Screenshot from Todd's TEDx Livermore Talk via LivestreamNote: The following is the written version of my talk at TEDxLivermore: Uncorking Creativity on September 20, 2014. When the talk is available online, a link will be posted here.

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Good morning.

I want to begin with a simple assertion:

To be human is to be creative..

It is in our nature. Unlike batteries, creativity is included in the package.

Now, we may each have our own means of expressing this creativity, and our own perception of our creativity relative to other people may vary.

And, certainly, good arguments have been made that as we grow up and are socialized into the world, our abilities to tap into and express our creativity may diminish if they are not developed and practiced.

But at a fundamental level, whether it is expressed by baking cakes or writing code, painting portraits or snapping selfies, architecting buildings or building businesses, we are all innately and unavoidably creative.

And it is this creativity which lies within each of us that has largely brought about and enabled the world we live in, with all of it’s incredible in its beauty, sophistication and capability.

And, we have no reason not to think that immeasurable good things will continue to be brought into the world with this creative force.

And yet...

The sum of our creativity is not enough.

It is not enough to solve for the kind of complex problems that we, as a species have and will continue to create as a natural course of our lives.

It is not going to be enough to solve the challenges that matter most in our organizations, institutions, communities, ecosystems and so forth..

"In the market, language grew. Became bolder, more sophisticated. Leaped and sparked from mind to mind. Incited by curiosity and rapt attention, it took astounding risks that none had ever dared to contemplate, built whole civilizations from the ground up."
The Cluetrain Manifesto, 2000

Matt and I created MG Taylor, inc. in 1979 for the purpose creating a new way of working that would facilitate individuals and enterprises escaping from the existing paradigm to another. Generally, new paradigms are escapes from a system no longer functioning, to a higher order. We were hopeful, optimistic, and naive as to how long and hard the old paradigm could hold on and constrain new organizing patterns.

With our mission in hand, we went forth as a for-profit business wondering if we could put our ideas and ethics into the market place and be profitable. Over the years we facilitated many good events and worked with clients on their stickiest problems. No one was interested in paradigm shifts however. Whether for profit or not, it was all about near term, bottom-line scarcities and/or profits.

This month that changed. I had the opportunity, in collaboration with The Value Web, to design and facilitate a workshop called This Moment in Time.

Journal

This Moment in Time

Tomorrow Makers