Working Through Consulting to Creative People
A blog by psychoanalyst Michael Jolkovski who looks at music ensembles, businesses & creative teams and other examples of human nature at work and play.
There is a common theme to all of this. I promise.
Blog page: 4
On March 3rd
This zoomable map shows the extent and distribution of the victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. Ghastly viewing, especially when you consider how many lives are touched by each dot.
My field, the study of why smart people do irrational things, should be booming about now.
On February 27th 6 Comments
At a tech-business event where I was talking with people about the dynamics of creative groups, a fellow offered that we are becoming a hacker culture, meaning that young people are prone to alter or repurpose software and devices to their liking, to evade DRM and copy protection and generally make things work the way they like.
He’s right– but this isn’t new at all. Sociologist Claude Levi-Strauss spoke about the concept of bricolage, which is usually translated as tinkering or using what’s available to create a new thing. Hacking, in other words. Levi-Strauss posed this as a basic process in the creation of culture. Read more »
On February 26th
Bands and startups have a lot in common. I have been exploring this idea for a couple of years. I’ve been spending time talking to musicians and tech entrepreneurs.
I’ve been gestating a blog post on this idea — but it’s out of hand and it wants to be a book. I will try to be a good little blogger and offer my thoughts in little bites. This goes against my nature, but it’s a good discipline.
So for now: all you musicians, go read this post by the always-pithy startup guru, Paul Graham. He begins with one of his favorite ideas: Read more »
On February 26th
Because I have to think about things for a few weeks. For example, I have some choice thoughts about the TED talk by Liz Gilbert on Genius. But so does everyone else. And by the time I have my thoughts worked out, it will be as quaint and distant as Jimmy Carter’s cardigan. The internet will give a collective “meh“.
On February 15th
When did it happen that nothing we know about human nature counts until a brain researcher says so? This article reports on, to be sure, an interesting and worthwhile study. What we know about the mind from the inside (through psychoanalysis and all the rest) is converging with what we know about the brain from the outside — and that is really something.
BUT, it seems that the brain researchers have become the go-to explainers of human nature in a way that can be strained and ridiculous. I notice my patients seem to increasingly talk about one part of their “brain” feeling or doing something — when they’re really using “brain” as a metaphor for “mind” — because they’re talking about how they experience their mental life, not about how the hardware is configured. Read more »
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