100 Days of Abundance
VIDEO BY THE OUTBOX PROJECT
Abundance is our ability to see more. It's a state of mind.
When in this mode, we carve our way out of fear and insecurity. It's a practice that creates possibilities from our reality.
About the 100 Days Project
The 100 Days Project is originally a workshop held by Michael Bierut at the Yale School of Art that entails performing a creative operation that you're capable of repeating every day. Taking inspiration from this, Debbie Millman, conducts this exercise each year with her class at School of Visual Arts.
I am asking a 100 leaders around the globe the same question/s in an effort to understand their thinking about the notion of abundance. Watch this space for answers from people worth listening to!
This project is an extension of my personal and professional mission. This body of work will culminate in a book. My hope is that the book will show and tell us things that we didn't already know.
ANN WILLOUGHBY | Designer and Educator
“I’d be rich with vibrant physical and mental health.”
DANIEL PINK | Author, Teacher and Columnist
“I’d be rich with empathy.”
VICTOR MOSCOSO | Artist
“I’d be rich with art, that's all I've known all my life.”
CAROLINA ROGOLL | Author, Educator, Speaker and Brand Builder
“I’d be rich with time, as it could extend moments that matter.”
RIC GREFÉ | Educator, Writer, Designer and Consultant
“I’d be rich with the opportunity to observe and record what I see in others as they carry on their daily lives.”
STANLEY HAINSWORTH | Designer, Writer, Author and Actor
“If I could be rich with one thing, it’d be, to truly come up with original thoughts, every day and think in a non-derivative way.”
MILTON GLASER | Graphic Designer, Artist, Educator and more...
“If I could be rich in one thing it would have to be open-mindedness.”
TINA ESSMAKER | Writer and Coach
“I’d be rich with influence.”
ADAM J. KURTZ | Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Author
“I’d be rich with love, because that’s the only thing that matters.”
KEVIN CARROLL | Author, Speaker and Change Agent
“I’d be rich with 'economic influence'.”
TINA ROTH EISENBERG | Design Blogger, Entrepreneur and Speaker
“If I could be rich with only one thing, it would be kindness, kindness and kindness.”
DEBBIE MILLMAN | Writer, Designer, Educator and Podcaster
“I’d be rich with infinite time.”
CHASE JARVIS | Photographer, Director, Artist and Entrepreneur
“I’d be rich with gratitude, because it makes the world go round.”
DAN FORMOSA | Design Research Consultant
“I'd be rich with the desire to have the focus to perform.”
KEN CARBONE | Designer, Musician, Author and Teacher
“I’d be rich with love, because it's the fuel of life.”
DORIE CLARK | Professor, Author and Marketing Strategy Consultant
“There's only one answer to the question of what I’d be rich with - Love. Love is all we need.”
“For most of us, nature is not too far away if we make the effort. The beauty, peace, wonder, and awe of nature are intoxicating and healing.”
Ann and me at the 2018 AIGA Awards Gala in New York city
Ann founded Willoughby Design in 1978, 40 years ago (yes, 40!). In 2014, she won the AIGA medal in recognition for her work and influence in the design community. Ann is known for championing the role of women in the design profession. She has helped launch the pilot AIGA Design Leadership Program at Harvard Business School.
She is the founding board member of the AIGA Centre for Sustainable Design, co-chair of the AIGA National Centennial Celebration and currently serves as the ambassador for the AIGA Design Archives.
Ann is also my mentor. Knowing her has been one of my greatest honors. Her kindness and warmth shines through in everything she does. Ann's answers mark the beginning of my 100 days project.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
Vibrant physical and mental health because without these our dreams are harder to imagine and achieve. When I was young, I was baffled when people mentioned health as an important gift but with experience I understand the wisdom.
"When I was young, I was baffled when people mentioned health as an important gift but with experience I understand the wisdom."
Do you recall a specific experience when your action created an observable impact on your team? If yes, can you tell us how?
When I was about 7- 8 years old I attended a scout’s troop week-end camp. I was asked to lead the girls through the woods and at some point we were lost. Some of the girls began to cry. Somehow I managed to ignite the untapped courage of our troop and we began to move from fear to mutual support and confidence. It was the first time I realized leadership was about empowering individuals to move beyond personal fear and act for the good of the whole.
What do you have that you think the world should too?
The ability to see possibilities and goodness when others feel hopeless and defeated.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
For most of us nature is not too far away if we make the effort. The exhilaration, beauty, peace, wonder, and awe of nature are intoxicating and healing. For me, the Willoughby Design Barn feels like a 1000 mile journey without the hassle of travel. I would share more time at our barn and farm with others.
Milton Glaser first drew I Heart NY in back of a taxi (in 1976). Today it is held at the MoMA.
Milton Glaser
+ GRAPHIC DESIGNER
+ FOUNDER OF NEW YORK MAGAZINE
+ AWARDED THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS BY PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
+ RECIPIENT OF THE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, COOPER-HEWITT NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM
+ AIGA MEDALIST
+ AUTHOR
+ ARTIST
Milton Glaser was the first graphic designer to receive the National Medal of the Arts award.
Milton Glaser at Type Drives Culture by TDC - the first time I saw him talk about his work in person
CBS records commissioned Milton Glaser to design a special poster for the album Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits. Taking inspiration from a Marcel Duchamp self-portrait, Glaser depicted Dylan in profile, his abundant curly hair rendered in saturated colors that stood out in high contrast from the white ground. The energetic design with its swirling streams of color evokes the visual effects of the psychedelic drugs that were gaining popularity amongst members of the counter culture.
Milton Glaser is among the most celebrated graphic designers in the world. He has had the distinction of one-man-shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. He was selected for the lifetime achievement award of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (2004) and the Fulbright Association (2011), and in 2009 he was the first graphic designer to receive the National Medal of the Arts award. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, and is an articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design.
To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of the 20th century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man—one of a rare breed of intellectual designer-illustrators, who brings a depth of understanding and conceptual thinking, combined with a diverse richness of visual language, to his highly inventive and individualistic work.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
If I could be rich in one thing it would have to be open-mindedness.
Here is an excerpt from the AIGA talk in London (2001) titled Ten Things I Have Learned, which explains why he believes being open is key to creativity.
Doubt is better than creativity
Everyone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense.
Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much.
I think that being skeptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between skepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one's openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins. And then in a very real way, solving any problem is more important than being right. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often begins with the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory of the avant-garde is that as an individual you can transform the world, which is true up to a point.
One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty.Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you. Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently difficult thing in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation from Iris Murdoch in her obituary. It read ‘Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.’ Isn’t that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.
“Because it all goes by too quickly and by the time you really know who you are and why, it’s almost over.”
Debbie and me (dressed in Debbie) for our Halloween party in the Branding Studio at School of Visual Arts
If I could do one thing more, it would be, to be 95% honest as often as possible.
Debbie is the host of the award-winning podcast Design Matters - the world's first podcast about design, the Chair of the world’s first Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York city, Editorial and Creative Director of Print Magazine and President Emeritus of AIGA. She has authored six books on branding and design.
Out of the many videos that are out there on her life, her career, advise to young students, this is one of my favourites, "Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time."
To me Debbie is a superwoman, teacher, guide, mentor and much more. Her kindness, love and drive to bring out the best in her students is remarkable. She believes "busy is a decision" and "you don't find the time to do things, you make the time do things". Nobody puts this into practise better than her.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be?
Infinite time. Because it all goes by too quickly and by the time you really know who you are and why, it’s almost over.
What do you have that you think the world should too?
A good therapist. She saved my life and helped me become who I am now.
If you could give more of one thing, what would it be and why?
If I could do one thing more, it would be, to be 95% honest as often as possible. Right now i am less honest than I want to be because i don’t want hurt people’s feelings and I wish that I didn't worry about that so much.
Tell me about an action or an endeavor of yours that has created an observable impact in the world.
Well, my podcast. I had the first design podcast and now there are hundreds. It’s really interesting to meet people who have created a podcast of their own, who tell me that 'I inspired them to do it.' And that's a gift of a lifetime.
“I think our aspirations are sometimes too low and the use of our own abilities is less than it could actually be.”
Daniel Pink
+ AUTHOR
+ SPEAKER
+ SPEECHWRITER TO VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE
+ HOST AND CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF 'CROWD CONTROL' ON NAT GEO
+ EDITOR AND BUSINESS COLUMNIST
Daniel at the HOW Design Conference 2018 in Boston talking about his latest book, WHEN: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
Daniel H. Pink is the author of several provocative, bestselling books about business, work, and behavior. His books include the long-running New York Times bestseller A Whole New Mind and the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. His books have won multiple awards and have been translated into 37 languages.
For the last six years, London-based Thinkers 50 named him, alongside Michael Porter and Clayton Christensen, as one of the top 15 business thinkers in the world.
Before venturing out on his own 20 years ago, Dan worked in several positions in politics and government, including serving as the chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore (1995 to 1997) .
I watched him talk about his new book When:The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, where he spoke about how the hidden pattern of the day profoundly affects our mood and performance. I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview him for my project.
People aren’t aiming high enough. They aren’t being challenged enough.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be?
Empathy. And I know that I might be able to contribute a little bit more to it.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
Hmm..I think I would say challenge. I would give more challenges to the world. The reason for that is, I don’t think that we’re operating at the top of our abilities. I think our aspirations are sometimes too low and the use of our own abilities is less than it could actually be. People aren’t aiming high enough. They aren’t being challenged enough.
“I have so many amazing friends who are so gifted! I want so much for them.”
Photo credit: Julia Hembree
Tina Essmaker
+ WRITER
+ COACH FOR CREATIVES
+ COFOUNDER AND FORMER EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE GREAT DISCONTENT
Derek, Debbie, Chase, Tina and me at the SVA Branding night in Boston.
"We really limit ourselves in the way we think about ourselves and what we're capable of."
Tina Essmaker is a Brooklyn-based writer and coach for creatives. Tina cofounded The Great Discontent, a publication of in-depth interviews with artists, makers, and risk-takers.
In 2017, Tina was recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in Brooklyn culture by Brooklyn Magazine. She also served as Chair of the 2017 AIGA Design Conference, helping to curate an unforgettable lineup of main stage speakers and gave this talk to remind us of our humanity and the importance of vulnerability and empathy in our work. In 2018, Tina was included in Graphic Design USA's People to Watch.
This is one of my favorite writings by her and a line from that I love, "We are all here, for now. Our lives are falling apart and falling together every day."
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
I would say influence—because I'd want to use that influence to share the work I do with the world, but also be able to provide opportunities for friends and my community. I have so many amazing friends who are so gifted! I want so much for them.
Me: So you want to be rich to give something?
Yes, I don't want it solely for myself. I feel like I have a message to share with the world and I want to share those gifts, but I also want my friends—and everyone—to be able to live into their own possibilities and share their gifts with the world, too.
What do you have that you think others should too and why?
Possibility, because we really limit ourselves in the way we think about ourselves and what we're capable of. It's easy for other people to see what's inside of you, to see your own potential. But we so often do not see that in ourselves. In the last year and a half of my life I’ve learned to be open to possibility and I want that for other people too.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
Time. I'd love to meet with everyone who reaches out to me, but it's not possible without burning myself out. If I could have more of anything to give, it would be time.
“Actions are a much better indicator of someone’s life force than just thoughts.”
In conversation with Chase at the HOW Design Conference in Boston
Chase Jarvis is an award-winning photographer, director and entrepreneur. He has shot campaigns for Nike, Apple, Samsung, Google, and Red Bull and his photographs have appeared in nearly every major network and media outlet, including the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning story, Snow Fall. Cited as one of the most influential photographers of the past decade, he is also the founder & CEO of CreativeLive, the world’s largest online education platform for creatives and entrepreneurs with over 10 million students worldwide.
Chase hosts the Chase Jarvis LIVE show that includes three shows:
1. cjLIVE: A weekly show with world's best creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
2. Daily Creative: Your questions on career, creativity, and living the life you want answered
3. cjRAW: A series exploring creativity, hustle + other stuff.
Chase's second book, 'Seattle 100'; a collection of black and white portraits and biographies of people defining Seattle's culture became the basis for an Emmy-nominated documentary.
I recently had the chance to meet Chase in Boston. He embodies everything he talks about and more. His energy is infectious. Chase is someone you want to keep having conversations with. Enjoy his candid and straight from the heart answers!
"If you can empathise and connect with someone who's close, it's very hard to hate. You can understand, have differences when you're face to face but closeness sort of kills the opportunity for negative feelings."
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
Gratitude, because it makes the world go round. This is the easiest question for me because it's what I wake up and think about every morning, before I do anything. And when you’re in a state of gratitude you realise that life is happening for you instead of to you and that is the first step in making anything possible. Because you realise that every second is a gift, every moment and opportunity is a gift. To be able to be rich with gratitude sums up everything.
If you could give more of one thing , what would it be and why?
Gratitude is one of those things that I just mentioned. Even if I have it in abundance I am always seeking more of. And then I think the cousin of gratitude is empathy. Dr. Brene Brown is a good friend and she has been on my show and presumably she would be on your list of people who’d be incredible to have. She talks about connection, compassion and all those things that fundamentally connect us. And what she talks about is, if you can empathize and if you can connect with someone who’s close, it’s very hard to hate. You can understand, have differences when you’re face to face but closeness sort of kills the opportunity for negative feelings. It feels like it’s alright to be different. Infact diversity is something we need to celebrate. Not just diversity of age, skin, orientation, geography, culture and language but diversity of thought. I would have to say that empathy and the ability to see one’s life through another’s would be it.
(And he goes on to add..) Oh, and you also said, what you wish you had more of, and as a leader, what can you give, right?
Me: yes, i did.
I feel like I am doing a pretty good on the gratitude scale and every time I think I am doing good at empathy, I am in contact with someone who just oozes in a way that is profound and makes me want to do a better job.
What do you have that you think others should too and why?
Positivity. Optimism. It's a core value we have on Creative Live. That's not an accident. That has been a virtue of mine for as long as I can remember. I think in many ways, that’s part of what makes impossible possible. And as I mentioned earlier, it's having the perspective that life is happening for you not to you.
There's a great saying that goes, "the person who doesn't think something is possible should stay out of the way of the person who is doing it." And I think, I have learned through my life to fall in love with the mind. It's not my mind. It's the mind. Because It's a 2 million year old organ that's actually not meant to keep us happy, it's meant to keep us alive. We have to master our mind. And part of mastering the mind is the ability to guide its thoughts. Again, it's not meant to keep you happy, It's meant to keep you alive so what can we do to master that? To me positivity is an amazing tool. It generates life force. You can feel it. It's energy. It connects people. It can motivate, move, inspire, connect, create. Without those things, what would we have?
I'd also add energy, like literally the ability to move one's body to get up, to play through things both physical and mental. It goes hand in hand with positivity to me. But nothing happens without energy. You can want something and if you can't actually take action then you really have nothing. (I think) Actions are a much better indicator of someone's life force than just thoughts.
So, the combination of positivity and energy, I think is so powerful. There's another saying "having a gift and not using it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." It’s almost like it didn’t happen.
Do you recall a specific experience when your action created an observable impact on your team? If yes, can you tell me how?
Of course. Whatever happens is there for you. And so any obstacle any road block, it’s there because you are supposed to play through it. Look at every challenge and opportunity, even the horrible things, that's life's way of continuing to build character and strength.
It's not that it happens. It's what happens as a result of that thing, what your actions are and what do you do.
I think whether it is in business, life, career or creativity, those blockers just become constraints that you have to work around. And it does go back to the mental energy, the positivity and the way I see the world. I have been the captain of every team I've played on and in some shape or form, the founder of several companies. And in each of those instances hard things happen. It's what you do with those hard things and on the leadership table, I think it's okay to grieve.
To go back to Dr. Brene Brown, it's like we want to be able to feel those things. We don’t want to shut them down. We want to feel them, process them fully and move one. And how short can you honestly and in integrity make that moment in transition where you actually process it, is what she calls the gold plated grit. Where you tell them ‘oh yeah, that was really hard and you are on to the next thing’. Even if takes, whatever amount of time where you have to actually grieve and work through it or understand where you’ve gone wrong, you should do it.
The ability to recognise that in the moment, to guide others through that experience, is something I constantly need to be reminded of. But what i’ve noticed over and over again is that if i can bring that to the awareness of the people I work closely with on my team or if others can bring it to me, it's a better place.
“Creating art is all I’ve known. I would keep doing it.”
Victor, his lovely wife and me at the 2018 AIGA Awards Gala in New York city.
Victor is recognized for originating an enduring graphic style instrumental in defining both underground comix and the psychedelic rock posters of the ’60s, and for their indelible impact on American culture. He won the AIGA medal in 2018.
I spent some time chatting with Victor at the AIGA Gala. Right after he won the award, he came back at the table and said to me,
"You know as a kid, I did not like studying or attending classes or school. I would stare outside the window waiting for summer to come. It would take forever. "
(after a pause, he added) "Today, I blink my eyes and seasons change. All I wish for is to go back to those days when summer took long to arrive."
At 82, his energy is unbeatable.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be?
Art. Creating art is all I've known. I would keep doing it.
“And more than ever our specific identities that separate us make us unique and desirable.”
Adam's work for The New York Times: “What’s On Your Mind?”
Adam J. Kurtz (aka @adamjk) is an artist and author whose illustrative work is rooted in honesty, humor and a little darkness. His books have been translated into over a dozen languages and his “very personal” work for clients like Strand Bookstore and Urban Outfitters has been featured in the New Yorker, VICE, Adweek and more.
His latest book, Things Are What You Make of Them is a handwritten essay collection that tackles the creative process and realities of entrepreneurship.
Here is a fun video by Adam for Brooklyn Magazine "30 under 30."
He is quoted as someone who 'blurs the lines between artist and therapist.' You have to follow his Twitter and Instagram accounts to know what that means! Enjoy Adam's honest answers.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be?
Love. Because that’s the only thing that matters.
What do you have that you think the world should too?
A sense of fearlessness. Confidence to share work despite its imperfections. I am not concerned with perfection. There’s no pressure. It doesn’t really matter. Nothing really matters. No one is waiting to capture your mistakes. We are not so important. We are not Beyonce.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
I would just encourage people to be exactly who they are. I think lot of us spend a lot of time trying to subscribe to the mould of what society tells us to be which like usually results in us following the lead of a straight white man. And it's like all the rules are broken. Everything that was once important is not anymore. And more than ever our specific identities that separate us make us unique and desirable.
So lean in to yourself.
Own who you are and stop trying to pretend to be someone else. Because everyone else can see you. You're not fooling anyone. We're never fooling anyone. So really really embrace that who you are makes you right for the thing you're doing.
“It would be that, a desire to have the talent, confidence and focus to perform.”
Dan Formosa
FOUNDING FACULTY, SVA
+ DESIGN AND DESIGN RESEARCH CONSULTANT
+ PH.D, ERGONOMICS AND BIOMECHANICS
Dr. Dan Formosa
Dr. Dan with a Masters and a Ph.D. in Ergonomics and Biomechanics, based his career on the idea that design should focus on people, not things. His work has received numerous design awards and has been selected for national and international exhibits. In 1977, invited to work with the Eliot Noyes studio, Dan became the junior member of a design team that helped IBM conceive how a computer could possibly fit into a home. From 1981 to 1990 he worked with Smart Design, a company he helped establish. His work on OXO Good Grips kitchen tools became a symbol of products designed to work for everyone.
The interface he created for XM/Sirius established the standard for satellite radio in the US. Dan played a key role in conceiving SmartGauge, an instrument cluster for Ford’s 2010 hybrids designed to influence driving behavior and save fuel – an innovation for the auto industry.
"I'm sometimes surprised how some others think, or limit their thinking, as if following some invisible rules or guidelines."
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be?
I am continually amazed by people who can get in front of an audience and perform – whether it's singing, playing an instrument, acting, dancing, whatever. It would be that, a desire to have the talent, confidence and focus to perform. I can do that when speaking or lecturing, but that's different. (Maybe it's just my inner rock star coming out.)
What do you have that you think the world should too?
I'm pretty good at making connections, sometimes abstract, and thinking wide when approaching problems or coming up with ideas. I'm not sure this is something that we are automatically born with, it's a learned trait. Or maybe we are born with it and it's driven out of us at an early age, the challenge is to retain it.
Making connections helps when designing just about anything, or when looking to innovate or to be at least somewhat disruptive. In high school I was good at, and interested in, both art and science. I was lucky because school systems tend to channel us in one direction or another. I pursued both. That may have helped. It also may stem from a tendency I have to question everything, likely the result of a 1960s radical attitude.
I certainly don't think I'm alone in doing this, but I'm sometimes surprised how some others think, or limit their thinking, as if following some invisible rules or guidelines.
“If I could give more of one thing, it would be introspection.”
Carolina with our branding class at School of Visual Arts in NYC
Carolina Rogoll has been building some of the world’s most beloved brands at Procter and Gamble for over ten years. She is the author of Star Brands: A Brand Manager’s Guide to Build, Manage & Market Brands, which introduces the Star Brand Model, a proven successful five-step process for building outstanding brands. Employed at the world’s largest consumer packaged goods company, Carolina has worked across different product categories in global markets and led several complex initiatives with diverse teams. She has a strong track record in brand building, business management and coaching.
She is the faculty member at the Masters in Branding program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City since 2011.
"The healthier our relationship is with ourselves, the better our relationships will be with others."
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be?
Time. Because it could extend moments that matter.
Do you recall a specific experience when your action created an observable impact on your team? If yes, can you tell us how?
I like to do kick off retreats with my team when we embrace new challenges. It ensures everyone's motivated and starting with the same knowledge to start a new journey. I’ve set up many teams for success with this type of experience.
What do you have that you think the world should too?
The ability to plan ahead. It helps you be prepared and accomplish more.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
Introspection. The healthier our relationship is with ourselves, the better our relationships will be with others.
“You have to be prepared to compete in order to turn your ideas, hopes, aspirations and dreams into reality.”
In May of 2005 Kevin addressed dignitaries from 31 nations at the United Nations about the importance of play in their developing countries.
Kevin Carroll is the founder of Kevin Carroll Katalyst/LLC and the author of three books published by ESPN, Disney Press and McGraw-Hill. As an author, speaker and agent for social change Kevin inspires businesses, organizations and individuals - from CEOs and employees of Fortune 500 companies to schoolchildren - to embrace their spirit of play and creativity in business and personal growth
With his consulting endeavors, Kevin has helped turn creative ideas into reality for organizations such as The National Hockey League, ESPN, Nike, Starbucks (his words appeared on 17 million Grande cups), The National Basketball Association, The Walt Disney Company, Mattel, Hasbro, Procter & Gamble, The Discovery Channel, Capital One, and many others.
"To be a life-long learner with a beginner’s mind is what I’d give more of to others - the attitude of always being in 'beta' as a person - always updating & improving!"
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
Economic influence. The reason for that is, I would have the ability to activate ideas as I saw fit. It would also allow me to have the ability to rally others. Economic influence would move me from the 'begging end' and put me on the 'empowered end' of advancing humanity. That would help create greater social impact. I’d like to create unique ways for others to have social impact and share all the resources at my disposal as needed to help activate ideas.
I want economic influence to assist in advancing others, to empower others and to have unique, inspiring impact.
What do you have that you think others should too and why?
Grit, resilience curiosity and life-long love of competition.
Everyone should have some “fight” in them - grit.
Everyone should have an 'inner determination' that can be sustained over a long time - resilience.
Everyone should have a healthy level of curiosity. Especially in these times, when the one constant is change - remaining curious can serve you well in ever changing times.
And lastly, we have to be willing to compete every day. As my my grandfather once said - “you’ve gotta check your want to every day.” I really believe that if you want to be better, you want to advance your ideas and you want to progress in life you have to be prepared to compete in order to turn your ideas, hopes, aspirations and dreams into reality.
If you could give more of one thing, what would it be and why?
I would give more of the beginner's mind. Having the beginner's mind is having the attitude of openness, curiosity, excitement and wonder. I think we need to be open, stay curious and approach each day like we did as kids. Each day is filled with wonder and we should really marvel in that. It can be so magical to bring that attitude everyday. To be a life-long learner with a beginner’s mind is what I’d give more of to others - the attitude of always being in 'beta' as a person - always updating & improving!
Ken Carbone is a designer, artist, musician, author and teacher. As the co-founder and Chief Creative Director of the Carbone Smolan Agency, he is among America's most respected graphic designers, whose work is renowned for its substance and style. Under his design ethos to 'unify, simplify, amplify', Ken has built an international reputation creating outstanding design programs for a world-class clientele that includes W Hotels, Morgan Stanley, Christie's, Tiffany & Co., Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and Canon, and celebrated institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the Musée du Louvre.
Ken is also my professor at the School of Visual Arts. His action packed class and ability to guide us through it all with enthusiasm, intelligence and patience is what makes those 5 weeks super enjoyable!
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
Love. It's the fuel of life.
What do you have that you think others should too and why?
Curiosity. It's the fuel of art.
“For hidden in plain sight are all the emotions, sensitivities, character, and charity of human interactions. This is the world as we should know it.”
Ric Grefé at Bright Lights, AIGA Gala 2011
Ric Grefé's illustrious career includes working in naval intelligence during the Vietnam War, working as a journalist for the Associated Press, and contributing as a business writer for Time magazine. His most recent and significant contribution to the world of design has been his 20 year tenure as the Executive Director of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), where he was committed to advancing creative thinking from 1995 through to 2015.
"Under Grefé's direction, AIGA not only turned inward to support its members, but also outward to underscore design’s importance to society. The evolution of design from its physical embodiment in print to a larger digital existence has inevitably left its mark on Grefé's AIGA. The organization's journals, competitions, and exhibitions now live online, with physical archives in New York City and at the Denver Art Museum. Members now have more opportunities than ever to meet and exchange ideas, not just at the annual AIGA Design Conference, but also at the more than 1,000 events hosted by chapters each year. His commitment to expanding AIGA's reach and righting the balance of power in a federation of design may be the most important mark of Grefé's long, productive tenure."
- Written by Julie Lasky on AIGA’s website.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
If I could be rich with one thing, it would be the opportunity to observe and record what I see in others as they carry on their daily lives—for hidden in plain sight are all the emotions, sensitivities, character, and charity of human interactions. This is the world as we should know it.
What do you have (by the sheer virtue of who you are) that you think others should too and why?
Curiosity and a consuming interest in weaving from observations and experiences. This would create a larger narrative that might reveal ways we can scale enhancements to the human experience.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
The ability to understand challenges as they touch real people, rather than as how institutions might respond. Only this confluence of curiosity, perspective, and empathy can help to create purposeful alleviation of the issues of inequality, poverty, hunger, poor health, and intolerance.
With Stanley in New York, where we spoke about smiling at strangers, India, his hair and branding.
“I guess that’s part of my quest to be an original person and not be derivative of others.“
Stanley Hainsworth is the chairman and chief creative officer at Tether, a full-service creative company, that he founded, after building some of the world’s greatest brands. Stanley added his touch of humanity and love to the brands he built, making them the most beloved brands of our time.
He served as Vice President of Global Creative at Starbucks and transformed the brand into the cultural icon we know today. Prior to that, he was the Global Creative Director for the Lego Company in Denmark. While at Lego he directed a total visual overhaul of the Lego brand, including packaging, web and retail. And before leading these two brands, Stanley spent his creative genius at Nike for 11 years. He joined Nike as a copywriter and made his way through the company to become the Creative Director. At Nike he worked on on everything from product launches to Niketowns to the Olympics. Stanley has been described as “creativity in the gestalt” by friends and co-workers.
If you could be rich with one thing, what would it be and why?
Every day, every thought that I have, I would want it to be an original thought. I think Mark Twain had a joke, that Adam and Eve were the only ones who had an original thought.
Especially as designers we are inspired by others. Some people take that inspiration even further, to copying. And that’s how you learn, as well. All the great artists copy the masters and eventually find their own voice.
It would be, to truly come up with original thoughts, and think in a non-derivative way. Every morning to come up with something completely new, that no one has ever considered before or thought of in that way, would be it.
I guess that’s part of my quest to be an original person and not be derivative of others.
If you could give more of one thing that you have, what would it be and why?
When anyone asks me advice about how to get ahead in their career, how to be successful.. the one simple answer, is be nice to everyone. So that’s what I would share. You don’t have to be rude, you don’t have to act like a SOB, to be seen as a leader, to be seen as having a strong opinion. Some of the most powerful people in the world are wise and gentle. Take Mother Teresa and Gandhi, they had power, and their strength came from their kindness, their wisdom, their tolerance and patience with others.