People
talk. More than ever. We have reached an era in which people redistribute other
people’s thinking and build their reputation on it. Flow-heaters are called
influencers now. They are running around saying super smart things like “Make
is the new think” – and make nothing. It’s like talk is the new make.
Not that
there is a way to underestimate the value of inspiration. But I keep wondering
how much of that inspiration is actually turned into action. So when I decided
to write something like a call for action, the title of a Frank Zappa album
came to mind. “Shut Up And Play Your Guitar”. Zappa was always very creative
when it came to album titles, and you can almost see where this one came from –
auditions with guitar players who would just talk about their approach to the
instrument rather than showing what they can do with it.
Should?
In
advertising – and I am sure this will apply to almost any other industry – we
are even worse. We sometimes don’t even bring our guitar. We just sit there,
all agitated and willing, and throw around a whole lot of “we should”. Like in
“we should invite inspiring people to come to our agency and learn from them.”
Or in “we should think about structure, reduce rigidity, form teams based
solely on project requirements.”
Sure – change
is a lot harder than people think. Simply deciding to change something and
expecting different results automatically is a great way to make sure that no
one will ever attempt to change anything after that. Resistance to change, and
the tendency of even the good-willed people to fall back into old patterns are
forces that are extremely hard to overcome.
Whiteboards and foosball
As well the
inability to apply. We tear off all those posters from a big wall in the
agency, put up a board, and tell everyone that they will fill it with great
ideas, projects, inventions. What happens? Nothing. A few juniors will put up
print ad ideas, and a few seniors will look at them with scepticism. The board
turns into a new place to play the same old game.
We create
playgrounds, put up playstations, x-boxes, foosball tables, funky sofas and
other loungy furniture. And then we’re waiting for the miraculous burst of
creativity that is going to result from all of this. In the end, some of the
work time is turned into game time, and as a consequence some of the free time
is turned into work time. No. Increased amounts of time spent ego-shooting your
way through Siberia do not pave the way to Cannes.
So even if
we bring the guitar, we don’t get far beyond strumming along the old “Smoke On
The Water” riff and maybe pumping a fist or two. And we don’t see that while we
are calling ourselves creative agencies, we’re often just profit generating
machines with a creative zoo attached.
Obviously,
there are ways to do it better. Simply by understanding creativity, by
respecting it, and by making sure that it has a chance to do its magic. One thing
is painfully visible every day: If we don’t let creativity be the heart of our
organization, its products will also not be creative.
So what does it take?
Creativity
comes from loving something, and love is fragile. Creativity needs the right
ecosystem. It needs commitment, trust, openness. And if you really take a look
at your own organization and be truly honest about it – you probably don’t find
much of that. Yes, we do have these great PowerPoint presentations that
proclaim that creativity is at the heart of the organization – but that’s usually
where the story ends already.
Actually, most
of the time we are unable to truly work on it – especially in multinational
organizations. Regional management just about has the right to proclaim and
voice demand – but normally not the power to act upon it. Try to tell a local
CEO how to hire and fire – he won’t be happy, and usually doesn’t follow suit. And
as long as he comes up with the bottom line he is supposed to deliver, he’s
pretty safe too.
Divisions divide
We keep
looking at the amazing story of Apple, we marvel at their creativity, their
superior design, their incredible ability to come up with products that the
consumers didn’t know they wanted badly. What’s the magic? We’ve read it a
thousand times. It’s commitment to creativity, and putting all resources
together to work as one team. And we have also read it: At Apple, there is just
one bottom line, just one P&L.
Does anyone
apply? Not really. Especially not in advertising. Most of our global networks
have separate corporate entities for advertising, digital, media, PR, event,
etc. We behave like Sony did when they had the huge opportunity to come up with
an iTunes kind of product before Apple did. They failed. The reason: Separate
divisions with separate P&Ls and separate interests. Does that ring a bell?
And no, we
don’t really trust creativity. We trust the numbers. We deliver money, not
greatness. And how many people have said it: Let’s come up with great ideas,
the money will follow. The only ones that have proclaimed this and are still in
business are the ones that never meant it.
Space and joy
Creativity
needs the right environment, it needs space. I don’t know how many office
buildings I have visited that simply don’t offer any space for people that want
to sit together and dig for greatness. It’s mindblowing. And even if there are
spaces, they are connected to endless bureaucracy. Come back later, your ideas
have to wait.
Without
joy, without happiness, without playing around, there is no creativity. If you
don’t have space, you can’t play. If you have to fear the consequences of
saying something stupid, you can’t talk about ideas. If you don’t have the
freedom to explore, to be stupid, to be outrageous, to think the unthinkable,
you will always be stuck with the ordinary.
Do they really know?
Another
thing we think and claim to have learned from Apple is that it doesn’t help to
ask the consumers what they want. It doesn’t help to walk around and do tons of
market research, trying to minimize the risk of doing something. It leads
directly to mediocrity. And no, it’s not really Steve Jobs that taught us this.
Henry Ford was just as smart plenty of decades earlier when he said that if he
had asked the people what they wanted, they would have said “faster horses.”
It’s not
new. But again, we don’t apply. We don’t trust our instincts, we suppress gut
feeling, we kill intuition. We have unlearned to use everything we know,
everything we have learned, and connect it with what we feel is right – and
then make a decision. We still think that if we do that we are taking a monstrous
risk, and instead ask the only people that are guaranteed to NOT have the right
answer – and then put our money on that.
Risk aversion is risky
That’s why
our organizations are full of people who don’t do anything great, but also
don’t really fuck up on anything. Risk averse, defensive, bottom line improving
tight people. Creative people can’t manage, they say, they are unreasonable,
don’t know anything about business. And then they go back to their computers
and add “creative thinking” to their impressive list of abilities on LinkedIn,
and boldly twitter stuff like “fail harder”.
And as much
as this may sound like something illogical – creativity needs process, and
structure. But usually not the kind of structure that is implemented. If we
look at the most creative organizations on this planet, we can clearly see that
their way of working, their process, their structure, their approach to project
responsibility and accountability has nothing to do with the way other
organizations are set up, including advertising agencies.
And what can be done?
Obviously,
you can’t turn an organization around to incorporate all of these aspects just
like that. After all – you also need the right people to do this. It takes
years to build a creative organization, or to transform one to be creative.
Actually,
it’s really easy to come up with a lot of “But” on every single aspect. There
are always reasons why things are difficult, why people think they can’t be
done. There are endless numbers of people who will happily block every change
initiative that moves an organization towards a more creative culture.
Still, no
organization will be able to think, decide, and implement on any of these
points without difficulties. The answer to facing these difficulties is simple:
Be creative. Finding ways to change things in your company is clearly the very
first test of the creative abilities of that organization.
Step by step
Don’t
tackle them all at once. Define change projects, read your John P. Kotter, and
get going. You can’t turn your six P&Ls into one? Well, that’s just the way
it is. The question is – what can you do to minimize the adverse effects this
has on the creative powers in your company. Can you find a way to work around
them? Look at process, structure, reporting lines, personnel. There is a
solution. For sure.
You would
love to create more space for your people, but you can’t, because your
headquarter would kill you for exceeding the square meters per employee limit?
Again – there will be an alternative to renting additional space.
And culture?
One thing
you won’t be able to simply improve with a change project is your corporate
culture. You can’t build trust, accountability, passion, and loyalty with
change management. But you don’t have to. If you work your way towards an
organization that supports creativity, you will alter your corporate culture as
a consequence of it. Much of that transformation is a direct result of simply
deciding to take that direction.
After years
of cutting cost and personnel, and endless projects that increased efficiency,
creativity is one of the few areas that will give an organization a chance to
compete successfully, and leave the competition behind.
There is no alternative to being a lot more creative in the future – on all levels of your organization. And don’t tell anyone you can’t. Because you can. For sure. So shut up and play your guitar. Play it well.
There is no alternative to being a lot more creative in the future – on all levels of your organization. And don’t tell anyone you can’t. Because you can. For sure. So shut up and play your guitar. Play it well.