Keita Demming • Disruptive Conversations • Cameron Norman.mp3
Cameron Norman is a psychologist and designer who brings together the science of systems, program evaluation, and design to help people create impact and innovation. In this conversation, he and I explore a number of themes related to change and innovation. Here I highlight some of themes that stood out for me.

Pay attention to what is front of us.
So often we are so busy trying to make a difference we forget to pay attention to what is in front of us. We forget to pause. We forget to breath. Cameron talked about how he uses mindfulness in his work and how he has found it very effective in getting people to pay attention to what is in front of them. It stood out for me because in today’s social media world where our gadgets hijack our attention and so few of us are listening to the other side. I really apricated Cameron highlighting the skills of paying attention and listening.

What are we not paying attention to?
In this episode, I was talking about how I love the question, “what are we not paying attention to?” Where Cameron took the conversation surprised me. I mentioned that I first learned about that concept in a photography class and the teacher reminded us that what is most important is what is out of focus or what is not in the frame. Cameron picked up on the theme of “the frame”. For him the frame is important. He reminded us that frames are of their time. We all frame ourselves in a positive light. We see ourselves as being on the side of the angles and ignore the things we fear the most. The truth is we have motivations that are self-serving, we are attracted to things we like, and we avoid things we do not like. Sometimes the biggest insights can come from rethinking the frame.

Too many people pick the low diving board.
This is a theme that has come up in other episodes, but so often people do not do those things that are most daring. We play it safe. As a result, sometimes we end up doing the wrong things righter. I loved this insight because do think so many times we choose to do 10 things on the low diving board because if we fail on the high board, the consequences could be so big. To me really disruptive things live on the high diving board. The question is are we ready to jump

Do you really want this?
This is perhaps my favorite part of this episode. Cameron explained that he was working with an organization that said we want to be client centered, but when you look at everything they did, they were self-serving. This is where I see the most opportunity for disruption. If organizations just looked in the mirror and asked, are we doing what we set out do? If the answer is no, then we need t change. The challenge is that if often requires substantial change and not many people are ready or willing to do that. What often happens is that people know what is expected of them socially, so they say and perform to those social norms. For example, an organization might say we are working towards being more client centered. They know, politically, this is what they need to say, so they perform to the social expectations. The do not want to change. The do not really want this because it would mean too much change. I loved this insight. It is a recurring them and many organizations.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.