Thanks Karin. Wow that sounds amazing. I'd be interested to chat and hear more about your experience with this. I've sent a Linkedin connection request!
Hi Tim. So glad you loved the piece! The part two is still being constructed (requiring a whole load of ideation to design out new models and worldviews for business). I can see that you have subscribed. This means that when it comes out (estimated in September) you will receive it straight into your inbox!
A fabulous piece...I read it twice! This is a refreshing perspective and with practical applications, for embedding creativity within traditional business 'strategy' structures. How can we flex and work with ambiguity, if we do not embrace cognitive diversity. Also, "edge-thinker"...I love this language and frame. Thank you for such a fantastic take and essay!
Here is a valuable call out to the core of promotion of equity and inclusion, it is the cognitive diversity that is essential to tackling the complex decisions. Scott E Page in The Difference calls this out well. The token and moral imperatives have symbolic value but it is the ability to reframe from an alternative world view that value is generated.
Fantastic article, and pivotal as we face the rising tide of AI — the continued path of ‘not knowing what is real’ — and failing global systems. VUCA, as you say, is as much a challenge of the heart as it is the clever mind.
At the core, for us, is ‘meaning making’. Science has done wonderful things, but we’ve lost the texture of meaning (the stuff we desperately seek out when chaos arrives at our doorstep).
When we bring mythology and meaning making’ into organisations, call this work “Fathoming”: sounding out for depth in the current crisis of meaning.
And the deeper it goes — the closer we get to a ‘universal truth’ — the simpler it gets.
Breath. As every artist and every spiritualist will remind us.
Breath. Body. Big sky.
Remembering again. And again. And again.
We are not sense making creatures. We don’t make sense, we experience sense through our senses.
We are meaning making creatures.
Way back when, we could DO the killing of the antelope, but how were we to BE in that? The birth of mythology, of spirit, of soul. Kill the deer which bleeds and looks through eyes like us, leaves behind young like us, to feed our family. And hold up the wonder of it too.
It’s the same today. We know a lot about DOING but vanishingly little about how to BE in all that.
Meaning and sense. Beauty and business. Wonder and logic.
That’s the potency. Just as you say. Bring the artists into the boardroom, bring mythology and humanity back into the numbers.
Pleased to have discovered your Substack Annalise :) Looking forward to reading more. It does feel like art thinking/being is finally gaining recognition again alongside design thinking. I shared some reflections on this last year which might resonate https://creativebreakthrough.substack.com/p/can-thinking-like-an-artist-save
Amazing! This strongly resonates with me becoming a photographic artist for the past 2.5 years after 15+ years of corporate information management and sensing some deeper cognitive lessons coming out of the photographic process...and just in time with this likely transformative moment with AI.
It's been difficult to articulate a similar vision to others who can only see things conceptually vs contextually.
Great read, thanks for this. I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot lately, especially in its connection with climate change and environmental issues.
I’ve been taking a course on sustainability and sometimes I roll my eyes so hard I fear they might become permanently stuck looking into my skull.
It’s clear that throwing information at people is not the answer. We have more information now than ever before, and that hasn’t helped us change course.
In fact, for some people it seems to accelerate harmful actions. And even those who accept science and data don’t necessarily change behavior. It’s overwhelming dealing with these hyperobjects.
I’m starting to believe more and more that art is the answer to break through those walls. It’s one thing to tell people about issues, it’s another to make them feel some kind of way about them.
So enjoyed your thinking through this piece, the practical applications, and new ways of approaching this broader conversation. Thank you for sharing this!
Such a great read! Thank you! I am working with artists in corporate organizations since 2005. This practice his highly underrated
Thanks Karin. Wow that sounds amazing. I'd be interested to chat and hear more about your experience with this. I've sent a Linkedin connection request!
With pleasure. I’ll be in touch asap
Hello! I loved this piece. How do I get part 2?
Hi Tim. So glad you loved the piece! The part two is still being constructed (requiring a whole load of ideation to design out new models and worldviews for business). I can see that you have subscribed. This means that when it comes out (estimated in September) you will receive it straight into your inbox!
A fabulous piece...I read it twice! This is a refreshing perspective and with practical applications, for embedding creativity within traditional business 'strategy' structures. How can we flex and work with ambiguity, if we do not embrace cognitive diversity. Also, "edge-thinker"...I love this language and frame. Thank you for such a fantastic take and essay!
Here is a valuable call out to the core of promotion of equity and inclusion, it is the cognitive diversity that is essential to tackling the complex decisions. Scott E Page in The Difference calls this out well. The token and moral imperatives have symbolic value but it is the ability to reframe from an alternative world view that value is generated.
Love this so much! I just wrote about some of these themes this week as well - artists becoming translators or creators-of-experiences.
Reframing creativity as infrastructure has the potential to overcome the stigma that only artists are creative. Brava!
Fantastic article, and pivotal as we face the rising tide of AI — the continued path of ‘not knowing what is real’ — and failing global systems. VUCA, as you say, is as much a challenge of the heart as it is the clever mind.
At the core, for us, is ‘meaning making’. Science has done wonderful things, but we’ve lost the texture of meaning (the stuff we desperately seek out when chaos arrives at our doorstep).
When we bring mythology and meaning making’ into organisations, call this work “Fathoming”: sounding out for depth in the current crisis of meaning.
And the deeper it goes — the closer we get to a ‘universal truth’ — the simpler it gets.
Breath. As every artist and every spiritualist will remind us.
Breath. Body. Big sky.
Remembering again. And again. And again.
We are not sense making creatures. We don’t make sense, we experience sense through our senses.
We are meaning making creatures.
Way back when, we could DO the killing of the antelope, but how were we to BE in that? The birth of mythology, of spirit, of soul. Kill the deer which bleeds and looks through eyes like us, leaves behind young like us, to feed our family. And hold up the wonder of it too.
It’s the same today. We know a lot about DOING but vanishingly little about how to BE in all that.
Meaning and sense. Beauty and business. Wonder and logic.
That’s the potency. Just as you say. Bring the artists into the boardroom, bring mythology and humanity back into the numbers.
Beautiful, thank you for this work.
Pleased to have discovered your Substack Annalise :) Looking forward to reading more. It does feel like art thinking/being is finally gaining recognition again alongside design thinking. I shared some reflections on this last year which might resonate https://creativebreakthrough.substack.com/p/can-thinking-like-an-artist-save
Amazing! This strongly resonates with me becoming a photographic artist for the past 2.5 years after 15+ years of corporate information management and sensing some deeper cognitive lessons coming out of the photographic process...and just in time with this likely transformative moment with AI.
It's been difficult to articulate a similar vision to others who can only see things conceptually vs contextually.
Thank you for capturing this so well!
Great read, thanks for this. I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot lately, especially in its connection with climate change and environmental issues.
I’ve been taking a course on sustainability and sometimes I roll my eyes so hard I fear they might become permanently stuck looking into my skull.
It’s clear that throwing information at people is not the answer. We have more information now than ever before, and that hasn’t helped us change course.
In fact, for some people it seems to accelerate harmful actions. And even those who accept science and data don’t necessarily change behavior. It’s overwhelming dealing with these hyperobjects.
I’m starting to believe more and more that art is the answer to break through those walls. It’s one thing to tell people about issues, it’s another to make them feel some kind of way about them.
So enjoyed your thinking through this piece, the practical applications, and new ways of approaching this broader conversation. Thank you for sharing this!
Sooooo yes to this! Thank you for publishing. I’ll be sharing with plenty of folks.
This plays a huge role in the ways in which I attempt to show up as a participant in these systems. A little more on that here: https://open.substack.com/pub/trustworthy/p/episode-5-financialising-ourselves