Add Creativity To Anything... Even Panhandling

My wife and I were out for a nice romantic stroll down State Street in Santa Barbara, California. All of a sudden we hear:

“Hello, I’m Joe and I’ll be your ‘panhandler’ for the evening.” He continued on with a brief well thought out script that implied that his panhandling was some how serving me like a waiter at the finest restaurant. He had us in stitches before he was done. Joe had the most creative approach of any panhandler I’ve encountered and he did serve me on a day that I badly needed a good laugh. He got nearly four times the amount he requested.

Sandwich Artist?

I'm talking about the idea that any work or position affords an opportunity to design and be an artist. Are all the people who make sandwiches at subway artists???? Probably not but I have to believe that Subway is on to something when they call their sandwich makers artists. There is something about a positive label that brings out the best in us. And what better label than artist. The idea that any of us can shape and craft objects, experiences, customer interactions with design in mind is to me an inspirational thought.

"Design Thinking" and The Art of Everything

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, If a man is called to be street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo pointed, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

I grew up working my summers in a family construction business that my Dad started in the early 1970's. One of the first lessons Dad taught me was that there is an art to everything including digging a simple post hole or foundation footing. I'm more convinced of this than ever... Anyone can add, alter, delete, change, modify, or re-arrange any object,product,service, process, system, or environment in a manner that improves it. The understanding of this simple truth has picked up momentum around the world in the last decade and the positive impact is staggering.

Thru posts and numerous links around this blog I hope to explore the incredible variety of design applications and the processes that make creativity and innovation accessible for everyone.