Ken Robinson on human capacity
Posted: January 29th, 2009 | Author: Alex | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »I listened to Ken Robinson‘s fantastic lecture Human Capacity at Town Hall Seattle on Monday.
He presented his new book, The Element:
The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels. The Element draws on the stories of a wide range of people, from ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons; from Meg Ryan to Gillian Lynne, who choreographed the Broadway productions of Cats and The Phantom of the Opera; and from writer Arianna Huffington to renowned physicist Richard Feynman and others, including business leaders and athletes. It explores the components of this new paradigm: The diversity of intelligence, the power of imagination and creativity, and the importance of commitment to our own capabilities.
He spoke of things we take for granted. We often do not actively think about things we take for granted, because, well, we do take them for granted. One of those, it turns out are wrist watches. Now, I admit, I do take wearing a wrist watch for granted. I did not realize though that people in their teens or early twenties predominantly do not.
The argument is simple and compelling: Wrist watches are devices with limited functionality and today’s young generation has grown up in an environment where time displays are all around us: on computer and laptop screens, cell phones, etc. So: Why wear an extra device just for time keeping?
What bothers me about this is that I, too, live in an environment, where I really do not need a wrist watch anymore, because I, too, have some sort of time displays close by around me. It has never occurred to me to not wear my watch though.
I think it is a useful exercise to examine the patterns we follow in life and work to understand our reasons and motivations. Having personal policies (No work on Sundays, no junk food, etc.) can be great time-saver and simplify decision making processes. Still, it is important to do things for the right reasons. Things taken for granted may become obsolete.
I wish I had brought a notepad along, so I could have taken notes of both his many interesting points as well as a number of great anecdotes and jokes!
I have not been able to locate a video of the same talk, but here is a radio interview from the following day. Below are two of his earlier talks at other venues. They are both excellent, too.
TED 2006: Do schools kill creativity?
RSA 2008: Changing Paradigms
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