How Nieces and Nephews Inspire Creative Thinking - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 7 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "What Have You Found Most Gratifying About Being an Uncle?"  Doucette, an uncle to multiple nieces and nephews, details the joys of having young children in his live.  He finds it eye-opening to see things through a child's eyes, especially creative tools.  Seeing the creative side flourish in his nieces and nephews provides Doucette creative inspiration in his music writing and playing. 

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts.  When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks.  Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

What Copywriter Enjoys About His Work - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 8 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "What Do You Enjoy About Copywriting?"  Doucette finds his work as a copywriter rewarding in that it taps into both his left and right brain skills.  In terms of right-brain creative thinking, he finds creating something from a blank canvas stimulating and challenging.  In terms of left-brain logical thinking, Doucette enjoys the mathematical or scientific element of copywriting work that uses specific elements to convey a concept, idea or message inside set parameters or boundaries. 

Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts.  When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks.  Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

Why Song Order and Set Lists Matter in Music - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 13 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "What Role Does Song Order Play When Producing an Album?"  Conrad Conrad expresses why song order is so important to him and his band, referencing his younger days following the Grateful Dead and being passionate about the different show set lists and the stories that come with them.  He notes the same is true when making an album and how song order is fundamental to the emotions and feelings an album listening experience can create in the narrative or storytelling it delivers.  Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts.  When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks.  Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

Comparing Live Performance with Studio Recording - Conrad Doucette

In Chapter 14 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, musician Conrad Doucette answers "How Do You Compare and Contrast Performing Live to Recording in a Studio?"  Doucette notes they are completely different.  For him, recording in a studio is about trying to attain perfection.  It must map to your particular vision and it will be permanent, as it is a recording.  He also notes how recording allows you to bring substantial resources to bear on the work, from additional tracks to technology to additional musicians.  Playing live is more about feeding off the space, the room, and the energy and being in the moment.  Conrad Doucette is a Brooklyn musician and the drummer for Takka Takka, which released its 3rd studio album, AM Landscapes, in late 2012.  He has performed with Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, The National, Alina Simone, and many other leading acts.  When not performing music, Doucette is the communications and brand director at music licensing and publishing startup Jingle Punks.  Doucette earned a BA in History from the University of Michigan.

Matt Ruby on How Childhood Independent Play Develops Imagination

In Chapter 1 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Childhood Experiences Have Been Most Fundamental in Shaping Who You Are Today?"  Ruby talks about why being left alone to play encouraged his imagination and creative development. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He produces a video comic strip at Vooza.com, co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and writes a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

Matt Ruby on Finding Meaningful Work Expressing Yourself on Stage

In Chapter 13 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Referencing what he shared in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Ruby defines meaningful work starting with the truth telling and story telling elements.  He adds that, at a deeper level, being able express himself on stage gives him a pulpit to share.  He follows up that moment of expression by reflecting on what he has done and learning from the experience.  Ruby talks about the flow state he is able to enter working the room. 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University.

Matt Ruby on How to Improve Comedy Writing Over Time

In Chapter 15 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "How Are You Improving How You Write Comedy?"  Ruby shares how he is improving how he writes by getting tighter or more precise in his words.  He adds he has developed a better filter for what is appropriate.  Additionally, he notes how he is able to take material in new directions, a development he calls going from "A to C" instead of "A to B." 

Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you improving how you write comedy?

Matt Ruby: I think I’m getting tighter, like in the amount of words that I use, which helps, like the shortest distance between 2 points is a good idea in comedy or in any writing. I think also what do I wanna talk about knowing that. Sort of like knowing what to throw out or what’s just not gonna fit in with the other stuff that I do. You know, just sort of this filter of knowing what’s appropriate or not. I don’t know, when I was starting out, I think a lot of times, like, I would go from A to B with a punch line and I’m getting better at going from A to C, like A to B is just like: oh, yeah, yeah, that’s funny-ish and that’s exactly where people would expect it to go. Whereas A to C is like: oh, I thought it was going in that direction, but I didn’t realize it would go that far, or that twist or that thing. And kind of giving that extra spice or, you know, like a little bit more of like—to me that’s the difference between like a good joke and a great joke is like when it’s like: oh, there’s a little twist that you know you didn’t see coming and it was funny all along the way and then there’s something else on top of that that’s even better, and then that’s I think when you get something delightful.

Erik Michielsen: Could you give me an example of a couple of pieces in a routine that you might use, you know, A to B versus A to C?

Matt: Okay, so I have a joke about how girls will drop the boyfriend bomb on me, and how fast it comes, and so I’ll be like, you know, when I’m talking to a girl, I’ll be like, “Hey, how’re you doing?” And she’ll be like, “My boyfriend says I’m fine.” And that’s A to B, you know. Like that’s fine, it’s funny, it gets a laugh. And then, you know, what I’ve added on to that is like, “Okay, can I get a foot-long chicken teriyaki, please? It’s a really judgmental Quizno’s we got here.” That to me is the C, or the taking it and giving it a twist of like that one extra line that’s, okay, it was a perfectly fine joke, but now to me that’s a more interesting or intriguing, or another layer to it that as opposed to just like a quick in and out sort of like meat and potatoes joke.

Matt Ruby on Louis CK Style Influences on Making Better Comedy Videos

In Chapter 17 of 19 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, standup comedian Matt Ruby answers "What Has Louis CK Taught You About Making Better Comedy Videos for the Web?"  Ruby notes how having full control over the creative process allows Louis CK to communicate a more personal point of view.  He notes how Louis CK is able to get more personal in his work on his show "Louie."  Ruby notes how this is also true with Woody Allen films and how the director also keeps ownership over his personal vision.  Matt Ruby is a standup comedian and comedy writer based in New York City.  He co-produces the weekly show "Hot Soup", co-hosts the monthly show "We're All Friends Here", and manages a comedy blog "Sandpaper Suit".  Ruby graduated from Northwestern University. 

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: What has Louis CK taught you about making better comedy videos for the web?

Matt Ruby: Well, I think the fact that he makes everything himself and, you know, like writes it, acts in it, edits it, directs it, and has full control over the process I think is, you know, I think you can sense it in the stuff that he makes, it feels more like something that comes from a single person’s viewpoint as opposed to so much of what’s on TV seems like it comes from a room filled with like 20 people that are all trying to agree which is cool but like a little bit more – makes stuff more homogenous and so I think, you know, part of what you see from — I’m thinking specifically the show Louis is that you can— if you do that, you can get stuff that’s sort of weirder, more personal or more—you know I think Woody Allen films have that too where it’s like, oh this really feels like it just came from one person, as opposed to like a committee decided that this was best. 

And I think it’s part of like what makes his stuff special and I think it’s something to—I don’t if I necessarily shoot for it in everything that I do but just something to keep in mind that is like, you know, oh, it’s okay to be cool or—not it’s okay to be cool—but it’s okay to be weird or to you know—sometimes his stuff will just get really absurd or just go off into some weird, you know, fantastical place and then come back to reality and, you know, sort of stuff that if you had a committee deciding on, they’d be like, no, that doesn’t make sense. Whereas like you can kind of indulge whatever your own personal vision for it is, and that’s what makes it unique to you and what you’re making is gonna be more unique.

Garren Katz on How to Talk About a Career Change Decision

In Chapter 3 of 15 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, business and personal coach Garren Katz answers "How Did You Set Expectations With Others and Yourself Making a Career Change?"  Katz notes how he was uncertain how to talk about his experiences and intentions going through the process.  Over time, Katz gets more clear on his journey and goals and in turn is better able to answer questions about why he did what he did. 

Garren Katz is a business and personal coach based in State College, PA and advises his national client base on small business management, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal finances.  He is also an active angel investor in several business ventures.  He earned his BA from Western Michigan University. 

Simon Sinek on When Your Idea is Worth Turning Into a Book

In Chapter 16 of 16 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, author and public speaker Simon Sinek answers "How Do You Take Collections of Ideas and Turn Them Into Books?"  Sinek focuses less on the collection of ideas and more on how to take an idea, attack a problem and do so by taking your readers on a journey.  Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organizations how to inspire people.  His goal is to "inspire people to do the things that inspire them" and help others find fulfillment in their work.  Sinek is the author of "Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action".  He works regularly with the United States Military, United States Congress, and many organizations, agencies and entrepreneurs.  Sinek is an adjunct professor at Columbia University and an adjunct staff member at the think tank RAND Corporation.  Sinek earned a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Brandeis University.

Transcript

Erik Michielsen:  How do you take collections of ideas and turn them into books?

Simon Sinek:  Considering that most books are probably only have enough content in them to be sort of articles, you know, to take a collection of ideas and turn them into a book, you know, an idea to be a book has to be able to advance. In other words, it has to start somewhere and go somewhere. Right? And I think a lot of books that are written have an idea that’s—it may be a really good idea but the whole book is simply case studies that prove the same idea, over and over and over again, right? And a book like in a work of fiction is a story. It has a beginning, it has a middle, and it has an end. You know, there’s a sort of an Aristotelian story arc, you know, where there’s some sort of here’s the world there is something is introduced that makes everything go wrong, you know there’s some sort of resolution and then here’s the—here’s how it looks. There’s conflict, right? So I think a collection of ideas that belong in a book, it addresses a very real problem. Here’s the way the world is. There’s a serious problem with this. Here’s the introduction of something that can help us and here’s what we could do to advance that. And there’s an arc. There’s something that holds your interest throughout the whole thing as opposed to just pick a page, start anywhere, and it’s more of the same. You should feel like you’ve missed the beginning if you start in the middle, you know? So yeah, I mean, a collection of ideas, I wouldn’t call it a collection of ideas, I’d call it, you know, a journey. That—and it doesn’t even have to be a complete journey, it has to be a journey. It has to start somewhere, and it has to go somewhere, even if it’s not a final destination.

Why to Stop Using Email and Start Speaking to Clients - Ross Floate

In Chapter 12 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Are You Learning to Better Manage Long Distance Relationships?"  Floate finds old forms of communication - phone calls, in-person meetings, handwritten letters - more useful than ever before.  It helps him build better business and personal relationships and it helps him win new and repeat deals.  Floate notes the extra time investment adds a personal touch that differentiates him from competition and creates more substantive engagement experiences.  Ross Floate is a principal at Melbourne, Australia-based Floate Design Partners.  Experienced in branding, design and both online and offline publishing, Floate and his team provide marketing services to clients seeking to better communicate business and culture goals via image, messaging, and story. He is a graduate of RMIT University.

Using Twitter to Exercise Creative Writing Skills - Ross Floate

In Chapter 20 of 20 in his 2012 interview, branding and design strategist Ross Floate answers "How Do You Use Social Media to Exercise Your Creative Skills?"  As a trained journalist, Floate uses Twitter as a creative outlet to share thoughts, connect with smart, intersting people and to work through and vet creative ideas.  Referencing his journalism experience, Floate uses what he learned to write lead sentences to write inside the 140-character format of Twitter.  Ross Floate is a principal at Melbourne, Australia-based Floate Design Partners.  Experienced in branding, design and both online and offline publishing, Floate and his team provide marketing services to clients seeking to better communicate business and culture goals via image, messaging, and story. He is a graduate of RMIT University.

What Keeps Startup CEO Excited About His Job - Richard Moross

In Chapter 1 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About What You Do?"  Moross finds reward working with his colleagues, channeling his passion in its product and doing so all the while learning new business skills.  Collectively, the people, passion, and purpose allow him to tie his curiosity and expression to creating value in the world.  Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com and a leader in the London startup scene.  Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company.  He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

What Makes Product Design Work Meaningful - Richard Moross

In Chapter 2 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "What Makes Your Work Meaningful?"  Moross does not believe meaning is created in his work; rather he finds his Moo.com products create a canvas that customers can use to tell their own stories.  Moross finds great joy creating new product designs that enable more effective customer storytelling.  Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com and a leader in the London startup scene.  Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company.  He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

How to Increase Company Creative Capability - Richard Moross

In Chapter 10 of 17 in his 2012 interview, London entrepreneur and Moo.com CEO Richard Moross answers "How Is Your Creative Toolbox Changing?"  Moross evolves his company creative toolbox by continually bringing on new hires with different skills.  He shares the story of hiring Dan Rubin after he built a product called Instagoodies using the Moo.com API.  Moross connects hiring creative talent with furthering organizational product and innovation needs that occur in technology-driven markets such as personal identity management.  Moross is founder and CEO of Moo.com and a leader in the London startup scene.  Before starting Moo.com, an award-winning online print business, Moross was a strategist at Imagination, the world's largest independent design company.  He graduated from the University of Sussex, where he majored in philosophy and politics.

Jon Kolko on How Learning Facilitation Skills Advances Career

In Chapter 11 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "How is Your Creative Toolbox Changing?"  Kolko notes how his creative toolbox progressively includes "grown up" tools.  He notes these are more about talking and less about making, for example facilitation tools and those that help drive large organizational and strategic change.  He contrasts this to the design or maker skills so fundamental to his early career experiences. 

Jon Kolko is the founder and director of the Austin Center for Design.  He has authored multiple books on design, including "Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving."  Previously he has held senior roles at venture accelerator Thinktiv and frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How is your creative toolbox changing?

Jon Kolko: My creative toolbox is starting to have much more grownup tools in it, which usually mean things that are about talking and not things about making. And it's weird that that is true. And so, the examples that I'm thinking of are facilitation tools and tools that help drive large organizational and strategic change as opposed to tools for making things look a certain way, act a certain way, feel a certain way. This strategy, design thinking, whatever catchy name you want to use for it, has always sort of rubbed me a little bit the wrong way because I’d always felt like it wasn’t enough without the making. And so, I think I still believe that. But I'm becoming okay with using a designerly way of working to convince people of things, to get people to see my perspective, to drive an argument. And that will be the way that design plays out in policy and in law. I mean, design is going to be embedded in all of these external disciplines or fields and that’s how it's going to work. There will still be artifacts but that’s not the endgame, they’re a means to an end and I think the toolbox that I have is widened to include those. Before, frankly, I didn’t give them the time and day. I thought they were sort of fake. I still have that same concern that without making an artifact, and I'm using artifact loosely, even digital or a service is an artifact to me but without making something. You're not doing design work. You're doing something else and it's probably just argument. But I'm becoming more comfortable integrating those issues of argument a rhetoric into the toolkit that I have.

Jon Kolko: How to Use Storytelling to Improve Presentation Content

In Chapter 12 of 21 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, design educator Jon Kolko answers "How Are You Learning to Give More Impactful Presentations?"  Kolko has built presentation confidence as his experience has grown and has learned to improve presentation content by using storytelling skills.  Specifically, whether it is a presentation, a keynote, or a workshop, Kolko learns not to assume audience knowledge and to use narrative tools to take his room on a ride. 

Jon Kolko is the founder and director of the Austin Center for Design.  He has authored multiple books on design, including "Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving."  Previously he has held senior roles at venture accelerator Thinktiv and frog design and was a professor of Interactive and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  Kolko earned his Masters in Human Computer Interaction (MHI) and BFA in Design from Carnegie Mellon University.

Transcript: 

Erik Michielsen: How are you learning to give more impactful presentations?

Jon Kolko: A lot of it has to do with doing it over and over and over. I don’t think I was like nervous of presenting but now I'm extremely confident with it. It's like anything else. It's like having a conversation. I actually don’t think too much about it but I think a lot about the content of the presentation and increasingly it seems like to reference an earlier question an argument, it seems like I'm structuring a narrative, a story if you'd like, around an endgame and the endgame is so clear to me but it doesn’t make any sense to anybody else if they don’t -- aren’t along for the journey. And so, in a typical presentation or a workshop or a keynote, it's an hour, 50 minutes. And so in 50 minutes, you got to take a couple hundred people along for this ride and there's nothing to assume. You have a wildly diverse audience. You can't assume knowledge about design, knowledge about politics, knowledge about the economy. And so, all those things have to be presented. And I think in many ways, it forces a huge amount of empathy with an audience as if they were the users of a product and you’re product. And so there has to be -- You sort of have to ease into it. I've never ever thought of myself as a good storyteller. Increasingly, I'm thinking of myself as a storyteller and that each time I craft this presentation, it's like a once upon a time. It's like a children’s novel. And everybody sort of comes along for the ride with me. There’s cute little things you can do that would be shocking, use really obtuse statistics to support your argument and juxtapose big words with scary images. And every now and then I’ll use those two just like anybody else. But I think ultimately like those are icing on a cake and if there's no cake, it's crap. And so, the substance of the thing, the content is that story.

The Importance of Nonverbal Communication - Hammans Stallings

In Chapter 13 of 22 in his 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, innovation strategist Hammans Stallings answers "How Are You Learning to Communicate More Effectively?"  Stallings discusses what he has learned about nonverbal communication working at frog design.  Stallings talks about the value of diverse communication styles in the ideation and problem solving processes.  This is Hammans Stallings' Year 2 CYF interview.  Stallings is currently a Senior Strategist at frog design.  Previously he worked in business strategy at Dell and investment banking at Stephens.  He earned an MBA from the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, a MS in Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and a BA in Economics and Psychology from the University of Virginia.