The UP Experience Blog

They say that if you’re looking for something, you’ll see it everywhere.

I’ve heard it called the “Yellow Car Phenomenon.”  Having never given a flip about yellow cars previously, bring them into your attention for the next few days.  You’ll be amazed at how many yellow cars appear, seemingly out of nowhere — and NOT just taxi cabs!

I’m having my own Yellow Car Phenomenon, but in another domain. I blame The UP Experience.  I now see innovation everywhere.  Recent examples:

1) While perusing Twitter the other day, I came across this blog posting about a design concept that is simple and elegant:  venetian blinds with small solar cells on them.  They collect solar energy during the day, and then can light your room at night or power other devices. Isn’t that brilliant?  It’s the classic, “Why didn’t I think of that?” moment. One demonstration of creativity is the ability to see  something old or taken-for-granted in a new way. Now, what  would REALLY be cool would be inexpensive solar-cell tape, like a Scotch tape roll, so that you could retrofit your own blinds.  I’m in!

2) Misha Penton is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and performs primarily in Houston.  Bored with the oh-so-conventional approach to classical music, she founded an opera company to bring her longing for boundary-defying, intense, non-traditional contemporary performances to life.  Now, as Artistic Director of Divergence Vocal Theater, she says the two shows she has produced “feels like giving birth to twins six months apart.”  She has created something utterly new on the Houston music and arts scene: fearless, authentic, flawless fusion of old and new opera, dance, instrumental music, technology/multimedia, and literature.  With a loyal following and rave reviews accumulating, Misha’s desire to provide extraordinary experiences has created extraordinary value.

3)  Social media and crowdsourcing are transforming my life.  I’ve been on Facebook since 2006 and Twitter since October 2008, and seriously underestimated their usefulness until recently.  My parents raised me to look up answers to my own questions in our Encyclopedia Brittanica.  That was in an age of information scarcity.  Fast-forward to today.  If I Google “Houston TX Sushi” I get 363,000 results.  It’s so much information that I’ll choke on it before I ever get my sushi!  However, I can ask my Facebook friends and Twitter followers, “Where should I eat sushi tonight?” and get some reliable recommendations.  That  combines efficiency, the personal touch, and  innovation.

Why so much innovation now? Perhaps it’s because “necessity is the mother of invention,” and we certainly have great necessities at this time in our history.  Perhaps it’s been there all along, just humming below the level of our awareness. However, I’m starting to believe that each of us is an innovator, even if we don’t quite know it yet. Certainly, each speaker slated to appear at The UP Experience is an innovator, a unique person with a unique perspective. Once you develop the “nose,” and the awareness to find innovation in the world around you, you’ll find it everywhere.  You might even uncover that capacity within yourself!

Posted by MaryBeth Smith

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