G: Tell us about yourself, what do you do?
I am an author and speaker on business creativity. I have written 9 books, including “The Idea Book” which was included in “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time”. I live in Singapore but speak all over the world.
G: Tell us about the Ideas Island project, how did you come up with this idea? What was the inspiration behind this?
I myself has been living in an island every summer in Sweden since 1999 and know how awesome it is a creativity booster. So when I decided to get more islands I also decided that I should let other experience the same awesomeness. I decided not to charge for it because sharing for it would take away the magic.
G: How can people apply for a place at the Ideas Island and how do you decided who gets to say there?
They only have to go to www.ideasisland.com and apply. They need to tell me who they are, what creative project they want to work on and why they think I should pick them. That’s it. I let all kinds of people stay there.
G: How many people have stayed on the island so far?
For this season we are looking at having guests for about 12 weeks (the Swedish summer).
G: What were the best ideas/projects that were created on the island?
I do not have favorites, but I liked a man who had worked in corporate life for 20 years who used his stay on the island to discover how he was going to live the rest of his life. Or the entrepreneur who wanted to develop his dreams of creating a cartoon. Oh, there are so many fun examples.
G: What are your future plans?
I just got the third island last year so our plan it to get the ones we have now up and running. Who knows if there will be a fourth island… (My wife has said I am not allowed to get more islands.)
Social links:
Website: www.interesting.org
Twitter: @fredrikharen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FredrikHarenGlobal
