Social Media and Creativity

I just came back from a whirlwind brainstorming creativity and innovation workshop with Gerald Haman at Solution People. Whew! What a wild ride! I felt like it opened up blood vessels in my head so I could process information more efficiently. It’s like when you take up a new excercise class and you worked out muscles you never knew you had! I’ve known Gerald since....let me just say, we go way back, when I gave him an opportunity to bring his talents to a meeting I was producing for a very prominent  Fortune 500 company. Ever since then he has inspired, (InspirATED) and invigorATED me  and thousands of others with his talent.

Our group was full of inspirational folks from coast to coast, with Small Business to Fortune 500 experience. There were  wide ranges of view points and experiences, coming from an amazing variety of industries. They ranged from Aerospace to Television Production, Chemical Engineers, Training Experts and more. And this was a small group of only 13!  At first you might not think you have much in common with, say, an engineer, if you consider yourself a “right” brainer. Then again, if you consider yourself to be more analytical, a left brainer, then you probably don’t think you would ever have anything in common with or need to hear from someone who is creative, like  a writer or producer, right?

Here is the fascinating thing I learned:

Most of us have probably heard the term “Left brainer” and “Right Brainer” thinking. In case you haven’t, the Cliff Notes version is “Left Brainer” is the analytical side of the brain, this part of the brain likes to break things into tiny bite size pieces. The Right Brain is the creative side, which women like to refer to as the “Feminine side..Did you know by the way, that women use approximately 6,000 words per day, and men use only 400-500 words per day...hmmmmm. Either someone is more expressive or someone talks too much! 

The real take-away is that when you want to come up with a solution to a problem or a way to meet a goal, creativity is an amazing and awesome tool to tap into as a conduit. You will be amazed once you dust the cobwebs off your childhood mindpaintings and just refresh yourself to view the world from a new set of eyes and ears. One of the most valuable things I learned was that although “like thinkers” do seek each other out, which I do  frequently, you should shake things up a bit and add a little spice by collaborating with someone who uses the opposite side of the brain as you.

The collaboration could take the form of something as simple as reading an article or book written by someone who has that style of thinking, or getting an audio version to listen in your car.

If you just want to temporarily stimulate your brain try a new cuisine you haven’t considered before, or listen to some new form of music you haven’t checked out before, or take up that Tango class or gourmet cooking class you were thinking about. How about Sky Diving? Well, maybe not exactly Sky Diving, but you get the idea.

Why am I sharing this with all of you? Lots of reasons! One of them is because we are going to be sharing some tips about getting creative with Social Media at our upcoming Social Media Power Workshop. 

We are conducting a contest drawing for one FREE ticket to the Social Media Power Workshop coming up on April 17th, 2012. This is a One Day Workshop valued at $497. The drawing will take place on April 10th. 

To enter into the drawing:

Click Here 

Or Text your Name and Email address to: 630-277-9804

Or Scan the QR code (on this blog post) with your mobile device 

For Details About the Workshop: socialmediapowerworkshop.com