The flip side of work/life debate begs the question: What is the relationship between fulfillment and workload? Personally, I readily confess that I am an uber-achiever. Always have been; wired that way. There have been times when I have been at my happiest when working really hard, which is why I really enjoy the work on “flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced, as I understand it, chic-sent-mee-highly). He contructs the “Creative Personality” along 10 dimensions of complexity. Each statement embodies a contradiction. Taken as a whole, they are a great for seeing how we can reconcile the paradoxes within ourselves. Which ones resonate most with you?
[Adapted from Csikszentmihalyi (1996). "Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention." Harper: New York. p. 51-76.]
1. Creative individuals have a great deal of physical energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
2. Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.
3. Creative individuals operate with playfulness and discipline; responsibility and irresponsibility.
4. Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and a rooted sense of reality on the other.
5. Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion.
6. Creative individuals are remarkably humble and proud at the same time.
7. Creative individuals, to a certain extent, escape rigid gender stereotyping.
8. Creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent, yet grounded in cultural traditions.
9. Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
10. The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering and pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.
Tagged with: Leadership
May 16th, 2007 at 11:35am
Rebecca Borden
One of the highlights of the Americans for the Arts 2007 Annual Convention is the national release of Arts & Economic Prosperity III, our third study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry’s impact on the nation’s economy. These studies are the most potent and oft-cited advocacy tool used to justify public and private sector support to nonprofit arts organizations. This new study is our largest ever, featuring findings from 156 study regions (116 cities and counties, 35 multicounty regions, and 5 statewide studies). Data were collected from a remarkable 6,080 nonprofit arts and culture organizations and 94,478 of their attendees across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
A series of release events and publications are planned for the upcoming months, and a few key dates are listed below. I will be traveling to many partner communities to help promote their local findings. Keep checking ArtsBlog throughout the summer months for tales of my trips “On the Road to Prosperity, and entries featuring the great efforts of our partner communities as they release their AEPIII findings!
Dates to Remember
- Tuesday, May 22, 10:00 a.m. ET is the release of the national economic impact findings to the media.
- A Congressional Briefing will also take place on Capitol Hill on May 22.
- Friday, June 1, is a plenary session about the study at our Las Vegas conference that focuses on the national data.
- Wednesday, June 6, the 156 local studies will be released at a press conference and policy forum in Chicago.
There are many national, statewide, and local events and publication opportunities that follow in the ensuing months. Email research@artsusa.org to see if any AEPIII events are planned in your community, or if you’d like to schedule an event!
Tagged with: AdvocacyEventsResearch
May 16th, 2007 at 09:35am
Randy Cohen
We at Americans for the Arts are having some fun about the office getting really excited about heading to Las Vegas for the Risk & Reward Annual Convention , so we started to kick around a list of “must see Vegas movies” to watch between now and the end of the month. Of course “Lucky You” is currently showing in a theater near you, but maybe you want to rent some of the movies below {in no particular order….}
If the list below gets you excited, you will want to make sure you are registered for Convention before it closes this Friday, May 18.
The countdown to National Arts and Humanities Month (NAHM) 2007 has begun. Americans for the Arts is the online portal for arts organizations celebrating NAHM in their communities this October.
ArtsBlog and the NAHM online toolkit will provide you with up-to-date information, as well as tips and ideas on how you can take part in the only nation-wide celebration of the arts and humanities. Visitors to the website will be able to share their local activities on the national events (more…)
Tagged with: Events
May 15th, 2007 at 09:17am
Liz Bartolomeo
In today’s working culture, there is a lot of pressure to be accessible all the time, to deliver on your action items, to prove your value to your organization. Multi-tasking and working cross-departmentally is the norm. Then, there are those workers who brag about the hours they pull (I used to be a high school teacher and every job I have had since has a light workload compared to that job). The culture of complaint can be the norm around the water cooler. How can we structure policies so that people are working smart, as opposed to just working hard? If the bottom line and productivity are the foundation of any performance evaluation, where does efficiency factor in? A recent article from Fast Company profiles a consulting company that “red flags” employees who pull long and late hours.
Joe Robinson (May 2007) The Red Zone. Fast Company.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/115/next-worklife.html
Tagged with: Leadership
May 14th, 2007 at 10:01am
Rebecca Borden
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