Strands of Genius: Huge Transition, Creative Anxiety, The Case Against Performative Pessimism
Plus: Young Faris
WRITING FROM | Chattynoogs, TN
WORKING ON | wrapping one phase of a consulting project today, writing articles
LOOKING AHEAD
May 20 - June 16 | Chattanooga, TN
June 16-17 | Atlanta, GA
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Well, after a couple weeks recovery managed to see a few people in the UK and miss many others, sorry if we didn’t catch up. Faris got taken to see the Spirited Away puppet show in London (fantastic), then we flew to Nashville the next day and then went to a wedding the next day and then came back here yesterday. Phew.
Now it’s now, we are hosting a friend who has been staying here while we were away and time to get back on the email horse. Also - quick note - something got messed up with the access permissions on the report from Friday and we are working on a solution. Sorry!
Wrapping a project this week, just signed a new gig for some in person speaking and workshops (still exciting to be in person with teams rather than on Zoom), trying to catch up on writing and the reading it requires, and hopefully getting some rest, eventually. But not today. Onwards! (As people seem to say a lot at the end of emails now.) (It’s not as bad as unlock I suppose.)(But better than LFG?)
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
Laura & Sean (congrats!), Lep&Tammy, both families, Ronan, Matt, not British Airways, not airports, Lillian & Jason for the ride, Judy for hosting, Daddio, Berna, John Allison, Mouse, & YOU.
:: THE LINKS ::
A HUGE TRANSITION
When Faris moved to Sydney in 2006 he was sent by Naked to Naked, who was just starting out and aiming to pitch possibly the biggest account in the country (Telstra) (Spoiler: we won several pieces of it). There Faris got to work and play with legendary characters like Adam Ferrier (founder of Thinkerbell) and Mat Baxter, who was a partner at the new agency despite being a year younger than Faris. (Yes, he was always brilliant and ambitious. And really fun to hang out with too. We spent a bunch of weekends together working on the pitch.) More recently he has been the CEO of HUGE and took it on an ambitious journey to change its business model completely, from a service to product based offering. He has never minced words, even as a CEO in USA, which is practically unheard of, and this interview is full of bangers. “Agencies are some of the most traditional and legacy-entrenched businesses on the planet.” He is also bullish on econometric media planning: “No media agency should be planning its media on reach and frequency in 2024.” (Contagious)
CREATIVE ANXIETY & PROCRASTINATION
Thanks to Gillian for this tip. Best selling author Frederick Backman delivers a short, thoughtful and hilarious talk about how he doesn’t have creative anxiety and never gets writer’s block - because he procrastinates instead and hasn’t gotten around to it. This is gold and great speaking or presenting inspiration. He’s reading his talk but it works, he’s a writer. I want to read his books now. There is also a banger of an IKEA depression joke. (Youtube)
AGAINST PERFORMATIVE POSITIVITY
Danah Abdulla (she/her) is self-described “Arab-Canadian designer, educator, and researcher—not in any particular order but always all three” and she’s written a lovely and thoughtful piece about how design and dissent can help change the world. While she’s writing about designers, I’d argue that the way in which she’s referring to designers, strategists would also fall into that categorization. It’s well worth the read and will leave you with plenty of questions ;) (Futuress)
Want to chat, comment, question, compliment?
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:: FARIS WAS ALWAYS LIKE THIS ::
Some old photos turned up at his dad’s house and it is is increasingly clear Faris has always believed he is in a movie of some kind and thought that having that much hair made him seem taller but hey it was the 80s.
(He now says he has hairectile disfunction because it won’t stay by itself like it used to.)
But, if you are living in a movie, as Faris often likes to ask, which point in the movie do you think you/we are at at the moment?
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 | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)
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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. We have a distributed team ourselves, an accounting team is based in Tennessee where our company is registered, our admin extraordinaire is based in Playa del Carmen, 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.
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