Permission To Suck

A Message for Crowdsourcing Fans from PermissionToSuck.com

Monday, December 21, 2009

Creativity is principally the domain of an individual enhanced by great relationships, but just as a properly harnessed horse team can pull harder, the right creative team can produce more consistently powerful messages. That said, teamwork isn’t what crowdsourcing stimulates. Consequently, don’t expect a creative product superior to that which you’d get from a reputable individual or strong creative team. Fluffy the cat will probably fetch your morning paper more often.

Creativity is Counterintuitive

Friday, December 18, 2009

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Creativity can be so damn counter intuitive sometimes. For starters, “Ready, Shoot, Aim” can be as productive as its less ridiculed counterpart. Add the idea that time is money and creative digestion approaches 0.01 on the “doing” scale – plus – the decade’s trend of specialization and its corresponding vertical structure makes for a self perpetuating paradox.

Talking with Design Thinker: David Burney, Part I

Monday, November 30, 2009

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Many of us are heartbroken. We love artifacts of design: the photo, the logo, the brochure, the packaging. As uncomfortable as change feels, our economy has moved away from industry or information and into ideas. Design thinking has replaced designing artifacts as the focus of our creative industry. In part I of the interview for PermissionToSuck.com, NewKind.com CEO David Burney begins to explain how he thinks design is changing.

“We Are Strip Mining Our Childrens’ Minds”

Thursday, November 19, 2009

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Ask creative folks how their talent was revealed and you’ll probably hear a story of happenstance: my uncle gave me a camera, I got crayons for Christmas, my preschool teacher was a dancer or a likewise charming story of discovery. It seems as though the opportunity found them. The fit was good; Aptitude harmonizing with occasion led to passion. If only our Education System was interested in discovering talent.

The Permission to Suck Manifesto

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

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Somewhere in your personal history a decision was made to forgo a “real job”; one your parents would understand. Artist, creative director, writer, musician, photographer, actor, fine artist or pick one – you got attention for a talent or liked doing it so much that there was just no room to commit significant time to a profession less flattering gratifying. You became one of them sensitive types whose ego is vulnerably bonded to their work. True objective distance is pointless but it’s best to have a survival strategy.

Right or Left Brained – Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight

Monday, September 28, 2009

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Jill Bolte Taylor has an astonishing story. At most it will change your perception of how you exist; at least it will make you think about how her research applies to you. If ever there was a “right” person to experience a stroke it was her.

Creatives & The Hope Economy: What Do We Do Now?

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

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Ideas are cheap and plentiful and offered like opinions at a political rally. Talent is everywhere, making us indignant that those with it aren’t better off. Yet companies aren’t looking for talent so much as marketable talent nor ideas so much as marketable solutions. Marketable mediocrity is preferred over unmarketable brilliance or talent with low ROI. So should we be appalled when creativity is harvested like feed corn as soon as the network bandwidth (see “The Long Tail”) is wide enough to sift it as though panning for gold?

“Do It Because You Like It” – Dan Pink

Monday, September 14, 2009

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Our default is to be risk reluctant and to think things through to a logical end with no deviation from task. We narrow our purpose and use our craftiness to get to the finish line as fast and as free from criticism as possible – we go with what we know when under pressure. Perform with all eyes on you and you’ll do what it takes not to fail, together with relying on a tested formula for success. ----> In his TED video presentation, Dan Pink gives an outstanding presentation – argument if you will – for what science asserts truly motivates us. Dan explains that there is a mismatch between what science shows and what business does. Business wants innovation, yet motivates us to be formulaic with a narrow view of problem solving.

Rebecca Saxe: How we read each other’s minds

Thursday, September 10, 2009

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Quoting Alan Greenspan: "I know you think you understand what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize what you heard is not what I meant." In this Video, Rebecca Saxe explains how it's possible to understand Alan Greenspan. View video and read more.

Stepping back: What is creativity anyway?

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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The word Creativity has become part of our business lexicon. It’s overused and misused. So much so that there is a cloud of vagueness that surrounds its meaning. Creativity has become scary since all the business leaders say we must be creative or die trying. What does that mean exactly? Who are these new ideas new to anyway?