Creativity, Not Chaos

Saturday, July 23, 2022

Really enjoyed Rethink the Business of Creativity by Ian Grais, Tom Shepansky, and Chris Staples, of Canada-based Rethink agency. Smart, crisply written guidance on how to lead a profitable, good-hearted creative organization. Especially valued these lines on the conditions for valuable work:

Sadly, advertising is like most creative industries in its cult-like celebration of the hard-core creative life…. Many of the most celebrated creative businesses almost seem to fetishize chaos and overtime as the only way to achieve greatness.

We call bullshit.

And:

Creativity comes from living. If your people don’t have time to lead a good life, they won’t do good work… As the quality of their life improves, so will the quality of their ideas.

And:

But mostly we learned not to be scared of order and discipline—these things actually set you free. They create protected spaces that allow teams to soar. Order allows more time for courageous, proactive creative thinking.

The book’s handsomely designed and feels substantial and well-made in the hands. Good one to add to the shelf. 📚