It’s The Way Things Have Always Been
By Troy on Jan 3, 2010 in Blog, Featured
It was a small, condensed group at the Central Iowa Bloggers meeting January 1st, but that didn’t stop the creative juices from flowing. During one conversation, Mike Sansone told the few of us assembled about a children’s book he uses as a tool called “ish.” Basically the story is that a boy draws pictures, only to have his older brother laugh at them when they don’t resemble what they are supposed to. So the boy crumples them up and throws them in the trash. But his little sister collects them and proudly displays them in her room. When he discovers this, he asks why she likes them, when they don’t look like anything they are supposed to be. He tells her the picture of a vase doesn’t look anything like a vase. “But,” says the sister, “It looks vase-ish.” So the boy starts drawing pictures that look tree-ish, silly-ish, etc. His creativity has been let loose by just being “ish.”
That conversation led me to quote one of my favorite Commodore 64 SID tunes (transcribed by Bobbye): Harry Chapin’s “Flowers are Red.” In the song, a child is told over and over that “flowers are red, green leaves are green. There’s no need to see flowers any other way than the way they always have been seen.”
Mike Sansone’s eyes perked up, and after a few keystrokes he pulled the following blog post from 2008 up on the screen:
It’s The Way Things Have Always Been
Mike narrates the song along with pictures in a great slideshow.
At Captain Jack Communications, my friend and co-worker Anthony Clifton and I are sometimes seen as wanting to do things the way they have always been. But in reality, we are constantly trying to find new ways to reinvent ourselves, our business, and bring out the creativity in the office. The key is never losing focus on the thing you really ARE good at, so you can continue to pay the bills.
Changing a business model that works, in favor of one untested is a pretty stupid thing to do. But introducing new ideas, techniques, technology, and maybe a few silly-ish thing into the mix can lead to not only a more productive workplace, but a more creative one as well.
With thanks to @jadehandy, @mikesansone, @dmevolve, @thebrandchef, @rhs76 and @clairecelsi
Thanks for sharing the stories further, Troy. Great point about the “ish” providing a great foundations for introducing new ideas, techniques, early launches, beta and other silly-ish things. It’s that kind of thinking that leads to fantastic creativity.
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