In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. - David Ogilvy
Wouldn't it be nice if employees came with "update" statuses - just like your computer tells you that a new version is available and asks you to install the update to the existing program?
Sometimes this capability is actually built into "creative, original" thinkers but unfortunately it still doesn't happen at the push of a button - and you know how impatient people are with five-second updates. Scoff, not me, of course.
It takes a little time and a lot of intellectual, emotional, financial resources - I do it so believe me, I do know.
Most businesses operate on the basis of David Ogilvy's little theory. Barren thinking.
Ogilvy's theory obliterates any chance of the human update.
The ideas of creative and original thinkers are often ridiculed rather than listened to - this happens to innovative and creative leaders, not just odd cogs in the machine.
"Sho' me the money!" - remember that little catch cry from Jerry Maguire.
Some companies are way ahead of the curve, like Google. Its 20 percent policy allows employees to play and invent on the job from which came Gmail apparently.
Also, I'm sure somewhere out there are companies that do successfully navigate the inherent difficulties of managing diversity - human resource manager could learn a lot from Mother Nature who never tries to bring the ecologies down to one common denominator - one size fits all. And the only size available is a size zero.
I know there's truth in the Ogilvy quote but to me it's weighted too heavily with a negative gravity.
Here's a better quote from an audiobook I'm listening to:
"You cannot go on forever stealing what you need without regard to those who come after. The physical qualities of a planet are written into its economic and political record."Please note the reference to "economic" i.e. business"We have the record in front of us and our course is obvious." _ Frank Herbert wrote in Dune , a novel which is considered to be the greatest science fiction book ever written.
It's a massive work. And I see imagery which George Lucas stole for Star Wars - every sci-fi movie ever must in some part owe something to Dune.
The best seller was rejected by 20 publishers before being published in 1965. But Herbert started the research in 1957.
Is there any reason why this scale of creativity should be the domain of the arts?
Why not in science and business and government and the rebuilding of broken communities?
It's hard to believe that Herbert dreamed Dune from researching scientific research about stabilizing sand dunes using poverty grasses.
What's even more difficult to believe is that Herbert actually saw the project through to success - are you one of those people who can't even write a letter?