Spotlight on CEE Presenter: Joseph Reimels

Creativity in a Black Hole and Surprises at Every Turn

A Conversation with Joseph Reimels

By Janet Stormes

Joseph Reimels is an expert risk taker, collaborator and a successful salesman.  He credits his career and personal success to his dyslexia and the Creativity Studies graduate program at Buffalo State.  Joseph will be presenting a talk at the 2017 CEE-Conference and if my conversation with him is any indication, he will challenge and inspire the audience.

I had the opportunity to chat with Joseph and our conversation was far-reaching, inspiring, and full of surprises.  He attended Niagara University as an undergraduate where he majored in political science and minored in theater.  He received his Master’s degree in Creativity Studies from Buffalo State in 1997.

After earning his Master’s degree, he worked for a New York state senator and then began working in sales in New York City.  In 2008 (at the height of the economic recession), he decided to make a career jump to retail finance as an independent contractor.  He spent the first two years of his new career on the road, including six months when he was essentially homeless and working from his car, before he landed his first national client.  Now he has 3,200 clients and works with hundreds of sales people to help them develop their sales skills.

I asked Joseph how he managed to persevere for those difficult years and give himself the time to succeed.  He said that he learned persistence from living with dyslexia, and optimism, confidence, and the skills to tackle challenges from the Creativity Studies graduate program.  He described dyslexia as looking at a black hole and creativity as the light that enabled him to work himself out of the black hole by understanding his strengths and what he wanted to do with his life.  He believes that the creative studies graduate program is an untapped resource for many other people with dyslexia.

Joseph said that given his background, he values collaboration and embraces the strengths in other people.  In a competitive field like retail sales, he is unique because while he is successful in sales, he loves collaborating with others.  He uses creative problem solving techniques in each of his meetings to ensure there are no hidden agendas with his clients.  He believes his clients and sales team find his approach refreshing.

I wanted to interview Joseph because his bio on the CEE conference website mentioned “his belief in applying creative solutions to traditional outdated business practices”.  I wondered about his approach because I am interested in the same issue.  During my conversation with Joseph, we talked about how to successfully introduce new and unfamiliar ideas to individuals working in traditional professions.  He explained that because of his dyslexia, he is very good at reading others and empathizing with them.  This has proved to be valuable in sales and when teaching or convincing others to embrace new ideas.

Joseph said that when he creates development tools (he prefers “development” to the word “training”), he focuses on making a clear concise presentation that demonstrates the benefits of the new approach or product.  He tries to get others excited and inspired by his vision.  Joseph’s theater experience taught him that an actor must be clear, perform consistently every night, and be fully committed to his or her role to engender a rapport with the audience.  He uses this same approach when selling new products or introducing new ideas.

Joseph’s career is in retail sales and finance and he loves theater and politics.  I worked in federal budgeting and have been a lifelong teacher, dancer and choreographer.  We bonded over our similarly wide-ranging interests and our belief that this diversity provides us with a unique and beneficial perspective in our professional work. 

He believes that to be an effective teacher or facilitator, we each need to create an individual approach based on what we are passionate about and experienced in.  Just as he found connections between his dyslexia, creativity, theater, politics and sales, he encouraged me to find the connections between my background as a dancer, federal budgeteer and what I learn in the Creativity Studies graduate program as I develop the approaches/tools I use for teaching and facilitating. 

Our conversation covered creativity, dyslexia, retail sales and financing, politics, theater, dance, and ways to develop an individual’s professional skills – as I said it was challenging, inspiring, and filled with surprising turns.  I look forward to Joseph’s talk and learning more about his unique perspective on creativity.

Janet K. Stormes is a first year student in the Creativity Studies graduate program.  She worked in the federal government for 23 years before retiring from the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations in 2016 and now teaches Appropriations Law and the Federal Budget Process.  Janet is also the co-founder of the Alexandria, VA-based modern dance company, Choreographers Collaboration Project. For 35 years, Janet has taught dance, choreography, and improvisation.  She has a B.A., Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and a Master, Public Administration and an M.A., International Relations from the University of Washington

Spotlight on CEE Presenter: Jayme Cellitioci

 

FourSight preference: Ideator/Implementer

Childhood dream: to study and protect the ocean

Currently proud of: the reach she has with her work at the National Inventors Hall of Fame through Camp Invention

Dream for the future: to impact as many parents as possible through her words around weaving science into everyday family life in a humble, engaging way

Jayme is happiest with her “feet in two worlds.” She grew up fascinated by the sea and wanted to study marine biology as far back as she can remember. She studied aquatic ecology in high school, but fell in love with the social sciences when she got to college. She found a winning combination in a psychology/biology program focused on marine mammals. Since then she has been combining her love and knowledge of the ocean and science at large with her interest in people and their potential.

But, like most people, her path to where she is now is not a straight line. “I was working for the Maui Ocean Center as the director of education when I reached a point where I felt a little like a doctor that did pre-med but not medical school. I felt some skills gaps, particularly in the areas of management and leadership, that made me want to feel more equipped.” Jayme decided to move back to her hometown of Buffalo, NY to explore her options and began working at the Buffalo Museum of Science. There, she noticed a folder on the desk of a co-worker. It happened to be about the creativity program at Buffalo State. “And I thought, this might be exactly right.”

After finishing her master’s degree at the ICSC, Jayme found herself in yet another certificate program across the U.S. at Oregon State. This time she was focusing on “free-choice learning.” “I used to feel like a ‘pseudo-teacher’ because I was always drawn to the education department of places like museums and aquariums, and people would ask me ‘Are you a teacher?’ And I’d say no. And then I found out I was part of this whole world of ‘informal learning’ or ‘free-choice learning,’ which is any learning that happens outside of the classroom. It’s all about following one’s own curiosity and often involves hands-on, immersive experiences.”

And these figurative and quite literal zig-zags of Jayme’s experience are no surprise when you learn that her personal motto, and the title of her talk at the Creativity Expert Exchange, is “Wonder is my compass.” From filling up journals with everything she knew about the ocean as a child to flying to Australia for 3 months with just $200 in her pocket as a young adult, to her work in Hawaii, her degree in Buffalo, and program in Oregon, Jayme was certainly living by her motto.

Until she wasn’t anymore.

In 2015, Jayme started writing a book with her motto as the title. “As I began writing, I really started reflecting on whether I was living the phrase. I felt like instead of using wonder as my compass, I had started using fear as my compass.” Jayme, being drawn toward the sea, had long wanted to live in California but had let her fear of the unknown keep her from doing it. “After stopping in California for a quick visit on the way home from Maui, I decided to take the leap. I feel like there are often two distinct choices in the way that I can live my life– to be uncomfortably comfortable, or to be wildly uncomfortable on the way to fulfilling a higher vision.”

Now Jayme lives with her family in northern California, where she works remotely for the National Inventors Hall of Fame creating science and creativity-based experiences for school-age children. “The most exciting part is that I spend time with the inventors we induct into the Hall of Fame to glean wisdom from them, then I take those insights and use them as the clay to mold the programs that we have for children in grades pre-K–12. It is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with our nation’s greatest innovators and to give them the chance to pay forward their insights into the invention process.” Jayme designs and pilots the programs (looking at everything from instructor background information to materials, etc.) that then get sent to schools all over the country. “I explicitly use my creativity training, including CPS, every single day in my job. I am grateful to combine the two areas for which I have the most passion—creativity and science.”

Next on the horizon for Jayme is her soon-to-be published book Wonder is my Compass, which is about weaving science into everyday family life (keep an eye out for it in the ICSC Press!). And surely, with wonder as her compass, much more is yet to come from Jayme.

Don’t miss Jayme’s CEE talk on “Wonder is my Compass.” She says, “You can really plug any topic into the story I’m going to tell, which is, ‘How do you embrace the true definition of creativity - going from the state of what is to the state of what you hope and want it to be?’”

Spotlight interview conducted by Sara Smith.  Sara is an educator and writer and is wildly curious about the link between learning and creativity. She graduates from the ICSC with her master's degree this December. You can find her co-administrating the community Parenting for Creativity on Facebook or at her website creativityathome.com. 

Spotlight on CEE Presenter: Marci Segal

This year the United Nations declared April 21, World Creativity and Innovation Day (WCID) to direct global attention to use creativity in problem-solving to make the world a better place. I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Marci Segal, the founder of WCID, and World Creativity and Innovation Week (WCIW) which is April 15 – 21.

Marci is globally recognized for contributions to the fields of creativity and psychology, and for partnering with leaders and teams to achieve new results through her Passport to Innovation® program. Marci is a dynamic speaker, thoughtful writer, and masterful facilitator and coach. She holds a M.S. degree in Creativity and Change Leadership from SUNY College at Buffalo, International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC).

How did you hear about the Creativity program at Buffalo State?

In 1975 I took a one-year art fundamentals program at Sheridan College, Brampton, Ontario called CPS for the Visual Arts. I’ll never forget this. On the last day of class the teacher sat on her desk and said “I’m going to tell you about Buffalo”. She spoke about CPSI and said if we were interested in going it was going to cost us $250. My hand shot up straight. I didn’t care how much it cost. I learned about the program at CPSI.

I worked in civil service as a file clerk and I hated my job. After returning from CPSI I said “I’m going to Buffalo to study creativity and then coming back to help change civil service.” That was 1977. My family said “You’re going where to do what?”

What are some of the fond memories that you have from being at Buffalo State?

Ruth was amazing. She was “Mother Ruth”. A freshman suite-mate, who was a dancer, did this warm up exercise in our room. I told Ruth about it and she said “Why don’t you lead it here?” so I did. Ruth was our mentor. She opened many doors. I remember when she saw me she would say, “Here comes trouble. The status quo is about to shift. Some kind of change is going to take place.” I was forever challenging assumptions and asking questions. That hasn’t changed.

What’s the history behind WCID/WCIW?

May 25, 2001 I saw the headline, “Canada in Creativity Crisis” in one of Canada’s National Newspapers. My reaction was that there is plenty of creativity in Canada. People just don’t recognize it when they see it. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if people knew how to use their natural ability to generate new ideas, make new decisions, take new actions and achieve new outcomes?” WCID and WCIW were born that day.

What is your CEE Talk about?

A tiny idea is now on the world stage. The U.N. adopted a resolution for WCID to become one of their days of observance. The word creativity used to be taboo. UN Ambassador I. Rhonda King, Permanent Representative from St. Vincent and the Grenadines called for the use f critical thinking and creativity in problem solving to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals because new thinking is warranted. She found the wciw.org website while searching for information on creativity to further the UN platform.

Because the public says “I don’t know how to be creative” or “I’m not creative,” we in the creativity community have an opportunity to bridge the gap through stories for a new future. The public often also says there’s no time for creativity. Now there is a date, April 21.  It’s already celebrated in over 50 countries around the world.

What is your definition of creativity?

Even though the conversation about creativity is changing I find the word creativity stirs emotions as if it were taboo, so in the work place, I often don’t mention the word creativity. I talk about new ideas, new decisions, new actions and new outcomes. I let people know they don’t have to be creative to do creative things.

Ruth used to say “a true facilitator is a guide by the side, rather than a sage on the stage.” Everyone has the capacity to make new combinations. We are born from a creative act; we have the natural energy to nurture what is within us.

How would you describe what you do as creativity professional?

Have you seen the cartoon Sid used to use of the two bound prisoners behind bars with the caption “Now here’s my plan”?  I help people use their brain in new ways to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow. I free people’s thinking so they can create new futures

Some of my favorite phrases are “New ideas need a soft place to land” and “creativity is like water it seeps in everywhere, let’s make space for it.”

Your website says “creativity is needed to help the transition from chaos to clarity”. What does that mean?

It’s about resilience. There is a definition of creativity that talks about our abilities to overcome self-imposed constraints, to go beyond feeling stuck to feeling free. Ruth talked about CPS as “channeled freedom”. Creativity involves using our minds in ways they haven’t been used before. The phrase “Wouldn’t it be nice if…” opens the heart and elevates the spirit.

What do want your legacy to be?

I hope Ruth would say that “I was a guide by the side”, that I mentored people and helped them grow using a facilitative framework or two, that I helped Ruth happen on a global level and that I helped bring the spirit and energies of Alex, Sid and Ruth to the new creativity conversation. Oh, and I think it’s neat to have a small idea born from passion, taken to the world level, and adopted by the United Nations.

The vision of the ICSC is “Igniting creativity around the world.” Marci Segal is doing the best she can to help set that world ablaze!

--> Spotlight Interview conducted by Latise Hairston. Dr. Hairston is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of HOPE Consulting. She has held a position at the SUNY College at Buffalo for over 20 years collaborating with organizations to develop creative strategies and products that strengthen, energize and empower customers. Latise holds a M.S. in Counseling and a Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy (concentration in Organizational Development), as well as certifications as an International Coaching Federation coach and FourSight facilitator. She is currently completing a M.S. degree in Creativity and Change Leadership at the SUNY College at Buffalo.