Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, there's
Speaker 1: a new book out. It's by the art advisor Maria Brito.
Speaker 1: It tells executives to emulate jazz musicians and painters to
Speaker 1: respond to constant change and uncertainty. Maria Brito joins us
Speaker 1: now she's the art an art advisor, a curator, and
Speaker 1: an author, including the new book How Creativity Rules the World,
Speaker 1: The Art and Business of Turning your Ideas into Gold.
Speaker 1: She joins us to be a zoom from New York City. Maria,
Speaker 1: how are you hi? Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm well, with a beautiful day out in New York City.
Speaker 1: How can I not be happy? It is a beautiful
Speaker 1: day today. Word on the street is Katie Grafeld even
Speaker 1: went for a run outside this morning because it's so nice.
Speaker 1: I did, even though the sun rose a lot later
Speaker 1: than I'm used to. That's that's you can talk to
Speaker 1: Senator Rubio about that, Okay, I'll take ye. Well, Maria,
Speaker 1: I I was really eager and I am eager to
Speaker 1: speak to you. I think in the business world and
Speaker 1: I think you know, we often hear about the idea
Speaker 1: of poets versus quantz and the artists versus the numbers people. Um,
Speaker 1: where do executives look to when it comes to making
Speaker 1: quick decisions and when why do you argue that artists
Speaker 1: are the right place to look. Well, in the times
Speaker 1: that we have been living and experiencing, particularly in the
Speaker 1: past years, we have had to experiment, pivot, and improvise.
Speaker 1: So I think that it is important for executives to
Speaker 1: look at strategies around creativity. Is the way artists do it,
Speaker 1: because there is one thing about artists that we can
Speaker 1: all learn from, which is how nimble their operations are,
Speaker 1: how quickly they are to react, and how unafraid they
Speaker 1: are too post questions, look for answers in unusual places,
Speaker 1: which is something that a lot of people do not
Speaker 1: necessarily do. And if you happen to be doing the
Speaker 1: same thing that you have been doing trying to obtain
Speaker 1: different results, you know that the the definition of insanity, right,
Speaker 1: And I think that a lot of people do not
Speaker 1: necessarily look for the right places to either find a
Speaker 1: new solution or to see their problems from different angles.
Speaker 1: And so a lot of the things that I write
Speaker 1: in this book have to do with how to improve
Speaker 1: your creative thinking, how to really become an innovator instead
Speaker 1: of following the hurt and doing what everybody else is doing.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a very difficult thing to innovate in
Speaker 1: an industry if you are following the mainstream or what
Speaker 1: everybody is doing, and you're never going to find the
Speaker 1: answers that you're looking for if you're just reading a
Speaker 1: trade magazine. And that's the truth. And so this book
Speaker 1: encourages people to look at their problems in business, their
Speaker 1: problems in their companies, in their markets, from a very
Speaker 1: different perspective. And I think that's the value of this
Speaker 1: is if you keep looking at everything the same way
Speaker 1: you've done before, it's it's not necessarily going to be
Speaker 1: a place of progress imory. You have data on your
Speaker 1: side here in the book, I mean you look at
Speaker 1: several studies, right. Yes, absolutely is very heavy on data,
Speaker 1: because I went after every study that I could look
Speaker 1: at and every publication, peer reviewed, everything that I could
Speaker 1: actually get my hands around that confirmed many of my
Speaker 1: different points here. For example, the data that has been
Speaker 1: shared on LinkedIn for the past three years shows that
Speaker 1: eight hundred and eighty million professionals are talking about creativity
Speaker 1: as the number one skill that they are looking for
Speaker 1: to have in their businesses, and actually it is the
Speaker 1: hardest to get and that this scriptancy is actually frightening
Speaker 1: if you think about it, because be creative and innovative
Speaker 1: is nothing that is out of the range of ordinary people.
Speaker 1: It's just that requires a lot of skills that you
Speaker 1: have to hone on a daily basis. Okay, Maria, we
Speaker 1: only have a minute with you for now. Then we're
Speaker 1: gonna come back. We're gonna do some more with you.
Speaker 1: But what would you say to somebody whose immediate reaction
Speaker 1: is you know, I'm I'm not a creative person. I'm
Speaker 1: somebody who doesn't think that way. How can they be
Speaker 1: trained to be a creative person? Well, the problem is
Speaker 1: that creativity is not just for artists. There every every
Speaker 1: new solution that you come up with that is build
Speaker 1: on the heels of what has already been done and
Speaker 1: that serves a purpose and is relevant for today, is
Speaker 1: that creative solution. Everybody is creative. In fact, there have
Speaker 1: been so many studies that prove that. But we just
Speaker 1: put this barriers and what I suggest people to begin
Speaker 1: with is to to start experimenting and asking questions that
Speaker 1: they have not asked before on the boardroom, on day
Speaker 1: to day operations. This are the type of things that
Speaker 1: actually bring the best results. And that's what I want
Speaker 1: to get into. And we actually we can keep going
Speaker 1: with you for a few more minutes breaking down those barriers.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I just feel like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: there would be some resistance to that, So talk to
Speaker 1: us a little more about, you know, how people can
Speaker 1: break down those barriers. Barriers and you know, recognize that
Speaker 1: I am creative. Actually, one of the studies that I
Speaker 1: quote in my in my book is one that was
Speaker 1: conducted by professors from London School of Economics and they
Speaker 1: were hired by a variety of different tech companies and
Speaker 1: one of them was lagging behind the competitors. And what
Speaker 1: they discovered was that there was an emotional safety in
Speaker 1: that company, so nobody could really speak up about issues, problems,
Speaker 1: the ideas that they had, the things that they thought
Speaker 1: could be blemented. And so if you're a manator and
Speaker 1: you're listening to this, just think about that for a second.
Speaker 1: How can you actually allow your people to speak up
Speaker 1: and to express the realities of what they are going
Speaker 1: through or seeing at work. And when you actually kill
Speaker 1: the original phase of creativity, which is having the sessions
Speaker 1: where people say whatever they are thinking about to figure
Speaker 1: out what are the ideas that they are going to
Speaker 1: end up taking. If you annihilate the first part, which
Speaker 1: is the freedom of expression, you killed the whole entire
Speaker 1: process of creativity. So I really encourage managers to allow
Speaker 1: this freedom of expression, no matter the industry, no matter
Speaker 1: where you are, if you really want to see enormous
Speaker 1: benefits around the ideas that you bring to the table.
Speaker 1: When I was in graduate school about five years ago,
Speaker 1: ish UM in orientation. We did this is business school.
Speaker 1: We did orientation, We did UM actual improv training. Those
Speaker 1: are very expensive improv classes. I'm just gonna say that
Speaker 1: is a really good point, Katie. Uh, yeah, that is
Speaker 1: a good point. I didn't think of it like that,
Speaker 1: but that you know, the whole orientation process is like
Speaker 1: a conversation for a different time because it's totally wild
Speaker 1: and I think it's a little infantilizing, but I think
Speaker 1: they do that on purpose. Anyway. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about UM the improv portion of it because I always
Speaker 1: thought about it from the perspective of kind of an
Speaker 1: icebreaker and getting to know people you know who you've
Speaker 1: never met before that you're going to be spending two
Speaker 1: years with. But you argue that this this yes and
Speaker 1: language that you use with improv is is really one
Speaker 1: that business executives away that they should be thinking absolutely,
Speaker 1: And it is because the yes and technique, which was
Speaker 1: actually borrowed from Delle coach the Dell Clothes who was
Speaker 1: an acting coach. It's because it allows the conversation to
Speaker 1: keep going. And so when somebody asks you, can you
Speaker 1: do this incredibly difficult thing for tomorrow, you say yes,
Speaker 1: and let's review this cope of that to see if
Speaker 1: it's possible. And so the important thing about yes and
Speaker 1: and expanding it to other areas of your business is
Speaker 1: that it puts managers in a place of possibility, in
Speaker 1: a place where you can actually think about that there
Speaker 1: is a chance that there is something you haven't considered,
Speaker 1: that you can actually continue that conversation in a different
Speaker 1: place and perspective that you didn't not that you didn't
Speaker 1: consider before. And this is something that a lot of
Speaker 1: people are so ingrained with their ideas. A lot of
Speaker 1: people sometimes are so fixated with just one answer that
Speaker 1: they miss a lot of what's happening in the periphery,
Speaker 1: a lot of what's happening that could actually bring an
Speaker 1: innovative solution to a problem. Right, And we have had
Speaker 1: to really think so fast and react so fast in
Speaker 1: you know, all is But in the past two years
Speaker 1: it's been accelerated. So what would it be if you
Speaker 1: throw this technique in your repertoire and instead of saying no,
Speaker 1: instead of like dismissing ideas from your employees or your clients,
Speaker 1: you actually go with yes. And and we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: to us about how you've used that in your own
Speaker 1: professional life. Because what's interesting about your book is you
Speaker 1: have a lot of you know, personal anecdotes in there. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I get a lot of clients who come
Speaker 1: to me with incredibly difficult requests like can I get
Speaker 1: this piece of art? And that I know is something
Speaker 1: really really hard to get or almost impossible. Right, So
Speaker 1: I when those things come to me, I always say yes,
Speaker 1: and let me see what can I get out of that? Right,
Speaker 1: Because first of all, every client likes to hear yes,
Speaker 1: no matter who the client is and what industry we're
Speaker 1: talking about. So that allows me for a moment to
Speaker 1: actually figure out if I have an hour a day
Speaker 1: to to find if I can't actually feel the request
Speaker 1: for my clients, and at the same time I have
Speaker 1: made my clients happy. So in my book, I talk
Speaker 1: about how a very important clad of mine who lived
Speaker 1: in London at the time, asked me to get her
Speaker 1: a Banksie for her husband's birthday. And I, first of all,
Speaker 1: that's a great birthday present. If anyone needs any ideas
Speaker 1: for me, right well? And so I you know, Banksy
Speaker 1: is anonymous, and it's it's a very is a prankister.
Speaker 1: It's a provocateur for people who do not know who
Speaker 1: he is. You know, it's like a guy who has
Speaker 1: lived on this anonymity and he has thrived in that position.
Speaker 1: So I said, oh my god, how am I going
Speaker 1: to make her happy? She's very important to me. And
Speaker 1: so I said, yes, of course, and let me get
Speaker 1: back to you soon and about that, and I just
Speaker 1: closed my eyes and went with my intuition for like
Speaker 1: ten seconds. And I remember a street artist from Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and I send this personal message and I said, do
Speaker 1: you happen to know Banksy and you know, because I
Speaker 1: was like, those banksy even exists, that's a that's a
Speaker 1: fair question. I have that question, right. And so this
Speaker 1: person go back to me and say, why what do
Speaker 1: you need? And so I explained the situation. I said,
Speaker 1: the client is very important and she's looking for this,
Speaker 1: and the artists in Brooklyn said give me a second.
Speaker 1: So it was all about everybody was sort of like
Speaker 1: doing yes. And at the same time, if you think
Speaker 1: about this, it was a chain chain of events where
Speaker 1: everybody was like yes. And so in about an hour,
Speaker 1: I got an email from the artist introducing me to
Speaker 1: uh Banks's manager in London, in East London, a very
Speaker 1: fun woman in East London. And after that things sort
Speaker 1: of happened. But if I would have told my client
Speaker 1: from the get go, are you crazy? That's impossible. Nobody
Speaker 1: can never get a banks this technique right, and so
Speaker 1: I I encourage people to do it. Maria, I'm wondering,
Speaker 1: after researching this book, you're digging through the data, you're
Speaker 1: going through historical examples, you're using your own anecdotes, your
Speaker 1: own expertise. What's one way that you've really changed your
Speaker 1: life based on this research. I think spending time alone
Speaker 1: and in silence is a very important thing that people underestimate.
Speaker 1: And I also bring examples that are so crucial for
Speaker 1: you meantime alone, away from your phone, away from Twitter, meditating.
Speaker 1: How do you how do you mean? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: the word meditating has such many different connotations. A lot
Speaker 1: of people like it, a lot of people don't. I yes,
Speaker 1: I like the idea of meditating. But if that sounds
Speaker 1: too heavy for people, you know, I would appreciate if
Speaker 1: you can look at it as more like ten minutes
Speaker 1: to think, ten minutes to close your eyes and think,
Speaker 1: no music, no noise. And it's not just go for
Speaker 1: a walk, because a lot of people are like bargaining
Speaker 1: that with me sometimes, like, well, what if I go
Speaker 1: out for a walk? No, because when you're walking you
Speaker 1: have to pay attention to where your stepping so you
Speaker 1: don't fall. And if you're in a city like New
Speaker 1: York City, you can't really just like walk aimlessly right
Speaker 1: because you're going to get hit back home. So um,
Speaker 1: I mean the whole thing is about allowing your brain
Speaker 1: to have a moment of calm and allow for the
Speaker 1: ideas to marinate. And I do bring the examples of
Speaker 1: Steve Jobs, who, as you know, he was a meditator. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was a huge proponent of meditation. And he told
Speaker 1: Walter Isaacson when when when Isaacson was writing jobs biography,
Speaker 1: that the monkey mind is always going to be chattering,
Speaker 1: is going to bring things that are going to distract
Speaker 1: you from your goals or from your where you're going
Speaker 1: to find the next I think I showed this before,
Speaker 1: but I have a friend who actually keeps a notepad
Speaker 1: in the shower because that's where he comes up with
Speaker 1: great ideas because he's like not distracted by his phone
Speaker 1: or anything. Like, have a lot of logistical fuss about that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like waterproof. Maria Britto art adviser, curator and author.
Speaker 1: She's the author of How Creativity Rules the World, The
Speaker 1: art and business of turning your ideas into gold. It's
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week for Katie Greifeld. I'm Tim Stanevik and
Speaker 1: the entire team here at Bloomberg Radio. Have a good night.