Before & After : Creative thinking in business

Have you ever thought about who has influenced you most, creatively? Who has inspired you most, helped you grow, pushed you farthest? Is it an historical figure? A family member? A boss? A contemporary individual, company, team, pop artist?

If choosing THE greatest influence is too difficult, how about a major influence in one corner of your life; career, family, spiritual, hobby, whatever. You can even have more than one answer, and maintain any level of anonymity you wish. Just leave a comment below. It’s really easy. Come on, join in. This blog is brand new, I want to take advantage of the interactivity. Get a little discussion going with this survey of creative influencers.

George Martin has produced the new Beatles remixes; Love, released today by Capitol. Sir George Martin. 80-year-old Sir George Martin.

Yeah, yeah, Beatles fans, the same George Martin who wasn’t a spring chicken when he produced all those Beatles albums from scratch back in the day.

Well in this era of sampling and digital mashing when Public Enemy builds tracks around James Brown’s horns and Everything But the Girl puts out an entire CD of remixes, this guy who has every right to be playing shuffleboard in Florida is doing the digital thing with tracks he himself produced some 30 or 40 years ago. Listen to four fab tracks below.

These new recordings are history making. And it’s not ancient history. I mean president setting, as in will-go-down-in-history history. Even if sales bomb.

Forget the way the songs are edited, remixed or melded together. The early reviews are mixed, and remixed, if you will,… the usual critics opposed to the concept of touching Beatle material before they even hear note one (now, they’re not closed minded). As for the historical significance here, I’m not talking about the sounds, I’m talking about the concepts. (more…)

25 years ago a couple of my fellow Rhode Islanders were discussing the fate of ocean life due to pollution and over fishing. One was scientist, Ken Sherman, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the other, his neighbor, Lewis Alexander, a geographer at our state university.

These two diverse backgrounds led to a joint perspective that has changed the way the world looks at managing ocean life. A quarter of a century, and some three billion dollars later our global waters are beginning to be managed, not along political boundaries as in the past, but by ecological definitions of space.

Sometimes it takes a unique blend of personalities, past experiences and mindsets to create the condition for a certain great idea. When these two open minded individuals made their seemingly absurd insight, that fish don’t carry passports, that fresh perspective led to sea change, if you’ll allow me such a pun, that will likely benefit you and I at the dinner table for years, not to mention our children and their children.

When wrestling with a big problem or looking for new ideas to attack a great opportunity we most often seek the advice of someone who has been there. But when you tap into a mind that is unencumbered by “what is” in any field, those who don’t know what can’t be done, there is a potential for great ideas that usually doesn’t happen when people close to a topic think it through. (more…)

He was the greatest professional basketball coach of all time. Coached the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1966, then became general manager. He won more championships than any other coach. He was a master innovator as a coach and as a GM - first to start five black players, invented the 6th man concept, drafted a phantom player who revived the franchise.

Basketball hasn’t just lost a great coach. The world has lost a creative genius.

Let’s look at this 6th man concept. Basketball teams have five starters, right? Well, Red figured out a way to use six starters. They just didn’t all start. Frank Ramsey. John Havlicek. Kevin McHale. All great players. All players who could start for any other team. (Actually, they all started for the Celtics, eventually.) So, when Red made his first substitution of the game, the Celts still had five starters on the court. Only one of them had fresh legs. That’s 20% of the team less fatigued than the other team. Brilliant.

Now on to the phantom player. In 1978, as GM of the Celtics, Red Auerbach used a 1st round draft pick to select a player who would not score a single point for the Celtics that season, and Red knew it going in. You see, this player was a college junior whom Red knew would not be available for another year. If you don’t know much about NBA basketball, this creative genius basically “wasted” a very high draft pick on a player he knew he would have to wait a year to get.

Yeah, he wasted a high draft pick, alright, but he assured the Celtics of the services of a player he knew would bring championships back to Boston. The player was the g-r-e-a-t Larry Bird. Again, brilliant.

Yes, the world lost a creative genius this week, not just a basketball coach. We’ll miss Red. However we won’t miss the plaid jackets.

For more on Red Auerbach’s creative genius see the Celtics’ official web site.

Weird Al Yankovic has always been a tad different. Yeah, different - another word for creative, right?

Here’s a guy who has made a living recording songs that most people listen to over and over - like twice. Hey, what am I saying? The guy sells tons of records! And they’re funny.

Well, now Al’s become “different” in his marketing of a song as well. Like 180° from convention.

You see, pop artists make a living selling songs, right? Selling. Like you give me money, I give you a song. I mean, they gotta’ eat. Well, The Weird One got into what he calls a “political” battle with James Blunt’s record label when he parodied “You’re Beautiful” recently. The Weird version is “You’re pitiful” (180° Thinking again). But, after getting Blunt’s permission, Atlantic stepped in and told Al he can’t put the song on his new CD. Al’s solution? He’s giving it away. Giving. No money. Listen here, it’s free.

Free? That’s pitiful marketing. Or is that brilliant? (it got me to the Weird Al site).