Book Review: Creating Minds by Dr. Howard Gardner

Creating Minds an Anatomy of Creativity Seen through the Lives of Freud, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham and Gandhi by Dr. Howard Gardner delves into the personal lives of some of the world’s greatest geniuses and their chaotic development into full productivity.  Dr. Howard Gardner is a developmental psychologist and Professor of Cognition and Education at Harvard. He is best known for his ground breaking work on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. 

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences indicates that people have different processes for learning and developing. Schools often rely on only a few methods leaving many geniuses out of the academic arena. These arenas of learning are in the linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.  At present he is also considering an additional intelligence called existential intelligence which is the “consideration of big questions”. 

Within the book he looks deeply into the lives of seven creative geniuses in order to come to some conclusions. His review includes Picasso’s visual-spatial intelligence and the transcended interpretive frames of reference that he uses to change human perception of issues. He argues that each person has taken a Faustian bargain whereby they have put some aspects of their lives on hold as they went upon their personal missions that have led to profound breakthroughs. 

Each person has a set of tensions and asynchronous in development that when are not overwhelming lead the creative mind and new perceptions of life. Creators come from financially sound, but not necessarily wealthy families, and have a touch of estrangement from biological members. They hold certain values as important and work within fields a decade or more before making a major breakthrough. As they age their creative works become less even though their followership rises. 

The creative genius has certain intellectual strengths as they relate to the eight intelligence possibilities. Many of these geniuses were late bloomers who started their callings in their late twenties and thirties. Only a few were known as prodigies and this is based upon the support of their family and early recognition of skills. They are self-confident individuals who often self-promote and can have difficulties with others who are not considered as intelligent. 

Many geniuses came from homes where strictness and excellence were required. Yet when they gained enough skills the genius rebelled against their family and loosened the noose of control. They worked in areas of fields others have either discarded or completely didn’t understand. They seek to create their own domain in their chosen fields.  They were productive each day and worked on their craft or other complementary crafts to master skills. They were involved in each of the five distinct activities:

• 1.)    Solving a particular problem.
• 2.)    Putting forth a general conceptual scheme.
• 3.)    Creating a product.
• 4.)    A stylized performance
• 5.)    A performance for high stakes

Each genius works within a triangle of creativity. This triangle includes the domain, the field and the individual. The domain is the knowledge, the field is the audience, and the individual is the creative person. They balance and move through these fields in different ways in order to find their creative breakthrough. It is the field that must accept that breakthrough as important. 

If you are seeking a book that discussed the nature of genius and the overall development of major scientific and artistic breakthroughs this is likely to be the one for you. You will find that intelligence mixed with the environment creates in part the genius. The book doesn’t state this but each of these individuals seem to have developed in times of international conflict as related to the world wars and other societal rubs.  Perhaps this is a background factor whereby society feels pressure to change and adapt and the genius is more capable emotionally, psychologically, and biologically to head the call. Perhaps it is a call to greatness?

Gardner, H. (2011). Creating Minds an Anatomy of Creativity Seen through the Lives of Freud, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham and Gandhi. New York: Basic Books.

Using Business Incubators for Economic Development

The United States, Europe and Asia are trying to spark their economies by encouraging national development. A paper by Al-Mubaraki and Busler (2013) explores the concept of how business incubation supports diverse economies, commercialization of new technologies, improves the job market, and creates local wealth. They further discuss how local decision-makers can foster new economic activity in their regions to develop future sustainable wealth. 

Business incubation is part economic and part social. The goal is to encourage start-up businesses to find economic and social footing among like minded individuals to leave them free standing and viable. It is a seeding process that eventually leads to higher levels of local innovation and growth oriented companies that further the economic and social needs of the area. It is through local development that national interests can be secured.

Economic development is a process of wealth generation that takes into consideration the human, capital, financial, physical resources, and natural resources of an area. It uses these resources in combination to spur economic buzz that manifests into new products, services, and jobs. The secondary benefits can include improved social living, better communities, and viable government. As areas become financial secure they can impact the economic vines around them.

Business incubation centers for sponsoring organizations. Helping to develop small businesses that produce new products and services for their sponsor can create higher levels of corporate growth. It provides the freedom and resources for small companies to develop ideas but also allows larger companies to turn those ideas into mass products and services. To do this well will require the buy in of local stakeholders including local parties, government and corporations.  

The author contends that to develop these economic incubation hubs it is necessary to have power to create action. This power can come through money, force, persuasion or information. Secondly it is beneficial to have theory which understands the cause and effect of economic events while simplifying reality for shared understanding. Third it is beneficial to integrate theory into human understanding and perception in order to encourage people to see those things beyond their narrow perception. Fourth, it is required that people have mediation which pushes them to act upon the environment through specific beneficial behaviors. 

Another way of viewing these concepts is to say that there must be force to act through power, a clear path of cause and effect, a new awareness of community members, and finally beneficial action. The economic and social sides work together to create economic synergy. As environment forces encourage people to seek change, people look to their leaders who can propose solutions, create new understandings, and motivate others to act in their best interest along new lines of thinking. During a time of crisis they are most open to solutions. 

How incubators lead to further economic growth can be seen in its three stages of incubators stage, post incubators stage, and extension stage. In the incubators stage start-up concepts are supported by the incubator and this helps to create new jobs. In the post incubators stage new companies move into self-reliance and grow the job market. In the extension stage the graduated companies use their business knowledge, entrepreneurship, and job growth to contribute to local economic development.

Countries have found that the development and use of incubators encourages economic growth. With over 7,000 incubators in the world China leads the world in its implementation. This may be associated with China’s higher level of growth and new businesses that enter the market every year. As a nation seeking to expand and grow the U.S. should also consider their benefit in economic suppressed areas. The report doesn’t indicate this concept but one must build new economic and social platforms based on the foundations of the past. Where manufacturing of equipment was once plentiful the manufacturing of new technology products becomes possible. Reaching too far beyond the culture of a location may limit the successful social adaptation of people.

We could further postulate that urban cores are natural places to develop business incubation programs. Buildings are plentiful and city centers naturally draw the bohemian crowd of artists and the creative class. The nation appears to be suffering from a declining urban core and incubators may be one possible solution to regenerating these core areas. We can wonder what the 5 to 10 year impact would be on a nation that fostered such incubators throughout major cities and offered help in connecting small to large and local to international investors to the ideas and businesses they incubators produce. Would there be synergistic growth in national revenue?

Al-Mubaraki, H. and Busler, M. (2013). Business incubation as an economic development strategy: a literature review. International Journal of Management, 2 (30).

Libor Rate Manipulation Video. How does it work?

The video discusses the libor rate, how it is conducted and how it could be manipulated. It can impact everything from student loans to house rates. The video can provide an explanation of how international banking works. If nothing else one should take the lesson of ethics from this situation and how ethics is in the benefit of everyone.

The Roaring 1920's at Dolce Hayes Mansion

If you are seeking the luxuries of the 1920’s while enjoying the conveniences of the 21^st Century you may be interested staying at Dolcy Hayes Mansion in San Jose. From its marble floors to heated pool you live history in a style other hotels simply can’t match. The past comes to life again in both a historical and modern luxury resort style hotel that caters to their customer’s indulgences. Learn a little history as you sip a cocktail on the heated patio and in the cool California evening air. 

Mary Chynoweth, widow of Anson Hayes and wife of attorney Thomas Chynoweth, commissioned the building of a new mansion in replacement of the original wood mansion that burnt to the ground in 1899. It contains 41,000+ square feet and the latest fire safety precautions. At one time, the property raised livestock and crops. It maintained quarters for 40 workers, a post office, power plant, railway, chapel and a self-sufficient status. It was vacated in the 1950’s and sat dilapidated until 1990 when the City of San Jose purchased it as a historical landmark. 

The Queen Ann Style Home was designed by the architect George Page and hosted 62 rooms.  The house was large enough to accommodate the three related families of Mary Folsom Hayes Chynoweth and her two sons. Mary Folsom was born to a large family in New York and travelled around the country preaching to people.  She had a deeply religious experience and spent a portion of her life healing people. Her first husband died when their children were attending college in Wisconsin. She then married the attorney Thomas Chynoweth and moved onto a new life.  

After establishment in the mining industry in Ashland Wisconsin the family moved to San Jose and became well-known politicians, publishers, and developed fruit growing in the area. Today the location is considered a national landmark and offers an upscale hotel and conference facilities. There are 20 acres of property and plenty of parking. The rooms are well-kept and dining, bar, and a pool is available on site. The properly and building are in near perfect condition with few flaws to be found. Stained glass windows, marble floors, fireplaces, and heavy wood trim line the walls. 

You may be interested in knowing that the site hosts 33,000 feet of functional conference space with 24 meeting rooms. Resident rooms can be found in the same building as the conference facilities making them convenient. Video conferencing and free Wi-Fi can also be found throughout the facilities. Airport and golfing services are available within 15 minutes drive which makes the location convenient for vacationers. The neighborhood appears to be quiet, clean and safe and a local park next to the hotel adds to its charm.

Some have noted that the mansion is haunted with ghosts from the distant past. In my trip I did not see an indication that a haunting was occurring. Yet I forgot my plasma gun, kinetic energy meter, ghost traps and other Ghostbusters equipment at home (jk). With a history dating back over a hundred and some years anything is possible. I would suppose if I exercised really hard in the gym and then jumped in the sauna for over an hour I would see something peculiar. 

When traveling and searching out historical places to stay we might be disappointed by the quality of the experience. Sometimes historical landmarks lack a level of updated convenience or maintenance. Dolce Hayes Mansion is not one of those places. Even though it maintains its old world charm it has turned the roaring 1920’s into the bellowing 2010’s in a seamless and updated way.  The mansion is a great place to experience the luxury of the past in affordable prices of the present. 

Dolce Hayes Mansion Site

Patio

Wood Structure

Stone Structure

Promoting Innovative Assessment through Weave at UMKC

Promoting innovative assessment through Weave at UMKC: The benefits of quantitative assessment data and supplemental qualitative reports.

Dr. Nathan Lindsay is the Assistant Vice Provost for Assessment at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and was formerly the Director of Student Life Assessment at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He completed his M.S. in Instructional Technology at Indiana University and his Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at the University of Michigan.  He has authored more than 25 articles and given 60 national presentations on issues related to higher education.  His research interests include efforts to enhance the holistic development of students, the improvement of learning and teaching, and the integration of technology into higher education contexts.  

University of Missouri - Kansas City has been a Weave member since 2010.

Date: Tuesday, September 24
Time: 2pm - 3:00pm (Eastern)

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/364168306

The Process of Market Segmentation

As most companies cannot compete in an entire market, they usually break down it down into smaller markets. This process of market segmentation affords the opportunity to focus selling products in one, or a few, defined areas. It helps to create focus and effective use of marketing resources to maximize return on investment. Effectiveness is seen as dollars spent and dollars earned. 

As companies gain resources and knowledge, they begin to use market research to develop complex and effective marketing strategies. The process of evaluating a market segment helps in developing strategies that further create efficiency in target marketing (Kutkut, 2012). Target marketing is the chosen focal point of the products/services, advertisements, and related efforts.  As the skill level of managers rises, so does the success of reaching and influencing the target market. 

There are generally four levels of market segmentation that include (Finch, 2012):

Mass Marketing: The firm makes no effort to break up a market and instead puts energy into all of it. Only certain products that have wide appeal (i.e. cars) do well with this approach. 

Market Segmentation: The process of breaking down the market into segments. This works well with products that have specific appeal to certain groups (i.e. camping equipment). In many cases, these are larger market segments. 

Niche Marketing: Narrowly defined group that many large companies have a hard time marketing (i.e. hobby farm heirloom seeds). This includes the selling of products in smaller groups and in very specific venues. 

Customized Marketing: This is the smallest market segmentation whereby individual concerns are taken into account (i.e. yahts and houses). Generally, these are big-ticket items and focused on maximizing returns on individual products. 

A company can segment the market in many ways. This may include geography, psychological profiles, behavioral profiles, industry, previous spending habits, etc…  These segments rely on research and analysis that further helps the company find ways to reach those customers most motivated to purchase their products. As competition becomes fierce companies may offer sales, discounts and promotions to enhance customer motivation. 

Once researchers have determined the nature and scope of a segment they need to determine how profitable that segment will be and whether or not it will sustain the growth needs of the organizations. Companies that seek to maintain a competitive edge continually seek to develop new and exciting products/services that create “buzz” while seeding markets for the future.  It is a process of finding and exploiting opportunities.

As organizations become more global, the market segments can become large and complex. Companies that sell international products and services should take into account the cultural values of new target markets (Agarwal, 2010). Failure to consider the perspective of other cultures can lead to costly mistakes that can wipe away sunk costs and investments. These human elements and soft skills become mixed into the marketing strategy.

At its root, marketing is a process of communication while marketing strategy is the process the company uses to communicate the value of products and services. Market segmentation affords the opportunity to better match communication to customer needs. To do this well requires the ability to research and understand the characteristics of a company’s most profitable customers. It is a process that if done well can help an organization reach new heights or cause it to shrink into oblivion. 

 Agarawal, J. Malhortra, N. and Bolton, R. (2010). A cross-national and cross-cultural approach to global market segmentation: an application using consumers perceived service quality. Journal of International Marketing, 18 (3). 

Finch, J. (2012). Managerial marketing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Kutkut, N. (2012). Formal and informal target market selection in new ventures: a factor analysis. Journal of Academic Business & Economics, 12 (1).