With all the storm related Internet problems hitting the east coast of Australia over the last week or two I have been feeling a little out of touch. So in a brief respite, I finally I got a chance to catch up with the provocative Marcus Brown and his blog. He points out a spirited conversation happening over at Rob Campbell’s blog on the need for agencies to reinvigorate their approach to ideas, ideation and briefing.
Rob’s initial post was about the importance of ideas and being committed to the ongoing nurturing of ideas over a long period of time — and how eventually that will lead to opportunity. The evidence for this is in Rob receiving an extraordinary brief — "From the ground up, create a motorbike [for country ‘X’] that will create mass consumer demand”. (Now that sounds like a GREAT project.)
But the commentary on this post took a dramatic turn, becoming a call for an Emergency Summit on actually putting new ideas into practice. As Marcus says:
It’s not about bravery, it’s about being able to do it. Literally being able to DO it and not hanging around in your six-sigma swim lane flow chart waiting for the “YES-NO” loop to finally get around to you.
The main theme that seems to be emerging is that there is too much talk, too much procrastination and not enough focus on using strategy as a driving force for change. So will there be a summit? Of course, I can’t wait to see this desire to manifest as an ACTUAL event … and will be checking Rob’s blog for news all this week.
Is procrastination the enemy of ideas? I can’t decide, let me think about it for a while and get back to you.
Hello … well I am glad you like the post, but what do YOU think about what we’re talking about?
Come on … don’t sit on the fence … are you with us or against us? Ha
Gavin,
It is so much easier to talk about something than to do it. It is also a lot less profitable.
You mean I have to get up from my keyboard?
Seriously…I believe ideas need time to ferment (like a good wine). The best ideas aren’t forced through a workshop, they develop from a seed planted in the mind (maybe a brief) until flourishing as a fully formed thought. Procrastination is inevitable as most people won’t act until they have to. Therefore a deadline is ultimate antidote for proscrastination and friend of the creative thinker.
I think the issue is you can spend too little time working on ideas – and you can spend too long working on ideas … somewhere along the line you have to go out and do something with them or like masturbation … the procrastination means you are only screwing yourself!