Strands of Genius: Beethoven, Frost, Looking for Substance
Guest curated by Gordon Euchler, Founder, Spikes
Each year we aim to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. This edition is guest curated by Gordon Euchler, Founder, Spikes.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, GORDON EUCHLER ::
LOCATION: Meerbusch, Germany
I studied for as long as was humanly possible, before ending up with a PhD from the university of Cambridge. Working for international agencies and consultancies I then went on to develop creative strategies for brands from Deutsche Telekom to Allianz or bwin. Before founding Spikes I helped to build the Creative Consultancy as Director at Deloitte.
Most recently I founded Spikes, a consultancy for excitement points.
Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): As you all know by now, we take immense pride in spotlighting the brilliant creative thinkers who inspire us, and this edition is no exception. We’re thrilled to welcome Gordon Euchler, founder of Spikes, as this week’s guest curator. Gordon, thank you for bringing us into your world through inspiring links that explore the transcendent structure of Beethoven’s sonatas, the practical beauty of poetry, and the cold, hard truths of Google Scholar. These selections are a testament to how creativity flourishes at the intersections: between art and science, structure and disruption, words and action.
:: THE LINKS ::
BEETHOVEN
Andras Schiff discussing and playing (and singing) the Beethoven piano sonatas. There it is. All of it. If you want to learn for the sake of learning, about music, humanity, emotions look no further. Even a rather nonempathetic German PhD gets it. To me there is something incredible about piano sonatas. I was utterly useless learning the piano and all the more I want to understand sonanats. And the way form can take us on a journey. How structure needs to be ever so slightly broken to be interesting. But not too much. If this sounds all a bit thworetical – yes it is and nearly impossible to relate to marketing. And that’s why it is such a bliss after a full day of working at spikes. (YouTube; Andres Schiff)
FROST
20 years ago I read the sentence: “You are in the business of words. So read poetry, why wouldn't you?” And ever since I do.
And at the poetryfoundation you find them all.
Try it. You know it makes sense.Because unlike Beethoven and the theory of sonata form, reading poetry is immensely practical. Strategy is, at the end of the day, words. Words that want to evoke action. And mostly fail. So finding out how to make your words more powerful is important to 99% of what you do. So be practical. And read poetry. (Poetryfoundation)
LOOKING FOR SUBSTANCE
Whenever I want to find out more, google scholar is the place to look. Slightly less opinionated, but with a little more substance. A little place of quiet from all the shouting out there.
Because there is more than enough opinion packaged into nice sounding words (who would recommend poetry, right?). And facts, uncomfortable, cold statistical facts are not overused in our creative business. But those pesky CFOs seem to love them. So if you want support for your arguments, build the right arguments, why not trust science, rather than consultancies (or consultancies masquerading as universities).. (Google Scholar)
Looking for more from Gordon? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Building a product that scales
:: City :: Bordighera
:: Book :: Robert Frost - Complete works
:: Podcast :: Sticky Notes
:: Song :: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 32, op 111
:: Quote of the Decade ::
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players”
This sentence has me puzzled for 2 decades now.
Cheers,
Gordon
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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.
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