Gestalt

“We are creative.” That was the best opening line I could think of. But, we are creative, and we have an amazing opportunity to manifest our creativity through our creations, whether they be ideas, conversations, relationships, families, religions, art, technology, businesses, or even our governments. This is our human Gestalt. From ideas flow life. And quality of life is…expensive.

Ideas are Currency

What got me thinking about all of this was a recent project . The goal was to create a digital campaign to target aware non-trialists and convert their referrals into sales. As I was reading the Brand Brief, and specifically the elements of execution and objectives, I realized that I was only contributing my ideas, and the deliverables themselves were only my ideas. I imagine that years ago, your typical Ad Agency did most or all of the work in house with in house thinkers and tinkers. Ideas came from internal process, and design was almost simultaneous. Today it seems to make sense to hire people only for their ideas, just as you would hire people only for their design or writing skills. Software developers are often hired just for their specific development skills, just as carpenters are for their craftsmanship or accountants who are gifted with numbers. All of these skilled people are applying their ideas and creativity to a task, or job. And yet there are others, who only contribute their ideas to a task or job. These individuals have used their creativity as their skill, and ideas as their craft. Their ideas are their currency. They are compensated for their ideas, not for executing their ideas.

Have We Arrived?

I’m not sure. It seems we are getting there. Idea Generation and Idea Execution…two completely different lines in the sand. I wonder if we would be more efficient and successful that way. Who gets paid more, generators or executors? Creative Directors become generators and Art & Technical Directors become executors. The separation is clear, and roles are redefined.

The Generator

Generators deliver their ideas, and they must be masters of their craft. A generator must be mindful of their presentation, and thorough with their delivery. Their ideas are proven before they are executed, and the details of their idea are well communicated. Each idea is generated and delivered with stunning visual design, supportive analysis and tangibility in the most simplistic of ways. Their ideas form products, companies, policies, artwork and quality of life. They are held highly accountable by executors in order to ensure that ideas are shared before execution.

The Executor

Executors deliver form and function to ideas, and do so with precision. An executor is highly trained and skilled to develop objects from concepts. Executors are the recipient, the customer, the consumer, the user and the builder. The objects and creations that they deliver are materials, structures, chemicals, processes, devices, software, interactions, media and quality of life. They are held highly accountable by recipients, customers, consumers, users and generators.

Productive Creativity

Now apply all of this and see if your ideas become more productive. If you are getting paid to contribute just your idea, then you are productive. If your ideas get to market faster and more efficiently, then you are productive.

I think that the Generation / Execution model would work nicely as a method for implementing Productive Creativity.

References

• Adventures of Johnny Bunko - Daniel Pink
• Productive Creativity, The Discipline of Making Ideas Happen - Scott Belsky
• Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron

Artist's Way Business Models executors generators Idea Execution Idea Generation Johnny Bunko