90 Ideas: Brad Noble

Watch the virtual 90 Ideas in 90 Minutes event and take a deep dive with the speakers via podcast here.

1.
 Connection is key.


Establishing baseline communication with members of your team is essential to trust. In the Art of Everyone process, this translates into knowing an artist’s pressure and brush stroke and starting there with that common understanding. From that point on, words and direction become less essential. You must meet your teammates where they are and move forward from there with a shared language and singular focus. The trust that is formed in the process allows two people to work in tandem and synchronize their intentions.

2.
 Get to the point.


Pointillism is a style of painting that involves using dots of distinct color to create the illusion of form. Each small dot is insignificant on its own, but when placed so close to others, they blur to form an image to the eye. In this way, each and every dot makes a monumental contribution. Success, however, is not contingent on one dot being right. It’s merely about presence of your broad effort. When you see an opportunity to contribute at any level, show up! Be present, and be a part of the creation. Imagine what can be accomplished when all members of a team are moving in the same direction for a shared outcome.

3.
 It’s not all about you.


There is tremendous freedom in knowing that the sun doesn’t rise or set solely on you. Great leaders are able to set their own egos aside to let others rise and show what they can do. This is equal in importance to making your own mark. A strong leader moving in tandem with a supportive team can create a masterpiece that would otherwise be unattainable.

4.
 There’s still magic in revealing the trick.


Revealing your gift and using it to help develop or teach someone else is perhaps the most magical thing we can do for someone else and certainly the most rewarding thing we can do for ourselves. Don’t be stifled or fearful that you are diminishing your value by sharing your process. Full transparency of the good, the bad and the ugly is where the real magic can happen. By allowing the team into the workshop to see how the sausage is made, they can help to problem solve.

5.
 Flexibility is key.


A nonrigid creation has to be done in such a way that allows for the unknowns or “discoverables” to remain part of the project. The best results come from experimentation. Don’t throw away the map. Just embrace the journey of the moment and open the process to fluidity and spontaneity for a more organic evolution. If you are open to making discoveries along the way and allowing those discoveries to influence the outcome, the result is something that is fresh.

6.
 You have to peel to reveal. 


A leader has to lay a strong foundation and provide enough information and instruction to build momentum and inspire a team to be a part of it – but then be willing to peel themselves away from it enough to let it take on a life of its own. I equate this to pulling the support structures down and away from a new construction project as it becomes secure and begins to take form.

7.
 Take a step back.


When you are too close to your own work, you can become fixated on something that really doesn’t matter. You have to break that obsessive moment by stepping back and once again looking at the whole as opposed to the one small piece of the whole. It’s often important to take a moment to reset your mind and look again with a fresh set of eyes.

8.
 Don’t fall in love with your work.


Falling in love with your work and vision, particularly too soon when your work is unfinished, can be the death of brilliance. When you fall in love, you want to stay put and all advancement halts at that point. This is a progress killer even when working alone, but even more so when working with a team.

9.
 Embrace chaos.


Chaos is often right before the resolve. Embrace it! A dress rehearsal is almost always a disaster, but that’s what usually gets the person off the couch that actually has the answer. This can be the most invigorating part of the process if you don’t become intimidated by the chaos. All of the mess can be whittled away to reveal the solid base that was there the whole time. It is this final reveal that provides a sense of completion to all who touched a project and that provides the motivation needed to start anew.

10.
 Attitudes are contagious, and you are patient zero as the leader. 


The energy, intensity and momentum desired or required to complete a project must start with you. Enthusiasm and confidence as a leader is what makes people trust me. I am not afraid to show my passion because I know it is contagious and creates an open environment that will make others more comfortable to express themselves. The result is a safe space for creativity, but it starts with you as the frenetic energy vortex.