I was in Madison for a conference and the annual Art Walk happened to be on the Capital Square. As I was walking through the displays, I noticed a strongly consistent theme: each booth had it’s own theme. Take a random sampling of pieces out of display booths, put them in a lineup, and ask a team of children to match them with the original display booths. I’d bet they’d match 80% or better.

Why?

Because the same artist made the pieces. Duh! But really, if artists are the creative ones, that produce works that correspond to a plausible human experience, that help us see … » More …

All the parents have been there. You arrive at a birthday party and discover the hosts rented a trampoline or bouncy house. You’re both excited and concerned at the same time. You know it will be fun for your child, but also a big safety risk… I myself have a fake front tooth in the place of one claimed by a trampoline in the second grade.

Before sending little Johnny or Jenny in, you take a quick scan to see how many other kids are on the bouncy surface, how fast they are moving, how empathic the big ones are to the little ones, and … » More …

When I was a junior in high school, my mom wanted to know what my summer plans were. I told her my plan was to lift weights and do football drills with fishing and mowing lawns on the side. She was not amused, “Football won’t help you pay for college. You need to get to work, make some money, and start studying.” Later that day my dad quietly told me I had a long life of work ahead of me and I should spend the summer having fun. Six months later I had a full-ride scholarship to play football.

Go no further than the 2016 … » More …

Students keep coming to me in search of advice, and leaving shocked that nobody told them this before. I have just 3 rules for success during your undergraduate engineering degree, but could really work in any major.

1. Get a circle of friends

It’s well known throughout the animal kingdom that animals who play with friends are smarter than those who don’t. Why? Empathy. Here’s an example: I was once trying to finish a large code for a homework … » More …

There.

I did it.

I finished it.

Now it’s time to go back and write the introduction.

Let’s see… how to tell a story that helps people empathize with why and how I decided to write this book?

Tell the story!

Studies have shown that when I tell the story like this, the same part of my brain lights up as in yours.

I’m in your head!

Or are you in mine?

Oh this is going to be fun.

(And hopefully not too … » More …

Back when I was on the University of Idaho football team I had the most interesting end to a conditioning workout imaginable. We’d just finished mandatory offensive line summer conditioning — about 16 of us 6’2″-6’8″ 280+ pound gorillas sweaty with our shirts off. Returning to the locker room in the Kibbie Dome we heard hip-hop music thumping inside the dome and saw flashing police lights. Like moths to a flame, we wondered in to see what was happening. The Dome floor had several police cars, a large military enforcement vehicle, blockades, and a line of about 50 police officers in full riot squad gear … » More …

Five years ago I would’ve read that title and thought I was crazy. But it’s what the mathematical model says… Creativity, almost by definition, is taught to us as something that you’re born with and cannot be developed or predicted, let alone calculated. That’s why this is going to take some time.

Please, before we get into this, take a moment and write down when, where, and how you feel when inspiration, originality, and creativity hit. We’ll need this towards the end.
Originals, Outliers, and new Paradigms
We’re not taught to be creative because ‘creativity’ is incredibly challenging to teach. We don’t know … » More …

1. There is no review panel or editor preventing you from making an ass of yourself, including publishing something just plain wrong.

2. You’re paranoid everyone is trying to steel your best ideas and want to be first to publish.

3. You’ll publish fewer “journal” papers because it’s already on the blog, and that’s good enough — it’s only read a few (thousand) times a month anyways.

4. You’ll get frustrated by the ~100x increase in readership compared to your journal papers, but still no credit from your institution.

5. You’ll start obsessing over the number of hits, links, and time on pages based on … » More …