their careers and their companies’ success. But more about all that towards the bottom of this newsletter.

I also do a lot of speaking and group workshops. If you were at Stratfest in NYC a few weeks ago, that was me up on stage with my buddy Jeff, doing our presentation as a musical. (The topic was bravery, after all.) Another one you may have heard about was a few years ago, when I encouraged a packed auditorium at Cannes Lions to try making their work UGLIER, in order to better connect with people.

Strategists are some of the most creative people I’ve ever met — yet I’ve seen many apologize for it, or suppress their own ideas in the name of some unspoken rule of the agency creative process. (It’s a challenge when there’s a different department that has the word “creative” in the name.) I hope the links I share below help unlock creative thinking and creative confidence for anyone who needs it. All three of these made a big impact for me.

Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): Tim began a co-worker, but quickly became a friend, and a constant on our trips to LA. I’ve left every meeting with him feeling inspired, whether it was in an agency conference room long ago or over a meal in LA. I'm so excited to see how Let’s Lightbulb evolves and omg love the name, Tim! We are thrilled to have him guest curating this edition of Strands (BTW we are downloading the app Press Record as we type because we agree that the best ideas always come at the most inconvenient times). Thank you so much Tim, can’t wait to hug it out the next time we’re in LA.

:: THE LINKS ::

HOW THE ARMY BUILDS CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS

This is a hidden gem of a book. It was literally developed for the ARMY — not often regarded as a bustling hotspot of creativity. Yet it makes an inspiring, research-backed case for why creativity is vital — and shares practical methods on how anyone can improve their creative skills. (Tellingly, the book interweaves the terms “creativity” and “strategy” often.)

Importantly, the book is also very well-written. It certainly doesn’t read like an Army training manual. Dr. Angus Fletcher is a masterful storyteller, his examples are compelling and the lessons land. The book is also short, which is always a gift.

Dr. Fletcher asserts that creativity “will allow you to outcompete and win in volatile, unstable domains.” Sounds a lot like the competitive world of our clients’ brands, no?

I’m sharing the Amazon link, so people will consider buying it. (The Kindle version is a mere $3.) But a Google search for the title and author will reveal an online PDF version pretty high up in the search results for any penny-pinchers out there. (Amazon)

SPIKY POINTS OF VIEW ARE THE BEST POINTS OF VIEW

I know something is fantastic when it makes me angry that I didn’t think of it. I get angry (in a positive way) every time I read anything that Wes Kao writes. She has a magical way of saying things I believe, only being more clear and compelling about it. There is clarity to her thinking that impresses me every time.

This particular article is a bedrock of her approach and something I think is vital in our careers — as well as for our clients’ business. She calls it a “Spiky Point of View” — a unique, somewhat provocative take on things that other people can disagree with. As opposed to what most people do: “the safer path of only saying what everyone around them already agrees with.”

It’s an approach I’ve taken throughout my career, yet (as usual) Wes crystalizes it and shares smart tips on how to develop Spiky POVs of your own. (Weskao)

WHEN YOUR BRAIN WORKS FAST, YOU NEED TO CAPTURE IDEAS FASTER

I love this Mitch Hedberg joke: “At night, if I think of something that's funny, I have to go get a pen and write it down… Or if the pen is too far away, I have to convince myself that what I thought of ain't funny.”

Great ideas rarely strike when I’m sitting in front of the computer. However, they seem to come flooding in if I’m going for a run, or driving, or grocery shopping, or doing anything that makes it hard to stop and write something down. When that happens, I have to either hope I’ll remember the thought later (which I never do) — or convince myself that what I thought of ain’t good.

This five-dollar-app, called Just Press Record, is a straight-up game-changer for me. Whenever I have a brilliant thought, idea or inspiration to capture, all I have to do is press an icon on my Apple Watch and talk. It’s so simple.

The audio files are automatically transcribed and synced to my iPhone and Mac, which is extra-amazing. Every few days, I go through them and transfer the idea to someplace more useful (for me, that’s Notion). The amount of great ideas that I HAVEN'T lost since getting this blows my mind. (Entrepreneur)

Looking for more from Tim Leake? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: SET is a brain-building card game that's fun with other people, or solo.

:: City :: So hard. I'd really like to spend extended time in Copenhagen or Paris.

:: Book :: Favorite RECENT book is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Fun, funny, exciting and thought-provoking — and science-y enough to feel believable.

:: Album :: Favorite RECENT album is “Leather Terror” by Carpenter Brut. The sound is on the metal side of a subgenre called Synthwave. Like a modern electronic version of the soundtrack to an 80s John Carpenter thriller. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but somehow, I love everything this act puts out and I never get tired of it.

:: LET’S LIGHTBULB ::

A bit more about the company I recently launched… Let's Lightbulb is the place for leaders to reconnect with their creativity.

I have grand aspirations of someday making Let’s Lightbulb the “headspace” or “peloton” of creativity training — an app with both live and on-demand “creativity workouts.” But it is not yet that.

For now, anyone intrigued can sign up to get a new, 15-minute creativity workout via email every week. It’s free and I’d love it so much if you checked it out and helped spread the word.

I also do a lot of speaking and group workshops that leverage creative thinking to achieve key results. More details about all that on the website, too. I’m a big fan of connecting over coffee (in person around LA or virtually over Zoom), so please reach out if you’re inspired to!

Here’s to a year of major milestones,

-Tim-

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius