David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization | Video on TED.com

David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization Video on TED.com This video was recommended by Franjo Buntić as part of his take home exam. Its worth the 20 minutes to watch it and see Mr. McCandless's vision of the world. It's very interesting to here his take on the power of visualizing data and liberating ideas by putting them into images in which can capture the imagination and attention of the majority. Along the way he opens himself up to enabling his own creativity and changing the audience perspective for looking at and examining the world around them through a different, full spectrum perspective. See for yourself

Model Students

On Friday, November 19th, an international group of volunteers were coordinated to help out a newly minted female entrepreneur in Zagreb. Located in the downtown area, right off of the center, Ilica 14 to be exact, is a new men's clothing store "Shiptza" owned and operated by Lea Dido (pronounced Geedo). She has launched this business with the right background (fashion u. graduate) and experience (daughter of an entrepreneur) to succeed and is taking the steps to keep things lean and strategically think before spending. She had an opening event with friends and family which I was lucky to be invited to on November 13th. While I was there, I admired the decor and clothing assortment. Immediately, I imagined my students wearing those clothes.

Moving into connector mode, I asked Lea if she would be interested in setting up a photo shoot and exhibiting the results as an elegant (point of purchase/art exhibit). Yes! was her answer and I went into production mode. Student models, check. Amateur photo enthusiasts, check. Willing entrepreneur, check. From 9am to 2pm, 9 models from Croatia, Mexico, Pakistan were captured in over 1,000 images by photographers from Israel, France, Poland and America. If that isn't a celebration fit for Global Entrepreneurship week, I don't know what is. We will narrow down the images to 10 to use in store and more will be used on the stores website. Most of the clothes worn were Fred Perry and the weather from a overcast (great diffused light) morning to a bright, sunny afternoon really combined for something special. Many thanks to everyone, especially Orli, Nicole and Joanna (photogs) and Bruna, Noora, Martina, Jelena, Matko, Edin, Diego, Ali and Munir

Global Entrepreneurship week.

It's Global Entrepreneurship Week and my students are ready to celebrate;) Take a look at some of their research here and more will be posted later, so check back.

What did you think of the Social Network?

Playing in a theater near you is probably "The Social Network". Its definitely a popular choice in Zagreb these days. I saw it and found alot of content useful and relatable to our course in Entrepreneurship. If you watched it, how can you connect it to anyone or a combination of the recurring themes we are discussing around background, idea generation, marketing, operations, finance and results/personal insights? Leave your comments below and lets deconstruct it for educational purposes.

RealitE: The Doodle Dude, NJ, USA

I hope to make this a recurring theme, RealitE. With the flood of reality based programming online and on the tv, I thought it would be fitting to offer my version with a focus on "E" for Entrepreneurship. In this first, highlight... on Art Kaney from central shore in the State of New Jersey, has a great lifestyle business combining his talent for doodling with education and entertainment into an online and offline enterprise. He shares his skill with his family and a growing network of doodle dude alumni who have experienced his fun how-to's about drawing and capturing lifes little pleasures through classes and parties. His website is interactive and really invites visitors to play. Check it out: www.doodledude.com. What do you doodle? The lesson: live your passion, spread your talent.

Croatia-France-USA-Argentina-Croatia

The way in which ideas spread is fascinating. Today, I received an email from two former students from Croatia now studying in France. They just had a case study about Toms Shoes and said it reminded them of me. Thanks Ivona and Domagoj;). The concept behind Toms Shoes is simply when you buy a pair for yourself, you automatically buy a second pair for someone in the world in need. The gift is included in the purchase price. Here is the rundown of this entrepreneurial story....An Amercian traveller (lifestyle)+visited Argentina in 2006 (trigger) and was shocked to find many children who needed but did not have footwear + then the he took his (desire) passion to remedy this situation and his (possibility) opportunity based on his access to resources and Blake Mycoskie formed his new venture, Toms Shoes. The big idea: One for One, will have over a million shoes sold and a million given to a needy child in just four years from 2006 to 2010. Don't you want to buy a pair? OR atleast read more about social business creation? Check out Toms Shoes sustainable business model here.

Creativity Techniques

The Creativity sessions are some of my favorites to explore with my students. The picture, right, is from my 2008 sessions which I carefully documented from my courses at ZSEM.

This week in class we examined creativity as part of the entrepreneurial process. Incorporated into lessons are a variety of tools that one can use to curiously explore hidden potential. We used an Ebay song parody by Weird Al Yankovic to further inspect the transformation of "junk" - useless objects to "treasure" - renewed value as seen in the eyes of the customer. Students were encouraged to try out techniques of random input, word association, forced relationships, brainstorming, reverse brainstorming, mindmapping, Gordan's method and storyboarding.

Through the class session, students worked on each method and discovered which ones worked for them. If you are interested in more creativity exercises, check out some of my favorite links below and/or leave some of your favorite ones for the rest of us to explore in your comments.

Creativity for the lifelong learner starts at MindTools.com.


Mentalrobics exercises for Creativity


Psychology Today article with creativity exercises as part of Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project


Creativity Portal for endless creative prompts


Get the pulse on what's next from Springwise.com and their team of worldwide idea scouts


Creating space for innovation is explored in this BusinessWeek slideshow profile on Jump Associates


Discover what all the buzz is about Kickstarter.com which is making funding the arts as simple as a click, pay and perk.