Discovery and Fringe Futures
Lesson 6 from: Courage, Creativity and the Power of ChangeBeth Comstock
Discovery and Fringe Futures
Lesson 6 from: Courage, Creativity and the Power of ChangeBeth Comstock
Lesson Info
6. Discovery and Fringe Futures
Lessons
Class Introduction
08:15 2Permission
13:44 3Learn Courage
05:41 4Job Crafting
08:12 5Mentor Coach Champion
05:23 6Discovery and Fringe Futures
05:18 7Field Trips
03:23 8Going on 3s
08:41Lesson Info
Discovery and Fringe Futures
okay, we're gonna move into the next section is my favorite one. This is Ah, what gets me excited in life and work. It's about discovery. Mean to me, Discovery is what makes everything possible. Um, it's It's about infusing yourself with this kind of spirit of inquiry, of being out in the world. It's about curiosity. It's about turning the world into your classroom and trying to get out and unleash ideas that that hopefully make change possible. So, um, part of my job and, of course, my career. I was chief marketing officer of G E, and I was the first chief marketing officer, and in years, and no one had had the job for that long and they didn't really know what what the job. Waas. I didn't come in with a lot of traditional marketing background, so I had toe learn what the job was as I was doing it. And one of things I came to appreciate was I could take this job very seriously. Was about living in the market was about change and understanding What's going on outside what I came to re...
alize in the company where I worked, everybody was very inward focus or a lotta, and it was great, a lot of best practice sharing from one division to the next. Ah, lot of your business reviews really good operating process. But what often didn't happen was we weren't encouraged to pick our head up and look at what was happening outside. And I made that my job. My job is I'm gonna live in the world. I'm gonna go see for myself. And that became how I I built my career, and it also helped me kind of overcome some of the lack of confidence I had because it was tapping into my curiosity. So here's the thing about about discovery. We get to insulin, we have to get out there. And here's Here's what you have to dress in blue. But I think what has to happen is you have to get it if you want an edge on the future, which is why you're out in the world. You're trying to understand this change early. You have to be willing to go and see what's next to new. You even have to be willing to put yourself in the line of a lot of what's weird things that look different is that said you don't have to dress in blue, but you have to be willing to kind of understand. So to that point, I want to give Give You wanna take a minute doing exercise? So what I'd like you to do is just consider things that were weird five or years ago but are commonplace now. So just conjure on your your memory or some things that maybe 10 years ago you were like That is so weird. That's just never gonna make it. That's just so weird. But you see it now. I mean, for me, it's like kombucha, like right? I love Kombucha. But 10 years ago, the thought of drinking like sliming bacteria or whatever it is like No, I'm not going to do that. You know what? What is something? Anyone here have some thoughts getting in a stranger's car? That's a good one. That's a good one. Getting in a stranger's car, right? Even when you say that it sounds weird, right? Allowing a smart speaker in your house, allowing a smart speaker Ah, house, allowing a smart speaker in your house, right, allowing some sort of intelligent machine in your house potentially to spy on you or to help you A robot in your house, right? 10 years ago, even five years ago, that would have been seemingly crazy. Um, I was with some craft brewers recently. I mean, those some traditional brewers recently, and they were bemoaning the fact that they missed the craft beer revolution. Clearly, they didn't come to Seattle. They didn't go to Portland, either Oregon or Maine, because that was knowable. If you were in the traditional beer generation business, it was quite knowable that craft brewers were taking over the brewing space if you were out there understanding it, marijuana is another 1 10 years ago. And I mean, think about the arc of progress for the marijuana industry and 10 years ago, the idea that it would not just be medicinal but legal in the way that it is. So I like this as an exercise to think about the weird. There are a lot of things today that you're probably discounting. They are the get in the car with a stranger, have a robot in your house, drink kombu, chur craft beer of 10 years. What are they? So maybe make a note. What are a couple of things you're going to start toe? Try to tune into of some things that looking out that are on the fringe that you want to learn about. You want to study a little bit? I, um I did this with, um ah, couple of different things. Um, additive manufacturing when I worked at G E s or three D printing and metals and other things. Um, Blockchain I mean, there's a lot of things in the world today, but it could be something very. It could be something very old school that that, you see coming back again. This is the kind of practice I'm recommending is what you have to do to kind of keep track. Are you meeting with enough weird people? Are you going out and seeing enough people who are in places that are different doing things that are different? Are you asking them how and why they're doing it?
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Ratings and Reviews
Julie Hankes
Wow, this class was such a privilege to be a part of! There are so many gems in here, but what I loved most, is that she opened my thinking even bigger and offered me tricks and tips to facilitate that for myself and others long into the future. This is a tremendous gift as I'm already pretty outside of the box (i.e. I just took a client kayaking and then out in a seaplane yesterday for a visioning session) and creative in my work, so yes, what a gift! She also profoundly underscores the vital role the creative/imaginary mindset plays in the role of innovation and greeting our world's most wild challenges and opportunities. What a joy, have shared her work with many since this class took place. Thank you Beth for your courageous offering of imagination and championing it's vital role in our everyday work place and in our world's next steps into a more thriving, creative and innovative future!
Arthur Yakumo
I really enjoy this class. If you want a mind shift, having difficult seeing opportunities in front of you, especially living and working in a corporate job, this class is for you. Working for a fortune 500 job, I see how work is constantly changing, I didn't see the opportunities and how we can influence the change or be part of the change. This class helps you see and be part of the changing job revolution.
Christine Denker
If you want a mind shift to create change for yourself or your organization, then this class is a no-brainer! As a middle school English Language Arts teacher, I thought about how I could apply the concepts Beth teaches to my students who I have the privilege of interacting with daily. As a writer, I thought about how much I'm holding myself back and how I need to give myself permission to try new things knowing I'm going to fail and it's okay to do so. I really appreciated this course and had several takeaways that I can't wait to implement.
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