ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tim Harford - Economist, journalist, broadcaster
Tim Harford's writings reveal the economic ideas behind everyday experiences.

Why you should listen

In the Undercover Economist column he writes for the Financial Times, Tim Harford looks at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways and explains the fundamental principles of the modern economy. He illuminates them with clear writing and a variety of examples borrowed from daily life.

His book, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure, argues that the world has become far too unpredictable and complex for today's challenges to be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinions. Instead, Harford suggests, we need to learn to embrace failure and to constantly adapt, to improvise rather than plan, to work from the bottom up rather than the top down. His next book, Messy: Thriving in a Tidy-Minded World will be published in September 2016. 

Harford also presents the BBC radio series More or Less, a rare broadcast program devoted, as he says, to "the powerful, sometimes beautiful, often abused but ever ubiquitous world of numbers."

He says: "I’d like to see many more complex problems approached with a willingness to experiment."

More profile about the speaker
Tim Harford | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal>London

Tim Harford: How frustration can make us more creative

Filmed:
3,929,150 views

Challenges and problems can derail your creative process ... or they can make you more creative than ever. In the surprising story behind the best-selling solo piano album of all time, Tim Harford may just convince you of the advantages of having to work with a little mess.
- Economist, journalist, broadcaster
Tim Harford's writings reveal the economic ideas behind everyday experiences. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Late in January 1975,
0
760
2616
00:15
a 17-year-old German girl
called Vera Brandes
1
3400
4416
00:19
walked out onto the stage
of the Cologne Opera House.
2
7840
3640
00:24
The auditorium was empty.
3
12240
2080
00:27
It was lit only by the dim, green glow
of the emergency exit sign.
4
15040
4600
00:32
This was the most
exciting day of Vera's life.
5
20200
3936
00:36
She was the youngest
concert promoter in Germany,
6
24160
3016
00:39
and she had persuaded
the Cologne Opera House
7
27200
2416
00:41
to host a late-night concert of jazz
8
29640
3336
00:45
from the American musician, Keith Jarrett.
9
33000
2800
00:48
1,400 people were coming.
10
36800
3016
00:51
And in just a few hours,
11
39840
1576
00:53
Jarrett would walk out on the same stage,
12
41440
2416
00:55
he'd sit down at the piano
13
43880
1336
00:57
and without rehearsal or sheet music,
14
45240
3816
01:01
he would begin to play.
15
49080
1280
01:04
But right now,
16
52320
1216
01:05
Vera was introducing Keith
to the piano in question,
17
53560
3576
01:09
and it wasn't going well.
18
57160
1240
01:11
Jarrett looked to the instrument
a little warily,
19
59120
2656
01:13
played a few notes,
20
61800
1536
01:15
walked around it,
21
63360
1215
01:16
played a few more notes,
22
64599
1457
01:18
muttered something to his producer.
23
66080
1696
01:19
Then the producer
came over to Vera and said ...
24
67800
3320
01:24
"If you don't get a new piano,
Keith can't play."
25
72280
3560
01:30
There'd been a mistake.
26
78000
1456
01:31
The opera house had provided
the wrong instrument.
27
79480
2376
01:33
This one had this harsh,
tinny upper register,
28
81880
2656
01:36
because all the felt had worn away.
29
84560
2280
01:39
The black notes were sticking,
30
87640
3136
01:42
the white notes were out of tune,
31
90800
1896
01:44
the pedals didn't work
32
92720
1656
01:46
and the piano itself was just too small.
33
94400
2176
01:48
It wouldn't create the volume
34
96600
1416
01:50
that would fill a large space
such as the Cologne Opera House.
35
98040
2920
01:54
So Keith Jarrett left.
36
102520
3040
01:58
He went and sat outside in his car,
37
106400
1840
02:01
leaving Vera Brandes
38
109040
1936
02:03
to get on the phone
to try to find a replacement piano.
39
111000
3640
02:07
Now she got a piano tuner,
40
115680
1616
02:09
but she couldn't get a new piano.
41
117320
1600
02:12
And so she went outside
42
120160
2696
02:14
and she stood there in the rain,
43
122880
1600
02:17
talking to Keith Jarrett,
44
125520
1200
02:20
begging him not to cancel the concert.
45
128000
3080
02:24
And he looked out of his car
46
132160
1416
02:25
at this bedraggled,
rain-drenched German teenager,
47
133600
3680
02:30
took pity on her,
48
138280
1776
02:32
and said,
49
140080
1200
02:33
"Never forget ... only for you."
50
141960
3200
02:39
And so a few hours later,
51
147120
1776
02:40
Jarrett did indeed step out
onto the stage of the opera house,
52
148920
3440
02:45
he sat down at the unplayable piano
53
153400
3160
02:49
and began.
54
157600
1200
02:51
(Music)
55
159320
2320
03:04
Within moments it became clear
that something magical was happening.
56
172720
5336
03:10
Jarrett was avoiding
those upper registers,
57
178080
2576
03:12
he was sticking to the middle
tones of the keyboard,
58
180680
2616
03:15
which gave the piece
a soothing, ambient quality.
59
183320
4616
03:19
But also, because the piano was so quiet,
60
187960
2536
03:22
he had to set up these rumbling,
repetitive riffs in the bass.
61
190520
4416
03:26
And he stood up twisting,
pounding down on the keys,
62
194960
5256
03:32
desperately trying to create enough volume
to reach the people in the back row.
63
200240
5616
03:37
It's an electrifying performance.
64
205880
2016
03:39
It somehow has this peaceful quality,
65
207920
2936
03:42
and at the same time it's full of energy,
66
210880
2056
03:44
it's dynamic.
67
212960
1200
03:47
And the audience loved it.
68
215200
1239
03:49
Audiences continue to love it
69
217560
1656
03:51
because the recording of the Köln Concert
70
219240
3096
03:54
is the best-selling piano album in history
71
222360
2496
03:56
and the best-selling
solo jazz album in history.
72
224880
3600
04:02
Keith Jarrett had been handed a mess.
73
230560
2760
04:06
He had embraced that mess, and it soared.
74
234280
3840
04:12
But let's think for a moment
about Jarrett's initial instinct.
75
240520
4816
04:17
He didn't want to play.
76
245360
1576
04:18
Of course,
77
246960
1216
04:20
I think any of us,
in any remotely similar situation,
78
248200
2936
04:23
would feel the same way,
we'd have the same instinct.
79
251160
2576
04:25
We don't want to be asked
to do good work with bad tools.
80
253760
3295
04:29
We don't want to have to overcome
unnecessary hurdles.
81
257079
3641
04:34
But Jarrett's instinct was wrong,
82
262160
1760
04:37
and thank goodness he changed his mind.
83
265120
2040
04:39
And I think our instinct is also wrong.
84
267840
3800
04:44
I think we need to gain
a bit more appreciation
85
272800
3416
04:48
for the unexpected advantages
of having to cope with a little mess.
86
276240
5040
04:55
So let me give you some examples
87
283560
2136
04:57
from cognitive psychology,
88
285720
2456
05:00
from complexity science,
89
288200
1416
05:01
from social psychology,
90
289640
1456
05:03
and of course, rock 'n' roll.
91
291120
1640
05:05
So cognitive psychology first.
92
293680
2056
05:07
We've actually known for a while
93
295760
1816
05:09
that certain kinds of difficulty,
94
297600
2336
05:11
certain kinds of obstacle,
95
299960
1576
05:13
can actually improve our performance.
96
301560
1762
05:15
For example,
97
303346
1710
05:17
the psychologist Daniel Oppenheimer,
98
305080
1736
05:18
a few years ago,
99
306840
1216
05:20
teamed up with high school teachers.
100
308080
2056
05:22
And he asked them to reformat the handouts
101
310160
2736
05:24
that they were giving
to some of their classes.
102
312920
2360
05:28
So the regular handout would be formatted
in something straightforward,
103
316200
3334
05:31
such as Helvetica or Times New Roman.
104
319558
2440
05:34
But half these classes were getting
handouts that were formatted
105
322840
3016
05:37
in something sort of intense,
like Haettenschweiler,
106
325880
3696
05:41
or something with a zesty bounce,
like Comic Sans italicized.
107
329600
4016
05:45
Now, these are really ugly fonts,
108
333640
1816
05:47
and they're difficult fonts to read.
109
335480
2176
05:49
But at the end of the semester,
110
337680
2096
05:51
students were given exams,
111
339800
2616
05:54
and the students who'd been asked
to read the more difficult fonts,
112
342440
3656
05:58
had actually done better on their exams,
113
346120
2056
06:00
in a variety of subjects.
114
348200
1536
06:01
And the reason is,
115
349760
2016
06:03
the difficult font had slowed them down,
116
351800
2536
06:06
forced them to work a bit harder,
117
354360
2056
06:08
to think a bit more
about what they were reading,
118
356440
2576
06:11
to interpret it ...
119
359040
1240
06:13
and so they learned more.
120
361360
1200
06:16
Another example.
121
364320
1200
06:18
The psychologist Shelley Carson
has been testing Harvard undergraduates
122
366760
5096
06:23
for the quality
of their attentional filters.
123
371880
2976
06:26
What do I mean by that?
124
374880
1376
06:28
What I mean is,
imagine you're in a restaurant,
125
376280
2216
06:30
you're having a conversation,
126
378520
1736
06:32
there are all kinds of other conversations
going on in the restaurant,
127
380280
3136
06:35
you want to filter them out,
128
383440
1336
06:36
you want to focus
on what's important to you.
129
384800
2136
06:38
Can you do that?
130
386960
1216
06:40
If you can, you have
good, strong attentional filters.
131
388200
2976
06:43
But some people really struggle with that.
132
391200
2056
06:45
Some of Carson's undergraduate
subjects struggled with that.
133
393280
3736
06:49
They had weak filters,
they had porous filters --
134
397040
2936
06:52
let a lot of external information in.
135
400000
3376
06:55
And so what that meant is they were
constantly being interrupted
136
403400
3136
06:58
by the sights and the sounds
of the world around them.
137
406560
2576
07:01
If there was a television on
while they were doing their essays,
138
409160
3056
07:04
they couldn't screen it out.
139
412240
1416
07:05
Now, you would think
that that was a disadvantage ...
140
413680
2429
07:09
but no.
141
417480
1216
07:10
When Carson looked at what
these students had achieved,
142
418720
3976
07:14
the ones with the weak filters
143
422720
1776
07:16
were vastly more likely
144
424520
2416
07:18
to have some real
creative milestone in their lives,
145
426960
2776
07:21
to have published their first novel,
146
429760
2336
07:24
to have released their first album.
147
432120
1680
07:27
These distractions were actually
grists to their creative mill.
148
435200
3696
07:30
They were able to think outside the box
because their box was full of holes.
149
438920
3840
07:36
Let's talk about complexity science.
150
444200
1736
07:37
So how do you solve a really complex --
151
445960
1858
07:39
the world's full
of complicated problems --
152
447842
2014
07:41
how do you solve
a really complicated problem?
153
449880
2176
07:44
For example, you try to make a jet engine.
154
452080
2136
07:46
There are lots and lots
of different variables,
155
454240
2216
07:48
the operating temperature, the materials,
156
456480
1953
07:50
all the different dimensions, the shape.
157
458457
2439
07:52
You can't solve that kind
of problem all in one go,
158
460920
2536
07:55
it's too hard.
159
463480
1216
07:56
So what do you do?
160
464720
1216
07:57
Well, one thing you can do
is try to solve it step-by-step.
161
465960
4936
08:02
So you have some kind of prototype
162
470920
1696
08:04
and you tweak it,
you test it, you improve it.
163
472640
3416
08:08
You tweak it, you test it, you improve it.
164
476080
2800
08:12
Now, this idea of marginal gains
will eventually get you a good jet engine.
165
480040
5496
08:17
And it's been quite widely
implemented in the world.
166
485560
3296
08:20
So you'll hear about it, for example,
in high performance cycling,
167
488880
3496
08:24
web designers will talk about trying
to optimize their web pages,
168
492400
3296
08:27
they're looking
for these step-by-step gains.
169
495720
2296
08:30
That's a good way
to solve a complicated problem.
170
498040
2840
08:34
But you know what would
make it a better way?
171
502440
2440
08:38
A dash of mess.
172
506600
1200
08:41
You add randomness,
173
509320
2016
08:43
early on in the process,
174
511360
1376
08:44
you make crazy moves,
175
512760
1496
08:46
you try stupid things that shouldn't work,
176
514280
3375
08:49
and that will tend to make
the problem-solving work better.
177
517679
3017
08:52
And the reason for that is
178
520720
1536
08:54
the trouble with the step-by-step process,
179
522280
2056
08:56
the marginal gains,
180
524360
1216
08:57
is they can walk you
gradually down a dead end.
181
525600
3536
09:01
And if you start with the randomness,
that becomes less likely,
182
529160
4216
09:05
and your problem-solving
becomes more robust.
183
533400
2400
09:10
Let's talk about social psychology.
184
538440
1680
09:12
So the psychologist Katherine Phillips,
with some colleagues,
185
540720
3096
09:15
recently gave murder mystery
problems to some students,
186
543840
4056
09:19
and these students
were collected in groups of four
187
547920
2856
09:22
and they were given dossiers
with information about a crime --
188
550800
3336
09:26
alibis and evidence,
witness statements and three suspects.
189
554160
3880
09:31
And the groups of four students
were asked to figure out who did it,
190
559000
4176
09:35
who committed the crime.
191
563200
1200
09:37
And there were two treatments
in this experiment.
192
565280
2400
09:40
In some cases these were four friends,
193
568760
3216
09:44
they all knew each other well.
194
572000
1560
09:46
In other cases,
195
574160
1776
09:47
three friends and a stranger.
196
575960
1920
09:51
And you can see where I'm going with this.
197
579040
2056
09:53
Obviously I'm going to say
198
581120
1256
09:54
that the groups with the stranger
solved the problem more effectively,
199
582400
3416
09:57
which is true, they did.
200
585840
1280
09:59
Actually, they solved the problem
quite a lot more effectively.
201
587800
3496
10:03
So the groups of four friends,
202
591320
2880
10:07
they only had a 50-50 chance
of getting the answer right.
203
595120
2976
10:10
Which is actually not that great --
204
598120
1696
10:11
in multiple choice, for three answers?
50-50's not good.
205
599840
2936
10:14
(Laughter)
206
602800
1176
10:16
The three friends and the stranger,
207
604000
1696
10:17
even though the stranger
didn't have any extra information,
208
605720
2816
10:20
even though it was just a case
209
608560
1536
10:22
of how that changed the conversation
to accommodate that awkwardness,
210
610120
6296
10:28
the three friends and the stranger,
211
616440
1696
10:30
they had a 75 percent chance
of finding the right answer.
212
618160
2666
10:32
That's quite a big leap in performance.
213
620850
1726
10:34
But I think what's really interesting
214
622600
2336
10:36
is not just that the three friends
and the stranger did a better job,
215
624960
3239
10:40
but how they felt about it.
216
628223
1440
10:42
So when Katherine Phillips
interviewed the groups of four friends,
217
630400
4936
10:47
they had a nice time,
218
635360
1856
10:49
they also thought they'd done a good job.
219
637240
1960
10:52
They were complacent.
220
640720
1200
10:54
When she spoke to the three
friends and the stranger,
221
642800
2496
10:57
they had not had a nice time --
222
645320
1496
10:58
it's actually rather difficult,
it's rather awkward ...
223
646840
2600
11:02
and they were full of doubt.
224
650480
2240
11:06
They didn't think they'd done a good job
even though they had.
225
654200
2920
11:10
And I think that really exemplifies
226
658080
1736
11:11
the challenge that we're
dealing with here.
227
659840
2240
11:14
Because, yeah --
228
662680
1816
11:16
the ugly font,
229
664520
1856
11:18
the awkward stranger,
230
666400
1776
11:20
the random move ...
231
668200
1320
11:22
these disruptions help us solve problems,
232
670280
3376
11:25
they help us become more creative.
233
673680
2336
11:28
But we don't feel that they're helping us.
234
676040
2056
11:30
We feel that they're
getting in the way ...
235
678120
2040
11:33
and so we resist.
236
681040
1200
11:36
And that's why the last example
is really important.
237
684000
2440
11:39
So I want to talk about somebody
238
687360
2216
11:41
from the background
of the world of rock 'n' roll.
239
689600
4936
11:46
And you may know him,
he's actually a TED-ster.
240
694560
2896
11:49
His name is Brian Eno.
241
697480
1376
11:50
He is an ambient composer --
rather brilliant.
242
698880
2816
11:53
He's also a kind of catalyst
243
701720
2680
11:57
behind some of the great
rock 'n' roll albums of the last 40 years.
244
705160
4016
12:01
He's worked with David Bowie on "Heroes,"
245
709200
3616
12:04
he worked with U2 on "Achtung Baby"
and "The Joshua Tree,"
246
712840
3136
12:08
he's worked with DEVO,
247
716000
1536
12:09
he's worked with Coldplay,
he's worked with everybody.
248
717560
2576
12:12
And what does he do to make
these great rock bands better?
249
720160
3920
12:17
Well, he makes a mess.
250
725720
1240
12:19
He disrupts their creative processes.
251
727840
1816
12:21
It's his role to be the awkward stranger.
252
729680
2096
12:23
It's his role to tell them
253
731800
1416
12:25
that they have to play
the unplayable piano.
254
733240
3176
12:28
And one of the ways
in which he creates this disruption
255
736440
2656
12:31
is through this remarkable
deck of cards --
256
739120
2960
12:34
I have my signed copy here --
thank you, Brian.
257
742680
2560
12:38
They're called The Oblique Strategies,
258
746560
1856
12:40
he developed them with a friend of his.
259
748440
1858
12:42
And when they're stuck in the studio,
260
750800
3040
12:46
Brian Eno will reach for one of the cards.
261
754880
2296
12:49
He'll draw one at random,
262
757200
1456
12:50
and he'll make the band
follow the instructions on the card.
263
758680
4256
12:54
So this one ...
264
762960
1320
12:57
"Change instrument roles."
265
765040
1296
12:58
Yeah, everyone swap instruments --
Drummer on the piano --
266
766360
2715
13:01
Brilliant, brilliant idea.
267
769099
1997
13:03
"Look closely at the most
embarrassing details. Amplify them."
268
771120
3680
13:08
"Make a sudden, destructive,
unpredictable action. Incorporate."
269
776360
4720
13:14
These cards are disruptive.
270
782960
1360
13:17
Now, they've proved their worth
in album after album.
271
785080
3640
13:21
The musicians hate them.
272
789880
2296
13:24
(Laughter)
273
792200
1496
13:25
So Phil Collins was playing drums
on an early Brian Eno album.
274
793720
3416
13:29
He got so frustrated he started
throwing beer cans across the studio.
275
797160
4000
13:34
Carlos Alomar, great rock guitarist,
276
802400
2376
13:36
working with Eno
on David Bowie's "Lodger" album,
277
804800
3776
13:40
and at one point
he turns to Brian and says,
278
808600
2576
13:43
"Brian, this experiment is stupid."
279
811200
3480
13:49
But the thing is
it was a pretty good album,
280
817360
2760
13:53
but also,
281
821120
1200
13:55
Carlos Alomar, 35 years later,
now uses The Oblique Strategies.
282
823040
4816
13:59
And he tells his students
to use The Oblique Strategies
283
827880
2736
14:02
because he's realized something.
284
830640
1720
14:05
Just because you don't like it
doesn't mean it isn't helping you.
285
833240
4640
14:12
The strategies actually
weren't a deck of cards originally,
286
840000
2762
14:14
they were just a list --
287
842786
1190
14:16
list on the recording studio wall.
288
844000
1816
14:17
A checklist of things
you might try if you got stuck.
289
845840
3800
14:23
The list didn't work.
290
851280
1200
14:26
Know why?
291
854160
1200
14:29
Not messy enough.
292
857400
1200
14:31
Your eye would go down the list
293
859680
2016
14:33
and it would settle on whatever
was the least disruptive,
294
861720
4056
14:37
the least troublesome,
295
865800
1200
14:40
which of course misses the point entirely.
296
868480
3880
14:46
And what Brian Eno came to realize was,
297
874160
2376
14:48
yes, we need to run
the stupid experiments,
298
876560
4496
14:53
we need to deal
with the awkward strangers,
299
881080
2056
14:55
we need to try to read the ugly fonts.
300
883160
2136
14:57
These things help us.
301
885320
1256
14:58
They help us solve problems,
302
886600
1376
15:00
they help us be more creative.
303
888000
1896
15:01
But also ...
304
889920
1200
15:04
we really need some persuasion
if we're going to accept this.
305
892320
3200
15:08
So however we do it ...
306
896200
1240
15:10
whether it's sheer willpower,
307
898400
2056
15:12
whether it's the flip of a card
308
900480
2080
15:15
or whether it's a guilt trip
from a German teenager,
309
903560
3200
15:19
all of us, from time to time,
310
907680
2136
15:21
need to sit down and try and play
the unplayable piano.
311
909840
4440
15:27
Thank you.
312
915640
1216
15:28
(Applause)
313
916880
1880

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Tim Harford - Economist, journalist, broadcaster
Tim Harford's writings reveal the economic ideas behind everyday experiences.

Why you should listen

In the Undercover Economist column he writes for the Financial Times, Tim Harford looks at familiar situations in unfamiliar ways and explains the fundamental principles of the modern economy. He illuminates them with clear writing and a variety of examples borrowed from daily life.

His book, Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure, argues that the world has become far too unpredictable and complex for today's challenges to be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinions. Instead, Harford suggests, we need to learn to embrace failure and to constantly adapt, to improvise rather than plan, to work from the bottom up rather than the top down. His next book, Messy: Thriving in a Tidy-Minded World will be published in September 2016. 

Harford also presents the BBC radio series More or Less, a rare broadcast program devoted, as he says, to "the powerful, sometimes beautiful, often abused but ever ubiquitous world of numbers."

He says: "I’d like to see many more complex problems approached with a willingness to experiment."

More profile about the speaker
Tim Harford | Speaker | TED.com

Data provided by TED.

This site was created in May 2015 and the last update was on January 12, 2020. It will no longer be updated.

We are currently creating a new site called "eng.lish.video" and would be grateful if you could access it.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to write comments in your language on the contact form.

Privacy Policy

Developer's Blog

Buy Me A Coffee