3.
CURIOSITY AND CREATIVITY
“I have no special talent.
I am only passionately curious.”
Maria Nekrassova, a Russian creative artist, entrepreneur and Associate Director of Admissions for a top European Business School that Steven coached, has made curiosity an everyday practice.
“5 am; I am standing in line in a Kazakhstan airport, tired after a business trip and bored. I start looking around not to fall asleep and notice a girl wearing a pair of high-heeled stilettos. I smile and think: high heels at 5 am? She must be Russian. I start amusing myself by looking at people’s shoes and trying to guess where they come from. The guy next to her is wearing old-fashioned sneakers so loved by the Americans. I observe him for a bit then I notice next in the line a pair of soft suede moccasins, no socks. The temperature outside is -10°C and the style is unmistakable, so I smile when I hear Italian. I love the idea of having so many different styles standing in line so I secretly take a photo.”
Maria spots curious situations, details, and things around her. To remember things better she takes a photo and saves it in a “Curious things” folder on her computer. It can be an ornament, an announcement or just a peculiar way the snow lies on the street. Sometimes when she notices things created by others, like the shadows of fences or buildings, she feels a strange connection with the architect, as if they shared the same secret.
Sometimes it is just life that brings up peculiar situations and angles in her path. “I rarely feel that I create something, I just spot it. So I am a little bit ashamed when people tell me that I am creative. What I do is observe, not create, and anyone can do it. As Picasso put it, ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal’. I edit my photos to make the idea clearer – I rearrange objects, crop a photo or use a filter, but the idea is never mine in a way, I just notice it.”
Maria’s collection replenishes naturally. Her curious attitude originates in her belief in the world’s potential affluence – the world has a lot to offer and there is always something to spot. “My curiosity folder is not only a source of ideas. For me it is a constant reminder of how beautiful, funny and enriching the world around us is. It has so much to offer if you are eager to play and be ready to observe – most of the time just for the sake of appreciation and without any particular purpose in mind.”
Curiosity opens us to the world around us. It helps us see again with “fresh eyes” and allows us to make new connections that are crucial in working and being successful in the unknown. Beginner’s mind is the key to creative work, as designer Benjamin Erben reminds us. “As a communications person, a designer, almost every project I get myself into starts with an absolute blank sheet. More often than not I know nothing about my client’s industry: insurance, music distribution, sugar industry, car safety systems, you name it… That is our strength. It’s the fresh view we provide that’s invaluable, and our confidence is contagious.”
