Its so hard being a "creative" guy.
The tag carries unreasonable expectations. The work is not any less burdensome. The first problem is that the creative person's stock-in-trade is intangible and subjective. They are ideas. There’s no telling whether they will fail or fly. And everyone has different ideas about ideas. Everyone has an opinion, especially those whose opinions don't count.
But in order to earn a living, creative guys have to keep generating ideas and presenting them to people who will pay for them. And so after minutes and minutes of trying to "come up" with a clever solution to a persistent problem (yes, only minutes, because as the world shrinks in this information age, so do the deadlines allowed for the creative process) the creative guy is required to turn up and present some ideas.
Then the show begins.
"Why couldn't you just do it this way?" asks the belligerent opinion. " I just don't like it" the obstinate opinion stone-walls the presentation. "So, what direction do you think we should take?" the creative guy attempts to hide his growing frustration by using the inclusive 'we'.
The rebuttal is swift and brutal. " I don't know! You're the creative guy! Go figure it out".
So much for the inclusive 'we'.
Two days later, the panel gathers again. Except this time, the ‘Capo di tutti capi’ is in attendance. Which means opinions are not are not in generous rations today. "You mean this is all you could come up with?" asks the boss after studying the presented ideas in pregnant silence. " Can I see the initial ideas? The ones that you discarded earlier?"
The creative guy pulls out hitherto stone-walled ideas.
"Brilliant!" Exclaims the 'Capo'.
Shock and awe all round. " Why didn't you show us that in the first place, instead of these...these..."
A cursive glance toward the lynch mob who only days ago killed the ideas that have just been “Lazarized”.
All eyes are on the floor. Nobody admits responsibility for killing such brilliant ideas.
In fact, when push comes to shove: “Wow! Yes, we never saw those ideas. They’re exactly what we’re looking for!” But the creative guy knows which battles to pick. The victory won, he figures it prudent to let this one slide.
Fight another one another day.
Such decisive ‘Capi’ are a God-sent to the ideas business.
Sometimes the creative guy is not so lucky. I once had the misfortune of presenting advertising ideas to a marketing director who had showed up with a 29-member committee.
It was late afternoon and after my presentation, I watched in shock as the marketing director proceeded to ask everyone around the table for their opinion. I switched off around 9 pm as the junior assistant trainee was expressing her dislike for the colour of socks that the man in the third row of the photograph was wearing.
But that is the burden that every creative person must bear. Because for our ideas to become meaningful, we must “midwife” them out of our minds and into the real world.
And as we all know, the process of midwifery is often painful and difficult.
Its not easy being a creative guy.
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Truer words were never spoken. Though you left out the faction that smothers those ideas even before you present them. The midwives who would say it was an ugly baby even if it came out feet first. The boots that stamp out the faintest glimmer of a spark after dousing the campfire. The bane of the brainwave. The client service person! And yet it is humbling when on that extremely rare occasion, one makes a suggestion that makes your work better. It happened to me this morning, my ego still won't let me admit it. That's mostly cos it's not easy being a creative guy.
ReplyDelete...as the junior assistant trainee was expressing her dislike for the colour of socks that the man in the third row of the photograph was wearing..
ReplyDeleteI LOL that is just funneee. I am sure I have been in a meeting exactly like that one.
Still Laughing.