Posts about Creativity

Apples: Insanely simple meetings taught by Ken Segall

Ken Segall: Insanely Simple

18.04.2014

What I Learned About Great Meetings from Steve Jobs

A guest post by Ken Segall

The principle of keeping meetings small and made up of smart people is deeply woven into the religion of electronics behemoth Apple and is key to any organization that wants to nurture quality thinking. The idea is pretty basic: Everyone in the room should be there for a reason. There’s no such thing as a mercy invitation. Either you’re critical to the meeting or you’re not. It’s nothing personal, just business. Apple co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, actively resisted any behavior he believed representative of the way big companies think – even though Apple had been a big company for many years. When he called a meeting or reported to a meeting, his expectation was that everyone in the room would be an essential participant. Spectators were not welcome.

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A tailor cutting a pattern. Fashion and Couture: There are many creative minds active in Berlin.

Berlin: A City on the Catwalk

15.01.2014

From 1961 to 1989 Berlin, divided into East and West since 1945, was scarred with an invincible concrete wall topped with multiple rolls of impenetrable barbed wire. Armed Vopos, the East German ‘people’s’ policemen equipped with a licence to kill, controlled from their watchtowers the so-called ‘death strip’ passing between the two Germanies; none of the GDR’s involuntary citizens were to escape the socialist paradise imposed on them. Inhabitants of West Berlin belonging to the Federal Republic were better off – and seemingly unimpressed by their severed freedom. Although fenced in, neither their positive attitude, nor their special sense of humour could be suffocated – nor their creativity be paralysed by the circumstances.

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Dubai: HH Sheikh Hamdan raises UAE national flag atop Burj Khalifa.

Dubai wins bid for Expo 2020

4.12.2013

On November 27th, 2013, at 5.30 pm – during their General Assembly – the member states of The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) based in Paris, elected The United Arab Emirates host country of the World Expo 2020. The exhibition will be held in Dubai from October 20th, 2020 to April 10th, 2021. Expected number of visitors is 25 million. Contestants in the race were Brazil, Russia and Turkey. After the third voting round the UAE emerged as the winner, beating Russia with 116 votes versus 47. The World Expo in Dubai in 2020 is the first to be held in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) region.

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Dawn in the African bush: Preserving nature and resources are prime goals of humankind.

TED Talk: Let’s go all-in on selling sustainability

4.12.2013

Coming from the non-profit consultancy Climate Group, Steve Howard is now the chief sustainability officer at a furniture megastore and talks about selling sustainable products to millions of people by implementing eco-friendly materials and practices. Ikea buildings have sprouted solar panels and wind turbines, the shelves inside are stocked with LED lighting and recycled cotton. An investment of €1.5 billion flows into renewable energy sources.

298 Ikea stores have seen more than 690 million customers in 2012, buying sofas, lamps, bookshelves and other goods worth € 27 billion. More than 1,000 suppliers worldwide do business with the furniture giant.

“I don’t think we’ve fully realized the extent to which sustainability is going to shape society and the business landscape over the next couple of decades.”

Interior of Johanna Meier's culinary Restaurant in Filzmoos.

Austria. Filzmoos: Haute Cuisine im Salzburgerland

27.09.2013

Man gönnt sich ein Essen in einem sündhaft teuren Restaurant, mit Sternen oder Hauben, und glaubt, es sei der gefeierte Koch persönlich, der da den Kochlöffel schwingt. Häufig eine Illusion, denn der Küchenstar ist auf Tournee – gastiert als Kochwunder in angesagten Gourmet-Restaurants, in der unvermeidlichen Fernsehsendung oder macht kurz die Brigade einer wildfremden Küche flott, die dann Gerichte unter seinem Namen serviert.

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