Voices - Episode 8: Artie Isaac

In this episode of Voices, I speak with Artie Isaac - marketing strategist, founder of Young Isaac, and professor at The Ohio State University and Columbus College of Art and Design.  Among other things, Mr. Isaac teaches MBA students at The Ohio State University how to be more creative.

According to Artie Isaac, creativity is about living a better life, having a more fulfilling job, connecting more deeply with friends and family, achieving flow, being more mindful, and embracing the present moment.  Isaac claims that all of us have the ability to be more creative by making an effort to enhance our creative potential - much like exercise can improve your physical health.  It is work, but there are clear, positive results.

Some of the thoughts Artie Isaac shares in the podcast are his reasons for blogging, how he named his site, what inspires him, how he utilizes technology to increase day to day productivity, the 3 types of days and how to approach them, why he lives in Ohio, and what people can do to be more creative.

Thanks to Artie for being kind enough to take the time to participate in the podcast, for being open enough to share his wisdom, and for being brilliant enough to inspire others to achieve greatness.  It was a pleasure to meet him.

Listen and enjoy!

Net Cotton Content / On Life and Marketing, Creativity and Ethics

Can You Learn to Be Creative?

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of viewing a speech given to the Columbus Metropolitan Club by Artie Isaac - who among many other things, teaches Creativity to MBA students at The Ohio State University.  I was not present for the event, but rather caught it being run on ThinkTV in Dayton as I was ironing my clothes for work.

His speech was great.

First, Mr. Isaac did an excellent job of using PowerPoint to enhance his speech by incorporating images and creative visuals to add his words as opposed to just reading off bullet points one after another.  Better yet, what he had to say was absolutely brilliant.  He spoke from the heart, and with real passion and human emotion.  He used a great mix of facts, figures, humor, and personal narratives to leave a lasting impression through his message.

He spoke of the need for all of us to make time to be more creative, and the importance of creativity in the modern era.  He provided suggestions as to how to revive your inner creativity, and to steal wasted time back into your life.    He also stressed the importance of setting priorities and goals, and of learning to find more flow in daily life.  The best part was that everything he recommended was simple.  The hard part is in the doing it.   Ask him if people can learn to be creative, and he would reply with a resounding yes.  After hearing him present, I would have to agree.

At the end of the hour long presentation, I found myself thinking more about ways that I could bring more creativity into my own life.  I also was thankful that I happened to randomly stumble across his presentation at a time when my television is normally not even turned on.  Chalk that one up for good luck.

Anyway, you should definitely take the time to watch his presentation, and if you enjoy it, visit his web site - Net Cotton Content.  On his site, Artie lists numerous books about creativity, thinking, life, mindfulness, marketing, and business as well as a copy of the syllabus for the class he teaches.  I downloaded a copy, and I am actually going to do some of the assignments myself so as to feed my “creative pet.”

Thanks Artie, for offering me inspiration and making at least one day of ironing 100 % Cotton pants enjoyable.

Net Cotton Content / On Life and Marketing, Creativity and Ethics