Leading Creative People

"We say it's like herding cats!" was a comment about leading and managing creative people when I was a guest speaker at the Munich meeting of MAGNET - the Marketing and Advertising Global Network.

My presentation to the owners of advertising agencies from around the world was on the subject of Leadership. One aspect they were particularly interested in was how to lead 'creative' staff.

My own view is that creativity is not the monopoly of the 'artist' or the people who describe themselves as 'creatives'. Creativity is in us all and in all departments of an enterprise. I use the T-Shirts and Suits metaphor to emphasise that creative businesses must bring together both creativity and business acumen, wherever it comes from, to create successful organisations. Nevertheless, many agencies find themselves employing people who are categorised as 'creatives'. These people pride themselves on their creativity but sometimes also on their disdain for 'business' matters. The big question was: How can we effectively lead these 'creative' types?

Amongst several other things in my presentation (Six Leadership Styles, Level 5 Leadership, etc), I mentioned an article in the Harvard Business Review on 'Leading Clever People' (details below). The researchers make several interesting points about leading creative people (and other clever people including scientists and academics). Before my own presentation I was musing on the conclusions of the article and the analogy of 'herding cats'. I couldn't help thinking of some similarities between the article's conclusions about leading creatives and managing a pet cat.

1. 'Creatives' do not want to be led. Neither do cats. Try putting a lead on a cat.
2. 'Creatives' like to do their own thing. So do cats. Some companies allow their employees to use 20% of their time to pursue personal projects. I call this the '80% loyalty' philosophy. Some cat owners accept that their cats sometimes disappear for days to do their own thing. They probably have another human who also feeds them.
3. 'Creatives' have a low boredom threshold. Cats soon get bored with you.
4. 'Creatives' expect instant access. Even if they want you to keep away from them most of the time, when they want you, they expect to get to see you. Similarly with cats. You can't find them but they can always find you when they want you.
5. 'Creatives' won't thank you and will be unwilling to recognise your leadership. Cats might get friendly  when they want something, but after they get fed they just walk away.
6. Even though they don't acknowledge it, 'creatives' need you and the organisation as much as you need them. Despite cats' aloofness, like 'creatives' they do depend on the shelter and food you provide.

I won't try to push the comparisons further but it does seem that there are some amusing similarities!
Let me know what you think - I'd like to hear your views.

The HBR article is 'Leading Clever People' by Rob Goffee from London Business School and Gareth Jones from INSEAD, who have studied leadership for 20 years. Their article was published in March 2007 and is available online from Harvard Business Review.

Ideas don't make you rich

"Ideas don't make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does."
So says Felix Dennis, poet, owner of Dennis Publishing, and one of the wealthiest self-made entrepreneurs in Britain.
I met him several years ago when he gave generously to support a project I helped with at the National Library for the Blind, though he didn't say this to me when we met. I just read it in his book 'How to Get Rich'.

I agree with him, totally. In my experience as a business adviser to creative people and businesses, there is certainly no shortage of great ideas. But making them happen is a totally different matter and it needs different skills and attitude. For an idea to make you rich it requires not only creativity (the T-Shirt) but also business acumen (the Suit).

For a start, you cannot 'own' an idea in a legal sense, through copyright, patent or any other intellectual property rights. It is only the expression or execution of the idea in a tangible form that can be owned. For example actually writing the novel, not just thinking up the plot, actually designing the invention after thinking up the concept, recording or writing down the tune in your head, etc.

After the idea becomes real in some sense it can then be protected through copyright, patents, design registration or a registered trade mark. That's necessary but not sufficient. Next comes a whole series of options, challenges and decisions about financing the enterprise, ownership, marketing, possibly manufacturing and distribution, and a lot of other business matters.

I've met plenty of people with good ideas, even with these ideas protected through copyright and patents, who have been unable to move things forward into a profitable business.

And I've met people who have said of a successful business "I thought of that myself, years before they did!".
Liz Pugh is the co-founder and producer of Walk the Plank, Britain's only touring theatre ship. She manages another creative enterprise which is very different from Dennis Publishing, but agrees with Felix's point about execution of ideas being the key.
"I often get people coming up to me saying 'we had the same idea years ago' and my retort to them is always 'Where's your theatre ship, then?!'

The difference between the wealthy creative entrepreneur and the 'ideas person' is their ability to (metaphorically) wear a suit as well as a t-shirt, or team up with people who are more experienced and skilled in these matters.

It also requires focus. It's a frustrating fact that we are capable of thinking up many more good ideas than we will ever have the time to implement. So we need to select from the many ideas the best one or two to concentrate on - and then focus on these at the expense of the rest. Saying No to the distraction of other good ideas is the price we must pay to achieve success.

This blog, website and my book 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity' all offer ideas, information and help in turning your creative ideas into sustainable income streams.

Viral Marketing Video

One of the subjects discussed at the meeting of the Marketing and Advertising Global Network (MAGNET) in Munich recently was viral marketing. I was there as a guest speaker and one of the other presentations was from Gabriel Szapiro, whose Paris agency Saphir also specialises in marketing - especially permission marketing and viral marketing.

He showed a viral video which people were still laughing and talking about an hour later in the bar - that's real 'buzz marketing'!

The viral video is for Berlitz language schools and you can find it easily with a Google search because it's all over the Internet - which is exactly the idea of course.

I'm sure you'll want to forward this to a few friends!
That's what viral marketng is all about.

See also MUTO animated grafitti video.

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Let's follow George Lucas

The other day I advised a photographer to consider following George Lucas. I wasn't suggesting he became a film director, but simply that he negotiated with his client in a similar way to Lucas when he struck a deal with 20th Century Fox before directing Star Wars.

Lucas turned down a massive director's fee and instead asked for 40% of the merchandising rights to the Star Wars film and any sequels, plus a modest director's fee of $175,000. Over 30 years, the income from the merchandise has far exceeded the box office takings and he receives his 40% of this income stream. After six films and thousands of products, he's now worth around $3.6billion.
Nice one, George.
(Another example is the film director Robert Altman and his son Mike, who wrote the song for the film M*A*S*H.)

The photographer is negotiating a deal to shoot a series of images in connection with a major construction project. He could be a creative labourer and simply take a fee for the work. On the other hand, he could keep ownership of his intellectual property in the images and receive license fees for each use of the images in different circumstances - annual reports, advertising, exhibitions, etc. There is no guarantee that it will bring in more cash than a fee, of course. And it's unlikely to make him a billionaire. There is a business judgement to be made and there is a risk involved.

The crucial issue, though, is that it's a different way of thinking about building a business. It an entrepreneurial approach which is about creating long term income streams that continue to make money while you sleep, through licensing, rather than just taking a fee for your immediate labour.

Download free eBook. T-Shirts and Suits

Download the free eBook version of 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity' by David Parrish.

The eBook of T-Shirts and Suits is the full version of the book, in interactive PDF format.

We want you to download it, distribute it to friends and associates, and add it to your website so that your readers can download it and distribute it too.

Go to website download page.

You are free to copy it, distribute it and print it - provided you do not claim it as your own work, amend it, or sell it.

Copyright David Parrish and Merseyside ACME.

Some Rights Reserved.
The eBook is made available for free distribution under a Creative Commons licence.
See full details of the copyright and licensing arrangements.

The ISBN of the eBook is 9780953825455

Interview with David Parrish about T-Shirts and Suits

MAiLOUT Magazine interviewed me about T-Shirts and Suits in 2005, and the interview has been republished by CIDA on their Creative Portal.
Link to MAiLOUT interview on Creative Portal

Link to MAiLOUT Magazine online

Six Leadership Styles

According to Daniel Goleman, there are six leadership styles which are associated with the various elements of emotional intelligence in different combinations.

The art of leadership is to master all of the styles and use each style appropriately as the circumstances demand, just as a multilingual person would speak in the language appropriate to the country or audience.

Goleman's six styles are as follows - and I have added my own name to describe each style in vivid terms:

The Coercive Style of Leadership: 'The Dictator'
This is the dominant 'macho' leadership style. It is appropriate in emergencies and severe situations, but otherwise will tend to disempower and disillusion subordinates.

The Authoritative Style of Leadership: 'The Visionary'
This style focuses on the goal or vision of the future and inspires others to follow. This is appropriate when a new direction is required or a clarification of the goals to be achieved.

The Affiliative Style of Leadership: 'The People Person'
Here there is a focus on people, teambuilding, bonding and forging alliances. This style is useful in creating teams or for healing dysfunctional relationships.

The Democratic Style of Leadership: 'The Listener'
This is a useful style to adopt when attempting to involve a wide range of people in decision making or building a consensus.

The Pacesetting Style of Leadership: 'The Superman/Superwoman'
Using this style, the leader sets an example by working to extremely high standards of performance. This is useful to raise the stakes when a competent and motivated team is working well.

The Coaching Style of Leadership: 'The Nurturer'
This style focuses on helping to improve people's strengths, and is especially useful in building skills to develop managers and future leaders.

Most people will tend towards one particular style as their 'natural' or 'default' style, but be comfortable and competent in two or three different roles. The complete leader, however, will be 'fluent in all languages', a master of all six, using them skillfully as appropriate, being one minute a 'dictator' and later a 'listener' as events require.

All of these styles are useful at different times, but used at the wrong time they can be disastrous, for example, too much listening when immediate action is required, or only providing a vision when a team needs building or rebuilding.

Four of the styles will consistently improve the 'climate' of an organisation, (ie people's commitment, confidence, creativity and clarity of purpose), whereas two are potentially damaging to this climate and must therefore be used sparingly. The two potentially negative styles are the Coercive (Dictator) and Pacesetting (Superman/woman) styles.

Research has shown that it is the Authoritative [Visionary] Style of leadership which has the greatest consistently positive effect on the 'climate' of an organisation.

"The best leaders don't know just one style of leadership - they are skilled at several, and have the flexibility to switch between styles as the circumstances dictate." - Daniel Goleman.

Be a Quitter

Forget the adage 'Never Quit'.
Instead, quit often!

That's one of the messages in Seth Godin's new book 'The Dip'.
It links in to what I often write about 'Saying No'.

In order to focus on becoming highly successful in one field, you have to say no to distractions that don't help you towards your goal. Quit the wrong things, in order to do the right thing well. Then stick to your focused strategy and don't quit !

Seven Steps to Success

There is a lot written about business strategy, but in essence it can all be boiled down to seven simple steps:

1. Be clear where you want to go - your Vision

2. Know yourself and your current situation

3. Understand customers' needs, competition and external forces

4. Carefully create your unique Business Formula

5. Devise a plan of action - your Business Strategy

6. Turn the plan into action

7. Stick to it - be prepared to Say No

Taken from 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity'

Creative Labourer - or Creative Entrepreneur?

Are you a true entrepreneur - or just a creative labourer?
This was the question posed in my article about the E-Myth.

Here's a true story. Robert Altman was paid a cool $70,000 (US dollars) for directing the 1970 hit movie M*A*S*H.
They needed a song for the movie so Robert Altman's 14 year old son, Mike Altman, co-wrote the song 'Suicide is Painless' with his friend Johnny Mandel.

Robert Altman sold his labour as a film director for a fee. Mike Altman didn't sell his copyright in the song. Instead, he kept ownership of the intellectual property he created and through licensing deals allowed the film-makers to use it. The song also became a hit separately, after it was used in the film. Over the years, Mike Altman made over a million dollars for co-writing the song. Much more than his father earned for directing the film!

The key to generating income in the long term - rather than being a creative labourer and working for wages - is to use our creativity to produce intellectual property that can generate income streams.

That's what George Lucas did.

It's a different approach and a different business model. It's about being a true Creative Entrepreneur rather than merely a creative labourer.

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* Contact me about  your experiences of generating income streams through licensing intellectual property.