Calm Magic

The Embodied Creative Leadership Framework

It all started with a simple equation that would tie calmness and creativity and produce a magical state of flow:

CALM + LOVE = MAGIC

The idea behind the framework emanated from a collection of observations about the poetics of ideation, concept planning, and prototyping to give insights on how to Get into the flow states that allow:

1- Efficient and prolific Seeding of ideas to augment their chances of manifesting Clarity

2-Mapping complexities of a project/initiative

3-Scheduling actions to take/breaks to recover/moments to introspect

4-Seeing/perceiving/measuring

5-Loving/Appreciation/Supporting

The words are acronyms for all the components of the method.  Each component’s name represents a stage of the creative leader experience and exposes the process steps.

CHORDS: What simple things are made of

1: Chances (Sparks & Seeds / Preparedness)

2: Heart (Purpose / Heart-Centered Work)

3: Observations (Envisioning / Foretelling)

4: Reversal (Inversion / Looking backward/ Letting go of expectations / Surrendering to the unknown)

5: Design ( playgrounds around Exploring & Modeling)

6: Strategic structure (Soil / Ground for Truth / Foundations)

AGENDAS: Set things in motion

1: Analysis

2: Guidelines

3: Elaboration

4: Negotiation

5: Development

6: Adaptation

7: Secrets

LENS: Looking at things from a new perspective

1: Landscapes

2: Energies

3: Norms

4: Synergies

MAPS: Communicating new things

1: Methods

2: Architectures

3: Protocols

4: Systems

LOVE: Finding purpose in the simple things and choosing the attention levels your creative gardens require

1: Longevity

2: Oscillations

3: Velocity

4: Emotional Intelligence and Empathy

MAGIC: MAGIC is an acronym for all the areas of impact of the method.

1-Mindsets

2-Agility

3-Goals & Gardens

4-Intuitions

5-Compasses

A methodology meshing Foresight, Design Ops & Poetic Curiosity

CALM MAGIC is a methodological framework for applying speculative thinking & organizational poetry in the Design Ops & organizational design process. Based on my 25 years of practice in the field of Design Ops & Interaction Design, the model suggests that there are different brain activation patterns for different aspects of the creative process. 

The CALM MAGIC model identifies creative processes or mental models (we called these patterns ‘’noems’’ or “sparks” and they go beyond the mental state of a person but includes the whole body and even the environment where the creative work is performed – ways of thinking about something, ways of seeing/presenting, ways of doing – ) to adopt at the various stages of generating, evaluating, elaborating, and implementing ideas.

Everyone has a built-in censoring system in their brains that filters thoughts, images, memories, and stimuli from the outside world before they reach conscious awareness. Our censoring system keeps us focused on our current goals and on information that prior learning has taught us is “appropriate.” Learning to loosen up this mental filtering system to allow more novel ideas and stimuli into conscious awareness is one of the biggest challenges for people who don’t think of themselves as creative. Imagination is dialogical and Poetic Curiosity leads to satori.

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