Creativity and Business
(Day Fifty-Four)
Today's a day I'd like to just escape from reality for awhile -- maybe lose myself in a book or binge watch a couple seasons of a new TV show. But it's already past 10pm, so I know I'll probably spend the next little while writing this blog post and then go play Plants vs. Zombies in bed. Evenings pass too quickly.
Today at work somebody said, about a potential candidate for a job opening, "He's too creative to be good at business." This upset me quite a bit. I get very touchy about people not respecting creativity -- writers are notoriously undervalued, low-paid, and overlooked, until, of course, somebody needs something written for them and realizes they can't do it themselves. (And what's the absolute worst is when a writer is asked to write something so someone else can put their name on it.) Writing is hard. In many ways it's much, much harder to write an article or a story than it is to put together a spreadsheet, but because that spreadsheet might have a more direct impact on revenue, it (and the person putting it together) is more valuable. That person gets bonuses.
The same goes for design and photography. "Can you just whip up a design for that?" No, we can't just whip it up. It's not a matter of doodling with crayons. Design incorporates strategy, concept, user experience, branding...it's much more complex than creating pretty pictures.
That's the way of the (business) world, right? What makes money is valued. Content and photography and design only make money indirectly. They contribute to a stronger overall picture, and in most cases, the end revenue -- the new customers, the repeat customers, the brand equity -- won't be there without the creative part. But it's less tangible, less measurable. It's not a put-this-in, get-this-out equation. You can't trust your left-brained, black-and-white, linear thinking; you have to use your gut and your passion and your understanding of human nature.
You can tell this is a subject I can get a little bitchy about. But while I definitely get pissed off when people undervalue creative fields, which our society does as a whole, that wasn't what upset me about that comment. Often creativity and business (especially HHB) involve two different skill sets. That's understandable. That's okay. I know my brain gravitates more towards certain things and has a harder time understanding (or caring) about others. But what upsets me is this idea that the two can't coexist in the same person. That a creative person CAN'T be good at business.
This particularly upsets me because I'd like to be someone who is good at both of those things. I think you guys know how I get when someone tells me I can't do something. I get super pissed off. Someone could tell me I couldn't run a marathon -- which I have zero interest in doing -- and I would get pissed off and go run an effing marathon. (Please don't tell me I can't run a marathon).
I'd like to argue that creativity is NECESSARY in business, even in those at the very top of the executive ladder. If you have no creativity, no passion, no vision, no understanding of the great and beautiful human questions and conditions that drive the best art, then you're likely to be a cold, dry, stoic person who's not going to be able to sell anything to anybody. People don't buy the what, they buy the why -- and words, photography, design, IDEAS are what communicate the why. They're what create the why -- otherwise it's just cold, hard facts.
I know if I said all this to the person who made that comment, he'd backtrack and say that's not what he meant, but it is. He'd acknowledge some creativity is necessary in business, and there's some respect for creativity there, sure, but at the heart of it, this kind of thing shows up over and over again in the unconscious way people treat creative fields. Creative people cannot be successful business leaders and changers.
"Oh, you know -- he's a designer. Designers are flighty and unprofessional."
"Can't we just outsource writing?"
"Will you write a recommendation letter about this guy you've never met and pretend it's from me?"
It makes me want to explode a rain of bitch slapping.
Today's a day I'd like to just escape from reality for awhile -- maybe lose myself in a book or binge watch a couple seasons of a new TV show. But it's already past 10pm, so I know I'll probably spend the next little while writing this blog post and then go play Plants vs. Zombies in bed. Evenings pass too quickly.
Today at work somebody said, about a potential candidate for a job opening, "He's too creative to be good at business." This upset me quite a bit. I get very touchy about people not respecting creativity -- writers are notoriously undervalued, low-paid, and overlooked, until, of course, somebody needs something written for them and realizes they can't do it themselves. (And what's the absolute worst is when a writer is asked to write something so someone else can put their name on it.) Writing is hard. In many ways it's much, much harder to write an article or a story than it is to put together a spreadsheet, but because that spreadsheet might have a more direct impact on revenue, it (and the person putting it together) is more valuable. That person gets bonuses.
The same goes for design and photography. "Can you just whip up a design for that?" No, we can't just whip it up. It's not a matter of doodling with crayons. Design incorporates strategy, concept, user experience, branding...it's much more complex than creating pretty pictures.
That's the way of the (business) world, right? What makes money is valued. Content and photography and design only make money indirectly. They contribute to a stronger overall picture, and in most cases, the end revenue -- the new customers, the repeat customers, the brand equity -- won't be there without the creative part. But it's less tangible, less measurable. It's not a put-this-in, get-this-out equation. You can't trust your left-brained, black-and-white, linear thinking; you have to use your gut and your passion and your understanding of human nature.
You can tell this is a subject I can get a little bitchy about. But while I definitely get pissed off when people undervalue creative fields, which our society does as a whole, that wasn't what upset me about that comment. Often creativity and business (especially HHB) involve two different skill sets. That's understandable. That's okay. I know my brain gravitates more towards certain things and has a harder time understanding (or caring) about others. But what upsets me is this idea that the two can't coexist in the same person. That a creative person CAN'T be good at business.
This particularly upsets me because I'd like to be someone who is good at both of those things. I think you guys know how I get when someone tells me I can't do something. I get super pissed off. Someone could tell me I couldn't run a marathon -- which I have zero interest in doing -- and I would get pissed off and go run an effing marathon. (Please don't tell me I can't run a marathon).
I'd like to argue that creativity is NECESSARY in business, even in those at the very top of the executive ladder. If you have no creativity, no passion, no vision, no understanding of the great and beautiful human questions and conditions that drive the best art, then you're likely to be a cold, dry, stoic person who's not going to be able to sell anything to anybody. People don't buy the what, they buy the why -- and words, photography, design, IDEAS are what communicate the why. They're what create the why -- otherwise it's just cold, hard facts.
I know if I said all this to the person who made that comment, he'd backtrack and say that's not what he meant, but it is. He'd acknowledge some creativity is necessary in business, and there's some respect for creativity there, sure, but at the heart of it, this kind of thing shows up over and over again in the unconscious way people treat creative fields. Creative people cannot be successful business leaders and changers.
"Oh, you know -- he's a designer. Designers are flighty and unprofessional."
"Can't we just outsource writing?"
"Will you write a recommendation letter about this guy you've never met and pretend it's from me?"
It makes me want to explode a rain of bitch slapping.