Aung San Suu Kyi

"If you're feeling helpless, help someone."

— Aung San Suu Kyi

Burmese Author/Political Activist

1945 -

Have you ever felt helpless?  That there was nothing you could do?  It is easy to get discouraged and want to quit — to feel that what one does doesn't matter.  Yet we must pick ourselves up and keep going.  There is always hope.  When you are down, find someone to help.  One of the great paradoxes is that when we help others we help ourselves.  By giving of ourselves to others we are giving to ourselves.  We all need to believe in something beyond ourselves.  For some of us, our artistic creations are what we believe in.  We find hope and strength in our creativity.  For others, their strength and hope comes from helping those less fortunate.  You are never helpless, if you can help someone else.

Here is Morley, a singer and songwriter, who was so inspired by this quote that she turned it into a song.  Listen to the words and watch the images.

Michelangelo

Portrait of Michelangelo
by Jacopino del Conte

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

— Michelangelo

Italian Artist

1475 -1564

Pieta
(1499)

Creative leaders see the world differently than others.  They see things that others do not see.  Do you see the angel in the marble?  Have you set him free?  Don't be afraid of what you see.  Don't worry that you may be crazy.  What you see makes you very special.  Trust yourself.  You won't lead yourself down the wrong path.  Believe in the angels locked in stone.  Believe that you can free the angels.  Believe that the world will be a better place because of what you created.  Believe in your talent.

Marian Wright Edelman

"Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right."

— Marian Wright Edelman

American Activist

1939 - 

Too often we believe failure is something bad.  We have been conditioned by our parents, our schools and society to believe that failure is a negative.  We need to change our perspective of what failure means.  A failure is an opportunity to try again — to start over, to have another chance.  A failure is not the end of the road unless we give up.  Failure is a great teacher.  We learn about ourselves and others.  Sometimes we learn more in failure than we do through success.  So the next time you receive a rejection slip, view it as an opportunity to learn and grow.  

Aimee Bender

"It seems the best work I do is when I am really allowing the unconscious to rule the page and then later I can go back and hack around and make sense of things."

— Aimee Bender

American Novelist

1969 -

The unconscious mind is a powerful tool for the creative leader.  The unconscious is able to make tremendous leaps and build connections between very different images and words.  Encourage yourself to listen to your unconscious.  Cultivate your unconscious.  Explore your unconscious.  Dance with your unconscious.  Leap into the unknown.  Connect with that which you don't know.

Chinua Achebe

"Art is man's constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him."

— Chinua Achebe

Nigerian Novelist/Poet

1930 -

Through our painting and writing we have an opportunity to recreate the world as we want it to be.  We have the ability and the opportunity to alter reality.  The world into which we are born can be changed.  We can change our story by retelling it in new ways.  Have you changed your story?  Have you altered the reality in which you live?  Or are you caught up in facts as reality?  The more you can alter and change reality, the better artist you will become.

Maya Angelou

"You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have."

Maya Angelou

American Poet/Writer

1928 - 

Creativity is a gift that we all possess.  If you have ever watched a small child play, you know this is true.  Children before they attend school have such powerful imaginations, yet through the many years of schooling much of this imagination is lost as the children are forced to conform to the world of adulthood.  Only the strongest hold onto their imagination and continue to think in ways that upset the mainstream.  The more we use our imagination the stronger it grows.  If we don't use our imagination, it withers and disappears.  Are you encouraging your imagination and that of the people around you?

Robert Henri

"There is no art without contemplation."

— Robert Henri

American Painter

1865 - 1929

Do you take the time to contemplate your work?  Sometimes we need to step back and process our work.  We need to let it sit for a few days or weeks or even months.  Often when we come back to the work, it is with renewed energy and ideas.  We quickly solve problems that before were obstacles.  Take a day off from time to time to give the creative juices some rest.  To paraphrase an old saying:  "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull artist." 

Steve Jobs

Steve jobs - 20 life lessons

View more presentations from Rob van Alphen

Steve Jobs

"Great art stretches the taste, it doesn't follow tastes."

Steve Jobs

American Businessman/Inventor

1955 - 2011

If you want to achieve greatness, don't follow the pack.  Don't go where others are going.  Choose the path least traveled or create a new path.  Create the world as you want it to be.  Steve Jobs was a visionary.  He took a path that few others could see.  The role of creative leaders is to lead the way to new worlds and new opportunities.  Great artists have a vision of where they want to go and what they want to achieve.  What is your vision?  What path are you on?  Are you leading the way or are you following the pack?

(Quote Source:  Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson)

J. K. Rowling

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

— J. K. Rowling

British Novelist

1965 - 

The choices we make help determine the person we become and what we accomplish.  Did you choose to write today or to watch TV?  Did you choose to help a stranger or did you buy something for yourself?  We make choices every minute of every day.  Did you choose to brush your teeth or comb your hair?  And these decisions impact our lives.  Some decisions have an impact immediately and others take years to materialize.  When I was in my 20's and 30's I played volleyball.  I was known for diving without knee pads on asphalt and hardwood floors to save a ball.  I felt very little pain at the time.  Now 30 years later those dives have come back to haunt my knees and me.  What choices are you making to day that will impact you tomorrow.  Again, I ask:  did you write or paint today?  Or did you go to a movie?  The choices we make tell us who we are, not whom we want to be.

Boris Pasternak

"I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled.  Their virtue is lifeless and it isn't of much value.  Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them."

— Boris Pasternak

Russian Poet/Novelist

1890 - 1960

We all make mistakes.  We stumble and fall.  None of us are perfect no matter how much we try not to mess up.  And from one perspective life would be boring if everyone was perfect.  Think about what the world would be like if no one lied, had affairs or committed murder.  What would writers write about?  Even the best of us have skeletons in our closets.  And it is our failures that make us artists, writers and musicians.  We have a need to communicate these failures to the world.  How have your failures influenced and shaped your art?  How have your mistakes colored the life you live?

Gunther Grass

"Even bad books are books, and therefore sacred."

— Gunther Grass

German Novelist

1927 - 

Let me expand this quote to say that even bad art is sacred.  I believe the creative process is a sacred act.  I think we have too many critics who are quick to criticize.  If someone has the stamina to write a novel, the person is a success.  It's like running a marathon.  Just finishing is success.  If a person has the courage to paint a picture, the person is successful.  If I ask 10 different people what they think about a painting, a novel, a poem or a song, I would probably get 10 different opinions ranging from terrible to great.  We try to make arts competitive by ranking them in terms of quality.  The arts should not be competitive.  Respect the creator.  Honor the creator.  Respect the creative process.

Vaclav Havel

"Vision is not enough — it must be combined with venture.  It is not enough to stare up the stairs, we must step up the stairs."

— Vaclav Havel

Czech Playwright/Poet/Politician

1936 - 2011

Over the years I have met people who wanted to write a book.  They dreamed of being successful writers, but they never put pen to paper.  Having a vision of what you want to accomplish is very important to success, but vision without action is disaster.  Don't desire to be a write.  Write and someday you will be a writer.  Don't desire to be an artist.  Paint and someday you will be a artist.  Dreaming about what you desire is of no value unless you act upon your desire.

Vaclav Havel was a rare writer who had a vision and took action.  Not only did Havel put his vision into writing, he also took action and became the ninth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic.  

Don't just dream of success, but take action and climb the stairs one step at a time and you will reach the top.

Here is a news report and tribute to Vaclav Havel.

Wanda Koop

"There's an assumption that because I'm an artist, I've got all the time in the world."

— Wanda Koop

Canadian Painter

1951 - 

If people know you are an artist, writer or musician, they don't think you work.  They assume they can stop by anytime and you will drop what ever you are doing so you can entertain them.    They believe you should have no problem serving on various committees because you have time on your hands.  What they don't understand is that creative work is also mental work.  Even if you are not physically working, you mind is working overtime.  As creative leaders we need to learn to say no.  Don't allow others to steal time away from your work.  Stand strong and firm even if they beg.

Here is an interview with Wanda Koop.

Harley King

If you have been following this blog, you will have noticed that I am a strong advocate of reading books.  In 2011 I read 28 books, one less than 2010.  Here is my list of the top ten books I read in 2011.

10.  Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (novel)
9.   White Oleander by Janet Fitch (novel)
8.   72 Hour Hold by Bebe Moore Campbell (novel)
7.   The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (novel)
6.   The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell (novel)
5.   Imperial Woman: The Story of the Last Empress of China by Pearl Buck (historical novel)
4.   Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth by Hilary Spurling (biography)
3.   The Good Earth by Pearl Buck (novel)
2.   Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey (biography)
1.   Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (short stories)

To see the remainder of the books I read in 2011 go to goodreads.com:  http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2103162-harley?shelf=read-2011

George Matthew Adams

"We cannot waste time.  We can only waste ourselves."

— George Matthew Adams

American Writer

1878 - 1962

We all have been given talents.  Some waste their talents with drugs, booze and other addictions.  Others fail to live up to their potential, living a day dream of what could have been.  Some achieve early success only to become caught up in the glamour and the image, never to create again or achieve lasting success.  You know what talents you have been given.  Are you encouraging your talents and investing in your success?  Are you working hard to achieve your dreams?  Or are you resting on your laurels?  The choice is yours.  Will you choose to become what you are meant to be?  

Harley King

"Nothing stays the same and nothing changes.  What is old today will be new tomorrow.  What is new today will be forgotten tomorrow."

— Harley King

American Writer/Speaker

1949 -

We humans love to measure time and to reflect on where we have been and where we want to go.  If we have not published our first book by the time we are thirty, we may never publish a book.  If we live to be sixty, we are suddenly over the hill and unemployable.  Unless, of course, we are running for President.

My time on this planet has taught me that as much as things change they still remain the same.  What once was old comes back in fashion.  And what we believe to be new and exciting will soon fade away.  The story you are writing has been written before.  The painting you are painting has been painted before.  And yet each of us must believe that we are the first.  That no one has done this before.  

Yesterday, I quoted Gladys Taber who in her lifetime published more than 60 books.  Yet, until yesterday I had never heard of her.  We may be celebrated in our lifetime but forgotten after we die.  Or we may be unknown in our lifetime and remembered for hundreds of years.  Time has a way of playing tricks on us.  We think we have mastered it and it sneaks a way from us.  

As you reflect today on what happened to you in 2011 and dream about what will happen in 2012, remember that nothing stays the same and nothing change.  Don't worry about the passing of time.  Be happy with who you are and whom you have become.  Celebrate the new year with open arms.

Gladys Taber

"We need time to dream, time to remember, and time to reach the infinite.  Time to be."

— Gladys Taber

American Writer

1899 - 1980

In the fast paced, always connected world in which we live, we sometimes forget about the importance day dreaming.  Do you take  time to day dream?  To rethink your life?  To remember why you are here?  To simply be?  As the old saying goes: stop and smell the roses.    Easy to say and hard to follow.  We are so busy staying in touch via our cell phones that we don't experience the world around us.  During this next year, take time to dream and remember.  Take time to be.  

Gary Zukav

"Changing the world  begins with the very personal process of changing yourself.  The only place you can begin is where you are, and the only time you can begin is always now."

— Gary Zukav

American Writer/Speaker

1942 -

Painting and writing is about re-creating and re-structuring the world the way we would like it to be.  The creative process is about changing ourselves and in the process of changing ourselves we change the world.  How have you changed in the past year?  How have you grown and developed as a person and as a creative leader?  What choices have you made in the last year to change your life?  Do you understand yourself better today than you did a year ago?  What have you learned about yourself?  What are your plans for next year?  What do you want to be doing a year from now?

Here is Gary Zukav discussing change.

Joye Moon

"Every day is a gift — a new beginning . . . bound out of bed with the enthusiasm of a child."

— Joye Moon

American Painter

How do you begin your day?  With a cup of coffee?  A cold beer?  With steak and eggs?  Or a doughnut?  Do you drag yourself out of bed wishing you could spend the day sleeping?  Are you wide awake and full of energy?  Some people get up in the morning and say:  "Good morning, Lord.  It is great to be alive!"  Other people get up and say: "O Lord, it's morning again."  Which are you?  Someone who appreciates each day she has been given?  Or someone who finds no joy in living?  How you begin your day can have a positive or negative impact on your creative work. 

Do you begin your day with meditation?  Or prayer?  Do you take a walk?  Or lift weights? Do you eat a healthy breakfast or do you skip the most important meal of the day?  Be thankful for every day you wake up.  The alternative to waking up is being six feet under.  Celebrate the day and give thanks for all you have been given.