Eggs as art.

Easter has come and gone. But a well-decorated egg lasts forever, at least in pixilated form. So what’s the dipping, the designing and the unpredictable process of creating colorful eggs have to do with choosing a marketing firm? More than you might think.

Pricing: There’s no denying that cost is a consideration when choosing a partner to promote your business. Just be aware that you will get egg-zactly what you pay for. Store-bought eggs are uniform in color, they’re mass-produced in un-chick-friendly environments, and they’re devoid of the very characteristics that makes them genuinely eggy: an orange sun yolk, a resilient white, and a yummy, buttery taste. If you’re the real deal and you want others to know it, you might want to invest just a little bit more to work with people who know how to market (and even create) colorful characters.

I Changed It So It’s Mine: Okay, I borrowed this from Lawrence Clore, an ardent foodie who knows how to cook up a storm. His particular gift is to start with someone else’s recipe and then reinvent the formula so that the finished dish is entirely his own. He’s married to my work partner so we often joke that he should write a cookbook with the title I Changed It So It’s Mine. But the ability to change things up is what the right agency can do for you. This goes beyond business book stuff like ‘your unique selling proposition’. What’s uniquely human about what you do, make, or sell? Why would someone tell a friend about what you offer? You see, anybody can make egg salad. But only Larry Clore can make HIS egg salad – which, by the ways is delish. And only you can provide the thing that is uniquely yours – even if you start with eggs like everyone else.

The Invaluable Immeasurable: Everybody’s talking about metrics. How do we track page views, click-throughs, time spent, impressions, word of mouth and more? How do we validate results? I’m all for the thoughtful consideration and assessment of marketing activities. But I do worry that we are so obsessed with the means of measurement that we forget some things of genuine value are immeasurable. Yes, we can break people into parts, analyze their online behavior and adjust campaigns accordingly. But the risk is reactive marketing, like leading by a poll. I’d rather help people discover something they didn’t know they wanted, couldn’t have imagined they needed, and wouldn’t have said they would purchase. Measurement can inform your decisions, but it cannot remove risk. If you want someone to take your pulse, go with a metrics-driven group. If you want someone to breathe new life into your business, take a look at the invaluable factor of creative thinking.

You can’t give people egg-zactly what they want because they often don’t know what that is. Instead, why not delight people? Be a good (and colorful) egg. Be resourceful and serve up your brand of egg salad. And when you choose an agency, see if they measure up in all the imprecise ways that will make them egg-zactly right for you.

Bra shopping in the big city! The left image is actually dress made of pink crayons. Cool, huh?

Our April trip to the Nashville PRSA Awards show was, what, all work and no play? I don’t think so. Inspiration comes in surprising places.  We were intrigued by the lobby art at our decidedly quirky hotel and that got us thinking (yeah, we do that sometimes) about the power of everyday stuff when it’s used in unexpected ways.

Who else is thinking “70’s porno flick”?  Why yes, that is red faux pony skin that adorned the walls of our hotel’s elevator.  Getting up to our floor was a memorable experience.  We weren’t quite sure if it was smarmy (okay, it was really smarmy) but it was completely true to itself.  Honest smarmy, you know?

And crayons.  Every kid has crayons.  But hardly anybody makes a pink crayon dress.  It stands out and sticks in your mind precisely because it is unexpected.  Kind of like the punch line to a joke. Your mind is going along a certain path and then, bam, you end up someplace you didn’t plan to be.

Madonna has already done underwear as outer wear but it’s not everyday you see a bra as a light fixture.  Illuminating - in every way.

Our trip to the big city reminded us that the potential for creativity is all around us.  It’s in the stuff of every day.  Maybe faux red pony fur is just what you need to stand out.  We’re sticking with crayons because underwear belongs in a drawer when it’s not on the job.

During an interview for our podcast Conversations with Creative Minds, Guy Sanville, actor and artistic director at the Purple Rose Theatre, repeatedly used the I-word. No, he didn’t say idiot, which I mutter frequently in reference to myself. Guy chose the word industrious to describe his work habits and those of people who are successful regardless of their profession.

You just don’t hear the word industrious all that often, unless you’re watching a wildlife show about the nature of beavers. Though there’s nothing bad about it, industrious is not one of the top ten characteristics I’d like someone to use when describing me. Maybe that’s because I associate it with a faint hearted kind of praise, like having a solid attendance record. (Although, Woody Allen did say that 80% of success is just showing up.) Or maybe I simply equate industrious with the machine-like regimen of industry.

And yet, industrious is the word that Guy chose to describe his approach to the craft of acting. Which makes sense because the development of craft, the essential skills and techniques that are fundamental to all endeavors, does take work. A lot of it. But industrious doesn’t happen all willy-nilly. It demands a certain structure, a framework for accomplishment. Creating, whether it’s a character, a play or a new theory of the cosmos is work. But industrious, when applied to work you love, is not at all industrial. It’s rigorous not regimented. It’s structured but never static. It’s practiced repeatedly but is not mind-numbingly repetitious.

Industriousness and creativity are not mutually exclusive. They’re just different sides of the same coin. It’s that dynamic tension thing of apparent opposites coming together to produce work that lives instead of working at making a living.

Industrious people continually refine their craft. They are engaged in such a way that work is something more than working. In our commitment to craft, we catch an occasional glimpse of art; the ephemeral and transcendent feeling of being completely at ease in and one with the universe. It is the pursuit of this that informs and inspires the practice of craft.

As Guy reminded me, acting is about doing. Industrious people get things done without an industrial way of working. Hmm. Industrious is sounding better and better. Maybe I could strike stylish off my preferred characteristics list and replace it with industrious. I’ll always love clothes, but for now I want to get stuff done.

Jan

Guy Sanville on Creating Reality (video)

I just finished reading Jonah Lehrer’s beautifully written book, Proust was a Neuroscientist. Before you wrongly assume that I’m all egg-heady (more pointy-headed, especially on bad hair days) this book articulates in lucid and engaging prose the premise that creative types of the 19th and 20th centuries had an innate understanding of how the brain works long before neuroscience proved their insights.

This made me all skin-tingly and sweaty under the eyes (does anyone else perspire there)? You see, many of the guests that I’m privileged to interview for our podcast reveal insights about the practice and thought process of creating just as eye-opening as those in Jonah Lehrer’s book. Here’s an example.

Guy Sanville, actor and artistic director at the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea MI, was a guest on our show. When I asked him to define acting, he described it as being authentic in imaginary circumstances. He also said that the greatest actors are those who know how to pay profound attention to the other person in the scene.

After the rigorous crafting of a character from the inside out, it is the actors ability to pay attention to what’s going on that allows reality to arise from a make believe situation.

Coming back to the book, Proust was a Neuroscientist, the author makes a similar point, saying that the brain’s ability to pay attention is what gives rise to our sense of self. In essence, when we’re not practicing paying attention, there’s no there there. It’s our ability to listen-up, tune-in and take note that makes us real to ourselves. That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard. As long as we pay attention to one another we can construct reality together. I guess that means you’re a neuroscientist and I am too.

Jan

One of of the best things about interviewing guests on our podcast Conversations with Creative Mind is that my partner Susan Bachman and I come away with fresh insights about the practice and practical application of creativity.

Interviews with Guy Sanville, actor and artistic director at the Purple Rose Theatre (founded by Jeff Daniels) are now available at www.conversationswithcreativeminds.com. Guy has mind-awakening things to say about the craft of acting and the business of constructing an artificial reality that seems, well, real. But one of his statements has a particular resonance with the way Susan and I approach our work and our lives too.

“We don’t always know what we’re doing, but we have our principles and our passions to guide us.” Guy Sanville

I’m completely on board with the concept of not-knowing. In fact, I probably hang out there more than I should. But Guy isn’t talking about not having a clue. Rather, he’s making the point that by having an intention, an idea of what you want to do, you can begin doing without waiting to know everything. It’s the willingness to not-know everything that opens the door to possibilities and possibility-thinking leads to the consideration of unlikely ideas; ideas that an informed or knowing mind would reject.

Susan and I often debate whether we’re not all that smart or if we’re just smart enough because not-knowing doesn’t stop us from getting started. Somehow, it’s in the act of doing that we discover what needs to be done. I suppose that’s what some people would call thinking outside of the box. Guy affirms that the willingness to leave behind the comfy place of knowing is a pre-requisite for the structured practice of craft.

Here’s our interview takeaway. Use not-knowing as a point of origin rather than a barrier to beginning. If you’re willing to start from stupid, really interesting ideas will emerge. The knowledge that follows will create the structure that’s needed to sustain your creative insights.

Jan

A problem is well, a problem; intractable, thorny, distracting, distressing, difficult and a pain in the neck. But, what if a problem was a puzzle instead? That’s the premise of Dr. Eric Rabkin, a professor in the Department of English at the University of Michigan. On the live version of the Conversations show, Professor Rabkin made the point that the difference between a problem and a puzzle is that a solution is built into a puzzle. You may mull over the New York Times’s crossword puzzle, searching for that nine-letter word meaning ‘record or history of’, but you know there’s a solution even if it’s not immediately available.

When a person encounters a problem, it’s time to change the approach, to deliberately shift one’s perspective, and treat the problem like a puzzle. Based on Dr. Rabkin’s observation and my experience, a shift in perspective, even the slightest little bit of a shift, opens the door to creativity. The act of thinking about a problem as a puzzle establishes the premise of a successful outcome. When approached from a puzzle point of view, a problem is relocated from the narrow, anxious realm of “how in the world can we solve this” to the expansive and possibility-filled world of “in what ways can we consider this situation?”

So, if a puzzle is an opportunity to introduce variety and consider multiple viewpoints, what can a person do to shift from a problematic perspective to a more productive point of view? The answer is so obvious it’s practically incomprehensible – simply shake-up your habits (gently) and deliberately do something differently for just a few moments. For example:

If you wear glasses, take them off for a few minutes (no walking into walls or driving)

If you hold a pen between your thumb and index finger, re-position it to the index and middle fingers and write something, anything for a few minutes

If you usually sit at a desk, try sitting on it; or better yet, lie underneath it (if your floor is cleaner than mine)

Sure, it seems a little goofy at first, but here’s the point. Changing habits of behavior will enhance your ability to shift habits of thinking. When you change the way you think, a problem has the potential to become a puzzle and a puzzle can be solved.

Jan