‘We cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.’ Walt Disney

Seth Godin has just posted on the subject of Real Creativity, where he argues that ‘Real business creativity comes from boundaries,’ and ‘Inventing something cool that can’t be implemented isn’t creative’.

Of course this is literally true, since creativity doesn’t become ‘real’ unless you make something out of it. But it’s clear that he also believes there is something inherently superior in the kind of creativity that sees the brilliant idea as the starting point, not the end product.

Walt Disney would have agreed with him. In his analysis of Disney’s approach to creativity and management, Robert Dilts draws attention to this description of Disney by one of his animators:

‘…there were actually three different Walts: the dreamer, the realist and the spoiler: you never knew which one was coming into your meeting.’ (Quoted in Strategies of Genius, Vol.1, Robert Dilts)

Dilts points out that this ability to play three very different but complementary roles was crucial to Disney’s creative and commercial success. Dreams are nothing without a realist around to make something happen. And the ’spoiler’ was Disney’s critical mindset, the side of him that took a long hard look at the work in progress, and decided whether the reality measured up to the dream - yet.

This is one of the models I use most often with clients, since so-called ‘creative blocks’ in the mind or ‘difficult people’ in the office are usually a sign that we are stuck in one role at the expense of the others.

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Technorati Tags: business creativity, Walt Disney

Thank you to all of you who packed out the Troubadour last night and made the poetry reading for the launch of Magma 34 a great evening.

A special thank you to the poets who gave us such a varied and enjoyable programme of poetry, including our two guest poets Mimi Khalvati and David Harsent.

And thanks to everyone on the Magma committee for giving me the opportunity to edit Magma, and for all their help and encouragement during the editing process. At this point I can really appreciate the genius of the idea of a rotating editorship! I’m very relieved to hand on the baton to Tim Robertson, who is currently slaving over the draft of Magma 35, and to Anne-Marie Fyfe, our guest editor for Magma 36.

If you would like to see your poems in Magma, click here for details of how to submit them. The deadline for submissions for Magma 36 is the end of June. Anne-Marie invites poems on any subject and is particularly interested in poems on the following theme: “INSCAPES: poems of the inner self, of secret thoughts, streams of consciousness, interior monologues, altered states of mind…”.

I’m delighted to announce the launch of issue 34 of Magma poetry magazine, which I edited.

You can read a selection of the magazine’s contents on the Magma website.

Poets featured in Magma 34 include Mimi Khalvati, Maurice Riordan, Myra Schneider, Catherine Smith, Tim Turnbull, Susan Wicks and Lorraine Mariner.

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These days we hear quite a lot about “media-neutral communications planning” in marketing. Agencies such as Monkey and Naked have built their business on the insight that it’s no longer enough to think of marketing in terms of TV ads or poster campaigns; marketers need to adopt a “media-neutral” creative mindset when considering where, when and how to approach potential customers.

I want to consider another type of media-neutral creativity by suggesting that there are patterns of thinking, action and communication that are common to all creative media. This media-neutral creativity is critical to success in the creative industries, yet its development is often neglected in favour of media-specific technical training.

Quite rightly, experienced creatives and artists take a lot of professional pride in their specialist skills and knowledge. These tools make them extremely valuable as specialists, whether they work alone or as part of a team.

In my own medium, poetry, I know the importance of reading and re-reading the works of past masters and contemporary poets; of understanding the history of different forms and styles; and of gaining familiarity with the tools of rhyme, metre, rhythm, syntax, alliteration, assonance and diction.

But there’s only so far technical knowledge will take you. At a certain point you have to ‘let go’ of the handrail of tradition and create your own style.

And at this point, all artists and creatives start to look the same.

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Technorati Tags: media-neutral creativity

My friend Simon Cronshaw has just sent me a link to a series of Ideas Essays by eminent writers on creativity, available for free download from the East of England’s Space for Ideas website.

Titles include ‘Water is not soup’ by Edward de Bono, ‘The space where ideas grow’ by Susan Greenfield, ‘Creative sustainability’ by Jonathan Porritt and ‘Turning doughnuts inside out’ by Charles Handy.

Thanks for the tip Simon!

Technorati Tags: creative thinking

I’m very pleased to announce the launch reading for Magma 34, which I edited, at 8pm on 20th March at the Troubadour cafe near Earls Court in London.

Our headline poets, both featured in Magma 34, are Mimi Khalvati, founder of the Poetry School and a wonderful poet and teacher; and David Harsent, another very distinguished poet who recently won the Forward Prize for Best Collection of 2005, with his book Legion.

We will also have readings from many other poets featured in Magma 34, so it’s a great opportunity to hear a lot of very good poetry in one evening. The Troubadour is a very welcoming venue and invariably packed for Magma readings.

More details including directions at the Troubadour website. I hope to see you there on the 20th!