TED Talk: David E. Kelley

We watched a video of David Kelley talking about creative confidence, and I thought that it had an incredible message. He explained how the comments of other people can influence someone’s creative confidence, and comments like that make a creator doubt their abilities, so they are less likely to do a creative project again. Then, he talked about how there were ways to solve that by taking baby steps to creative confidence again, and hoe, through intensive therapy, fears could be accomplished. That could change a person’s whole mindset; for example, if someone was afraid of snakes, and then took baby steps to conquer that fear, and it translated to many other things throughout the client’s life.

He also talked about how many scientists, businesspeople, and great minds thought that they didn’t have the “traits” of creativity, so therefore, they  didn’t invent anything, or work to make something better. He talked about how there was not creativity trait, and that if people tried, they could come up with great things. He also talked about how Doug Deitz, creator of the MRI machine and other large medical imaging technology, had a moment of crisis in his very successful career. He was watching a child having a fit about going into one of his machines because they were scared. He was shocked to learn that over 80% of the people who were going to be scanned had to be sedated in order to cope with it. He had to figure out something to do to help the hospitals, families, and patients. He considered himself a technical person, but it was up to him to think of something creative. He eventually came up with the idea of painting the machines to mimic things like space ships, pirate ships, and other kid-friendly items. He had the healthcare professionals that dealt with the machines trained in childcare, so that they would make the experience more enjoyable for the children. After that, only about 10% of the patients had to be sedated in order to get scanned. This change was a major change, and it improved the morale of the families, hospitals, and children. 

In short, he described the lasting impacts of design thinking, and how it can improve even the scariest things.