The Torch Principle: Interview with Javier Ideami

Javier Ideami is a multidisciplinary creative director, engineer, artist and entrepreneur. Javier is the founder of Ideami Studios and many other ventures all around the world, from Silicon Valley to the jungles of Bali. He has spoken at prestigious institutions, from Stanford University and UC Berkeley in California, to the United Nations FAO Headquarters, the financial center of London, the faculty of architecture of the University of Rome, the International Cultural Diplomacy Conference in Berlin and many others. He has received awards in areas as diverse as software engineering, music, filmmaking, photography, technology installations, etc.

His latest book is the nonfiction, The Torch Principle.

For More Information

• Visit Javier Ideami’s website.
• Connect with Javier on Facebook and Twitter.
• Find out more about Javier at Goodreads.

About the Book:

Title: The Torch Principle
Author: Javier Ideami
Publisher: Sound of Touch
Pages: 404
Genre: Nonfiction/

Are you facing personal or professional challenges that require original and innovative solutions? Are you tired of the typical solutions that don't produce lasting results? Would you like to find a better balance between your creative and your analytical muscles in order to empower your career, health and well-being?

The Torch principle (Creativity) is a unique book + online platform (torchprinciple.com) that empowers your creative muscles and helps you generate original solutions to your personal and professional challenges. Award winning creative director Javier Ideami brings you a book plus an online all in one platform to empower your career, health and well-being through radically enhancing your creativity.

·        Learn multisensory brainstorming techniques.

·        Generate unique solutions to your personal and professional challenges.

·        Reach a better balance between your analytical and your creative muscles.

·        Empower your career, health and well-being through creative thinking.

·        Get access to an online platform (torchprinciple.com) with videos, tools and graphics that help you visualize and understand the content as well as exercise your creative muscles.

The Torch Principle gives you the background knowledge you need combined with specific exercises and techniques that can help you find solutions and ideas for the personal and professional challenges you face. It also helps you reach a better balance between your analytical and your creative muscles. This, in turn, benefits your career, health and well-being.

We all have challenges, personal and professional. Typical solutions often don’t last and can’t adapt to the complexity of the situation we face or are ineffective against the competition. That’s why you need truly innovative and original solutions. You need to diverge strongly before you converge onto those solutions. To diverge strongly you need strong creative muscles. The Torch Principle gives you exercises to train your creative muscles and the tools to produce ideas and solutions that can overcome complexity and competition. Solutions that last.

For More Information

• The Torch Principle is available at Amazon.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Thanks for this interview, Javier.  Can we begin by having you tell us about yourself from a writer’s standpoint?

My key missions in life are the engine of my writing. I like writing about ways to help people improve and enrich their existence. The Torch Principle is a book that brings together all my experience as a creative director and expert in creative thinking techniques. It helps people generate innovative ideas and solutions to their professional and personal challenges as well as balance their thinking strategies. This, in turn, enriches their career, health and well-being. Read more about The Torch Principle at http://torchprinciple.com

When not writing, what do you like to do for relaxation and/or fun?

Creating (photography, movies, design, tech apps, etc),  hiking in nature, playing sports, watching movies, spending time with friends and loved ones, etc.

Congratulations on your new book! Can you give us the very first page of your book so that we can get a glimpse inside?

If you live on planet Earth, there are many challenges you face, both personal and professional. Some of them are too complex to deal with by just using logic and analysis. In addition to this, typical conventional solutions are not practical because competitors are already implementing them or because the value they provide doesn’t last long enough.

In order to succeed, you need to raise your game and produce innovative, different and unique solutions to your personal and professional challenges. You cannot run a marathon without first training your body muscles regularly, similarly, you cannot become a master at innovating original solutions without first learning to exercise your creative muscles as well.

In this book I will show you how to make the transition from a personal or professional challenge to an innovative solution and how to exercise your creative muscles to become a master at this process.

We will also explore how creative thinking can benefit both your health and well-being.

Would you say it’s been a rocky road for you in regards to getting your book written and published or pretty much smooth sailing?  Can you tell us about your journey?

This is a long and deep book that can revolutionize your thinking and therefore your life. The process of creating it lasted many years and therefore the biggest challenge was keeping focused and doing regular work as often as possible. Writing a deep book is never easy. But the satisfaction of completing such a challenge is also very special.

If you had to summarize your book in one sentence, what would that be?

Diverge before you Converge. This is the key to a life full of innovation and creativity, which can benefit your career, health and well-being in many ways. Expand before you contract. Throw your torches far and illuminate far away places before you bring it all together and converge onto the best solutions and ideas. (Torch Metaphor Video: https://vimeo.com/146327112)

What makes your book stand out from the rest?

The book includes an online platform (http://torchprinciple.com) with videos, graphics and tools (apps) that complement the reading and help you practice its exercises. You get not just a book but also an associated online platform that will accelerate the process of training your creative muscles. (Trailer of the book: https://vimeo.com/151386010)

If your book was put in the holiday section of the store, what holiday would that be and why?

It would be a divergent holiday, maybe a holiday made of random or semi-random excursions, random trips that take you to unexpected places. Random or semi-random choices force you to get away from the typical and predictable routines and open your mind to new possibilities that you would probably not have considered if you had converged too quickly to a fixed plan from the beginning.

Would you consider turning your book into a series or has that already been done?

This specific book is not intended to be part of a series. However, I can imagine making a future series that applies creative thinking exercises to specific fields.

What’s next for you?

Maintaining and expanding the range of tools, videos and graphics of the online platform of the book (http://torchprinciple.com). Also expanding as well the ideation capabilities of the Posterini platform (http://posterini.com), a poster maker and creative platform which you can use to produce any kind of poster for your business, service, product or yourself as well as to perform ideation and brainstorming exercises and processes.

As a creative director, artist, engineer and entrepreneur, I am also regularly involved in many other projects, events, conferences and collaborations.