A Step Beyond

Decades ago my father, always the jokester, would tell this "multipart" joke. The genius of his approach was in how it was told: as two separate jokes, delivered back-to-back, each totally dependent upon the other. No one ever saw the connection until after the big reveal, which is what always made it funny. Today, when I speak about creativity, I frequently begin the presentation by telling a version of his joke to help illustrate a point. It goes something like this: A little girl is skipping down the street when she comes upon three colored bricks lying on the road: one red, one yellow, and one blue. She pauses, reaches down for the red one, thinks for a moment, and heaves it into the air. The brick hits the ground hard and breaks into pieces. After laughing a bit, she reaches down for the yellow one and heaves it higher into the air. The brick hits the ground with even greater force and shatters. Laughing almost hysterically, she reaches down, grabs the blue one...

President Kennedy during his speech at Rice University. For over 25 years, I had the opportunity to teach a large number of university students in a variety of business-related topics. Like any decent business professor, I taught the concepts related to effective planning, including the concept of SMART goals. SMART was an acronym meaning that a “good” goal was Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based. I never questioned the textbooks, and since the concept seemed to make perfect sense­––at least on its surface––I kept teaching it year after year...until “it” happened. For whatever reason, I was listening to the speech John F. Kennedy delivered to a large crowd at the stadium of Rice University on September 12, 1962. I’ve heard this speech a number of times because, as a big fan of the Apollo Program, I was always inspired by its overreaching passion. But on this day, a single word from the middle of the speech resonated with me––a word that has forever c...

by Dr. Anthony Paustian Author of  A Quarter Million Steps Despite frequent claims to the contrary, I’ve come to believe that people love the unknown. Why else in every horror movie do people go into the big scary house or the rooms from where creepy noises emanate? They can’t help it. Regardless of fear, insecurity, or basic self-preservation, people frequently push the envelope anyway and are willing to do things they never thought in their wildest dreams they would ever do. Take me for example. I have an incredible fear of open-air heights, yet there I was, somehow freefalling at 120 miles per hour from three miles up with only a parachute to save me. The theme for ciWeek 9 (Celebrate! Innovation Week) is “Exploring the Unknown,” and the amazing line-up of speakers will challenge us to stop accepting the status quo and look at the world and the universe in new ways. I believe t he most meaningful approach to storytelling is direct interacti...

by Dr. Anthony Paustian Author of  A Quarter Million Steps I grew up watching the The Jetsons, a futuristic television cartoon created by Hanna and Barbara in the early 1960s. As George Jetson and his family traveled around in flying vehicles while living and working in buildings that seemed to float in the sky, it was easy to think that anything representing a total paradigm shift from current life had to be light years into the future. However, I recently attended the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The largest air show in the country, AirVenture was loaded with state-of-the-art military and civilian aircraft and even modern, private sector rockets such as Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin. But it was the smaller, more experimental aircraft that fascinated me. Despite my Air Force years on fighters (F-111s to be specific - now appearing in museums), I found myself repeatedly drawn to these very personal flying machines the entire week ...