Amy Herman Talks the Art of Perception

In Fixed: How to Perfect the Fine Art of Problem Solving, Amy Herman writes about her methodology for helping individuals find solutions through observing works of art. Herman is the founder and president of The Art of Perception, Inc., an organization that provides professional development courses for leaders from around the world. Her work has helped those in the NYPD, FBI, NATO, Doctors Without Borders, and the Department of Defense. She visits with us to discuss her method of using various artworks that direct people to notice things they may not have observed at first. She said, “I channel that power of art and say, ‘by learning to look at this and talking about what you see and what you don’t see, those skills are readily transferable to problem solving on the job.'” In her work, she has her participants focus on engaging the part of the brain that is not predominantly used at their workplace. Her hope is that after taking the courses, they will see and assess situations from a different perspective.

Herman, who works with people from all over the professional spectrum, said “I think the reason they’re all coming to me is they all have problems to solve. Everybody has problems and they realize that yesterday’s solutions are not going to solve today or tomorrow’s problems.” She firmly believes that “the best things happen on the exit ramp of your comfort zone, and so by taking people out of, not fully out of, their comfort zone, but just going to the exit ramp, they’re going to see things differently, they’re going to communicate differently, and most importantly, they’re going to look at their existing resources and think of different ways to solve problems when they’re out of their everyday point A to point B life.”

Throughout the discussion, Herman described her use of abstract art in her trainings and also compared writing and publishing a book to having a baby. “You put the book out in the world, like a child, hoping that it’ll do some good out there and that you’ve given it everything you can give it to do the good out there in the world…”