How to solve what seem like complex problems as a Multi Hyphenated Thinker
In the centre of London early morning, just off thread needle street which nestles in the heart of the UK’s financial juggernauts, the entrance to Mansion House foyer seemed unusually quiet. I walked in, dutifully took my seat alongside entrepreneurs, CEOs and politicians awaiting the arrival of the speaker.
Enter, Li Keqiang, one of the world’s most powerful men; the Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China.
Diplomatic presentations tend to stay in their lane unpacking a quietude of expressions to sooth attendants, yet part way through the VP’s talk, with a chuckle, and barely noticeable, he said this.
I know think tanks are devoted to thinking which is more abstract than the figures and mathematics which looks more visionary and full of wisdom. But anyway, figures are the foundation.
The premiere was having a subtle dig at Think Tanks, who think. In effect he was also saying ‘do’. Anyone can think, but how do you execute your ideas? Can you execute them? Do you even know how to execute them? Thinking and creating is the key that underpins what we do at Emerging Journalism, also known to our friends as the Future Lab.
Toby White is the CEO of Marketmate. At the age of 10 he was writing his own programmes. In university as an undergrad, he was tackling projects that were PhD based learning. His AI platform creates headlines and auto social media tweets from inputed key words, thus eliminating the need for social media writers.
Toby is one of several mentors who interact with students on our module which is heavily online based, using slack ( note taking ) platform.
The Emerging Journalism approach is to create an agency-model to creativity and problem-solving. The key elements are collaboration and Human Centred Design. The solutions lie in finding in talking to your audience. Our cohorts learn to develop parallel ideas that compete for their attention; work together across ideas that may be posed differently in their cultures. By doing so they’re exposed to different thought processes and learn how to approach solving big ideas.
This may look like anything but journalism, but the storytelling is embedded across different structures, refined into social presentations that start of in class, in small board rooms, public spaces and then Ted-x like venues.
A co-creative way of running the programme derives from Bansho in Japan which stimulates teams to develop multiple connections across problem solving, usually in maths. Students evaluate their interconnected methods.
For that we developed our own model taking into account Bansho, Lean and Google sprints, which we’ve abbreviated as S.T.A.C.K.E.D. which I’ll talk about in greater detail in another post. It stands for Systems Analyse. T-person, Creativity. Knowledge ( needed). Evaluate and edit. Then, deliver. It stand for other things too.
People who can think broadly and adapt ideas across diverse cultures in this environment excel. This is the essence of David Epstein’s provocative and absorbing book, “Range — How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”, which makes a powerful argument for generalists attaining success rather than specialists.
Key findings polled from businesses e.g. KPMG should become the norm: that is creativity, problem-finding, collaboration, emotional intelligence and communication skills. Skills that aren’t just words on a a page, but call on an a psychological understanding and spatial awareness of the neuro scientific affects on audiences.
These photos are illustrations of storytellers and journalists crossing their lanes whilst expressing themselves on different platforms.
Below, Farah and Shanna demo their idea for an app to assist students with stress and mental problems. Having presented their ideas and attracted wide praise from their colleagues, mentors and emerging team, they’ve mothballed it to move onto new challenges. They did this! What we do is provide framework to learn how to think through problems.
Meanwhile, the journey of their novel idea will only serve to strengthen their next individual project as they evaluate their progress and build upon their skills. This is how new Multi Hyphenated Thinkers solve problems
Emerging Journalism: Storytelling Lab is run by Dr David Dunkley Gyimah and James Taylor. David a former network and international journalist is the recipient of several awards around innovation. He’s worked in dotcoms in 2000 and the media since 1990.
