Creativity in Stillness

Presentation Zen is a great blog and book on the new and improved presentation. Garr Reynolds's books and blog are a breath of fresh air when looking for solutions to presenting information in dynamic new ways. Here is Garr Reynold's Blog Post on A John Cleese video on creativity...as it turns out, while our laptops and the constant hum of the universe can lead to ideas, Cleese suggests that slowing down is the key to being creative...He suggests we can generate creative ideas better by avoiding interruptions and being mindful of our mode of thinking. After all, the Kubla Khan was left unfinished because its' author, Samuel T. Coleridge, was interrupted during its' writing. As Cleese suggests, "We have to create boundaries of space and boundaries of time":

More from Presentation Zen (full article here):

There is some evidence that insights, for example, are best captured when we slow down, clear the noise and do not think about the problem at hand. In David Rock's book Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long, he says "Having insights involves hearing subtle signals and allowing loose connections to be made. This requires a quiet mind...." In a world that is always online and always connected, it's helpful to close your computer as much as possible. Remove the distractions. As Cleese says, "We don't know where we get our ideas from. We do know that we do not get them from our laptops."

Problem Employees? It's Not You, It's Them

How To Work For An Idiot

From Forbes:

Idiot bosses exist only to stomp the life out of their intellectually superior and more innovative subordinates.

This keeps many good workers up at night. Some can't figure out why their ideas are rejected and their work is denigrated. Others sink into cynicism about their careers. A few devote all their energy to plotting revenge against the dummy in the corner office.

Instead, use a little jujitsu: Turn your boss's cluelessness to your advantage. Call it idiot engineering.

The rare non-idiot boss does a genius thing: talk to employees, ask about their job and how it can be done better. Jack Welch, former head of General Electric nailed it.

Full article here.

Tips on how to deal with seven types of idiot bosses.

Hidden Cameras in the Workplace?

Reported from law.com (full article here)

Suspecting someone was viewing pornographic Web sites on a company computer after hours, the executive director of a Los Angeles-area center for abused children set up a secret video system in 2002 to catch the culprit.

No one was apprehended, but the two women who shared the locked office that was placed under surveillance sued for invasion of privacy -- even though the only images ever captured were shots of an empty desk and their boss setting up the camera.

That was what the California Supreme Court had to work with Wednesday during oral arguments in Hernandez v. Hillsides Inc., S147552: Does the mere attempt to videotape an individual qualify as an invasion of privacy or must there be an actual intrusion -- such as the taping of an innocent person changing clothes -- for liability to come into play?