July 2016

Understanding the Difference Between Affect and Effect Can Transform Your Team

Put in a business context you can think of affect as the change or impact and effect as the result or outcome. In business we are results driven and often adhere to the mantra that if it can't be measured then it doesn't exist... read more


5 Ways to Leverage Feedback for Being an Authentic Leader

Being authentic in workplace interactions requires clarity of intention. The most frequent and important of these interactions is the giving and receiving of feedback. Well conducted feedback affects personal and professional growth in exponentially positive ways. Likewise, inauthentic feedback with disguised intentions infects workplace culture... read more


The 5 Business Principles That Underpin affectors.com

The disruptive start-up is the modern champion of the first world. Fast growth startups are transforming the way we do business and the role of business in society across all industries. These pioneers of the business world are exploring the unchartered waters of technology and redefining all aspects of business from planning to strategy, financing, distribution, marketing and sales... read more

Why We Need To Bridge The Gap Between Art And Commerce

Earlier this year, Apple bought Emotient, an Artificial Intelligence start-up which sells software that has the ability to read your emotions by capturing images of changes to your facial expressions. Given how much commerce is conducted through mobile devices that have the ability to record our expressions, you can see the appeal to Apple... read more


June 2016

6 Steps to Building a Culture of Creativity and High Performance

The desperate desire to innovate across all aspects of an organisation is forcing employers to run their teams at unsustainable levels of cognitive effort. Workplaces are under constant pressure to continually innovate the way they design, produce and deliver their products and services largely out of fear that when they’re not their competitors are... read more


How to Unblock Your Productivity and Innovate Daily

Studies estimate that you now have about 50,000 thoughts per day and the majority of those are negative. Given the interpretation of a thought as good or bad is an invention of your mind, these statistics demonstrate that your feedback loop can spiral in a negative direction... read more


5 Ways to Use Feedback to be an Authentic Leader

Well conducted feedback affects personal and professional growth in exponentially positive ways, according to Matt Jackson, founder of affectors.com and author of the book The Age of Affect. “Likewise, inauthentic feedback with disguised intentions infects workplace culture, allowing resentment and suspicion to fester,”... read more

How to Promote Courage, Creativity and Critical Thinking

Earlier this year, The World Economic Forum published its Future Jobs Report. The research listed complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity as the most valuable skills for 2020. Nurturing these skills will enable your business to adapt and thrive in an era of unprecedented fast-paced disruption... read more


Why we need to bridge the gap between art and commerce

Earlier this year Apple bought Emotient, an Artificial Intelligence start-up which sells software that has the ability to read your emotions by capturing images of changes to your facial expressions... read more


WHY YOU NEED TO CREATE A CULTURE OF COURAGE IN YOUR BUSINESS

Earlier this year the World Economic Forum published its Future Jobs Report and the research listed ‘complex problem solving’, ‘critical thinking’ and ‘creativity’ as the most valuable skills for 2020.

Nurturing these skills will enable your business to adapt and thrive in an era of unprecedented fast paced disruption. Here are several behaviours you can implement in your business to create a culture wherein people volunteer and challenge ideas... read more


 

May 2016

Poor work culture can damage mental and physical health

Poor workplace culture can have a huge effect on people’s mental and physical health, and it’s time ­business leaders addressed the issue urgently. Measuring how a workplace affects staff has been difficult to do accurately, which has meant other aspects of business have taken priority over culture... read more


How creative workers can get the best out of business

This year The World Economic Forum named Creativity the third most valuable future job skill for 2020. This rising age is one where creative thinkers are poised to pounce on more opportunities to capitalise on their passion, craft and unique perspective than they have ever had before in their lifetime... read more


2015

Getting Creative At Work

Innovation, growth and competitiveness are the focus of many organisations' strategic plans for 2015. But, for many, these words remain catchcries for objectives they have no meaningful strategies for achieving. This is largely because the precursor of innovation, creativity, is a rare commodity in business... read more


Contracting Economy May Help Bring Creativity Back In House

There is a silent crisis of confidence happening in the executive levels of our largest firms. Managers have lost faith in their ability to innovate within their enterprise. BCG’s 2014 annual innovation report found executives felt less confident about creating innovation within their organisations than they did a ­decade ago... read more


Stop Outsourcing Creativity to Consultants

Last year Australia’s businesses and government spent around $4.5 billion on consultants. But more worrying than the sheer size of that spend is the opportunity cost that went with it. While consultants who bring specialised technical expertise to complete a short-term project undoubtedly add value, there are also a proportion of snake oil salespeople taking a share of the fees pie too... read more


NAPLAN Fear: The Leading Killer of Creativity

This week, children in years three, five, seven and nine sat NAPLAN. This three-day test examines skills in literacy and numeracy and offers a snapshot of how schools are faring across the country. This information is valuable in informing school resourcing decisions, but it is being misused in a number of ways... read more


How to Overcome Fear

Artists, who expose themselves to public scrutiny every time they produce a piece of work, are pretty much the subject matter experts in fear.” Here are Matt’s top tips for creatives and artists on how to conquer the scary stuff... read more