Maria Brito: The Art And Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold

There has never been a more crucial time than now to develop your creativity and your ability to innovate. In her new book 'How Creativity Rules The World', New York-based contemporary art advisor and curator Maria Brito illustrates how creativity is merely a series of habits, actions, and attitudes that anyone can develop—regardless of who you are or what you do. Maria Brito has helped build the art collections of hip-hop moguls, Oscar-winning actors, and Fortune 500 CEOs and in this new book shares stories of the art and business of turning your ideas into gold.

 

 

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James Taylor 0:00
I'm James Taylor and you're listening to the super creativity podcast a show dedicated to inspiring creative minds like yours. There is never been a more crucial time than now to develop your creativity and your ability to innovate. In a new book how creativity rules the world New York-based contemporary art advisor and curator Maria Brito illustrates how creativity is merely a series of habits, actions, and attitudes that anyone can develop regardless of who you are, or what you do. Rhea Brito has helped build the art collections of hip hop moguls, Oscar-winning actors, and fortune 500 CEOs. And this new book shares stories of the art and business of turning your ideas into gold. Welcome to the show. Maria Brito.

Maria Brito 0:48
Thank you, James. And thank you, everybody, who's listening. I'm super thrilled to be here. I love your podcasts and all that you do. So this is an honor. And I'm thrilled.

James Taylor 0:59
Fantastic. Well, great to have you with us. Now your work really kind of sits at the intersection of art and business. So I'd love to know, what similarities do you see in both artists and entrepreneurs,

Artist VS Entrepreneurs

Maria Brito 1:11
they are pretty much the same, because artists depend on their ideas and their execution, to make money to build careers to find fulfillment, to keep growing. And that is exactly what entrepreneurs do. They start with an idea, a blank canvas, nothing has happened. There's no funding, you know, it's just like the very beginning of something and they have to find backers, investors, or they actually go and fund the businesses themselves. But they don't have anything to vouch for it, right. I mean, there is not an audience, there aren't customers yet. The idea hasn't been tested. And it's a very go-getter type of attitude, right. And so the artists are contemporary, actually, not just contemporary artists, but throughout history, art is entrepreneurs have shared the same attitudes and the same habits and the same mindsets and skills. And they are pretty similar. And what they do and how they do things, the way that they approach problems, the way that they see the world with so much curiosity and intentionality, to actually keep asking questions, which is such a crucial part of creativity, once you have stopped asking questions, you actually lose your edge in the creative space. Because the truth is, we don't ever get to know everything. And there is always one more question that has to be answered either for ourselves or for the audience that we serve, or for the customers that we serve, or for the investors that we have to actually talk to. So yes, they are pretty much the same. And I actually set out to prove that in the book. And you have already gotten, you know, a few passes over it. And you know that the examples and the crucial historical moments in that book, actually compare or, you know, try to make in and build this argument of artists and entrepreneurs and business side by side. And it's not that kind of sacral sanctity of artists being this person in their little bubbles. And in squares, just like having a beer or a coffee, or a glass of wine and not really working. On the contrary, the most successful artists in the world work incredibly hard. And they do it with the desire of creating amazing things for the world. But also because they know that nothing comes if there is no option, which is one of the other myths about creativity is that you're sitting down, and you just get an idea because randomly the Muses decided to stop by and say hello to your brain. I mean, it's true, you could have been having a moment of downtime, you could have been meditating, you could have been on the beach, but you actually put in the work throughout all the time prior to actually getting that idea. One of

James Taylor 4:17
the things I thought was really nice in the book, especially the opening the first part of the book, if you can lead a history of this idea of creativity, where this phrase, this word, this word comes from this idea comes from, and then how during the kind of Renaissance period, it kind of came to be associated with the arts or poetry, for example. But more recently, it's been re-adopted or regained by entrepreneurs, technologists, investors as well. I would love to know what kind of reaction did you get from your friends, especially in the corporate world, you have a background as a kind of corporate lawyer. So you're in that world all the time as well. What was the reaction you got from that world from some of your more corporate clients? When you told them, You were not just writing a book about creativity, but you've also created a course on it, what did they say?

History of this idea of creativity

Maria Brito 5:07
Well, I had two interesting interactions once one of them was with a person who had developed a lot of personal development, and in a growth consulting company, and he worked for a lot of big CEOs and big companies and whatnot. So when I told him I was going to, I was working on developing a course, for people to become more creative, and to think outside the box and do different things and whatnot, he told me, you, and what actually qualifies you to do that, you know, this is about innovation. This is about processes. This is about how you can actually segment and he just started talking all this, like the smart talk trap, you know, when people start throwing words at you that they are bigger than their head is just because they have no argument whatsoever, right? And so which was me qualified by this to Stanford professors as the smart top trap. So I was like, and so you really think that people can only become creative is someone like you comes with your smart talk, that is so separated from reality, honestly, and nobody understands the gibberish that's coming out of your mouth? Okay, so I said, Well if this is what people believe, I really need to actually launch that course. And then I talked to a friend of mine who's very dear. And she's very smart, too. And when I told her, I wanted to work on a course, about creativity, and a book, she told me if it going to be like arts and crafts and cutouts, like she thought probably it was going to be a coloring book or something, right. And I said, a very huge misconception here. Because from both sides, right, they had a preconceived notion of what creativity is, and what you can do with that. And none of them were really accurate. And I'm saying this with not with the intent of criticizing or judging them, but with the intent of, of kind of opening up. This idea is for everybody to take them and incorporate them in their lives or practices, whether they are artists, or they are accountants or they are economists. I think it's time to go back to the basics a little bit. And it's not that my book is basic, it's that, actually, it's not that difficult. And it's not that complicated. It does require work. Like everything, you don't get fit. If you go to the gym once a month, right? You don't get creative, you just read the book, close it and then say, well, let's see what happens. Ah, that book doesn't work, because I read it all. And guess what, I still don't have my million-dollar idea. Well, you actually go through all the exercises at the end of each chapter, but you incorporate these things as part of your life. Are you actually claiming and reclaiming your creative genius, you know, it takes 66 days for the brain to actually start adopting a new idea and concept and you have to work consistently through 66 days. And it's the minimum for the brain to create new neural pathways as proven by neuroscience and neuroplasticity. And so, yes, that's it. The long answer is that there, there are tons and tons of erroneous beliefs about what creativity is Hoopa says is it? Who can own it? And what is it for?

James Taylor 8:33
I think, very early in the book, you talk about the opposite coming from the Greek word, which really means to make, yes. But obviously, when you think about people to make, it feels like this physical thing that you're doing, you're building something, you're building a house, or you're building a building, or you're building a creating a piece of a physical piece of art, let's say. And so I can understand why can a moved into this more esoteric thing, but it's kind of being reclaimed it a little bit by a lot of the maker movement in his wider sense, this idea of creativity. And the other thing I noticed, I don't know whether you noticed this as well, is I'm also seeing a little bit of a generational change started to happen, where definitely, I think I'm called as Xenial technically, so I can exit millennials. So we're in the middle, but like millennials, Gen, or they're much more comfortable in using this idea of creativity in a business context, as well outside in addition to other things, art, music, and other things that are doing

Creativity in a business context

Maria Brito 9:34
well, we have a lot more resources this day, right? So we have access to a lot more information than we used to have 1015 years ago for many reasons, right? The technology and the advent of social media etc. And people have access to all these concepts and also because to a certain degree being creative at some point since it was associated with just being an artist or an actor or a musician or a fashion designer, it was the cool thing to do, right or to be it was like, Oh, that's away a lot, a whole lot more interesting and cooler than if you are just an engineer, right. But as we move forward and people understood a little bit more as you say, I also add millennial, so like, I'm right on the coast. And so when people sort of like, understand a little bit, or this younger generation is understood the value of that, and it is being taught in business schools, and that are courses in college and things like that, then the concept becomes a lot more integrated into real life in daily lives of people who do not necessarily confuse artistic talent, with creativity, because they are completely different things. I, I can't go right now and sculpt anything, I probably would fail, you know, I don't think I love to draw things. But I don't think I can go in front of a canvas and create something meaningful. But I am extremely creative. And that has really saved me and save everything about like who I am today, because I was, as you said before trapped in this corporate world 13 years ago, and had it not been because I was creative enough to put a business on the map and differentiate myself from my competitors. And come with a very fresh and new proposition I would have never gotten this far, in a completely different field in business and pivoting in 180 degrees is something that a lot of people have a tremendous fear of doing, because of a variety of things, you know, fear of the unknown, or they are concerned of being judged or criticized and whatnot. And part actually, of being creative is being able to do those things, and do them with the conviction, but also with enough ammunition, if you will know that you have built something that comes from within that is so different that nobody else can actually compete with you. Because what you have is better, right? And so that is definitely one of the missions of the book is to help people who feel stopped people who have been trying to transition or change careers, or even people who have tried to incorporate new things in their businesses, given the circumstances that we have had for the past two years. I think that it's clear that certainly what used to work doesn't work anymore, right. And so the adjustments that as humans we have had to make in the past 24 months are things that definitely speak volumes about human creativity and innovation. Now, when we see that in the past two years two, there has been an increase that I think of about 25 or 30%, and filings of new businesses in the United States, we are receiving the information directly, right, that is telling us that people were not happy in their jobs before that people actually thought of new ways of doing things that there is a new wave of entrepreneurs of all ages, right? I mean, I'm talking that this is not just necessarily is Gen Z, we're talking about people who are in their 50s or 60s at any age, you can actually start a business and make a difference and dig into the purpose and meaning of what creativity actually brings to the table.

James Taylor 13:55
One nice thing in the book are you share your personal story about your Venezuelan Lebanese background as well. You tell really moving stories about your grandfather in the book and just kind of the crisis's that he had to go through in his life and the work that he was doing as well. We've gone through two years now or so of kind of crisis. But there is hope in the book because if reflecting backward, you talk about obviously the the the sons happened at the end of the plague, the Black Death, then you've the 1920s in places like New York City where you are or Paris or London, we saw this the new roaring 20s We saw this burst of creativity after people are suddenly realized that they survived this pandemic that happened in the 20s. So can you talk a little bit about that connection between creativity and crisis? And if you're, if your grandfather was alive today, and going through the time that you're going through just now how Do you think he would have used his creativity and curiosity to adapt to these times?

Creativity And Crisis

Maria Brito 15:04
Well, that's an incredible question. And I certainly love and appreciate it because these stories have a lot of meaning to me. And yes, my grandfather was kidnapped by the gorilla in Venezuela. And that was in the 1970s before I was born. And he was at first he was a physician, he had graduated with honors, and he had a little accident. And so he was not dexterous with his hands. And he decided that he was going to move on after many years actually practicing. He was an OBGYN. And so he decided that he was going to work for his family's financial institution, and he got kidnapped. Right. And so he was a month in the jungle with his kidnappers. And he had to sleep in a straight jacket. His eyes were covered with duct tape. And, you know, when he was released, he saw that he had a second chance or a third, right, because he had already transitioned. And that the, you know, basically lost all his money, everything that he had gone to pay for the ransom. And he saw himself in a position of having to rebuild his life and his money because he had four kids and a wife. And at the time, wives didn't work, you know. And so he, he bought a printing company with loans that the financial institution had a lot of work that he was one day, he was the boss the next day, he was like the guy who was actually asking for a loan, right? And he bought a printing company, and he had the incredible time of his life because he did it with purpose. He was a painter on the weekends. He had an enormous curiosity and excitement for life. And he never stopped learning. He never stopped reading. And so the example of my grandfather is so important to me, first of all, because I lived the after I was born, and he had already bought the printing company. But I had heard the story from him. And I, I always say that this man was so incredibly resourceful, and not only just to build businesses or but in his day to day decision-making activities and whatnot, right? We're always very, very resourceful. And what that taught me was that crises are important very, very important moments for people to come up with better ideas in ways that because when you have a crisis, your resources are limited, whether it is the amount of freedom that we have, as humans, for example, as we have gone through this pandemic, right, we don't do the same things as we did before. So we don't have the same freedom to communicate thoughts be go out, come back, live without a mask, whatever, right. And so when people have enormous, you know, traumatic moments, right, there is something called post-traumatic growth that has been also measured by Marie forget she's mentioned in my book is She's a psychologist who has taken this information. And it's been part of her studies, how people form new ways of thinking after something dramatic or traumatic has happened to them, but you don't have to really have a, you know, being kidnapped or anything. It's more think about what happens when you have had your resources diminished. And so that's what happened after the Black Death, right? Like, we have this long period of a huge plague. And the Italian Renaissance came out of that because the Italian said, you know, everything has been decimated. So how do we actually and what are the thoughts that the people from the Renaissance and it was just not Michelangelo and, and Leonardo, everybody during the Renaissance had the idea of improving the present and leaving something of substance for the future. And if every human being could live by that maxim, the world will be incredibly different, right? Improve your present and leave something of substance for the future. So we would move on from like our egocentric navel-gazing world and kind of try to serve people with better things. And same is the crisis that we experienced. And you know, I mentioned all the crises, the 1920s. I also talk about the Cold War and the Cold War actually was the catalyst for the word creativity to actually be adopted in the United States and not only at the level of the arts, but that was what pushed the government to think about how do we actually retake a competitive advantage because we have been so diminished through this fight right with Russia and whatnot, and we don't look like that. Cool, incredible innovators, if you will, although the word wasn't used it was wasn't used as much back then. And that was what actually also pushed the CIA to pay for the abstract expressionists' shows and exhibitions that traveled around the world because the United States had a desire to show the world that what we were producing here in art was much better than all this, you know, all things that were happening in Europe. And so it's that's why also the word creativity has been so intertwined with art and artists. Because throughout history, we have seen those moments where the artists have been the ones who have capitalized or utilized their creativity to do things better. So definitely, what it's going to come out of this time is going to be,

as I said, before, an influx of new businesses and new ideas, people doing things differently. And I have no doubt that we will, we will live through a renaissance. It'll be very different than the Renaissance during you know, in the 1400s, obviously, but I think we, the humanity and people who actually can take a serious step forward through the darkness of what we've had to live in the past two years, we'll definitely see a result and reap the benefits of coming on the other side with something that is needed. And that is relevant for the times,

James Taylor 21:49
is, as you're saying this I'm also reminded of that phrase that books speak to but books so we can build on the shore as artists speak to other artists. And you can if you're part of this lineage, there's the ancestry of other things that have gone behind before you remember last time I was in New York. I went to a concert, it was a Mexican artist, Natalia luffa. cardi? Yes. And some of her recent works are in terms of the style of it, so it's not music. The style is very influenced by Frida Kahlo. And I was thinking about it today, as I was reading part of your book and just thinking about how someone like Frida Kahlo, there's a woman who went through some traumatic crisis's, you know, very badly injured in an accident, and she so she had this constant pain, I was thinking about many people just now that suffer from things like long COVID When they're this constant pain and how you create through that. And then she had a husband who was not a nice guy, you know, and she kind of pushed through that as well as you create the some of the greatest artists as well. So these things can actually be treasures to us in order to be able to transform. And I think you mentioned that that word innovate is kind of almost like is to reconstruct is to kind of re-engineer return route to move as well. One of the other artists you talk about in the book is Pablo Picasso. And you talk about the influence of George Brack on Picasso's creativity. So the act is like this kind of creative peer, in your own creative work, is there someone who helps you generate and develop and execute your ideas? Is there a yin to your yang?

Maria Brito 23:30
Look, I couldn't say that there is just one person because I am surrounded by all these artists all the time. And I'm also surrounded by my amazing clients who are in very different industries, from banking to entertainment. And what I think is the most valuable lesson for me is actually always adapting, always taking, always asking, and always going for more, and I think that there is an art of that it takes a person from being just average to being exceptional, and that is part of that is being incredibly curious. And that takes personality short, but it can also be cultivated. And so I never just take things at face value, I always ask for more. And so I, if somebody says no, I say why. And you know, and somebody is telling me a story, I keep asking more. And I, I am fixated with details, and I say well, but what happened and

James Taylor 24:42
is that the lawyer and you think coming out,

Getting Ideas

Maria Brito 24:45
I think is the Lord me, but I also think that I was a very curious child anyway, because I was an only child so I had to invent worlds and create things that kept me entertained. And I also see that was true. Surrounded by adults, most of the time, I kept asking them questions and they kept answering because I was the only child around. So I think it's something that I developed as a child, but I kept alive. Because look, a lot of people when they get old or older, they stop asking those questions or they stop having that curiosity about other people or their backgrounds. There is nobody that crosses my path that I'm not interested in, you know, because the the the trick also of being creative is having this ability to synthesize a lot of different things and connect dots that are invisible to other people by mixing disparate ideas. And so if you only surround yourself in an echo chamber with everybody who says yes to you, and you said yes to them, you're never going to be creative. That's it, the end of it, right? And so it's actually very interesting because in radicalized societies, as we live right now, where you either are one party or another, or UI or one thing or another, right? It just strangles creativity, innovation in the worst possible way, because nothing creative can come out of one, just one opinion. Many things can come out of one opinion, you can have radicals, you can have extremists. Yes, that can happen. But creative thinking and innovative thinking doesn't come out from people who are just surrounded by people who are like themselves. So that's why I can't tell you that I have, like the yin to my yang, or whatever. Because I get ideas from my kids. I get ideas from my husband, I get ideas from the people I run into, on the street I get ideas from and so it's this constant also desire to experiment. You know, I, love film. So I go to the movies, big screen once a week or twice a week. And look, I also push myself to see things or watch things that I would normally won't, right because yes, I love a blockbuster. Yes, I love indie. Yes, I love foreing. Right. And so but certain things sometimes I'm like, oh my god, am I going to like last week I spent, you know, two hours watching Macbeth, you know, the the the new Macbeth movie with Denzel and it's a black and white movie with the original Macbeth dialogues. And it's not easy, right? It's super beautiful movie. Mr. Oz was a lap, right, of course. And I was like, I'm fascinated by this movie. Because first of all, I'm making such an effort to understand what they're saying. I mean, like, remember, English is my second language, right? And so this is the that is the Shakespeare English. And I'm like, making an effort to figure out what is happening, right? Because these dialogues are really so strange. And in second is black and white. Right? And,

but it's spectacular. And that like, actually opened up so many different ideas in my head, you know, immersive experiences. And you know, there is this big, immersive experience in New York by a British club buddy called punch drunk. And here is the is Sleep No More right? Sleep No More was based on my best. And he's actually written on my book because it costs such an impression. When I did, I went like seven times, when it opened back seven years ago, eight years ago, I don't remember. But it's it's Macbeth, mix with Alfred Hitchcock. And you, you do get to be in this interactive, immense house, building in New York City going up and down following the actors and whatnot in a dark space and trying to find clues. And I don't know what, right. So I'm not in the business of theater. I'm not in the business of immersive experience, but I'm in the business of ideas. And so what people dismiss at times is all these things have a place in your brain, whether you believe it or not. And they come up to inform you what you do daily, right. And so that's why it's so crucial. And that's why I push people in the book, to build themselves a diverse experience around them, which comes from having different experiences, right? I mean, if you always go and have, you know, your favorite restaurant, which is, you know, your special steak and whatnot, well, then one day, go to the Vietnamese and ask questions to the chef and talk to the people, right? I mean, get lost, be a tourist in your town. And if your town is 6000 people, then you know, get the ball and go to the next town and be a tourist there, because this is how we open up our minds to Steve things that people don't necessarily see. And that is the golden goose. When you just follow what everybody's doing in your industry and you're just going to the conferences that everybody goes and you're reading your trade magazines and whatnot. Everybody in your industry is doing that anyway, if you know You've got to expand outside of what everybody is doing, you have to look in the margins, you have to, like, listen to what's not spoken out loud. That is where you find the opportunities for business for great TV for growth, for to make more money, right? Because usually when you are good at something, and you are the first to come up with something new, you can capitalize on that if the market is ready and if you actually can't articulate what it is that you want to do.

James Taylor 30:30
So on, you just really made me think of you mentioned that experience you have going into a cinema and going to these different places and, and also just being in New York, the Romans had this idea of the genius loci that places themselves can have their own creative genius and what creative genius isn't an individual thing. It's a, it's around us the different conception of creativity. So I know when I go to New York, I find it an incredibly creative place because there are so many different voices, different things that you're seeing as well. I always try and go to Bemelmans bar at the Carlyle on the Upper East Side, because it's just one of those places my wife and I, have this experience we sit down, we have a got a cocktail or something. And it is just like, ideas start coming. And I can be on a beach in Thailand for weeks, and nothing comes to my brain. So So what do you because you're, you're someone that's also about creating spaces, curating spaces, for people for their genius loci their places, whether it's someone's home, and they have this amazing artwork, or a company that has his office with his great art on the walls, or a great public sculpture, for example. What does this idea of genius loci of places meet you? And is New York City? Is that one of your creative places?

Places Of Creativity

Maria Brito 31:53
Absolutely. New York City is my muse. I've always said that. Because there's so much going on here all the time, and you never get bored, it turns is fantastic. It also kills you because it's such a difficult city. Everything takes time and effort in a way. But it's also very compact, so you can move freely up and down east and west. But regarding the loci is what you said is true. But it's also not true. And here's why. I think that when you are stimulated, right, and there is a book, and I forgot the author, but he wrote about why CDs are important. And why CDs

because CDs have been vilified, especially with the idea of you know, the impact on the environment by pollution and too many people, obviously, the pandemic is too many people living together. So cities for a long time have been vilified for how much resources they consume and how little they give. Right. And so while it is not 100% True, there is a little bit of truth in that. And but when also talking about the romance, but going also back to the Renaissance, had it all those people were in Florence together, right. And so that was a very incredible zone of genius, where everybody was kind of contributing there. Was that also an attitude, right? Because it Yes, you are inspired by the one who is next to you and the one in front of you and whatnot. And you have all these incredible breakthroughs and aha moments. But I think creativity also comes from the attitude that is from within. And that's why I said that. If you are in a town with 6000 people, and you don't necessarily feel inspired by the people around you, then go and if you can take little trips outside of that place and see what other things can inspire you, right. And also, since we just really have such an amazing amount of resources online. While it is not the same, I mean, look, I have found incredible courses for like free, right, like Harvard gives courses for free people who want to take courses in coding. And the requirement to keep moving forward is to submit the homework, which I think is genius, right? Tons of different universities and colleges are offering things for free because they can and because they are willing to give resources to people so we don't live anymore in just like we used to live in silos before the internet opened the world up for everybody. Right? And we do have a tremendous amount of resources at the fingertips and buying people is a personal attitude, whether you want to take those or not. Well, people say wow, I have no time, you know, half an hour a day. I'm not sure I mean, like most people if they can't get a little bit organized. We'll find a half hour a day Right or half or one hour on the weekends to do something else that inspires them. And that energizes them and invigorates them. Because the thing is that for so long, and this is why we are going right now through this great resignation is because people for so long failed, so tied to their desks, or there are offices that were so uninspiring, or jobs, where you had a nine to five or listen in New York City, is not nine to five in New York City is 10 to 10, right? Because really, people work insane hours. And we have so much investment banking, lawyers, and things like that. And those industries require so much and demand so much from their people, right. And so people, since the pandemic hit have put themselves in this position of thinking, what am I doing with my life? And that's actually a great question. Because for so long, nobody asked the question to themselves, or many people did not want to ask that question, because the answer was going to be so scary and frightening. And you'll have to, once you have an answer, that you're doing something you hate, and that you're wasting your time and life in doing something that you derive zero pleasure or satisfaction from, you have to take an action because otherwise, it's just going to corrupt you from within. So I think if people avoided that question for a long time, and comes to this pandemic, people pose the question to themselves because they had time to slow down because at the beginning was very frightening. And a lot of people just didn't have the emotional fortitude, to show up for themselves. So they had to just like sit back and think, and I am perfectly understandable. And so I, I want to encourage people who are not in big cities that are exciting to think about all the other things that are very easily available through the internet, to find a spot of excitement and energy, that they don't necessarily find where they live. And community, which is very, very important, can be found in those places. And it is tough to do things online all the time. I agree 100%. But it is possible to build community because once somebody is in those places of learning, they have an open mind and open heart. And so I find it hard to believe that everybody's gonna just go and not really want to form bonds. I think that people have a desire to connect with other people. And even if it is a virtual friendship, then that is better than nothing. So

James Taylor 37:39
I guess you're also starting to see this a little bit with things like NF t's the metaverse community has been created to create sell, by trade art, entirely in a virtual space. I mean, I do probably for the past two years, when a lot of the NF T stuffs has been happening. There have not been conventions on NF T's has not been an A B anomaly of NF T's in person is all been happening virtually. So these communities are possible. And but one thing I do I do worry a little bit about is so the cities fill out this green dynamic place. But then you have the Georgia O'Keeffe's of this world who kind of have to go out into New Mexico go out into the desert to go out into the hills in order to do the work. And then they might come back in. And I do wonder a lot of those Manhattanites, for example, they have moved up to the Catskills, whether now is the point they're getting and going, do you know what I'm getting stuff done? I'm being really productive. I'm putting stuff out there. But I need some new influences. Again, I need to I need a little bit of grit back in the system. So how do you feel for the future of the cities as it relates to creativity?

Maria Brito 38:53
I think the cities will remain populated and expensive. And because people left Manhattan, and then people came back, and a lot of other people wanted to buy new places. And you know, the truth is that it's not very easy to buy new places, because the inventory is low, and the prices are high. And whatever is good, it gets snatched very quickly, because there's a lot of Kryptonian there's a lot of tech money, and whatnot. And so I'm, I speak for what I know because I am not going to talk about London or Paris, or San Francisco because I'm not there. I talked to friends, but I just want to speak for the things that I see is that there are a lot of people on the streets. There are a lot of activities and things happening within the parameters and constraints that this thing has imposed on us. And I think people have been trying to survive or thrive in the best possible way. So people who moved to suburbs or states or went to different countries, I mean, that's perfectly fine. I think that also, we have to be very aware that our preferences, and that are people who actually can thrive on the beach, and people who will have a much happier time in the countryside. And they want, maybe they want to raise sheep, maybe they just really want to have a farm where they produce cheese and they sell local and like, forget about all the drama and inconveniences and difficulties that our city can bring. But there is not just one way of doing things. And that goes back to my previous argument of, we have to allow for people to be diverse, and we have to allow for creative thinking to come from many different places. Yes, CDs bring an enormous amount of diversity and, and opportunities for people to stimulate their minds and in their thinking in many different ways. But being silent, and being calm is also very important. Because we also have been robbed of a lot of our calm through social media and pops and, you know, news and Apple news and notifications and texts, and never stopping and always being sort of like and a continuous treadmill of information. And it's a give and takes because you have to answer of the email and isn't that right? So I think that having that commune in nature is incredibly important for every human being because we come from the earth, right? I mean, it's like this, this type of thing is very primal for people to actually have connections with nature. And in my book, I wrote a whole chapter about silence. Because without silence, we absolutely cannot come up with ideas. And without silence, we cannot evaluate whether those ideas make sense or not. And you know, us You very well know there is an incubation period, where you allow for things to marinate in your brain and to come to the surface. But you absolutely need to spend time in silence the same way that Steve Jobs spent a lot of time in silence, doing Zen meditation and allowing his ideas to come in because he knew that he couldn't be on all the time, but he couldn't just have his wheel spinning 24/7 Because actually, he knew that that was not conducive for him to come up with the idea that he needed to communicate to his team to actually produce the components that were needed to put together the iPhone or the iPad. And the same thing like you said, Georgia, Keith is written in my blog, she is the pioneer of abstract art, the way that as a woman dating in the United States, and she protected her silence with fierce you know, like, like, power and, and spirit because that was who she was. And she needed to have that silence to create. And I'm just saying she's a very specific example. She's an extreme example. But it is we can always borrow little things from this incredible person who actually left teachings and in their lives for us to appreciate it to embrace in ours. Well,

James Taylor 43:24
How Creativity Rules the World is going to be out and you can go and get it and all good online bookstores in person, please go and support it in person bookstores is great to see those happening as well. Maria, where is the best place for people to go if they want to connect with you learn more about your other work, obviously your curation work, and your art consultancy site?

Maria Brito 43:45
Yes, they can come to Mariabrito.com.  And I have all the links to my social media there to Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, there is the email from my newsletter that comes out every Tuesday on creativity and Business School, the groove is always free and will always be and yes, go support the book. It's awesome. I think I was very ambitious because I wanted people to have a guide that can stay with them forever. I think it's very timeless. The exercises at the end of each chapter will never get out of fashion. And the content of each chapter is rooted in history, psychology, neuroscience business. And so I do want to reach people all over the world who want to make their ideas gold and have the internal fulfillment that comes with doing that.

James Taylor 44:53
Well, Maria Brito thank you so much for writing this book. It's a great read. And thank you so much for coming on the Super creativity. Podcast.

Maria Brito 45:00
Thank you, James. Thank you so much.

James Taylor 45:03
You can subscribe to the super creativity podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts while you're there. Please leave us a review. I would really, really appreciate it. I'm James Taylor and you've been listening to the super creativity podcast.

The Art And Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold