creativity – Page 13 – The Consulting Artist

Creative Leadership – What is Normal?

I was watching TV recently and Francesca Martinez was a guest on The Jonathan Ross show. Francesca Martinez is a comedienne with cerebral palsy but prefers to describe herself as “wobbly”, that works for me. During the interview, Francesca was asked about ‘normal’ in relation to her own experiences growing up. She replies asking ‘what is normal?’, and puts forward a view that if you are normal, or more likely if you think you are normal, then you are in fact, a freak.

Normal is a Trap

I think Francesca’s onto something here, and because she has combined normal with freak, this feels like a good time to let Joe Gerstandt, Freak Flag Flyer par excellence, have his say on the subject:

Normal at Work

The desire to conform at work bothers me. Sure – we probably need to operate within certain parameters, for example I’m a big fan of open, respectful disagreement in the workplace, but when that overheats and turns into punching your coworker in the face, for most people that crosses a line. Regardless of the urge you may have to punch said coworker in the face, thankfully we mostly acknowledge that such extreme action sits outside of ~~normal~~ working practice.

We often observe a drive towards ‘normal’ around performance review time. For example, when I worked at BT we used a five point performance scale to measure people, where 1 was ‘Outstanding’ through to a 5 which signalled ‘Needs Improvement’, or to give it the full title as one of my mangers once referred to it, ‘Needs Improvement means you’re shit and should be fired’. Except we didn’t use the full scale. The unwritten rule was that ‘no one gets a 1, and no one gets a 5’, and so, surprise surprise, people tended to aim for the middle ground, a number 3, or a ‘Good’. As if to reinforce this behaviour, when I worked in sales I lost count of the number of times I and others had bonus payment capped as stories circulated about the need to help some of the poorer performers over the line. The timing of these bonus ‘normalising’ conversations were always after you’d delivered your numbers, and protests were pointless.

More worryingly though – this culture of ‘normal’ drives most people towards….’normal’. I mean – what is the point of aiming for the stars if somewhere in the psyche of the organisation it is written that no one can get there? I moved twice in the organisation to try and shake off this uninspired approach and in the end, it took the appointment of a new director to shake things up.

Art is not Normal

Lichtenstein is in town. If you live in London you probably knew that already, because Roy Lichtenstein’s work stands out. For those familiar with his art, it is (for the most part) instantly associated with his name, and for those who don’t know his name, when you see his work you will likely go, ‘Yep – I’ve seen this guy’s stuff before’, or words to that effect. It is distinctive.

The world of art abhors normal, art is subjective and simultaneously provokes one or more emotions including and not limited to love, hate, admiration and loathing, depending on your point of view. And that diversity is part of what gets us to the creativity and collaboration that so many executives implore their staff to deliver, while all the time driving them towards ‘normal’ through their behaviour, work practice and reward systems.

I clearly could have picked any artist to illustrate this point but seeing as his work is currently being exhibited at the Tate Modern I chose Lichtenstein. Incidentally, if anyone would like to visit the exhibition as my guest, I’ll be going along again on the 1st and the 8th May at around 3.30pm. Feel free to get in touch if you would like to come along, first come first served.

Creative Leadership – Making Work Better

I believe we need to think more critically about how the world of art can help the world of work. If you believe that too and you’d like to explore pathways to creativity and collaboration, I’ve packaged up some of the work I do with clients to enable improved effectiveness into a one day Creative Leadership workshop. There’s one running in May, another in July and a third in September, grab a place now through the links above, there are discounts available for early bookers. Hope to see you soon.

Creative Leadership – Memorative Art

My latest trip to the USA was great fun. I met a lot of friends, saw some fantastic sights and did some really interesting work. All these things are memorable, and is there something that really anchored the trip in my mind?

Maybe it was that I happened to be in Chicago at the same time the Art Institute was showing an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s work? I’m a huge admirer of Picasso. I find his work often moves me to tears, it’s incredibly powerful stuff. Bold, abstract, conventional, unconventional, prolific. The exhibition in Chicago is a remarkable walk through the life of Picasso. You get to see aspects of every kind of art he produced and although the exhibition contains mainly lesser known pieces, its breadth and depth is outstanding. The exhibition also referenced a piece of public art I was previously unaware of.

Picasso donated this untitled sculpture to the city of Chicago in 1967 without ever explaining what the sculpture was intended to represent. I got talking to a woman at the exhibition who told me most people think it represents a horse. She also explained where the statue is located so I headed off to take a look. Checking in at 50 feet tall and weighing over 160 tons, it is huge, quite a sight to behold. You can walk right around it and I did, stopping here to appreciate its beauty from another angle.

It is this image which now evokes memories of all the other interesting and exciting experiences I had in Chicago.

This visual, artistic experience led me to think that often when we endure a presentation – there are lots of words on the screen. This creates a disconnect between the audience, the presenter, and the material as people tend to focus on either the slide or the presenter. Using a handful of words and a few relevant images to support your talk usually creates a much more powerful, memorable encounter. Often people will recall to me a talk I’ve given in the past, and their memory of it will be drawn from one or two pictures and phrases that have stuck firmly in the mind.

I think this has somethnig to do with Memorative Art. This method, which has been around for thousands of years includes ‘the association of emotionally striking memory images within visualized locations, the chaining or association of groups of images, the association of images with schematic graphics or notae (“signs, markings, figures” in Latin), and the association of text with images.’

I already use some of this thinking in my work, and I expect plenty of you do too, even if you weren’t consciously aware of the Memorative Art method. It’s a powerful example of the connection between art and work, and is part of what we can usefully employ when exploring pathways to creativity and collaboration.

Instrument of Torture

Today’s story is not for the faint hearted or those of a nervous disposition. If that includes you, then before you turn away I want you to know this. Despite the gut wrenching disappointment about which I’m going to write, yesterday also contained a tidal wave of support and encouragement. In the last 24 hours I’ve been described several times as brave, cool and fascinating. Taking risks is uncomfortable, it’s meant to be that way and is therefore not for everyone. And that’s OK. The next best thing to taking that risk is to encourage those around you who are brave, cool, fascinating, scared and stupid enough to try. And that’s vital.

There’s a line in Xtc’s Sergeant Rock that says, ‘Sometimes relationships don’t go as planned’. I agree – sometimes love is complicated, particularly when there are three involved. In this case the three are me, my guitar, and my stage fright. Yesterday, I lost.

I took myself off to my London Underground busking audition feeling both excited and nervous. I know the songs I’d selected like the back of my hand, my practice sessions have gone well, the sun is shining and all is right with the world. I arrived at Charing Cross underground station in plenty of time and via a series of friendly, smiling LU staff I arrived on a disused platform far below the ground. It was a little chilly, and the reception from people was warm and encouraging. I filled out all the paperwork, had my interview then was invited to practice and warm up on the platform. I was enjoying the experience.

‘Next please!’ came a voice from around the corner and I walked through to give my audition. The panel of three people asked me a few questions – we shared some smiles and then they asked me to perform. The panel chose the song London Calling, which I have heard, played and sung only about a gazillion times. I looked down the platform and in my mind’s eye I saw a ghostly train exit stage left and disappear down the tunnel. I turned to face the panel and….nothing. It was as if I’d left the song on the train like a piece of lost luggage, it had vanished. I stood there in awkward silence racking my brain for the opening line and the harder I thought, the faster the ghost train rolled, putting more and more distance between me and the song. It wasn’t coming back and I reluctantly told the panel I’d completely forgotten the song. Cue awkward laughter.

We moved on and I delivered Folsom Prison Blues to a good standard, my shattered nerves not withstanding. And a few short minutes later, it was over and I emerged blinking into the sunlight again. I will learn my fate in a few weeks time. Will this adventure go any further? I doubt it. If I were on that panel I wouldn’t give me a licence based on that performance.

Later in the afternoon, I took solace from reading an excellent post by Steve Boese titled, “I Want To Hate These ‘Lessons Learned’, But I Can’t”. In the post is a reference to risk, “…staying at risk throughout your career, or at least engaging with as much risk, fear, or even unknown as you can manage. Safe is safe, and while it (sometimes) means ‘secure’ it often turns into ‘boring’.” Despite my disappointment, I agree with this sentiment, or to put it another way:

‘You won’t succeed unless you try’. Strummer/Jones – Clash City Rockers