Strands of Genius: A Blast From the Past >> 1 Year Ago
plus our thoughts on: constraints
A blast from the past - July 2021, to be precise. One year ago we were…
WRITING FROM | Nashville (in advance because we are in transit this weekend and running a Miami Ad School session on Monday)
WORKING ON | Strategic sprint pitch consulting with an awesome creative agency, travel planning, live and virtual gigs planning, new article just dropped, Miami AdSchool Bootcamp
LOOKING AHEAD
July 1-14 | Nashville, TN
July 16-20 | New York, NY
July 21-August 15 | Porto, Portugal
August 15-August 29 | Lisbon, Portugal
Aug 29-Sept 8 | Orlando, FL
Sept 8-Oct 3 | France
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
We’re working on a strategic sprint, in bursts because it’s a pitch and we’re working with creatives, giving each other time to work. That’s great since it’s an exciting opportunity with a nice agency and means we can fill the interim time with some packing and planning. We flew through NYC in transit and we are currently on the way to Porto, Portugal (got tips? hit reply!) to visit one of Faris’ best friends who moved there over the last year.
We had a little escape jaunt earlier this year, but we were unvaccinated and knew we’d be returning to TN to get vaxed at some point. This time it feels like being back on the road since we have booked our first in person gig in Florida at the end of August, and from there we’re headed back to Europe! It’s exciting and energizing but also of course it still feels weird to travel (We still find ourselves discussing with each other our risk tolerance, is it ok, what’s the right thing to do, etc.) We all have to do what’s best for us while respecting everyone else, acting as individuals in and among communities, rather than one or the other.
Travel planning and some calls with clients in other countries have also reminded us that the pandemic is still very much in full swing, full lockdown, in many places, that have no idea when they will be able to get vaccines. In Tennessee it was easy to think COVID was over since no one wears masks, despite the vaccination rate only being about 40% - but then many people weren’t really ever wearing masks in the South. With the Delta Variant now everywhere, it feels likely there will be more travel restrictions coming down the road. In the meantime, we’re excited to see people, go places, be safe (we’re vaccinated of course but still), and eat some Francescinha sandwiches.
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Loki, Judy, Scott for watching the football with us, Erin&Eric&Noodles for letting us dogsit Noodles, getting back on the road, Shake Shake Chicken Sandwich with avocado and bacon, Nicole&Jason&Uyen&Troy, drinks on boats, Alex&Preeti, Mel, Ben&Margaret&Sam&Max, Wild Wild Country - the docuseries on Netflix about Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Faris joined this cult very briefly in India in the 90s, but by then it was all very tame and expensive), Ashley, Sarah, tomato pie, Pakistan Tea House, Tyger Tequila Shakes, Bianca, bbq, and you, always you.
:: THE LINKS ::
TENDERNESS SHARES A ROOT WITH ATTENTION
We were a species without a word for “attention” for hundreds of years. We created it relatively recently, and have since shaped it. The Latin tendere—to stretch, to tense—provides the root for the ways we say that we care, that we try, and that we are soft and easily injured. It’s the origin word for ‘tenderness,’ ‘intent,’ and ‘attention.’ But what does it mean to tend, and where does it come from? How have tending and attention changed over time and across contexts, and what might that evolution teach us? (ARE.NA) (Thanks RH!)
PLAYING WITH BRANDS
Faris’ column this month is about his foray into Fortnite, what he discovered and what it means for brands. As ever increasing amounts of media time is spent with games, the world’s biggest medium presents challenges and opportunities, and the judges at Cannes suggesting a stand-alone gaming category next year. (WARC)
LET’S TALK ABOUT SMOOTH
How do you like your whiskey/liquor? Maybe not at all, of course, but people often will end up using the word smooth, especially to describe whiskey. Liquor aficionados apparently turn their nose up at that, because smooth means ultimately just the absence of pain. “The term “smooth” effectively erases any point of reference. Even as an adjective, “smooth” functions as a verb: It is the buffing out of character, the sanding down of the distinctions that make great spirits great.” (Punchdrink)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: CONSTRAINTS ::
“The distinctions that make great spirits great”
That thought from the strand above chimed with some thoughts on constraints that have come up a few times in meetings over the last few weeks. Constraints are a good thing, creatively speaking. They focus the mind, help us to see things differently, and lead to more interesting outcomes - but why?
Ogilvy famously asked to be given the “freedom of a tight brief” and creatives all over the world ask for the same. Strategy creates the focus and establishes the constraints, the things we have to do, the things we cannot do, the budget we have, what kind of idea is likely to work, what kind of ideas won’t. Beyond the practical considerations, the empty page, the open brief, is like Hemingway’s ‘White Bull’, the challenge, trepidation and excitement that a blank page presented him. But, at the very least, he knew he was writing novels, for the most part.
As TS Eliot once wrote:
“When forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to its utmost – and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl.”
But quite apart from simple focus and inspiration, constraints have another wonderful function. As with whiskey, the distinctions are what make great brands and great ideas in culture more broadly great. Often, as Adam Morgan & Mark Barden (from eatbigfish, friends of GS) wrote about wonderfully in A Beautiful Constraint, those distinctions are a direct result of the constraints.
The simplicity of the Google homepage was a function of the constraints of Larry Page’s coding at the time, Super Mario was designed around the constraints of the 8 bit graphics available at the time, hence the hat (hair is hard) and big nose and mustache to stand out on screen. As they wrote, constraints can be "catalytic forces that stimulate exciting new approaches and possibilities".
Even if you don’t think there are any constraints, it helps creatively to impose some.
Stravinsky nailed when he said:
"The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one's self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution."
Our friend Steve is an artist who does wonky projects, he did a wonderful talk for SchoolofStolenGenius this week, talking about doing bad portraits for free in Leiscester Square, the outside art gallery he created on Hungerford Bridge, the sound of silence podcast where he recorded silence with 100 special guests (we got to be on episode 4! He also had Eddie Izzard and Vic Reeves and 97 other wonderful humans, although technically one was his dog.
His creative consulting company is called Can Scorpions Smoke? (there is an answer but you’ll have to ask him). He outlined some of his ideas about art and creativity for our community, suggesting that operating at the edge of uncertainty, of not knowing, asking questions he doesn’t have answers to, is where he finds inspiration.
Pulling from improv and zen, he outlined the three stages he goes through, when developing projects or running workshops.
Permission - people need to feel safe
Constraints - they need to know what they are doing
Imperfections - are where the magic happens
Quoting a zen idea he encapsulated the power of constraints, because enlightenment is when we see the “obstacles become the path”.
He’s got new wonky projects all the time over on Instagram - we’ll leave you with one piece we bought from him over the last year, that is very helpful when doing long range planning.
:: AND NOW… HANNAH ARENDT ::
(from the first strand, above)
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
@rosieyakob hangs out on instagram
@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)