Two Methodologies That All Entrepreneurs Should Be Religious About
Guest Blog by Cheryl Heller, Founding Chair of SVA’s MFA program in Design for Social Innovation
We live in a time when self-evident, practical truths about life emerge from the mouths of self-proclaimed pundits as genius revelations. They are the kind of truths we know we know already, if we would only pay attention, the kind my friend Cheryl Kiser calls “the cutting edge of common sense.” But somehow we don’t remember them until we see them on the cover of a business book or magazine, and then we act surprised.
For example, a friend just raved about the new book, The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essentials, which explains “how to streamline your life by identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary, freeing you from everyday clutter and allowing you to focus on accomplishing the goals that can change your life.”Uhm, no s**t.
Similar examples abound. New research finds that “food marketing can create a false sense of health” or that design should be human-centered. (Design has always been human-centered, but centered only on the humans with the money to commission it.) Perennials on the New York Times’ non-fiction best-seller list include The Power of Habit and Susan Cain’s Quiet, about how people who don’t yack and socialize all the time are more valuable and productive. Duh.
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Cheryl Heller works with business leaders to transform organizations and industries. She has founded two companies, worked for some of the most discriminating clients in the world, and is now, along with her private practice, Founding Chair of a pioneering educational program that will produce the world’s next design leaders: MFA Design for Social Innovation at SVA in New York.
