Higher Education Gatekeepers Restrict Innovation

Garth Beyer

Two Yale students made news recently with their creation of a better version of the school’s course catalogue.

The site didn’t make Washington Post news for being a useful website. It made news for being blocked and shutdown by Yale. Just another example of higher education gatekeepers restricting student innovation.

It’s frustrating that while universities endorse the idea of innovation and creativity, they don’t provide the instruments to effectively create within policy guidelines.

Instead, school systems use their policies to restrict innovation. It’s their glass ceiling to creativity.

Some might argue it’s not a ceiling; that it’s the last roadblock to success. I say no.

Ideas aren’t like cars with a cinderblock pressing down on the gas pedal. Ideas have momentum, but when stopped, have to work at building the momentum again. And when two students get so far with an idea, restarting (to accommodate school policy) is more daunting than building some new idea.

The positive part?

It’s much more difficult to stop a passionate idea fueled by frustration.

 

Stay Positive & Take The Dyson Approach

 

Do You Realize That

Garth Beyer

the thing that makes people happy is simply making progress at meaningful work.

It’s not just about reaching goals. It’s about moving toward reaching them.

That’s why I have an issue when someone says they are unhappy. It’s obvious they are just standing still.

And you know what I say about standing still. Don’t you?

 

Stay Positive & Progress For Your Own Sake

The Bigger Picture

Garth Beyer

The Bigger Picture

I do a lot. I’m not bragging. Just stating the truth. Nor am I undermining others (you) or suggesting that no one does as much as me. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s why I’m writing this.

If you sparked a conversation with me one year ago about how motivated people are these days, I would have been blunt, conceited and a bit disappointed in the answer I felt I had to give.

These days, I still see people not doing much. However (!) what I failed to notice before is people are simply doing a little for a long time.

One editorial board meeting for me lasts no more than 30 minutes and I’m on to the next thing on my agenda. For most, the editorial board meeting would last an hour or more. What get’s done aside, everyone is doing something.

On a similar note, people don’t do a larger variety of things (like me) because the hustle and attention it takes is exhausting. I can’t count on two hands how many times I’ve crashed. The result of having a packed schedule is wishing you had more time to relax.

That’s where I’ve realized the bigger picture comes in. The bigger picture isn’t how I do all that I do, but it does help me do all that I do.

My busy schedule doesn’t make me feel like I need more time to relax and do nothing because any time that I feel overwhelmed, I stop to think of the bigger picture; that this is only one meeting that I’m getting frustrated at over out of the entire year or that I’m lucky enough to go home in 20 minutes to someone who is damn need bouncing off the walls with excitement to see me or that not much was accomplished at this seminar, but there’s always next.

It’s beautiful when people stop their lives to just sit down and relax and view the bigger picture.

It’s even more beautiful when you can keep moving in your life and view the bigger picture.

 

Stay Positive & Sometimes A New Lens Helps

Photo Credit

Getting Yourself On Track

Garth Beyer

Two questions to ask yourself at any given time.

1. How do you want to feel?

2. What will make you feel that way?

It’s okay to ask those questions day in and day out. Actually, it’s encouraged.

 

Stay Positive & On Track

Assorted Links

Garth Beyer

1. What every creative person with a product or service needs to know (read)

2. 15 funny quotes (& why we should laugh, like, right now) (read)

3. SHHH! How silence can make you a better leader (read)

4. 365 grateful (watch/read)

5. Ego depletion: your willpower is finite (short read)

6. 50 Problems in 50 days: The power of not knowing (read)

Reader By Demographic

Garth Beyer

Newsroom T.I.V

I’ve mentioned that every newsroom I’ve been in has a poster of a person who is their average reader. On the poster is the demographic of the person. “37-years-old, Sways Republican, has three kids, loves gardening.”

Writers will even remind each other to “write to Lisa” or “Chad,” or “Josephina.”

It’s a good start. But I have to agree with Seth Godin, that there are more important questions to be asking like,

  • What do they believe? (What’s their worldview?)
  • Who do they trust?
  • What are they afraid of and who do they love?
  • What are they seeking?
  • Who are their friends?
  • What do they talk about?

Bonus questions:

  • What legacy do they want to leave?
  • All views change over time, how will theirs?
  • Will you follow those changes?

 

Stay Positive & All In A Day’s Every Day’s Work

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Grow A Pair

Garth Beyer

I feel like I’m somewhat qualified, if not required to finally say that.

In the past, I thought telling someone to grow a pair was ignorant, rude and insensitive. Now, though, I wish someone would have told me earlier on. This realization came after I took a phone call earlier today.

An acquaintance of mine sent me a message on Twitter asking if I could spare a few minutes to talk to him about connecting with professionals. He’s in NYC this weekend and set up meetings with an NBC correspondent and a couple of other journalists. (Most need to be told to grow a pair and go make these connections, alas, this friend did not. If you are someone who needs to be told to grow a pair and go schedule meetings with your idols, then be prepared to get told to grow a second time. Read on.)

Without questioning further, I told him I had time this afternoon. He called. He called because he grew a pair and realized that he could use all the help he could get, he realized that while experience is the best teacher, you can still be prepared for the lessons.

He explained his worries, his largest concern being that he would make the NBC correspondent feel as though she wasted her time. A real, natural human concern.

I talked him through it, gave him the rundown of what to expect, ideas for what to ask and the single best way to make her not feel as though he wasted her time. (If you want to know, call or email me.)

Once I hung up, a particular AC/DC song began playing in my head. This acquaintance, this, now friend, has the biggest of them all.

1. Grow a pair and meet with your idols and other professionals in your field of interest. Face to face.

2. Grow a pair and send an email, direct a tweet, make the call to those that can help you get the most out of that experience.

3. Remember that these people you are connecting with didn’t get to where they are now by never growing a pair.

 

Stay Positive & Go Ahead, You Know What To Do