Super clients make effective decisions continuously. Effective decisions are the ones that are ones made with conviction that are rarely (as in almost never) questioned and allow the foundation for what comes next to be ever firmer. Sometimes these clients have the biggest budgets, sometimes not. What they all have is abiding faith in the outrageous and give you, your art and your creative business permission to live in your outrageous idiosyncrasy.
Ok, nothing new here.
However, what if the super client in your creative business needs to begin and end with you? What if the service of outside clients was driven by service to you first as the leader of the firm? What would that look like? When you think of this scenario, most of you will very quickly drop what your responsibility is in this relationship. Your responsibility is the same as every super client — to make effective decisions.
So now it gets interesting. How many of you are capable of making truly effective decisions for employees and production partners alike? And what happens when you do not? Yes, you slow down. Hello Herbie.
The mindset is fascinating given COVID. Yes, some businesses are still literally factories. You can not run a bakery on the internet, someone has to bake the cake. However, most creative businesses are not. If a designer wants to create in her underwear at three in the morning, she can. And yet most models are still based on the industrial factory. Show up, do your work, then go home. Rise to the lowest bar set since there is little upside or downside to doing a great job. Of course, there are outliers but the mean is the mean and it is huge. Disagree? How many of you have fired a so-so employee within a month of that decision that he/she was so-so? Thought so.
If the idea of a physical office leaves, what then digital? What will move things forward better for all involved once there is ultimate flexibility (post-COVID) for a simultaneous digital and physical experience? My suggestion is that you revisit (as in now) how information moves in your creative business and if that will get you where you need to go tomorrow.
For instance, what is your on-boarding process with a client. Who meets with them? Is it recorded? Who analyzes the meeting? What happens then? How is information delivered to everyone? Just because we have instantaneous communication does not mean that that will work. Distractions are distractions for a reason. If your phone pings every ten seconds, how will you be able to focus or the opposite, if your phone does not ping every ten seconds will you be able to focus?
How come all of this matters? Because we live in a brave new world that did not exist pre-COVID. Your clients are going to expect more from you and your art. And you are going to have to meet the challenge to not only stay relevant but to move into the evolution that is at hand. Yes, to get ahead of the curve. If you do not understand how information moves in your business, the evolution becomes impossible and you will be forever reactive to circumstance. Safety tip: do not do that.
No, you do not need to be the first adopter of the new new. Quite the opposite, you have to find intention as to what life looks like in 3D and act accordingly. It means truly being the nucleus and demanding those around to serve and be served by your nucleus. I have always believed in the possibility of this kind of organization. Now, I am firmly convinced that any other kind of organization, for creative businesses anyway, is going to be left behind. Information flow and expectations on that flow have exploded and we are never going back to “just trust me”. Ever. Again. If there is such a thing as singular opportunity, this would be it. Time to get to work.
