The Art of Possibility

Last week in our Fundraising class, we watched this inspiring and entertaining video of Benjamin Zander giving a lecture at a PopTech. Mr. Zander is the conductor of the Boston Philarmonic Orchestra and has also written a book with his wife Rosamund Zander called The Art of Possibility. In this video, he speaks about some of the points in his book, like giving everyone an "A" from the start. I read the book a few years ago and highly recommend it. The information in the book was very useful on a daily basis but also had great insight that was helpful when working in a sometimes limited environment such as a non-profit organization and helping see beyond those limitations.

PopTech : Popcasts : Benjamin Zander - PopTech 2008

Recommended Reading for Big Idea

One of the classes we are taking is called the Big Idea with Bob McKinnon. The purpose of this class is to give us the opportunity to work as entrepeneurs in social change. Each one of us has to think of what it is that we want to change and why as well determine what the barriers will be and how to overcome them. The idea also needs to be sustainable.

These are some of the questions to consider:
What are we changing?
Who is doing the changing?
How will it work?

 

I will be honest, at this point I have several ideas but am having a hard time narrowing down the problem and thinking of ways to make it work. I am hoping that by the end of this week, my Big Idea will be clear.

In the meantime, Bob has recommended several books that so far I have found to be very informative and fun to read.


Here are some from the list:

Nudge, Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Proust was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer

The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford

Listen to conversations with artists (part of Audio Arts - a cassette-tape magazine)

Click on the link to see a slideshow and hear interviews with artists such as James Rosenquist.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/29/arts/design/20100429-furlong.html?ref=design

 

From “Speaking of Art: Four Decades of Art in Conversation” by William Furlong (Phaidon Press)

Phaidon has also published a new book "Speaking of Art" based on "Audio Arts", a cassette-tape magazine created by William Furlong.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/arts/design/29furlong.html?ref=books