Integral Perspectives On Personal & Professional Development
Ideas anyone?
The Clear Channel Ideas Seminar entitled The Outdoor Social Space, took place on Wednesday 10th November at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). HERE is what happened.
Influencers
INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.
Watch it HERE.
Leadership and Vision
I found this post about leadership and producing musicals on one of my favourite blogs - Ken Davenport commenting on how important it is for a producer to have a clear and unshakeable vision.
Having been employed in two of Cameron Macintosh's productions I witnessed first hand, the charisma of Cameron's leadership. He is indeed a powerful leader who cares about his shows, his organisation and most of all his people.
Before fulfilling my life long dream to become an actor I had my own brush with leadership in my younger days as the proprietor of hair and beauty salons. I came to understand (to my cost) how a vision also requires the leader's energy and attitude to be clear and present at all times. If not always in person then in communications that support a shared commitment.
While I had built a very successful business based on my values, ideas and beliefs about 'Hair in the 80s' ( my apologies to anyone I may have offended at the time ) and attracted some very talented people who liked the vibe I was creating, I eventually made a foolish mistake. I thought that after five years of successful trading I could go off and follow the various impulses that distracted me in my twenties and leave my businesses to function under various talented and loyal managers.
However hair and beauty is a very personal business and I quickly discovered that as my name was above the door, (literally) it became the brand and therefore clients wanted to know that I was around. Needless to say that my decision to go off touring with a rock band for a year resulted in the steady decline of my business as the vision, confidence and energy faded in my absence. However if I knew then what I know.....blah...blah.
Anyway here is Ken Davenports short article on producing for theatre.
The Power of Delusion
I was flicking through a selection of new books recently and came across a small and curious tome confidently titled 'The Power'. On further inspection I discovered it was (and still is) Rhonda Byrne's sequel to her pseudo esoteric 'money factory' 'The Secret.' In brief, Rhonda's core message is that you can be, do or have anything or anyone you want in your life. If you believe then you'll achieve. All you have to do is focus on the power of your intention, send your wishes out into the universe and abundance will come your way.
Naive, magical thinking?
Maybe.
I read a few pages of the book and then abandoned it. I then came across this article in The NY Times .
Now, I"m not entirely negative towards aspects of Byrne's perspective and approach in principle. A little positive self delusion can be very helpful, providing there is an underlying understanding and acceptance that our life's events are often a fragile combination of the chaos of randomness, luck and the power of our intentions expressed in behaviour. When things work out it is usually the coming together of these elements in the right place at the right time with the right people.
I am also a great believer in the idea that if we can find a way to 'creatively' respond to the given circumstances of our day to day existence we may survive and conquer many of life's challenges and even do very well. If we have high levels of energy and are contagious enough we might even be able to make some of the things we dream about and desire happen. But to deny that there are limits to our ability to have everything and anything we want is dangerously delusional.
If we use the analogy of an artist painting on a canvas we can view the undeniably influential objective reality of the world in which we live ( matter, bacteria, genes, atoms, planets, rocks, trees, gravity, weather etc) as the canvas on which our minds paint images and create our individual interpretations of the world. All will be fine..... providing we stay on the canvas. Once we start painting outside the frame we enter the world of imagination. I really like this place and spend much time painting off the canvas. However reality bites hard and we have to find a way to balance fantasy and reality. Otherwise we can begin to totally delude ourselves and at worse, take others with us.
Books like 'The Secret' and 'The Power' may reveal a partial truth about our circumstances and the human condition. But if we believe (as Byrne and her ilk suggest) that these ideas are the whole truth.....Well, some of us may never recover from the dissapointment.
All you need is………
John Lennon was probably one of the greatest pop song writers of all time and the song All You Need is Love was the hippy anthem of the nascent 60’s green, sharing and caring culture.
A time of embracing personal freedom, creativity and sharing everything from ideas and beliefs to material possessions. Among this emerging community sole ownership or possession of anything was deemed an outdated and meaningless concept.
Even our ideas of owning a permanent self or soul was challenged by the introduction of Eastern religions and philosophies like Buddhism, Daoism and Zen.
Lennon’s lyrics offered the suggestion that we let go of striving to do something and just play the game of Love. It’s easy!
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time - It's easy
The message is that if you’ve had a thought or idea, someone else somewhere else has had or will have a similar or the same idea. So why bother?
But what does this mean for innovation and evolution?
Those ‘Boomers’ that remember the case of the sixties girl band The Chiffons vs George Harrison of the Beatles will recall how similar Harrison’s Hymn to Hare Krishna ‘My Sweet Lord’ was to the Chiffons celebration of their man in the song ‘He’s So Fine.’ In fact the melodies are identical and ultimately cost Harrison his reputation as an innovator and a small fortune in a well publicised court case.
There has been a recent trend online for open sourcing, sharing and giving away ideas. But this is on the wane after most people were finding little benefit in the practice other than seeing others exploit their ideas for individual gain. Also as the concept of IP gains traction in an economy where quantity and price compete, new ideas are the new currency.
It's becoming more and more the case that the only sure way to differentiate yourself in a crowded market is to be totally original and find a niche.
So does this mean keeping your ideas to yourself and getting to the marketplace first?
If John Lennon is right there probably is someone, somewhere who has already thought of your idea. So what to do when you find out that your unique, game changing idea for a product, service, novel or film script has already been thought of?
Do you give up and resign yourself to witnessing someone else enjoying the fruits of their success with your idea?
Or do you:
Carry on regardless?
Make yours better, bigger, cheaper or more exclusive?
Steal their best bits and add it to yours?
Collaborate with the competition?
Go and work for the competition?
Buy the competition?
Go head to head with the competition in a very public way?
Do the exact opposite to your original idea?
Sabotage the competition?
Claim they ripped you off and sue them?
Celebrate their success and use it to promote your idea?
Find out how they got to market faster than you and adopt their process for your next idea?
Carry on producing your idea and give it away for free?
Or do you let it go and keep sharing in the knowledge that you have an infinite capacity to generate creative ideas.
All you need is…..belief!
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