Creativity and Curiosity with Oliver Caviglioli

Episode Overview

• The episode features a deep-dive conversation with guest Oliver Caviglioli, focusing on frameworks for personal and professional growth, coaching, and creativity.
• It introduces the "Be-Do-Have" model as a powerful alternative to traditional goal-setting, emphasizing that one must first embody a new identity to drive action.
• The discussion explores the philosophy of effective learning through expert-novice collaboration and the psychological necessity of dissatisfaction as a catalyst for change.
• Key concepts like "ruthless compassion" in coaching are detailed, alongside a reframing of creativity as a process of action and imitation rather than an innate talent.

Key Concepts

• Expert-Novice Collaboration: The ideal learning model involves a novice planning and having their "internal theories" questioned by an expert, which is more effective than either unguided discovery learning or simple imitation.
• Dissatisfaction as a Motivator: Genuine growth and creativity are sparked by a fundamental dissatisfaction with the status quo, which provides the necessary "grit" to seek out and create better alternatives.
• Be-Do-Have vs. Have-Do-Be: A paradigm shift in achieving goals where you first decide who you want to "be" (your vision), which then dictates what you must "do" and what resources you need to "have," rather than the reverse.
• Ruthless Compassion & Intrusive Coaching: An effective coaching style built on a pre-agreed context of respect that allows for direct, brutally honest, and challenging feedback to achieve transformative results.
• The Power of Declaration: Creating commitment and accountability by publicly declaring a vision. This raises the stakes and separates those who act from those who only have opinions.
• Creativity as Action and Imitation: Creativity is not an innate personal trait but a process of doing. It often begins with "stealing," copying, or mimicking the work of others to build a foundation of knowledge and skill.

Quotes

• At 0:15 - "Oliver in this is absolutely world-class and I feel like education will really, really benefit from it." - The host emphasizes the value of the guest's insights, which motivated him to finally release the episode.
• At 1:39 - "...so I'm here chained to my Mac all the time normally... but I miss going to see new different places and different schools in training." - Oliver describes the shift in his work from in-person travel to being entirely digital due to the lockdown.
• At 23:43 - "If you're the expert and I'm the novice and you ask me to plan something, I'll do it. I want you to then question why I'm thinking that." - Oliver explains the ideal dynamic for a novice to learn from an expert, making their thinking process explicit.
• At 25:34 - "It's neither left on your own, do your own planning, which is discovery learning... or here's a plan, copy it... The best is to have an expert who can give you the content but also gives you their thinking." - Oliver outlines the two ineffective extremes of training and presents apprenticeship as the superior middle ground.
• At 29:33 - "You need to be dissatisfied... You need to have that grit of sand in the oyster to think, 'You know, I'm dissatisfied.'" - Oliver explains that personal and creative growth is often sparked by a fundamental dissatisfaction with the current situation.
• At 33:32 - "The future will look like the past because we do the wrong things with our time. We put our past, which is behind us, and we put it into the future." - Oliver describes how, without a conscious vision, people are destined to repeat old patterns.
• At 45:02 - "There's this great term called ruthless compassion... you could be direct and brutal, and the context in which it lives is compassion." - Oliver introduces the concept of providing highly direct feedback within a framework of trust and shared goals.
• At 54:40 - "Instead of have, do, be… be, do, have." - Oliver explains a paradigm shift, suggesting one should first embody the person they want to be, and the actions and possessions will follow.
• At 55:37 - "In creating an opening, in having a commitment, and declaring it publicly, you have something at stake." - Oliver discusses the importance of creating accountability to drive action and move beyond mere opinion.
• At 56:56 - "You can't be a good coach unless you've been coached. And you can't be a really effective coach unless you've had intrusive coaching." - Oliver shares his belief on the foundational experience necessary for effective coaching.
• At 59:38 - "One thing that I don't think people talk about enough about creativity is stealing, mimicking, copying." - Oliver challenges the conventional view of creativity, suggesting it starts with learning from and building upon existing work.
• At 1:12:56 - "Stop navel-gazing, 'Oh, I'm not creative.' It's the wrong question. Let's look at action." - Oliver emphasizes that creativity is a result of doing, not an inherent trait to be pondered.
• At 1:15:43 - "Your judgement isn't the video. The video is the video... You don't get to have a judgement unless you do the video." - He explains that the act of creation is separate from the evaluation of it, and action must precede judgment.
• At 1:18:04 - "You can either have excuses or you can have results, but you cannot have both." - The host concludes the podcast with a powerful final thought on accountability and achievement.

Takeaways

• To accelerate learning, find an expert who will challenge your thinking process, not just give you a plan to copy.
• Use feelings of dissatisfaction as a productive catalyst for change rather than a source of discouragement.
• Adopt a "Be-Do-Have" mindset by first defining the person you want to become and letting that identity guide your actions.
• Create accountability and drive progress by publicly declaring your goals and commitments.
• When mentoring others, establish a foundation of trust that allows for "ruthless compassion"—direct, honest feedback that serves their growth.
• To become a truly effective coach, first seek out and experience challenging, "intrusive" coaching for yourself.
• Stop worrying about whether you are "creative" and focus on taking action; start by imitating others to build foundational skills.
• Commit to a path of action by recognizing that you must choose between making excuses and achieving results—you cannot do both.