This is the time of year when most creative businesses slow down and start to think about what is to come in 2021. Like everything else, COVID has upended everything. Now, most are trying to contemplate how to make to the other side and what their world will look like when they get there. Enter change; the desire, necessity, even compulsion to become something other.
I have written many times about change (just search the word on my blog) and will not rehash my thoughts here. No, this post will be about the foundation for change. Your willingness to appreciate the no-(wo)man’s land we all find ourselves in. The world we inhabit will compel the future but the future will be unlike today in almost every respect. Simply said, what will it feel like to hug a stranger post-COVID, let alone your grandmother?
To live in this dichotomy, you must accept the status quo today and acknowledge it will not be so tomorrow. Which begs the question who do you want to be tomorrow?
And a moment about you. In the context of your creative business, you are simply the persona that is on order as is your client. I hear all the time that it is important to have a “real” relationship with everyone — clients, employees, colleagues, etc. Such BS. Real relationships require deep, honest communication so that you feel seen and heard as you are in the moment. If you are feeling down or upset, those engaged in real relationship will want to hold that with you, even if they themselves are not there. So not true for your creative business.
Your client could care less if you are upset that your cat died if you are expected to present an idea or complete an installation of your work. Perhaps they might have a moment of empathy, but lose their expectations of your professionalism (i.e., why you are there)? Yeah no. So let us dispense with the notion that you need real connection with your clients to do great work. You just do not. What you need is deep respect for the journey at hand which is but one slice of you and them. The deep connection is alignment with your purposeful intention to do great work on their behalf. You are all characters in a marvelous, fantastic, transformative story of your making for all involved. Stay there.
Given that place – the version of you, your art and your creative business that you wish to share – what will that version look like post-pandemic? Better said, what aspects of your foundation will be highlighted and why?
The challenge of change is that we are desperate to maintain continuity. In some cases, it requires buy-in and that slows radical shifts. Ok, fine. However, if it belies a mis-understanding of what is on order (even if it is working), then it becomes a crutch to what can be.
I will share my experience with on-line learning as a parent of a child in high school, middle and elementary school. First, teachers are all doing what they can to move their students forward. Insane work for an insane time.
For so many teachers, the joy of engaging young minds in real time and in real life is everything. Trying to translate that feeling into digital directly is an epic fail. What is compelling in-person becomes rote, even condescending on-line. Those who have found the most success have used all that the internet offers to go deeper and more fluidly than “here is what you need to know for the test”. The opportunity to challenge independent thought, diligent research and principled discussion has been fully embraced by only a select few. Our world, and all that it has offered this year is a prime fodder for discussion at all levels. And yet, for the most part, it has been a lost moment.
One reason for the failure is that the metric of success that so much of the U.S. education system has been built on is attendance. Truancy is still a crime in most states for parents to not have their kids in school. Yes, a crime. And most schools consider a child absent if they are more than thirty minutes late. How exactly does that work with distance learning? Old metrics of success — attendance, graduation rates, percentage of kids who go on to higher education are off when it comes to distance learning. And testing — regurgitation of information under time pressure also sucks as a measure of effective teaching. Why not an interview? A real conversation? A written dialogue? Does not exactly fit into the test rubric and allows for the teachers subjectivity as to who has done great work and who has not. That is different from the real world how? The ability to deliver and follow through on interesting solutions to new problems is the currency of the future. It is what will make anyone a linchpin (HT to Seth Godin)
This experience with education that so many of us have had as parents, even students, should shape your thoughts on your creative business.
Start with upending your foundation.
If you think you are in the value-engineering business, grandma just got a whole lot better at shopping on-line. If you think you deserve to be paid for your organizational skills, figuring out how not to kill the person you visit has been something all of us have had to contemplate. And connecting digitally, grandma has gotten a whole lot better at that too.
So if you live and breathe on your ability to shop for the budget, get it done on time and have a trust me business that has no commitment to real management of the journey (i.e., responsibility for the 3Ws), good luck. The lesson distance learning has to teach all of us is that different is different and different is here to stay.
Have a look at what Warner Brothers is doing with their new releases of movies for 2021. In theaters and on HBO Max the same day. No more delay to give a chance for theaters to make their money first as has been the status quo ever since the days of VHS in the 1970s. What impact do you think it will have on movie theaters and how they have to make the desire to sit in a dark room with a few hundred strangers far more compelling that what is on the screen? You can bemoan the fate of movie theaters or see the opportunity in front of those who wish to make the experience remarkable. I choose the latter.
Change the question and you will get a different answer. It boils down to this for your creative business moving forward — ask better questions far before you seek better answers to the same question.
