How are you interesting?: The tao of Richard Saul Wurman

by Carlos Salum

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Picture by TOP-Alegna Photography

May 11, 2010

“I don’t really know what to say I do. People often ask me how I get things done, so I tell them I have a secret. Inevitably, they beg me to reveal it, so I say the reason I do anything is because I want to do it so badly that it’s not a matter of why I do it: I’m incapable of not doing it! Once I have the passion to do something, it’s harder not to do it. Until I can do it because of the passion, not for power, money or fame, I’m not able to move off dead center.”

Richard Saul Wurman leaned forward and asked me to turn off my video camera. He questioned me with his bubbling blue eyes. I nodded, mystified. He held his probing gaze in silence as my mind frantically connected concepts: “passion as purpose... being one with your purpose... Tao... the way... passion as the way... Wurman’s Tao...” I nodded again, smiling. At ease, he sat back and took a deep breath. “Some people are disappointed by my answer,” he said, looking out the window at his palatial gardens.

On April 7 & 8, 2010, I hosted Richard Saul Wurman’s first visit to Charlotte to mark the launch of my SIR Conferences based on Stories + Ideas + Relationships, a venture largely inspired by his mentorship. This legendary “Information Architect” and author of 82 books founded the world-renowned TED, TEDMED and eg Conferences - all recognized as hotbeds for breakthrough ideas and “a kind of religious experience for creative people.”

The first time I saw Richard’s face was in a June 1997 interview in Fortune Magazine which crowned him “The King of Access.” He was photographed in his Newport mansion’s white living room, reading with his feet up beside a wall-to-wall collection of erotic Mexican ceramics. He looked shamelessly self-indulgent in his throne, fittingly designed by Mies van der Rohe. I remember thinking: How do you get to live like that?

His “intellectual hedonism” was in sheer contrast with the life I had left behind in Argentina, where for over two decades military dictatorships relentlessly punished intellectual curiosity with torture, prison, exile, or a trip to the bottom of the ocean. Wurman’s iconoclastic attitude left an indelible impression and I became determined to meet him. Thanks to the mysteries of the Universe, I got my wish and more. I’ve now known Richard for several years, during which I’ve pieced together concepts that presumably explain his worldview. I’ll attempt to synthesize his thinking into three core concepts that I call "The Tao of Wurman":

First concept of Tao: Design your life to express your most essential desire.

Picture this: a young American Jew with a scraggly beard travels around Europe inexplicably convinced that he will meet the Pope. While in Rome, he fortuitously charms a Monsignor who invites him to the Pope’s audience in Castelgandolfo. Trekking under the scorching sun in a wrinkled drip-dry suit, he arrives drenched with sweat. To his amazement, he’s ushered to the stage where he sticks out like a Yeti among Cardinals solemnly dressed in red and Pope John XXIII, for many the most beloved in history, glowing in immaculate white. Awestruck, the young traveler watches the Pope hold the audience in the palm of his hand like no one he’s ever seen. In a visceral way, he finds his calling: to be in the presence of extraordinary people for as long as he lives.

As an advisor to peak performers in sports, art and business, I know that epiphanies like Wurman’s suddenly reveal to us that the unthinkable is possible, never mind how at first, for they reconnect us with the core of our being. Since that fateful day, RSW has admittedly focused on reliving that magical moment.

RSW’s peak experience uncovered his essential desire: to satisfy his curiosity. He didn’t seek power, money, or fame. He didn’t aspire to save the world either but rather to make his life interesting. RSW purposely created the best-attended mind-fests in the world so he could be on stage with the trailblazers who intrigue him, luminaries such as Francis Crick, Jonas Salk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Billy Graham, Nicholas Negroponte, Edward de Bono, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Yo Yo Ma and many others. He’s wildly successful because he knows his audience: it’s him.

Think: What was the most extraordinary experience you’ve ever had? What made it extraordinary? What breakthrough or major decision did it provoke? In which ways are you recreating that moment? How are you inspiring others because of it?

What to take away:

• Decide how much money, power, or fame you want. An irrational longing for any or all of them will likely interfere with your desire to create good work (it’s very difficult to have all three for very long).Design your life to ensure that everyday is interesting. Your life and work should be an extended hobby. Make connections between your interests and hobbies: what patterns emerge? Do those patterns lead to new ways of doing things?

• The toughest design project is designing your life. Your needs must be addressed to survive; they demand short-term solutions. Your desire is where creation starts; it’s focused on “what can be” and on the possibility of a better future. What do you desire?

Second concept of Tao: Provocative conversations promote the convergence of great ideas.

In 2004, a Swiss private bank wanted to form an investment club for almost-billionaires and asked me to organize a unique event to wow twenty of them. I chose to host them at Dr. Edward de Bono’s private island in Venice, Italy. I needed someone who could incite them to share their wisdom, so guess who I called… During the event, Richard questioned, provoked and challenged the participants from odd angles to break down their solemnity until ideas flowed freely and cross-pollinated, ultimately leading to profitable collaborations (it took only one deal to make the whole effort worthwhile for the bank).

What to take away:

• The best ideas usually emerge out of random conversations between two people. Instead of the usual “What do you do?” ask “What are you interested in?” or “What are you developing?” If anyone asks you, what will be your answers? How are you interesting?

• If your conversations converge and form certain clear patterns, why not test the convergence with a larger group? Gathering enough bright, passionate, forward-thinking and proactive people under a specific theme provides self-ignition. The juxtaposition and discrepancy of topics is a catalyst for creative thinking to spread like wildfire. Partially, that’s the genius of TED. What would make your TED-like meeting wildly successful?

• “What’s next” lurks at the margins of “what’s normal” - you’ll notice it if you imagine “what can be.” Consider far-out ideas by looking at their advantages, disadvantages, and interesting aspects. Get comfortable with what’s marginal and find its critical mass potential: one day it will become a market, so capture it before anyone else does. What will that be?

• Do you want to play Provocateur? While exploring your topic, add, transfer, animate, substitute, fragment, distort, contradict, parody, analogize, symbolize, repeat or combine one or more aspects of it. Look for emerging thought patterns and hints of new value.

Third concept of Tao: Change starts from the individual rather than the collective.

At 45, Wurman was destitute. He had failed as an architect, college dean, businessman, and husband. To sort out his utter disorientation, he figured out how to make things make sense and wrote books about what he was seeking to understand. He created the Access Guides and the TED Conferences to indulge himself, becoming a multi-millionaire in the process. He did not set out to change the world. Yet his innovative approaches have become an antidote for apathy and closed-mindedness. By splattering his myriad personal interests on a stage, he changed the format and tone of intellectual discourse on a global scale.

What to take away:

• Indulge your curiosity: learning is remembering what interests you.

  Sell your ignorance rather than your expertise: research, design, publish or teach something you don’t understand. Empty your preconceptions and wallow in your ignorance so you’re free to ask questions and learn. What do you want to understand?

• Leadership is having an idea and being able to explain it clearly. Clarity leads to real change: people embrace what they understand and act on it. It’s the overwhelming desire of a determined individual that mobilizes others to gets things done. People follow a leader who can clearly articulate the future vision from the mountaintop and walks them through the steps necessary for their arrival. What’s your power idea?

• Information must be understandable or it’s just data. Information architecture is about how to choose the right way to present information and how to help people navigate through it. To explain something clearly, remember what it is like not to know.

Wurman's Tao Provocations for Charlotte:

• Promote Diversity. Influence cultural networks to be inclusive, participatory, forward-thinking, internationally engaged, and unified by technology. Make open-mindedness Charlotte’s Gold Standard of citizenship.

• Promote Learning. Explore ways to convert the city into a “learning playground” by connecting buildings, population segments and activities. Ideas: teach lateral thinking in schools, use boardrooms as classrooms, use museums as idea-hunting spaces, use sports events as artistic themes and houses of worship as ecumenical storytelling hubs. What else can we connect?

• Promote Understanding. Create a Data Observatory that gathers vital information about the city in real time and compares it to data from key cities around the world through infographics. Share the public information with everyone.

• Promote Entrepreneurship. Multiply regional microlending funds and sponsored prizes to develop innovations and export them. The goal? To find the next Steve Jobs, of course.

• Promote Connections. Form a coalition of cultural networks around “convergence events” focused on creativity and entrepreneurship to allow cross-pollination of ideas and action. Tribes are cozy but open source thinking is healthier.

• Promote Curiosity. Organize regular meet-ups and un-conferences promoted through social media in every region of the city to stimulate idea generation and development.

  

   

            Last "tao bit": May you be your purpose, however it manifests.

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  _{Photo credit: TOP-Alegna Photography; BOTTOM-Cielo Studio.}