We’re going to the Moon.”
“Oh yeah? Cool. And pray tell how are we going to do that?”
“Well…$hit.
No frills on this one. No distractions, pulled punches or fancy bells and whistles. Just prose. Let’s face it, humans can be awful managers. There’s just so much going on to grab our attention, especially in today’s realm of social media, politics, social justice, e-commerce and the like all occupying our processing units. Too often we get lost in the glam, the show/performance, pricing, ROI so much that we forget the substance of what’s going on behind it all. Think about it, when was the last time you actually listened to the lyrics of some of your favorite songs? Yeah, just like that.
What it boils down to?… Art/life in a vacuum is easy. Management, that’s where the magic and creation are born. Anyone can have a vision. Add it to the list of hundreds that you’ve had. The question is, how? How do you we assemble it? Plan it? Execute it? Enter the middleman.
The key to any good business or operation is being a good middleman. Mind you, you can have the vision, not have the tools to execute, and still accomplish your goal/task at hand. We get lucky, and luck only last so long. We forget that as architects of our lives we don’t need to know everything. Delegating is wonderful thing. Thank God for Producers.
Deception and the Ego.
It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver. – Machiavelli
Even with what little we know about the unknown, new territory, we too often posture and deceive ourselves into, “I’ve got this and know best after all. It was my idea.” A walking disaster. On the other hand, up in the middle of the night pondering new approaches, working over false starts, management keeps the ship afloat. Keeping an eye on it while the dreamers dream. Overwhelm is in the doing of it all. Deluded into thinking we have everything under control, ignoring those red flags of pending danger, problem ahead, a blindspot.
Break it down to a photograph. In running a creative firm, I’m the visionary but that’s really 5% of the job. It’s managing all the balls in the air that draws my attention, gets me excited. Give me 100% control and I’m my neighbor’s four year old daughter running wild. I’ll concoct a vision unparalleled to tickle my fancy. But that’s not what you want. I’m delivering a vision. Your vision. It’s a joint venture. I’m just the conduit through the process, expectation.
Too often we rely on manifesting art and our creations through sheer force of will. Come hell or high water this is happening. Get out of my way. But that can only be so effective and efficient. We need to breathe and take actions from an uncompromised mind, correlated with the desired end result and timeline.
Empires may have been born by an original idea or person, but they were built by the community, the tribe. Manager your garden and watch it grow. Planting is easy. Making sure it doesn’t die, and leading others to do by example, that’s ART.
