Concurrence Design Magazine

Concurrence
What%Business%Can%Learn%from%the%ArtsFebruary%2016,%Volume%3

Concurrence, April 2016
Welcome to the third instalment of ‘Concurrence’. Where we continue to explore on the theme of
“What can businesses learn from the arts.” In our last two editions in 2015, we looked at some of
the latest developments in this space, across diverse worlds like leadership development, corporate
learning and education. We have asked experts and business leaders what they saw as essential
areas of the convergence between these worlds, what values can be extracted from Arts-based
thinking for businesses, and how these extrapolations can transform results and build value and
shape behaviours.
This time also we continue on the same journey.
We spoke to Sudhindra V, design thinker extraordinaire, and the man in charge of IBM’s experience
designing. He speaks to us on how creativity, inspired by the arts, in turn impacts design of products
and services that win in the marketplace.
Dr Samir Srivastava, Senior Lecturer (Organisation Studies and HRM) at the Faculty of Business
and Law, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia writes on how to overcome the
"I am not the Creative type" phobia.
We explore how Arts is helping students learn science in the USA, by rethinking the science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education system by adding an “A”—the arts—
to add STEAM.
We reprint an article by Amy Whitaker in Fast Company, on how Arts can help in Coding for
programmers!
One of the most interesting books I have read in the last month has been ‘The Eureka Factor’, in
which John Kounios and Mark Beeman explain how insights arise and what the scientiﬁc research
says about stimulating more of them. We look at the book in our ‘Book Review’ section.
I am also delighted to launch a new column by my colleague Meghana on her personal journey in
the world of creative thinking and expression.
Overall, another edition of rich and diverse content. ‘Concurrence’ will soon change frequency and
come out once in two months. We hope that we will continue to offer you articles of value and
interest about the exciting world of arts, business and their concurrence.
Happy New Year.
Anirban Bhattacharya
Founder, The Painted Sky 
Beyond Boundaries

Anirban Bhattacharya: Arts Can Help Students Learn Science
A Conversation with Sudhindra V
Dr Samir Shrivastava: Conquering "I am not the Creative type" Phobia
Coding Is An Art - Software People Should Learn "Art Thinking"
The Eureka Factor: Decoding the Aha Moments
Meghana Rajeshwar: Have Work, Will Paint
Public Program: Design Thinking
Point of View
Tête-à-tête
Point of View
Insight
Book Review
My Journey
Upcoming Events
4-10
11-15
16-18
19-25
26-28
29-32
33
Contents

Now this may sound ridiculous to many
readers, but increasingly we are seeing
data that supports this fantastic claim. Ever
since we studied how medical schools like
Harvard and Yale were using Arts-Based
learning methods to build student skills and
sensibilities (see ‘Concurrence’, April 2015:
“Training The Eye: Art Education in
Medicine and Management”), we have
been keen to find out more about this
exciting space of Art-Based Learning.
In 2008, the DANA Arts and Cognition
Consortium, a philanthropic organization
that supports brain research, assembled
scientists from seven different universities
to study whether the arts affect other areas
of learning. Several studies from
the report correlated training in the arts to
improvements in math and reading scores,
while others showed that arts boost
attention, cognition, working memory, and
reading fluency.
Dr Jerome Kagan, an Emeritus professor
at Harvard University and listed in
one review as the 22nd most eminent
psychologist of the 20th century, says that
the arts contribute amazingly well to
learning because they regularly combine
the three major tools that the mind uses to
acquire, store, and communicate
knowledge- motor skills, perceptual
representation, and language. 
4
Arts Can Help Students Learn Science!
Anirban Bhattacharya

5
Image:'www.stemtosteam.org

“Art and music require the use of both
schematic and procedural knowledge and,
therefore, amplify a child’s understanding
of self and the world,” Kagan said at the
John Hopkins Learning, Arts, and the Brain
Summit in 2009.
This is because “both scientists and visual
artists rely on common process skills-
drawing on curiosity, asking questions,
observing, seeing patterns, and
constructing meaning”, as per Debby
Chessin, associate professor of elementary
education at the University of Mississippi in
Oxford, Mississippi. She has been an
active part of the new movement sweeping
across the USA, where teachers of
science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) are discovering that
by adding an “A”—the arts—to STEM,
learning will pick up STEAM.
ARTS ADD “STEAM” TO
STEM
Over the last three years, the National
Science Foundation (NSF) funded the Art
of Science Learning to hold a number of
conferences to better understand the links
between art and science.
“Students remember science learning
situations that contain multi-sensory,
hands-on activities or experiments,” which
the arts can bring to science lessons, says
Dawn Renee Wilcox, science coordinator
for the Spotsylvania County School District
in Fredericksburg, Virginia. “The arts are
also useful for helping students make
transitions and connections between
science content or concepts through
thought and expression.”
“Allowing students to use artistic methods
to show their understanding of a concept,
event, or object will elicit a wider range of
student responses and participation,” says
Inez Liftig, eighth-grade science teacher at
Fairfield Woods Middle School in Fairfield,
Connecticut, and field editor for NSTA’s
middle level journal, Science Scope. “To
understand the nature and role of science,
it is important to compare it with other
areas of study to see similarities and
overlaps and differences. Looking at the
history and development of all subject
areas shows how knowledge, STEM, and
the arts are all part of society and reflect
the society of different periods in history,”
she explains.
Liftig believes combining science and the
arts “also lets students see how both of
these have been and still are quests to
examine and explain the world around us…
Students see that curiosity, creativity,
imagination, and attention to detail are
traits common to artists/writers and
scientists.”
“The passions for science, mathematics,
engineering, and art are driven by the
same desire: the desire to discover the
beauty in one’s world,” notes Virginia
Malone, a retired senior science project
director in Hondo, Texas. “Art is also
integrated into technologies as engineers
go from crude designs to finished
products…from model T Ford to the latest
concept car, we see the evolution of
6
“Art and music require the use of both
schematic and procedural knowledge
and, therefore, amplify a child’s
understanding of self and the world”

technology is as much about aesthetics of
the product as its functionality.”
Since they are the federal agency
responsible for administrating STEM
programs (for Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math), they learned more
about the possible role of the arts, and
decided to explore art-based learning of
STEM. Indeed, they saw this as a likely
n e w m o d e l f o r
e d u c a t i o n .
Specifically, they
stated that “an
i n n o v a t i o n
i n c u b a t o r ” ,
m o d e l e d o n
b u s i n e s s
“ i n c u b a t o r s ” ,
designed with the
help of "learning
methodologies such
a s i n n o v a t i v e
m e t h o d s t o
generate creative
ideas, ideas for
transforming one
S T E M i d e a t o
others, drawing on
visual and graphical ideas, improvisation,
narrative writing and the process of using
innovative visual displays of information for
creating visual roadmaps."
THE RESULTS
Between October 2013 and January 2015,
the incubators brought together 305 STEM
professionals, formal and informal
educators, artists, business leaders,
researchers, policymakers and students to
create, develop innovations in response to
STEM-based civic challenges – water
resources in San Diego, urban nutrition in
Chicago and transportation alternatives in
Worcester. Art of Science Learning faculty
led more than 60 workshops, using the arts
to help incubator participants (known as Art
of Science Learning Fellows) learn and
practice new ways to explore challenges,
identify problems and opportunities;
generate, transform and communicate
creative ideas; collaborate on cross
disciplinary innovation teams; and co-
create solutions with external partners.
I n a r e p o r t
r e l e a s e d
r e c e n t l y ,
Harvey Seifter,
head of the
N S F f u n d e d
p r o j e c t a n d
founder of the
Art of Science
Learning firm,
who has been
spearheading
the experiment,
says that, "We
found a strong
c a u s a l
r e l a t i o n s h i p
between arts-
based learning and improved creativity
skills and innovation outcomes in
adolescents, and between arts-based
learning and increased collaborative
behavior in adults." Specifically:
• The high school students who
had arts-based learning showed
large and statistically significant
pre/post improvements in such
creative thinking skills as idea
range (13%), problem analysis
(50%) and number of solutions
generated (37%). In many cases,
students who had traditional
STEM learning actually declined
in these aspects of creative
7
“'An innovation incubator’”, modeled on
business “incubators”, designed with the
help of "learning methodologies such as
innovative methods to generate creative
ideas, ideas for transforming one STEM
idea to others, drawing on visual and
graphical ideas, improvisation, narrative
writing and the process of using innovative
visual displays of information for creating
visual roadmaps."

t h i n k i n g - s o t h e o v e r a l l
differentials between arts-based
and traditional learning was even
more dramatic (idea range = 22%,
problem analysis = 121%,
solutions generated = 43%). Thus,
it appears as though arts-based
learning may be an effective way
to "inoculate" learners against
the collapse of creativity that may
sometimes accompany traditional
forms of high school learning.
• A r t s - b a s e d
learning had
a far more
p o w e r f u l
impact on the
collaborative
behaviors of
adults than
t r a d i t i o n a l
l e a r n i n g ,
b a s e d o n
actual observed behaviors.
Examples from the final week of
the study: arts-based teams
exhibited 56% more instances of
empathic listening, 33% more
instances of mutual respect being
shown, 119% more instances of
trust being demonstrated and
24% more sharing of leadership.
All differences cited here are
statistically significant.
• The innovation outputs of high
school student teams who had
arts-based learning showed 111%
greater insight into the challenge,
a 74% greater ability to clearly
identify a relevant problem, a 43%
improvement in problem solving,
and their innovations had 68%
more impact. All are statistically
significant.
• 120 days after the study, high
school students who had arts-
based learning were 24% more
likely to have been able to apply
t h e l e a r n i n g t o s c h o o l ,
extracurricular, work or volunteer
activities, than students who had
traditional learning. They were
also 44% more optimistic in their
belief that the training would
prove helpful in those realms in
the future.
It also can help
s t u d e n t s w h o
have previously
had difficulty in
STEM courses,
says Maureen
Sullivan, science,
art, and literacy
coach for the San
F r a n c i s c o ,
California, Unified School District. The arts
can give these students “a pathway for
success,” she explains.
Integration also benefits teachers. “Having
students express their understanding of
science in multiple ways gives the teachers
insight into what students understand and
don’t understand about science,” says
Donna Sterling, professor of science
education at George Mason University in
Fairfax County, Virginia.
“ I t h i n k t h a t i t i s i m p o r t a n t t o
integrate everything into STEM lessons,”
says Donna Barton of Cedar Hills
Elementary School in Jacksonville, Florida.
“By integrating other curriculum content
areas, students not only are able to see
how science is important to aspects of
everyday life, but it also allows them the
8
“Having students express their
understanding of science in multiple
ways gives the teachers insight into
what students understand and don’t
understand about science.”

opportunity for real-world application of
science and math knowledge.”
INSPIRED USE OF ARTS
There are many excellent cases described
at http://stemtosteam.org/.
Megan Simmons and Amee
Godwin, education program
manager and director of strategic
initiatives, at the Study of
K n o w l e d g e M a n a g e m e n t i n
Education (ISKME), a non-profit
research institute in Half Moon Bay,
California, cite ISKME’s Sun Curve
D e s i g n C h a l l e n g e ( h t t p : / /
wiki.oercommons.org/mediawiki/
index.php/Sun_Curve_Challenge)
as an example of incorporating
design and creativity into science
learning.
Sun Curve, created by San
Francisco’s INKA Biospheric
Systems and inventor-sculptor Paul
Giacomantonio, consists of a
vertical hydroponic garden attached
to a fishpond, along with a sculpture
—“sculpture as a scientific
laboratory,” explains Godwin. It
serves as inspiration for student
teams participating in the challenge,
which asks them to design a
working model for an affordable and
renewable way to grow food.
Simmons says students are “finding
inspiration from nature” and
incorporating green design and technology
as they work to create a “beautiful, but
functional” solution. They will share their
ideas via videos, slideshows, sketches,
and other artistic channels.
Other ways to combine science and the
arts abound, says Simmons. Students can
draw or act out a tree’s life cycle. They can
write a poem or play about a scientific
process, such as decomposition of leaves.
Studying famous naturalists such as
Darwin “shows how important their
drawings and detailed field journals have
been to the preservation and advancement
of scientific thought,” notes Liftig.
Renee Wilcox challenged her students “to
design and build a vehicle that could travel
down a ramp in a straight line for at least
100 cm.” Her students created drawings of
and wrote about their designs and
presented their final products to their
classmates in “commercials complete with
9
Sun'Curve

advertising drama and student-created
jingles.”
ARTS CAN HELP LEARN
SCIENCE
At this point, the debate in America about
art and science is coming to a conclusion:
the disciplines very much need each other.
Explaining the Universe: Why Arts
Education and Science Education Need
Each Other, author, scientist, and educator,
Alan Friedman, said almost 10 years ago "I
am a science educator who finds this story
(of the Universe) deeply fascinating and
profound." But most children do not know
this story. “The solution is not just finding
more good science teachers and
developing good science curricula, but also
encouraging more and better arts
education."
The National Science Teachers Association
(NSTA), was even more adamant when
they issued a paper in 2010 called
"Reaching Students Through the Arts,"
emphasizing how "Teachers of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) are discovering that by adding an
"A" -- the arts -- to STEM, learning will pick
up STEAM."
Whether we call it STEM or STEAM is not
that important really. What is important--
crucially important-- is that the arts and art
integration greatly enhance the learning
process and give people the "new thinking
skills" they need for the creative economy.
Closer home, can Indian schools look at
such novel ways to make science more
appealing to students? We sure hope so. 
Sources:
1. http://www.artstem.org/wp-
content/uploads/2010/09/ WhyArtEdandScienceEdNeedEachOther.pdf
2. http://scienceblogs.com/art_of_science_learning/2011/03/16/helping-students-relate-to-sci-1/
3. http://www.artofsciencelearning.org/3rd-year-project-update-report/
4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-m-eger/arts-based-learning-of-st_b_8724148.html?
ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in
5. http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=56924
6. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/07/11/artists-and-scientists-more-alike-
than-different/
7. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/08/22/from-stem-to-steam-science-and-
the-arts-go-hand-in-hand/
10
"Teachers of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
are discovering that by adding an "A" --
the arts -- to STEM, learning will pick up
STEAM."

11
“Design(is(not(
a(job(skill,(it(
is(a(life(skill,(
one(that(
touches(every(
aspect(of(
your(life.(“

Concurrence: How has the last year
been for IBM in India? What have
been some signiﬁcant achievements
and milestones from a design
perspective?
Sudhindra: The
l a s t y e a r h a s
actually been one
o f t h e m o s t
significant years
for the company. It
has been truly
transformational,
a n d w e h a v e
launched several
initiatives to embed design as a culture in
the organization. We have some distance
to go, but the initiatives over the last year
and a half have been a fantastic start. We
have launched 20 studios around the world
and are very excited about the way the
future is shaping up for the largest
experience design firm in
the world.
Concurrence: With
this in mind, how do
you visualize 2016
rolling out?
Sudhindra: It’s going to
be tremendously exciting.
The market conditions
are conducive and we
intend to capitalize fully
on this opportunity. IBM
Interactive Experience
(IXM) is poised for explosive growth. In a
way, all the preparation of the last year or
two is like the apparent chaos in an artist’s
studio that precedes a great work of art.
The kind of work we are planning is going
to be transformative and as a consequence
we will add more businesses, more clients,
more people.
Concurrence: What are some
strategies and tools adopted at IBM to
promote Creativity and Innovation
among its employees?
Sudhindra: We are in fact very conscious
of the way we plan to incorporate design
into the culture of the organization. Three
things will help us achieve this objective.
First, hiring the right set of people, be it
from leading design schools, design
agencies or lateral hires with the desired
skill set. Second, establishing the physical
infrastructure. We already have 20 studios
and we plan to scale that up to a lot more
12
Tête-à-tête
A conversation with Sudhindra V, Chief Design Officer India at IBM Interactive Experience, Digital
Experiences Architect and Strategist

soon. We will also hold design workshops
in these studios, not just for our employees
but also for clients. Third, a well-
established design thinking framework. We
are very clear that design thinking will be a
core focus for the organization and are
confident that we have the right ingredients
to make that happen.
Concurrence: How would you deﬁne
design?
Sudhindra: Design is not a job skill, it is a
life skill, one that touches every aspect of
your life. I believe that design is an attitude.
When you’re a designer, you’re a leader;
you’re creating a world, one that
doesn’t exist yet. But design has
also become a much-abused
term. I believe designers
s h o u l d t a k e t h e
responsibility to
make sure the
essence of
d e s i g n i s
retained.
Concurrence:
How do you achieve that ﬁne balance
between aesthetics and functionality?
Sudhindra: People mistake design for a
beautiful screen, when it really goes so
much beyond that. Yes, a product needs to
be aesthetically pleasing, but equally, or
more important is functionality. But like
Steve Jobs said, the most important
question to ask is, how does this product
change my life? This goes well beyond
both aesthetics and function. A phone
might have a beautiful screen, and work
well enough, but for a mother calling up her
child’s school in a panic, what role does it
play in her life? Does it enable, or does it
hinder? Companies that have been able to
understand this vital aspect have been
enormously successful.
Concurrence: What are the elements
of good design, in your opinion?
Sudhindra: First, and foremost is people-
centricity. As a designer, I want to design
and then get out of the way. The focus
should remain on the customer and what
he needs. Second, design is iterative.
There is no such thing as the best design,
because a fantastic product today will be
redundant tomorrow. The most effective
design is what works well,
f o r t h a t m o m e n t .
Third, it is important
to recognize that
design is not an
output, but a
process.
Concurrence:
That is absolutely true.
Design is a process, and a creative one
at that. In your view, how does
creativity help an organization evolve,
both for business sustenance and
growth?
Sudhindra: I recall this study that was
conducted a couple of years ago. The
CEOs of several large companies were
asked what they thought was the most
important ingredient for success. The
surprising answer across the board was
creativity. Every organization has
constraints, but it is these constraints that
birth true creativity. They say that even an
iconic product like the Volkswagen Beetle
13

was born out of constraints. It helps
connect the dots, and in a world with
increasingly scarce resources, helps
generate previously unseen solutions.
Predictability has
suffered, and
2 0 - y e a r
e c o n o m i c
forecasts are no
longer viable. In
t h i s
environment,
creativity has
become more
relevant than
ever before. A
lot of companies
have realized
this, and are
a t t e m p t i n g
different ways to
spark creativity
and move away from the traditional focus
on process. I have tried a few experiments
myself, and they have worked wonderfully
to create energy in my teams.
Concurrence: We are keen to explore
how learning from the world of the
arts and the process of the artist can
beneﬁt businesses across the world. In
your opinion, what are some key areas
where you see businesses learn from
the world of arts and the artists?
Sudhindra: Art has preceded design for
thousands of years, if you go back to the
first cave paintings made by man. And
while it has inspired design, art has always
been very individualistic. Art is not created
with the intent to please and in its purest
form, is the expression of the artist. Design,
on the other hand is engineered to meet an
objective. If design is the solution, art
inspires that solution. As a designer, you
want engineering solutions that can evoke
emotion, like only the most powerful art
can. A good example of this are the new
robots, which though engineered, take an
art form. Usability is important of course,
but at times that need not be the most
important thing; desirability is. A violin is not
easy to use, but the quality of the
experience it gives makes it worth the
effort. If you think only as an engineer, you
create a product, but if you think like an
artist, you create an experience. I’d like to
believe I am an experience artist.
Concurrence: What are your
expectations from organisations like
The Painted Sky, that promote Art-
Based Training Initiatives? How can
14
www.fastcompany.com
If you think only as an engineer, you
create a product, but if you think like an
artist, you create an experience. I’d like
to believe I am an experience artist.

they improve their oﬀerings and
training outcomes to be more relevant
in the current scenario?
Sudhindra: I am very excited about
companies like The Painted Sky that are
poised exactly at the intersection between
business and art. A lot of people don’t even
know about these companies, so I’d say
the primary responsibility is to educate and
spread awareness about what you do, and
the possibilities of it. The second, is setting
standards and benchmarks. The third, is
staying true to your
core – being art-
based, because that
i s t h e r e a l
differentiator. If I were
to draw a design
parallel, your work
has to affect people on three levels –
visceral, behavioural and reflective, i.e., it
has to work for clients, it has to tell a story,
and it has to move people.
Concurrence: Finally, Sudhindra, the
man. With a lifetime in design,
creativity has been a core facet of your
professional life. How has this
impacted you as a person?
Sudhindra: It’s been life changing. I am
more evolved as a person, more
empathetic. I am able to think broad, and
think big. Family and friends say they seek
my opinion because I am able to connect
the dots. A colleague once requested me to
give a presentation on her behalf because
she said I was able to explain it in human
terms, and I think that has been the real
transformation for me. I don’t see people
for the roles they play, but for the human
behind it, and that’s an art. People with a
design mindset also have it spilling over
into their homes. For example, I don’t have
a clock in my living room because I don’t
want my guests to look at the time when
they are with me, but just focus on having a
good time. It has worked wonderfully.
Concurrence: What have been your
key learnings, being both associated
with the world of arts and leading a
highly creative organization?
Sudhindra: Leadership, for one. I am a
more empathetic leader. I am at ease in
any environment and can adapt to new
situations. I have led really large teams and
I believe I have
b e e n a b l e t o
u n d e r s t a n d
people better and
represent them
appropriately.
Most important of
all, I have learnt to not just deal with
ambiguity, but embrace it. Design is also
intensely humbling; regardless of how
successful your last product has been, you
have to be willing to go back to the drawing
board and start all over again.
Sudhindra) V) is) Chief) Design) Oﬃcer) India) at)
IBM) Interac8ve) Experience,) Digital)
Experiences)Architect)and)Strategist.)A)People)
Leader,)he)is)an)advocate)of)Emo8onal)Design)
and) is) passionate) about) aesthe8cs) and)
usability.) His) interests) include) exploring) and)
developing) interfaces) that) shape) behavior)
and) habits) and) that) enhance) the) quality) of)
everyday)life.
15
Design has taught me to see the person,
the human being behind the role.

I must confess that I was stumped when
my South Africa-based corporate trainer
friend, Rajni Nair asked me to share my
thoughts on "How Business can learn from
Arts." She gave me a 1000-word limit and
left me wondering how to approach the
task. But now, when I pause to think about
what Rajni wants me to do, I realise that
examples of art influencing the world of
business are all around me. For instance,
there is growing literature on the influence
of design thinking on business. Then there
is the famous anecdote about how Steve
Jobs' exposure to the art of calligraphy
profoundly influenced his thinking and
ultimately took industrial design to new
heights. More recently, one notices that
scholars have been studying electronic
games to generate insights on intrinsic
motivation and work design. Indeed, the
business world has gained a lot from the
arts in general, and the creative arts in
particular.
Sometime ago, while preparing for my
class on "Creativity," I had come across a
TED Talks lecture by David Kelly, the
founder of the highly influential US design
firm, IDEO. In that talk, David described
how an insensitive school teacher
16
Conquering "I am not
the Creative type" Phobia
Dr Samir Shrivastava
Image credit: www.play.google.com

destroyed the creative urges of a third-
grader and probably gave the child a long-
lasting creativity phobia. Later, David went
on to meet Albert Bandura(AB), a
psychologist who had discovered a method
to cure people of their phobias. Thanks to
AB, people petrified of snakes would find
soon themselves taking snakes into their
laps. How could AB achieve this? The
answer was in the application of his notion
of "self-efficacy." I will devote the balance
of my thousand words to this notion. An
understanding of the theoretical principles
that underpin self-efficacy should come in
handy to corporate trainers as they design
their art-based training interventions. As
D a v i d K e l l y
observed in his
t a l k , h i s
e x p e r i e n c e
heading IDEO
had also taught
him that people
really could be
cured of their fear
o f n o t b e i n g
creative. He implied that he too, through
trial and error, had stumbled upon the
principles of self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy may be defined as one's belief
in one's ability to achieve whatever it is that
one sets out to achieve. People increase
their self efficacy through four ways: (i)
Progressive mastery: doing something
themselves and gradually becoming better
at it; (ii) Learning through observing others:
seeing that folks similar to themselves had
actually managed to achieve the goal in
question; (iii) Receiving verbal affirmation:
words of encouragement from a
knowledgeable and trustworthy source
tend to be beneficial; and (iv) Emotional
arousal: a positive gung-ho mood that
primes one to undertake an impending task
with confidence.
Assume that your aim as a corporate
trainer is to convince a bunch of cynical
executives that they are all highly creative
and that they could collectively produce an
oil painting (or a sculpture or whatever) that
would command a $10,000 price tag in the
commercial art market. Let us now see
how one might apply one's knowledge of
self-efficacy to this art-based training
intervention.
If such an exercise has run before, it would
make sense to show video clippings of
people working in a similar workshop and
their end product.
Even if an exercise is
being run for the first
time, it would pay
dividends to share
evidence of how a
group of amateurs
mastered some skill
that they thought was
beyond them. The
recommendation just made, of course,
pertains to the fact people can learn from
observing others. However, the most
potent contributor to self-efficacy tends to
be progressive mastery. The trick is not to
initially expose people to anything that
could destroy their confidence. This implies
taking baby steps -- tasks or exercises
ought to be made progressively difficult.
Ideally, the executives could be tasked to
make prototypes and gradually master the
relevant techniques in the initial sessions.
In effect, AB's work tells us that at times it
can be counter-productive to throw people
in the deep end.
Furthermore, at each stage, it would be
useful to get an expert to provide honest
and constructive feedback to the
17
Self-efficacy may be defined as one's
belief in one's ability to achieve
whatever it is that one sets out to
achieve.

executives. As noted above, people do
respond to receiving verbal affirmation.
Finally, before the executives get to work
on their "commercial" art project, they
could be shown evidence of what a
previous project managed to achieve. For
example, an auction result that fetched a
handsome amount for a charitable cause
could be highlighted. Articulating a larger
cause to emotionally fire up executives for
their impending task should work. Once the
artwork gets completed, the executives
could be de-briefed. In all probability they
would be highly receptive to the trainer in
identifying the four self-efficacy enhancing
techniques that were used to produce the
desired goal. The aim of course would be
to convince the executives that the
techniques could be used to generate a
creative solution under virtually any
context. Interestingly, AB's work has been
used to improve student performance in
primary and secondary schools, control
risk-taking behaviours of AIDS patients,
improve athletic performance in the sports
arena, and so forth.
The work done in the area of self-efficacy
and at IDEO suggests that there is a
creative spark in each of us. In the main,
we need some hand-holding in the initial
stages and words of affirmation. What
better way than an art-based training
project to help people from the business
world discover this powerful truth? Such a
journey of self-discovery can not only do
wonders for the bottom line of a firm, but it
can also produce self-confident individuals
who are unafraid to tackle big challenges
across all walks of life.
Dr# Samir# Shrivastava# is# a# Senior# Lecturer# (Organisa5on# Studies# and# HRM)# at# the# Faculty# of#
Business# and# Law,# Swinburne# University# of# Technology,# Melbourne,# Australia.# Prior# to# joining#
Swinburne's# Faculty# of# Business# &# Enterprise,# Samir# was# a# postgraduate# fellow# at# Bond#
University.#He#had#earlier#served#in#the#Indian#Army#as#an#infantry#oﬃcer#for#over#11#years#and#
also# freelanced# as# a# management# consultant.# Samir# has# taught# across# a# range# of# subjects#
including# Organisa5onal# Behaviour,# Strategy# (Capstone# unit),# Human# Resources# Management#
(HRM)# and# Entrepreneurship.# He# currently# oﬀers# a# postgraduate# course# in# Strategic# Human#
Resource# Management.# Informed# by# systems# thinking,# Samir# is# interested# in# developing# and#
tes5ng#theore5cal#frameworks#that#would#allow#one#to#bridge#the#macroSmicro#divide#in#the#HR#
and#organisa5onal#behaviour#area#in#general,#and#the#organisa5onal#learning#area#in#par5cular.#
Samir's#secondary#interests#lie#in#organiza5onal#jus5ce#and#organisa5onal#responses#to#accidents#
and# disasters.# Samir's# work# has# been# published# in# journals# such# as# Human# Rela5ons,# Human#
Resource#Management,#Journal#of#Business#Ethics,#Human#Resource#Development#Interna5onal,#
and#Journal#of#Management#&#Organiza5on.#
18
The work done in the area of self-
efficacy and at IDEO suggests that
there is a creative spark in each of us.

If you have ever not walked in on someone
using an airplane bathroom, you are
familiar with the work of David Kelley who,
in his first job at Boeing, created the
Lavatory Occupied sign—and then went on
to be a pioneer in the field of design
thinking. Design thinking is a flexible and
iterative, almost scientific methodology that
adapts the stages of product design—
observation, analysis, planning, and testing
—into a framework for solving problems in
any field, ensuring that things are usable,
and bathrooms stay private.
We all know about design thinking and its
value in software. But there’s another kind
of thinking no one talks about—artistic
thinking. If design thinking asks, "how can
we do it better?" art thinking asks
something fundamental: What is possible?
Design thinking values empathy with users
—it’s how a company like Boeing rapid-
19
Fast%Company%
Coding Is An Art - Software People
Should Learn "Art Thinking"
The tech world is being inundated by design gurus preaching "iteration!" But thinking like an artist
can be more profound for programmers—and more natural.
Amy$Whitaker!!

prototypes better planes. Art thinking
comes first—it’s right there with the Wright
brothers as they crash-land, figuring out
whether flight is even possible.
Design Thinking vs. Art
Thinking
Designers usually begin with a problem to
be solved. As Tim Brown, one of Kelley’s
cofounders in the design firm Ideo, wrote in
the Harvard Business Review in 2008,
design thinking is "a creative human-
centered discovery process… followed
by iterative cycles of prototyping,
testing, and refinement." In the same
way that entrepreneurs are asked what
pain point their product addresses,
designers are asked what solutions they
can find.
Although the design
process can be full of
"eureka!" moments and
true contributions to
how we all live, what it
misses from art thinking
is a comfort with the
possibility of failure. In design thinking, you
implicitly believe a solution is possible. In
art thinking, you are leading from questions
—trying to ask the biggest, messiest, most
important questions, even if you are not
sure you can answer them. Accepting that
you might fail actually frees you to fumble
inelegantly, to learn, even to waste time.
Even if you move forward unpredictably in
fits and starts, you stand a greater chance
of the brilliant breakthroughs that create
rather than meet demand. Art thinking
created the first iPhone; design thinking
made it a manufacturable, cultural
phenomenon.
Art and design thinking can go hand in
hand, offering rigor in a Q&A form. But
leading from questions shifts the
perspective—from an external brief to an
internal compass. It allows people to bring
their whole selves to work, to contribute
from a place of authenticity and self-
knowledge. Art thinking embraces the
possibility that any of us might reinvent the
world, not just make it incrementally better.
For software builders who can effect
change at massive scales, this way of
thinking is especially powerful.
Redeﬁning Art To
Include Software
The German philosopher Martin Heidegger
published a 1947 essay called "The Origin
of the Work of Art" in
which he grappled with
d e f i n i n g a r t a s a
category. To give a
sense of how hard that
is to do, Heidegger
worked on the essay
from 1935 until 1960,
a n d o n l y s t o p p e d
because he died. The definition that I
would borrow from Heidegger’s essay is
this:
A work of art is something new in the world
that changes the world to allow itself to
exist.
What that means is that if you’re at point A,
you’re not going to point B. You’re
instantiating point B. Focusing on solutions
finds the best outcome in the Point A world.
Focusing on questions creates a new
world, in a large or small way.
20
A work of art is something new
in the world that changes the
world to allow itself to exist.

 
21
“Design thinking is
a creative human-
centered discovery
process… followed
by iterative cycles
of prototyping,
testing, and
refinement.”
- Tim Brown

Things To Remember
For Coders Deep In The
Weeds
Watching people invent point B worlds can
create tricks in perception where—because
they have created a new world—we forget
how uncertain the work was when they
started at point A. It is easy to think other
people’s creative work was always there, a
foregone conclusion. Of course the Beatles
wrote those songs and the Wright brothers
invented flight. The outcomes seem almost
predetermined.
In 1967, Edward Jones and Victor Harris
published a paper called "The Attribution of
Attitudes" in The Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology. In it they described a
bias in perception so acute they dubbed it
a fundamental attribution error. We have a
tendency to look at other people’s behavior
as fixed and our own as situational. We
think, that guy’s a jerk, but I’m having a bad
day. When looking at other people’s
creativity, it is very easy to think, that guy is
a creative genius, and I am stuck.
When you are inside your own creative
process, you are really in the weeds.
Everything is subjective and changeable.
But if you’re looking at other people’s
creativity, it is a fixed external reality. You
have a view of their work from 30,000 feet,
after the fact of its creation.
Forgetting that their process was difficult
and uncertain can discourage you from
embracing that process yourself. Imagining
that other people are also in the weeds
humanizes them.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “We do
not know today whether we are busy or
idle. In times we thought ourselves
indolent, we have afterward discovered,
that much was accomplished and much
was begun in us. All our days are so
unprofitable while they pass, that 'tis
wonderful where or when we ever got
anything of this which we call wisdom,
poetry, virtue. We never got it on any
dated calendar day.”
It is easy to forget the delicacy of creative
breakthroughs. It is easy to imagine that
they happen only for the hardest working
person hunched over the chemist’s bench,
or for the most creative person having a
Don Draper three-martini lunch. Working
life and leisure are not as separate. And
discovery of the new world is not as
mappable. The stories of Whitfield Diffie
and Thomas Fogarty illustrate this point.
22
It is easy to think other people’s
creative work was always there, a
foregone conclusion. Of course the
Beatles wrote those songs and the
Wright brothers invented flight. The
outcomes seem almost predetermined.
When you are inside your own creative
process, you are really in the weeds.
Everything is subjective and
changeable. But if you’re looking at
other people’s creativity, it is a fixed
external reality.

Take AWhole-Life
Approach To Innovating
Whitfield Diffie is the mathematician and
computer scientist who invented public-
private key encryption—which is to say
Whitfield Diffie enables secure transactions
and some modicum of privacy on the
Internet. This idea of splitting the key, of
combining your private password with a
public key to unlock access, came to him
not while he was in a
S i l i c o n V a l l e y
research lab but
while he was house-
sitting for his mentor.
He had the idea
while he was walking
into the kitchen to get
a Coke.
He was prepared for
the insight—by his
s e l f - t a u g h t t o u r
driving cross-country
in a Datsun 510
scouring libraries for
books on encryption
and taking a job in
the Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stanford.
But in the moment, he was neither slaving
away nor praying for insight. In fact, he had
nearly given up hope that he would do
anything of value.
Diffie’s wife, Mary Fischer, said that the
night before his breakthrough, "He was
telling me that he should do something
else, that he was a broken-down
researcher." The insight would still take a
longer process to refine, over many months
working with his collaborator Martin
Hellman. But the insight came to the
original and prepared mind of a man whose
friends joked he had had "an alternative
lifestyle since the age of 5."
As Steven Levy wrote, "at one time, it
looked like Diffie might slip into obscurity
as an eccentric hacker who never made
much of his genius for math and his laser-
focus mind." But then Diffie came up with
"the most revolutionary concept in
encryption since the Renaissance."
Another example is Thomas Fogarty, who
is credited with pioneering
non-invasive surgery. In the
1960s, Thomas Fogarty
i n v e n t e d t h e b a l l o o n
catheter. It is a device that
e n a b l e s a s i m p l e
cardiovascular surgery. It is
still used over 300,000 times
each year and has saved an
estimated 20 million lives.
Fogarty invented it when he
was in high school. He was
a self-professed juvenile
delinquent who had to be
either "busy or supervised."
At the age of 13, he was
given a part-time job in a
hospital solely because
hospitals were exempt from
child labor laws. He saw a problem: At the
time, if a patient had a blood clot, the
surgeon would open up the length of the
artery to remove it. Many patients died.
Many others had to come back for
amputations. So he went home and tried to
figure out a better way. It wasn’t just that he
invented a better device; it was that he
changed the surgical paradigm. People
thought back then that "the bigger the
incision, the better the surgeon."
To make the device, Fogarty had to attach
a vinyl catheter to the finger of a latex
23

glove. But no glue existed then that would
make them adhere. So he tied them
together with knots instead. The only
reason Fogarty knew how to tie knots was
that he used to cut school by jumping out
the window to go fly fishing. The skills and
experiences from his leisure life made his
medical breakthrough possible. The engine
was not his expertise but his curiosity.
Art thinking represents this kind of whole-
life approach, despite the pressures toward
efficiency or the psychological desire to
know something will succeed.
Freeing Yourself From
"Productivity"
The main, paradoxical gift of art thinking is
its freedom from productivity. Wasted time
might be exactly the lateral move that
opens up the field of play. Roger Bannister,
the runner who famously broke the four-
minute barrier in the mile, actually nearly
gave up and went away on a hiking trip
with friends just before his times improved.
Art thinking is not a world of quick wins and
assured success. You may not come up
with the best solution right off the bat. You
may have to wean yourself off of the
constant need for external validation, which
can be terrifying in cultures—corporate,
academic, or otherwise—where advancing
or keeping your job is based on exactly that
sense of meeting outside goals and
expectations.
At its worst, art thinking provides a cover
for mediocrity and laziness because no
outcome is required. But at its best, it can
create the openness and stability from
which true, and often unexpected,
breakthroughs can occur.
Artistic process requires leaning in to an
almost existential uncertainty. And
restlessness in the face of uncertainty is a
human problem. Everyday life offers a
master class in how to maintain attention
and intention in the midst of flashing
message lights, constant breaking news
news, expectations of instant feedback,
and crippling administrative process or
days of meetings. It is hard to stay open to
broad questions, not just quick wins.
As Tim Brown writes, "We believe that
great ideas pop fully formed out of brilliant
minds, in feats of imagination well beyond
the abilities of mere mortals." We are
seeing that work from the outside, without
the messy failures and weedy false starts.
The myth of artistic genius is a hardy
category, but usually a fictional one.
Six Ways to Apply Art
Thinking
1. Schedule Studio Time. If outcomes
are uncertain, the discipline is in the
process. The goal is simply to
cordon off protected time. Google
24
At its worst, art thinking provides a
cover for mediocrity and laziness
because no outcome is required. But at
its best, it can create the openness and
stability from which true, and often
unexpected, breakthroughs can occur.

20% time is a process goal, out of
which came AdSense and Gmail.
2. Coordinate. In some small
companies, teams of computer
programmers often report out to
each other at day’s end, just to
share what they are working on and
to hold themselves accountable.
Often, work is lessened. One person
has already written a portion of code
and can share it. For art thinking,
managers could think of monthly
meetups as the equivalent of an art-
school pin-up.
3. Prove the Rule by Disproving it. If
art thinking has the risk of failure,
t h e n e m b r a c e f a i l u r e a s a
brainstorming tool. What are the
biggest, most important, most
relevant questions that you believe
certainly that you cannot answer?
How can this list help you arrive at
the big question you do want to work
on? Art thinking and game theory
converge.
4. Go Off the Grid. In one of his
workshops, the stress-reduction
guru and doctor Jon Kabat-Zinn
draws nine dots on a blackboard—a
3x3 square. He then invites anyone
in the room to connect the dots
using only four straight lines. The
way to solve the puzzle is to go
outside the confines of the original
question, to draw broad sweeping
lines that extend far outside the
corners of the square. In any
meeting or work, when you are most
driven to conclusion, ask yourself
the question you are trying to
answer. You may have articulated
the question with assumed
limitations, like trying to draw lines
inside the space of a box. The
pause lets you realize the actual
question is bigger.
5. Designate producers. Hugh
Musick, longtime associate dean at
the Institute of Design in Chicago,
makes a case for the category of the
"producer." A producer is a person
who midwifes the creative idea into
the practical world. Designating one
team member as the producer frees
the rest of the team to explore the
unworkable big risk, big reward
space. A department can have a
producer role, or in a strategic
review planning session, team
members can take turns acting as
the producer or go-between in blue-
sky and budget-planning modes.
6. Cultivate a whole-person culture.
A fraction of now-famous artists—
and a handful of now-famous CEOs
—were nearly kicked out of art
school, or fired from early jobs.
Creating space and acceptance for
others to bring their full creative
potential to work—navigating shame
and resilience, as in the work of
Brené Brown—makes it easier to
keep the Whitfeld Diffies and the
Thomas Fogartys engaged in the
team instead of making balloon
catheters at home after work. We
will always want tools for solving
problems.
We will always strive to work hard and be
productive. But we must also leave space
for the moment when truly great ideas
strike. As Whitfield Diffie said of his famous
invention: "I went downstairs to get a Coke
and I almost lost it. I mean, there was this
moment when—I was thinking about
something. What was it? And then I got it
back and didn't forget it."
25

“Eureka!” As every schoolchild knows,
Archimedes was settling back in a warm bath
when he noticed the water level rising. In one
microsecond, he had solved the problem of
how to determine the purity of a knobbly gold
crown that the king had sent him by measuring
the amount of water it displaced, and thus
computing its volume and density. So he leapt
out of the bath naked and ran off down the
Smyrna waterfront shouting: “Eureka! I have
found it!”
In The Eureka Factor, neuroscientists John
Kounios and Mark Beeman give many other
examples of this kind of lightning bolt of insight,
but back this up with the latest brain-imaging
research. Eureka or aha moments are sudden
realisations that expand our understanding of
the world and ourselves, conferring both
personal growth and practical advantage.
Such creative insights, as psychological
scientists call them, were what conveyed an
important discovery in the science of
genetics to Nobel laureate Barbara
McClintock, the melody of a Beatles ballad to
Paul McCartney, and an understanding of
the cause of human suffering to the Buddha.
But these moments of clarity are not given only
to the famous. Anyone can have them.
And that is what is so delicious about these
“aha!” happenings - that they arrive without the
slightest sweat or toil, usually completely
26
Book Review
The Eureka
Factor:
Decoding
the Aha
Moments
Eureka or aha moments are sudden
realisations that expand our
understanding of the world and
ourselves, conferring both personal
growth and practical advantage.

formed. Paul McCartney woke up one morning
with a tune in his head. He jotted it down,
played it on the piano, added a few words and
there was Yesterday. “If you’re really lucky, they
just arrive and you kinda just write ’em down,”
said Sir Paul.
In a book perfect for readers of Charles
Duhigg's The Power of Habit, David
Eagleman's Incognito, and Leonard Mlodinow's
Subliminal, the cognitive neuroscientists who
discovered how the
brain has aha moments
—sudden creative
insights—explain how
they happen, when we
need them, and how
we can have more of
them to enrich our lives
and empower personal
a n d p r o f e s s i o n a l
success.
In The Eureka Factor, Kounios and Beeman
explain how insights arise and what the
scientific research says about stimulating more
of them. They discuss how various conditions
affect the likelihood of your having an insight,
when insight is helpful and when deliberate
methodical thought is better suited to a task,
what the relationship is between insight and
intuition, and how the brain's right hemisphere
contributes to creative thought.
One of the most telling examples Kounios and
Beeman give is of an American fireman called
Wag Dodge. He was leading a team of 15
fighting a blaze which they, suddenly, had to try
and outrun. The fire was moving too fast for
them, so Wag stopped, took out a match and lit
the dry grass ahead of him. When the grass
had burned through, he lay down in the ashes
and was saved.
Thirteen of his
comrades died.
The solution was
known to the Plains
Indians but not to
the Fire Service. A
sudden insight had
saved him. Using
MRI scanners for a
series of cognitive
problems has revealed some areas of the brain
work when we consciously analyse a problem,
while other areas light up when we have a
“eureka” moment. Kounios and Beeman
identify several stages of insight. First there is
an impasse, next a diversion and finally
illumination. Things like rewards and deadlines
encourage analytic thought but are the enemy
27
Things like rewards and deadlines
encourage analytic thought but are the
enemy of insight, while daydreaming
and fantasising all prime the pump.

of insight, while daydreaming and fantasising
all prime the pump.
The true value of this book lies in the practical,
research-based tips it offers readers in order to
create more moments of insight in their own
lives. For instance, did you know that sensory
deprivation is helpful in problem solving? (In
other words, when you get stuck—turn off the
lights! Better yet, take a shower.) Furthermore,
your most “creative” time of day will typically be
when your analytical powers are at their lowest
point—meaning that if you are a person who is
most efficient and sharp in the morning, save
your broad-thinking, creative work for the
nighttime.
Written in a lively, engaging style, this book
goes beyond scientific principles to offer
productive techniques for realizing your
creative potential—at home and at work. The
authors provide compelling anecdotes to
illustrate how eureka experiences can be a key
factor in your life. Attend a dinner party with
Christopher Columbus to learn why we need
insights. Go to a baseball game with the
director of a classic Disney Pixar movie to
learn about one important type of aha moment.
Observe the behind-the-scenes arrangements
for an Elvis Presley concert to learn why the
timing of insights is crucial.
True, creative thinking may come more easily
to some than to others–the book draws a
distinction between “Insightfuls” and “Analysts”;
you can probably guess which type is more
receptive to those elusive “aha” moments–but
as The Eureka Factor posits, anyone can
increase the frequency of insights in his or her
life by understanding the brain science behind
“aha” moments, and cultivating the conditions
necessary for them to occur. Accessible and
compelling, The Eureka Factor is a fascinating
look at the human brain and its seemingly
infinite capacity to surprise us.
Sources:
1. http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/17/birth-great-
idea-321279.html
2. https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/262006937/
The-Eureka-Factor
3. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-
kounios/the-eureka-factor/
Kounios, J and Beeman, M. The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the
Brain. New York: Random House, 2015. 
28

I" have" always" felt" somewhat" left" out" when"
people" talk" about" meditation" and" how"
powerful"and"transformative"it"has"been"for"
them."Every"time"I"have"tried"it,"I"have"found"
my" mind" full" of" noise," and" no," it" does" not"
quiet"down."It"starts"wandering,"towards"the"
million"tasks"on"my"plate"that"day,"the"thorny"
problem" I" am" grappling" with" at" work," the"
complex"decision"of"what"to"cook"for"dinner."
Meditation" has" never" left" me" feeling"
refreshed;" it" usually" leaves" me" irritated" or"
drowsy." Until" I" discovered" painting." Now" I"
have" to" concede," I"
have" NO" artistic"
talent" whatsoever."
In" fact," I" am" one" of"
those"poor"sods"who"
have" been" eternally"
c u r s e d ." I" a m"
s u r r o u n d e d" b y"
annoyingly" talented"
friends"who"seem"to"
produce"masterpieces"
with" just" a" Dlick" of" their" CamelFwielding"
wrists.""
What" then," possessed" me" to" pick" up" the"
brush?"Literally,"Diguratively,"yes,"all"of"that."It"
all" began" with" a" shopping" trip." Of" course,"
when" one" spends" a" signiDicant" portion" of"
one’s" life" shopping," most" anything" begins"
with"a"shopping"trip,"but"that’s"neither"here"
nor" there." Anyway." At" the" time," the" dessert"
plateFsized" clay" butterDlies" had" shone" with"
artistic" promise." Maybe" the" fumes" of"
creativity"in"Dilli"Haat"had"gone"to"my"head,"
or"maybe"it"was"just"the"Delhi"heat."I"actually"
believed" I" could" transform" the" hunks" of"
brown"clay"into"colourful"objets'd’arts,'artful"
tchotchkes," whatever." With" no" divine"
intervention."Ha."Weeks"became"months"and"
then" years," but" the" butterDlies" remained" a"
resolute"brown.""
Until"one"day,"when"work"had"fried"my"brain"
to" an" incoherent" crisp" and" just" getting"
through" the" day" looked" like" a" Sisyphean"
impossibility."My"inbox"was"exploding,"but"I"
paced" the" house" like" a" caged" cat," unable" to"
focus," unable" to" relax." Music," books" and"
camomile," they" all" retreated" in" disgust." I"
happened" to" chance" upon" a" box" of" acrylic"
p a i n t ," a n d"
remembered"the"sad"
brown" butterDlies"
banished"to"the"back"
of" the" closet." A"
cobwebbed" rescue"
m i s s i o n"
accomplished," I"
dashed"to"the"dining"
table." Shoving" the"
d e t r i t u s" o f" t h e"
morning" aside," I" sat" down" with" colour" and"
hope." For" the" Dirst" Dive" minutes" however," I"
stared,"the"naked"insects"as"intimidating"as"a"
blank"sheet"of"paper."Finally,"I"picked"up"the"
brush." When" in" doubt," choose" black," I"
decided" Dirmly." Dipping" the" brush" into" the"
velvety" paint," I" gingerly" applied" the" Dirst"
stroke."Then"another."And"another."After"the"
initial" awkwardness," the" brush" learned" to"
trust"me."Black"layered"beautiful"black."What"
next?"Red,"I"was"sure."As"I"helped"the"Dirst"of"
the"butterDlies"try"on"her"new"outDit,"I"felt"my"
jaw" unclench," and" my" tense" Dingers" loose"
their"death"grip"on"the"poor"brush."I"became"
aware" of" my" breathing," which" had" slowed"
down"to"a"less"frenetic"rhythm."As"the"noise"
around"and"within"me"quietened,"I"began"to"
29
Have Work, Will Paint.
Major Meghana Rajeshwar (Retd)
I have always felt somewhat left out
when people talk about meditation and
how powerful and transformative it has
been for them.

hear," and" to" listen." The" problems" I" had"
grappled" with" for" several" days" paid" me"
another" visit," but" this" time" round" they"
brought" friends" –" options" and" solutions"
hitherto" unconsidered." Some" I" met" with" a"
smile,"some"with"a"snarl."Through"it"all,"my"
brush"never"faltered,"my"eyes"seeing"nothing"
but" blank" canvas." Editorial" limitations"
prevent" any" more" of" a" blowFbyFblow," but"
enough" said." By" the" time" I" was" done" with"
Brown"ButterDly"#2,"I"was"ready,"even"eager"
to"get"back"to"work."The"pain"that"had"clung"
to"my"neck"like"a"spiteful"poltergeist"seemed"
to"have"disappeared."Oh,"who"am"I"kidding;"
but" said" poltergeist" seemed" to" have" left" a"
kinder"sibling"in"charge.""""
They" say" art" is" the" new" “in”" thing." Adult"
colouring" books" are" all" the" rage;" Secret'
Garden' has" toppled" 50' Shades' of'
Grey" from" the" bestseller" lists." Noted"
p s y c h o l o g i s t s" a r e"
recommending" going" back" t o" t h e"
drawing"board"(or"book,"as" t h e" c a s e"
may" be)." Apparently" it’s" the" new" path" to"
mental"peace."Naysayers"of"course,"scoff"at"
the" idea" of" adults" colouring" in" books" like"
little"children."(I’m"convinced"naysayers"go"
to"a"special"school"somewhere."Masters"
in" Naysaying," anyone?)" They" insist"
that"doodling"is"a"more"honest"form"
of"selfFexpression.""
Honest" or" otherwise," adult"
colouring" books" form" a" big" part"
of"Amazon’s"bestseller"list."And"it"
looks" like" they" are" here" to" stay."
Clinical" psychologist" Ben"
Michaelis" was" quoted" in" the"
HufDington" Post" as" saying,"
“There" is" a" long" history" of"
people"colouring"for"mental"health"
reasons." Carl" Jung" used" to" try" to"
get" his" patients" to" colour" in"
mandalas" at" the" turn" of" the" last"
century,"as"a"way"of"getting"people"to"focus"
and"to"allow"the"subconscious"to"let"go."Now"
we"know"it"has"a"lot"of"other"stressFbusting"
qualities"as"well.""Michaelis"refers"to"Mihály"
Csíkszentmihályi's" book" Flow' where"
colouring" is" deDined" as" an" autotelic" activity,"
an"immersive"and"absorbing"behaviour"that"
is" rewarding" in" and" of" itself." “Engaging" in"
autotelic"activities”,"he"says,"“has"been"shown"
to" improve" concentration" and" a" sense" of"
agency." Autotelic" activities" tend" to" decrease"
anxiety"and"selfFconsciousness."As"an"added"
beneDit," colouring" requires" the" use" of" Dine"
motor"skills,"which"can"reduce"the"impact"of"
ageFrelated"losses"in"dexterity."Colouring"can"
also" bring" back" fond" memories" from"
childhood," which" contributes" other" positive"
feelings"to"the"mix."Colouring"reduces"stress"
30

by"drawing"your"attention"to"a"concrete"and"
repetitive"activity."This"increases"your"focus"
and"activates"portions"of"your"parietal"lobe,"
which" are" connected" to" your" sense" of" self"
and" spirituality." Incidentally," these" are" the"
very" same" areas" that" are" active" during"
meditation" and" prayer." When" you" choose"
different" colours" or" types" of" implements"
(e.g.,"markers"vs."crayons)"the"parts"of"your"
brain"that"control"both"vision"and"creativity"
become"active.”
Indian" women" are" no" strangers" to" the"
therapeutic" effect" of" art." Every" morning,"
millions" of" Hindu" women" step" out" of" their"
homes," freshly" washed" and" fragrant" from"
their"morning"bath,"toss"a"bucket"of"water"to"
clean" the" front" yard," and" go" on" to" create"
exquisite," intricate" designs" on" the" ground,"
using"little"more"than"deft"Dingers"and"chalk"
powder." Called" rangoli" in" some" parts" of" the"
country,"kolam"in"some"others,"they"look"like"
close" cousins" of" Jung’s" mandalas." Festival"
days" are" marked" by" the" use" of" fancier"
materials" like" Dlower" petals" and" coloured"
sand" to" Dill" in" the" designs," more" colours,"
larger," more" elaborate" designs" and"
sometimes"oil"lamps."Though"the"practice"is"
falling" prey" to" urbanisation" and" the"
attendant"proliferation"of"apartments,"many"
women"still"consider"it"an"auspicious"start"to"
the" day." Huddled" over" a" morning" cuppa" in"
my"pitifully"small"apartment"balcony,"I"watch"
the"lady"in"the"sprawling"house"next"door"go"
about" this" familiar" morning" ritual." Sari"
hitched" up" above" her" calves" to" prevent" it"
31

from" getting" soiled," she" hunkers" over" the"
washed" granite" stones." A" bowl" of" chalk"
powder"is"clutched"in"her"left"hand."She"dips"
in" with" her" other" hand," takes" a" large" pinch"
and"releases"a"Dluid"line"on"the"ground."Dip"
again," release" again." Her" Dingers" move"
Dluently,"creating"works"of"art"from"memory"
and"imagination."Sometimes"she"starts"with"
a"matrix"of"dots"to"use"as"a"template,"other"
times" she" draws" freehand." She" never" refers"
to"a"design."
In"the"way"of"modern"city"life,"I"have"never"
spoken"to"her."I"imagine"she"would"say"that"
the" simple" ritual" calms" her," the" repetitive"
rhythm"creating"a"quiet"mental"space"for"her"
to"sort"through"the"day’s"agenda."A"fat"yellow"
Labrador" is" sprawled" nearby," watching" her"
patiently," wellFused" to" the" routine." It" is"
interesting"to"note"that"he"never"disturbs"the"
rangoli," although" that" might" be" more" a"
Pavlovian" response" to" a" hairbrush" on" his"
rump"than"an"appreciation"for"his"mistress’s"
art.""
Mandalas" or" rangolis," today" there" is" a" huge"
range" of" colouring" activities" designed" to"
unleash"the"Picasso"cowering"inside"each"of"
us," shushed" by" unreasonable" societal"
expectations" and" a" compulsion" to" follow"
“adult"hobbies”,"whatever"that"means.""
There’s" something" for" everyone," and" all" it"
requires"is"the"will"to"try"something"new.""
So," to" those" who" are" wondering," what"
happened"to"the"butterDlies?"Did"I"produce"a"
masterpiece"after"those"mystical"hours"with"
paint"and"brush?"Come"on."I"said"painting"is"
meditative,"I"didn’t"say"it"can"turn"mayhem"to"
Monet."But"that’s"not"really"the"point,"is"it?"
Sources:)
1.)h-p://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why7coloring7is7good7for7the7mind7body7and7
soul_b_8421922.html?secDon=india)
Meghana'is'a'trainer'with'The'Painted'Sky'and'runs'workshops'on'Intermediate'and'Advanced'
Presenta;on'Skills,'Communica;on'Skills'as'well'as'Type'Iden;fica;on'through'MBTI.'An'MBTI'
Cer;fied'Prac;;oner'and'an'avid'student'of'Transac;on'Analysis,'she'believes'in'leveraging'
psychology'to'transform'the'way'corporates'work.'She'cul;vates'and'enjoys'diverse'interests'
ranging'from'trekking'and'wri;ng'to'learning'languages.'She'has'recently'discovered'pain;ng'
and'its'immense'poten;al.'
32

Photos Concurrence, April 2016
Open Lab on Design Thinking -
‘Human Centred Design’
In Bangalore in March.
15 participants from 3 countries, spanning 6
organisations and 5 functions.
Facilitated by Sudhindra V., Chief Design Ofﬁcer,
IBM India.
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