“People without creativity have nothing to do in the future” - interview with Vetas Versatile, Creative Happens

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Why creativity is more important than efficiency and what is important to know and be able to do in a pre-singular society.

What do you do in your work?

I went online for the first time in 1997. And in 2007 I started working in it.

It all started from the position of a copywriter, who was loaded with the functions of a moderator of several thematic forums. Then I had a chance to lead several web projects from scratch and learn the features of web project management, the basics of layout and programming slang. After that, the path of development of managerial competencies began - I was the head of the online group, department, Internet marketing director, digital director.

But in my heart I have always been an inventor. Others told me that I was a creative person, but this is nonsense, I was an inventor. And in 2012, I seriously wondered why everyone calls me creative when I'm not doing anything supernatural. So I got a hobby - researching methods of creative thinking and creative problem solving. First a blog, then a newsletter, then a Telegram channel, and finally - your own creative incubator with online courses for people and offline programs for companies.

Where did you learn what you can do?

I have a military engineering education, and my current occupation is not at all related to war and engineers. When I was studying at the military institute, I was very skeptical about marketing, as well as about management and much more. For example, to consulting on creativity.

In what I am doing now, I am an autodidact. Recently, I really like this word, for the first time it hooked me with Oksimiron and Ka-Theta in the "Machine of Progress":

This is definitely about me.:)

For the last couple of years of my life, I immersed myself in education and realized that the classical education system is in a deep crisis and there are no serious prerequisites for improvement. Children and adolescents are not given those skills that are vital, and they are taught the way they did it decades ago: they prepare gears from them for an industrial society, while our society has long been post-industrial. Or even pre-singular.

And if the state cannot give what I need, I find opportunities. I shape my lifelong education trajectory and constantly adjust it. I study in a complex way - books, online courses (more often I do not go through completely, but only the blocks I need), podcasts, mailings, communication with people.

It's enough.

What is your main achievement in work?

Everything is ashes. Joke.

My best achievement is the realization that no one needs me except me, and full acceptance of responsibility for myself and my loved ones. And also, of course, the ability to take many small steps, the ability to make mistakes and draw conclusions based on mistakes.

I went from a copywriter to a marketing director, and then I realized that all this is not important. What matters is what we usually don't pay attention to: feelings, emotions, and relationships. And this is not only about work, this is about life in general.

And if I try to answer the question, I will reformulate it a little. Let it be like this - what is it that rushes me the most from what I do?

Tell us more about it

Here I will answer my previous question. I am now very inspired by my project - Creative Happens creative incubator. The idea was born in July 2017, and in August of the same year the MVP of the project appeared - a free online course on creativity development. I launched the Advanced Course in April 2018 and since then I have officially helped people and companies develop creativity. As an individual entrepreneur.

Who needs this creativity today? Everyone needs efficiency! But exactly until the moment when you were fired from your job, and you are not at all ready for this. What to do? Ideas are needed, and here I caught you. Ideas are about creativity.

Come, we will discuss any projects - work, personal, metaphysical, astral. There are enough ideas. And the most interesting thing is that you start to create ideas yourself, I just direct them.

What difficulties did you face, how do you solve them?

Wow. I'm still looking for a distribution model. The trend for online learning is growing, everyone began to sell their courses, quality goes to hell, quantity to space. This creates big problems, and I definitely don't want to use standard channels for attracting people.

One of these days I plan to launch promotional codes and a referral program. I am testing the hypothesis. I don't want to spend money on classic customer acquisition. I am looking for IQP from TRIZ: people find / recommend my course themselves. Or my course finds people on its own. Or there is no course, but people pay money and get creative. Something like this.

What mistakes have you made on the road to success?

Oh, I've made enough mistakes already. But I like it, I make compote out of mistakes. I add raspberries to it, and it turns out not even disgusting. The first mistake is overconfidence. The second is the curse of knowledge. The third is laziness.

I am working on them. I began to think more at the beginning of the project and to run the review cycle faster. I ask myself questions, I ask questions to people who take courses and those for whom I run workshops. Feedback gives a lot for development and improvement.

Does anyone work with you?

I'm alone for now. But scaling products (online courses and workshops) will lead to a team. I don't know anything about it yet and will solve these problems as soon as they appear. So far I am sure of only one thing: people without creativity have nothing to do in the future, and I have solutions for this problem.

What will be relevant and in demand in your field in the coming years?

In 10-15 years, thanks to artificial intelligence, more than half of the world's population will be unemployed. And this is an optimistic forecast. Today this half of the Earth does not think about such a scenario and does not try to rethink its role.

Marketing will definitely not have a place among people, it will be fully automated. And the creativity of AI will hook. Algorithms will become so powerful that at some point we will not be able to distinguish between a work or product created by an algorithm and created by a person.

Groups of enthusiasts who gather and think about the future have been known for a long time. They used to be skeptical, but now skepticism is leaving and rationality is taking its place. I really like the project created by the Skolkovo team and ASI: it is about which specialists will leave the market and which will have to appear. Look, do not be lazy, maybe you will find yourself.

What does your workplace look like?

At one time my "office" looked like this:

Today I just walk into a cafe or coworking space, get comfortable and work.

My working set:

• MacBook and charging;
• Beats Solo headphones
• iPhone;
• external battery;
• A4 notebook and multi-colored pens;
• Post-It stickers;
• marker;
• Kindle.

Applications:

• Things;
• Trello;
• Telegram;
• Focus List;
• Workflowy;
• The Brain;
• Mindline;
• Oak;
• Notes;
• Really Bad Chess;
• Tsumego Pro.

How do you organize your time?

I found for myself a combination of techniques to do the most important things and stay in a positive state.

Techniques, according to the order of use:

• meditation;
• freewriting;
• burner list;
• be offline if the task is not online;
• Pomodoro.

I have already listed the programs above: Things, Trello, Focus List.

Tell us about your hobbies

There are hobbies.

I read 50-60 books a year, which allows me to maintain a broad outlook.

I collect car models of 1: 72 scale, try to find a toy store on trips to other countries and cities and choose something interesting there. Gathering is actually something very ancient. Our ancestors more often gathered than hunted, as you know.

At various times he played basketball, table tennis, and was professionally involved in track and field athletics. Now it's just a lot of outdoor activity. I have not chosen a permanent sport for myself yet.

Life hacking from Vetas the Versatile

Books

• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is not about comics at all.
• Daniel Kahneman's "" is a book of insights into why we are so irrational and what to do about it.
• "" Mihai Csikszentmihalyi - very cool written about the state of the highest concentration, inspiration and productivity.
• "" Andy Paddicomba - simple practices that show that meditation is not sitting in a twisted posture waiting for Zen, but a common practice that helps you to be yourself.

TV series and films

• "Black mirror";
• "World of the Wild West";
• "Abstractions" (documentary);
• movies based on comics (I try not to miss a single one).

Newsletters

• IDEO;
• Artifex.ru;
• "T-Z";
• MosIgra;
• Armen Petrosyan;
• Max Tiles;
• Sergey Kaplichny;
• Ivana Survillo;
• Sergey Khabarov;
• Timur Zarudny.

I watch TED talks all the time, it's hard to choose one.