Creative Reaction

Last May, in Walt Disney Had Three Heads, we looked at a post discussing success in both creativity and commerce. This week I came across another such exploration where the whole “heads” analogy breaks down and where “personality traits” or “roles” is a better choice of words.

Take a few moments to read Deconstructing Creativity: The 4 Roles You Need to Play to be Fully Creative, where blogger Luicano Passuello takes a look at Roger von Oech’s theories.

A few days ago, in Surrounded by Inspiration, we offered some ideas to encourage managers to nurture the “Explorer” role in their team members. Deconstructing Creativity should help management and executives think in ways that ensure their businesses as a whole address all four personality traits.

Creativity and business success are not mutually exclusive.

I came across this zeldman.com post via Daring Fireball, and while it’s from the perspective of a writer and web designer, it applies to any creative-for-pay endeavor. It makes a powerful case for results-based work (the opposite of presenteeism). A must read for any manager of creative sorts.

For a metaphorical approach to this very topic, take a look at Coffee and Creativity.

And  since we’re kind of on a “you can’t rush art” theme here, take a look at Pixar’s “How We Do It“.

There’s a great illustrated post over at the Times and if it didn’t hit the Internet over a week ago, I would have simply tweeted about it. It’s largely about inventors and it’s very inspirational. Just read it and smile. And then follow it’s advice, “Don’t mope in your room. Go invent something. That is the American message.”

I’ve updated some of the Blogs I follow in the Sidebar. Apparently there’s a Wordpress bug which isn’t allowing me to put them into categories the way I’d like; they keep ending up in the “Creative Tools” category. (I’ll upgrade to Wordpress 2.8 over the weekend.)

To those of you following along via New Readers/Aggregators, be sure to visit the web site from time to time!

UPDATE – Wordpress v. 2.8 upgrade fixed the issue!

Lateral Action has an article detailing Walt Disney’s three “personalities”, which allowed him to be successful in both art and commerce:

• The Dreamer - the visionary who dreamt up ideas for films and business ventures.
• The Realist - the pragmatic producer who made things happen.
• The Critic - the eagle-eyed evaluator who refined what the Dreamer and Realist produced.

The article draws upon a book by Robert Dilts, who studies “Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) (which) explores the way people sequence and use fundamental mental abilities such as sight, hearing and feeling in order to organize and perform in the world around them.”

Quoting Dilts, “Walt Disney’s ability to connect his innovative creativity with successful business strategy and popular appeal certainly qualifies him as a genius in the field of entertainment. In a way, Disney’s chosen medium of expression, the animated film, characterizes the fundamental process of all genius: the ability to take something that exists in the imagination only and forge it into a physical existence that directly influences the experience of others in a positive way.”

So my only question is, which one of the heads got frozen?

Idea Connection has an interesting, yet long and wonkish interview with Keith Sawyer, author of “Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation”.

Sawyer uses an inter-disciplinary approach as a means to scientifically study something as elusive as creativity and de-bunks of handful of creativity myths.

Quoting Sawyer, “The creativity myths are not just wrong, they’re dangerous because they make us all believe we have no hope of being creative. If we’re not playful and childlike, if we’re not a bit schizophrenic or depressed or alcoholic, if we’re not always having flashes of brilliant insight, then we don’t seem to fit the mythical image of the creator.

The good news is that these beliefs aren’t true. Successful creators are stable, happy people; after all, being creative is just about the most fulfilling activity a person can engage in. ”

Another interesting tidbit, especially in this Web 2.0 age:
“My own research shows that creativity, more often than not, emerges from interactions of lots of people who come together in “collaborative webs.” This has been true throughout history; but now, the Internet makes the process happen so much faster.”

Despite the length of the interview, which I’m having trouble plowing through due to a late afternoon energy slump, Sawyer’s research seems both solid and fascinating. I just put his book on my Amazon Wish List. Now for some fresh air.

(Find out more about Sawyer  and his book.)

Great post over at Idea Champions with a simple message (see Title).

While the message is for corporations, I think there’s an important lesson for creatives-for-hire: unless we care, and yes, even find ways to be fascinated about the services and products we are helping our clients sell, our messages will not resonate with our clients’ customers. Something to ponder.

“When forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to its utmost – and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl.”
- T.S. Eliot

As tired as I am about “boxes” and “thinking” both in and outside of them, Think Inside a Self-Constructed Box an article on effective brainstorming by the folks at Behance is based on research and deserves mention. They offer the following “tips”, though I think they’re being modest; these are success ingredients:

1. Keep the brainstorming groups small (ideally four people or less).
2. Gather people from different backgrounds, experiences, and interests.
3. Ask questions to build context, a brief, and core values, all to ”frame” the discussion.
4. Have a singular goal. For multiple decisions, hold multiple specific sessions.
5. Leave the meeting with “Next Action” steps.

With the time pressures faced by creative businesses on a daily basis, we would all benefit from more effective brainstorming.

In  The Perfectly-Designed Office, we contrasted offices that foster creativity and those which portray the idea of creativity. The pristine, image-conscious agencies want to look creative, yet what better way is there to woo new clients than to let them see your (often messy) creative process at work?

From Leland Maschmeyer (in this morning’s linked-to post), “Imagine being a prospective client walking into an agency… As you tour the office you’re inundated with ideas wherever you look. The energy of the agency being so vibrant and intoxicating that you feel the need to jump in on a project. And as you marvel at the prolific thinking swirling around you, you can’t shake the notion that maybe – just maybe – you are standing in the womb of creativity… Wow – what a great feeling to leave a prospective client with.”

Which brings us to our segue quote from earlier, “Clients who value your designs are good. Clients who also value your design process are better”.

The essay from which the above quote comes, details how Tupperware choose Frog Design to create Tupperware’s FlatOut! line of storage containers. “Tupperware liked what Frog had created for other clients (in other industries), but they also recognized that Frog’s design process was at the core of all those great designs. And most important, Tupperware understood how that process would benefit them.”

“Many clients don’t fully understand how designers create. And if your clients don’t understand it, or even know about it, then they won’t value it.”

Likewise, many clients do not fully understand how advertising agencies and production companies create.

Those who don’t, need to be taught. Those who do are more likely to trust agencies with their business without rounds of reviews and business pitches.

The Design Funnel, another great manifesto on ChangeThis, is not about design as a gift or a rare ability or spontaneous insight; it is the process of design. Our clients have messages – stories to tell – and in creative businesses we must interpret (more often than not) vague requests, from which we form “concrete goals and results which are satisfying to (us), and effective for (our) clients)”. In a business setting, we cannot simply sit around and wait to be inspired; we have deadlines and air dates. And so while the work we do is creative, we must have a framework upon which to build, in order to meet business demands as well. The Design Funnel is a process which will undoubtedly prevent much of the heartache and frustration in “dealing” with clients, as it involves listening, communicating and collaborating. Download it and read it. It should change the way you interact with your clients.

On The Official Google Blog last week, there was a post entitled Our Googley advice to students: Major in learning, where Google outlined what it looks for in its employees. (The post was written by Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management.)

I found this line intriguing; “At the highest level, we are looking for non-routine problem-solving skills. We expect applicants to be able to solve routine problems as a matter of course. After all, that’s what most education is concerned with.” (Emphasis mine.) In other words, Rosenberg is saying that Google is looking for problem solving skills beyond what most education provides.

After reading the ChangeThis manifesto Turning Learning Right Side Up I imagine its authors would agree; “traditional education is about teaching, not learning” they say. 

Both Google’s blog post and the Turning Learning manifesto dovetail nicely; Rosenberg’s post is about the lifelong process of learning, and not simply earning a degree; “keep on challenging yourself, because learning doesn’t end with graduation… success is inexorably determined by the lessons you glean from the free market. Learning, it turns out, is a lifelong major.”

(I won’t summarize the manifesto’s content. I’ll only say that after reading it, managers will realize they will need to focus their training on the educational system’s gaps!)

So finally, what is Google looking for aside from problem-solving skills?

1. communication skills
2. a willingness to experiment
3. team players, and
4. passion and leadership.

I would argue that the very same skills should be sought by every creative company; after all, being creative within a business setting is largely about working within numerous constraints.

Australian online business magazine Smart Company has a great article on company-wide innovation, based on the research of RMIT University in Melbourne. The researchers studied 92 fast growing companies, finding 10 common characteristics which promote innovative business cultures.

The first finding: innovation starts with the leadership qualities of the CEOs or founders. “They were passionate about their work, had a positive and optimistic outlook, do not allow setbacks to hinder their drive and vision, are forward thinkers, determined, thrive on difference and change; surround themselves with like-minded individuals, concentrate on team culture, learn from their mistakes, and aim to resolve problems quickly.”

Not surprisingly, many of the other characteristics had to do with the work environments, made possible by savvy management; an emphasis on training and learning, collaboration, and open communication.

A few other things we’ve recently mentioned include investing in technology and recruiting (and rewarding) innovative people; it’s good to see some common themes here within Creative Reaction’s pages.

One characteristic I found interesting was making sure that vendors, suppliers, and even bankers understand the company’s vision, which makes sense as they all play supporting roles.

The article covers a lot of ground in four pages. Worth reading.

Another post on the size of a design team and its effect on creativity. In this post on his blog Subtraction, Khoi Vinh, Design Director for NYTimes.com speaks largely from personal experience and makes several excellent points. I’ll summarize by mashing his words:

— Design doesn’t scale well. This craft rests on the efficiency of transferring ideas from the brain to the hand. The perfect design staff is a single designer who can conceive of and execute an idea from start to finish, maintaining the same coherent creative vision throughout. Of course, as an economic matter, this is impractical – it almost always has to scale. The smaller the scale, however, the more efficient the practice of design —

Plenty to think about here. So how can we keep our staff/departments lean and agile enough to provide the best possible work for our clients? You could pay the slackers to quit…

Creative Reaction - Now with new features, renewed commitment, and comments!

You may have noticed some craziness with your RSS subscriptions this past month, as Creative Reaction has been completely overhauled.

We’ve moved the site to a new web host, updated to the latest version of Wordpress, added new categories and new links, and edited every post to include tags! We’ve also published over a dozen drafts which were backlogged.

The tags are a really cool feature! Just click on a tag, and Wordpress, which powers this blog, will display all the posts containing with that tag!

Most importantly, we now have tools in place to fight comment spam, so comments are now open on all posts. To participate by commenting, all you need to do is register by providing a screen name and an e-mail address so that a password can be e-mailed to you. Thats it!

And now that we have all these upgrades, you will see more frequent posts, helping you to embiggen your business!

Thanks for reading!

I love this story! I’ve long held the opinion that the agency/client relationship should be a long-term commitment based on trust, not unlike a marriage. Staking your livelihood on how well you help a client be successful is bold, as well as allowing an agency to own a piece of your company, and rewarding its work based on performance. Story on Adweek. A number of other groundbreaking examples of agencies owning their ideas (aka IP, aka Intellectual Property) are detailed.