Curiosity is an under-rated thing in business.
Without it, organisations flat-line. Without it, our quest for inspiration withers, creativity and innovation shrivel up. Dry. Desert-like. Cue tumbleweed...
Hold on though, aren't organisations full of curious minds?
Edward de Bono said “There are many people calling themselves creative who are mere stylists.”
If we assume the word 'creative' in this sentence to be referring to curious minds - as opposed to people who carry the word 'creative in their job description - then there are a lot of stylists around in marketing. Stylists are to curiosity what chappals are to the north pole.
I keep coming across curious minds all the time. This is not some rare breed on the verge of extinction. They are everywhere. Some I bump into by accident (in the street, at gatherings, online, on trains). Some are well known. Some sit within inspiring surroundings. Others are buried deep within organisations, hidden behind the wall of apathy, fighting hard to transform and inspire from behind the wall.
We are all curious. Every kid is curious. It's just that our curiosity has been numbed by school or work cultures that reward an acceptance of the status quo.
Dave Trott suggested in a recent post that "a creative mind is an enquiring mind". A mind that loves the ? at the end of a sentence. He was inspired to write his piece after listening to Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Robert Winston, and Richard Dawkins at the Science Museum. Four curious minds. Four enquiring minds. Four minds who broke through the wall of apathy.
I like curious minds. I get inspired by them. Feed off of them. Grow off of them. So I thought I would create an environment where curious minds come together. Spark off each other. Collaborate. And come up with some ideas to help transform their own organisations, maybe even spark a movement for change in the industry as a whole.
I called it curious01.
An event. Where there were no speakers, no sponsor pitches, no dull rooms.
curious01 needed an inspiring location. Laban School of Contemporary Dance was the answer.
A bit difficult to get to for those who are used to heading to central London, but all the more reason to journey to an unexpected place - it seemed fitting. And well worth it. One person said to me that they were not sure why the building worked for curious01, but it just seemed right.
If ever there was a building in balance with what lives within it, this is it. Where the architecture of light and space comes together with the movement, agility and flexibility of the dancers that fill the corridors.
curious01. Where the food was stunning and the room uplifting.
curious01. Where the name tags were a little odd.
curious01. Where two themes were explored, with five provocateurs energising the people with little bursts of provocation
First up: Where do ideas come from and how do we filter them. So many ideas/insights/inspirations/sources.
Moments for inspiration included: Planes; City Airport; Showers; Trees; space; sleep; waking.
We know this. We know where and when we feel most inspired. Yet our working day is measured by how many meetings we can fit into one day. There was a manager of calendar co-ordination at Levi Strauss when I was there.
Curiosity is as much about moments of breathing, reflection and escape as it is about scrambling around for 'found ideas'.In my recent work with the Daily Telegraph and T-Mobile, I helped some small/medium size businesses (SMEs) in the UK with their marketing challenges. Time for reflection is essential for an SME to ensure their marketing will bear fruit.
Back to curious01. So many ideas. So many unread e-mails. So many unread feeds. Filter or self-destruct.
The filtering discussion inevitably ended up on the topic of curation. Who will be the curators? Brand? Agency? None of the above? The discussion pointed towards a balance between the mechanised and he human.
Provocateur Gauti Sigthorssen (below on the left of fellow curious fellow, Dan Calladine, head of Futures at Aegis Media) shed light on the issue of filtering ideas in society.
Meanwhile provocateur Neil Perkin (below next to Alex Bedoya of Hyper-Island) encouraged all present to explore the benefits of collaboration using tape, spaghetti and a marshmallow. Teams had to build a tower using the provisions. Brilliant, especially as Neil showed how Business School grads were worse at building the tower than Kindergarten School graduates. Something to do with curiosity being beaten out of the Business School graduates with a BCG Grid perhaps?
Next up: What does the future brand team look like? Provocateur John Grant said 'Young". He also sketched this out.
This shows three models of organisation. It really does. You had to be there. It got us all thinking about the issue of transitioning from one type of organisation to another. Add to that the challenge of who is the one to lead the transition - the boss, an organisational revolutionary?
Meanwhile Mel Exon offered up two choices. Companies will OUTSOURCE Marketing completely OR companies doing everything IN-HOUSE. That freaked people out. She has since posted about it here...freaking out more people there.
The final provocateur, Jon Bains, showcased why the guilds of the World of Warcraft are a model for brand teams to follow. Once some people present got over the perceived geekiness of the game itself, things started to make a hell of a lot of sense.
Then it was on to the final session of the day: What would the attendees like to change in the marketing industry over the next 12 months? We challenged everyone present to think of something they would like to see shift.
Everyone threw themselves into this, to the point that everyone present has committed to writing up their own thoughts in a little more detail. I will pull it all together, edit and provide each attendee with a copy of our collective agenda for change. Then it will get circulated further afield.To their companies. To their contacts. To trade mags. Whomever might be interested.
It will be curious01's statement of intent to help change things.
While writing this post, I listened to Lee Scratch Perry's show on BBC6Music. For those who do not know this genius of reggae (of sound generally), Perry calls himself the Upsetter, because he always wanted to change the way things were. In my own little way, I always aim to have a go at helping move marketing away from the cosy norms of the past into the exciting challenges of the now and future.
curious01 was one of my little contributions. I think it worked. Some things will change. Some things will improve, but one thing is for sure, curious02 will happen.
It might be London. It might be Cambridge (thanks Doug for the offer) or Sydney (thanks Claire). It could also be Stockholm (fingers crossed Fredrik). It might be at a town near you.
Without the brilliant help of Belinda Barker, it wouldn't have happened. Samantha Lacey at Laban was incredible. I was fortunate that the provocateurs gave up so much of their time and energy, and that some people thought it worthwhile to come along and pay to be part of curious01. To everyone, a massive thank you.
Below are piccies of post-curious01 drinks with Meike Brunkhorst, Chris Howell, Patrick Falconer, Vicky Cook, Douglas Smith, Kate Williams, Ian Bell, Holly Rose, Belinda Barker and Samantha Lacey
More posts to come, including the one with the copy of the curious01 collective agenda for change...keep tuned...and keep curious.
Comments