Strands of Genius: Joshua Bull + The Future 100
featuring: an interview with our guest editor and a research report
Welcome to the Bonus edition of Strands of Genius! On Fridays, we’ll be publishing interviews from our guest editors, and sharing a research report. Thanks for being along for the ride. Oh and by the way, you look great today :)
:: STEAL THIS THINKING | RESEARCH REPORT ::
As 2024 unfolds, an intentional slowdown shifts the pace for people and businesses after years of rapid acceleration. At a time when people believe stress, depression, and pollution are the top three challenges for human health, the pursuit of a better quality of life begins with a great deceleration as people opt for a mindful approach to the year ahead.
This slow-living sentiment is evident in Pantone’s warm and subdued choice for its Color of the Year 2024, Peach Fuzz (not to be confused with the sparkling Peach Fizz drink). The color forecaster says the shade communicates a message of “compassion and togetherness”. Even gen Zers are fatigued by fast-moving trends on social media that are impossible to keep up with and opting for Luddite mode as a coping mechanism. It’s not just impacting people—businesses are also taking a measured pace for production choosing quality over quantity and seeing positive results.
:: DIVE IN | THE INTERVIEW ::
JOSHUA BULL, FOUNDER OF PASSIONATE PURSUIT DESIGN STUDIO
>> Joshua Bull guest curated Strands on January 25, 2024. Read it here.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what keeps you busy. How did you end up doing what you’re doing today?
I am Joshua Bull and I am an artist and founder of Passionate Pursuit Design Studio. I’ve always been furiously curious and creative. As a kid, my curiosity led me to take apart Dell computer towers “to see how they worked” and my creativity led me to draw, play drums, write (probably pretty bad) poetry, produce music and design. At 15 I pirated photoshop and I credit that small act of theft to be a large reason why I am a designer today.
What excites you most about what you do?
This changes as I change as a person. I am drawn to art. I love it. And I love learning and being good at things. And in my love of art, I find myself enamored with creating and getting better. But I’m also competitive, so there’s an element, borrowing from rap, of wanting to be the best of the best. Wanting to crush it. Wanting to be known. And I’m ok with wanting that and careful to not let it consume me.
I started Passionate Pursuit Design Studio because I want to own my process, work with who I want to work with and bring big agency creative to small businesses, especially minority founders who normally wouldn’t have access.
What beliefs define your approach to work? How would you define your leadership style?
Approach
There’s undeniable power in simply pressing forward, trying things and shipping work. There’s only one way to do it, and that’s to do it. But there are many ways to get distracted from a focus on the track of ideate > create > ship. I am also deeply invested in taking care of myself as a person and always putting myself as a person above my output as an artist. This allows me to not be gutted when critiqued or prideful when praised.
Leadership
Leadership is a combination of courage, competence, vision and compassion. I’d say in that order. Anytime, I find myself faltering, it’s because I’m not dialing up in one of these areas. The people I am leading are trusting me. And I am trusting them. It’s a relationship, not a dictatorship. And relationships are the most important way we spend our time.
What has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on and why?
A rebrand for the Boris Lawrence Henson Foundation, Taraji P. Henson’s foundation. For a few reasons:
Their org is focused on removing the stigma around mental health in the black community. It was close to my heart.
I was able to lean into my design roots and it was a rare project where I was given a lot of latitude to manage my design team and partner with an awesome brother and writer in Joel Leon.
I’m such a fan of Ms. Henson. I was able to present my work alongside the team to her and in an industry where usually I’d do the work and an ECD or CCO would normally take it and present, it was such a distinct blessing to be able to share my work and thinking on a project that mattered so much to me.
I learned that if you don’t have control of a brand or campaign rollout, it can be distributed and done quite differently than you imagined and instructed once you hand assets and guidelines over. So it was a bittersweet experience. A new high in my career and a tough lesson.
And I must note, I did that work alongside a wonderful team at Taylor Strategy. It was a collaborative effort. I was responsible for leading the team on the visual execution.
We are big believers in diversity -- Not only because we believe in equality, but because we also think it’s better for business. How do you frame these kinds of conversations, both internally and with clients? Is there an emphasis on action, or are the conversations really more about communication?
First, I am deeply committed to my people. However, I don’t think it’s my responsibility to drag anyone to knowledge. So I commit myself to raising awareness when I see a need. And I allow myself to resist the impetus to feel responsible for making anyone care, or making anyone do research. And that gives me peace.
Clients
When it comes to clients, I push for equality in data and representation. That’s something as a creative leader that’s in my team’s control and it directly impacts the output. But I don’t think I need to point out to a company, where their leadership lacks meaningful diversity, that…they lack meaningful diversity.
Supporting Peers
The other thing I do, which feels more impactful for me, is I do my best to support my diverse peers on a person to person basis. I have friends in the industry of all walks of life that I do my best to keep up with, support and encourage.
Often we’re the only ones of color in the room, and for women especially, often the only woman in the room, or one of a small number. For instance, the last company I worked at had close to 80 people and only about 5 of those folks were black.
Being an Example
So each of our small but growing number of diverse creative talent and leaders are so important because hopefully someone in their late teens or twenties looking at one of us can feel more like their dream is possible, not despite their differences but because of them. And that’s what keeps me going, striving and dreaming. For the future dreamers to have a better road than we had.
Switching gears a bit, how do you find time to balance personal interests with your career? Do you believe work/life balance is possible? Anything you’ve implemented that you recommend that others try?
Personal <> Business
There’s an exercise I do. I imagine my life without my work being connected to capitalism. Completely without it. Who is that person? What does he look like, feel like, what does he do? Sometimes I go as far as imagining that I’m a different profession like a scientist or travel agent. It’s really just a practice of creating distance between the work and myself. And it's helpful because about 77% of my anxiety usually comes from identifying way too much with my work and starting to take everything personal.
I also always do projects that have no real meaningful capitalistic impact. They’re just because I love them. I pay to keep my music on Spotify, because it makes me happy. I have a clothing line called the Resistance Collection that I keep online and going long after the marketing push because I’m proud of it. Decoupling art and profit with intention really helps me stay sane. I just keep certain projects alive because I’m proud of them, and that’s enough.
Work/Life
Work/life balance is different for everyone and it will always involve sacrifice. Healthy work/life balance means YOU get to choose and accept what that sacrifice is. An unhealthy work/life balance usually means you’re not in the driver’s seat of deciding and accepting what that is for yourself.
Recommendation
There’s a concept in entrepreneurship around paying yourself first. This applies to taking care of yourself. If you are in a plane and it’s going down, you have to put your own oxygen mask on before you can do anything else for anyone else. This applies to the system of care you’ve built to support yourself. It must come first. It must be non-negotiable. If you’re in a life structure where you can’t do that, then a restructure is self-love. Because self-love is mandatory for a meaningful life. When it comes to self-care, pay yourself first.
What’s your media diet? Where do you find inspiration?
YouTube for learning and entertainment. Twitter & IG for connection, inspiration and promotion. I rarely watch tv shows or movies. I play a lot of video games. I love looking at other artists' work, quite obsessively. And learning about their process and how they think.
What’s the best piece of advice/knowledge you’ve stolen, and who/where’d you steal it from?
I focus more on myself as a human than anything else and usually through the lens of relationships, so the one with myself and the diverse kinds of relationships I have with others. My framework for learning starts with questions. Below are questions I’ve asked myself and one book that at least starts to answer it quite well.
Why am I the way I am?
The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli | This book is just amazing. It goes over a number of biases and illusions our minds fall prey to. It had a profound effect on me, by allowing me to see just how imperfect we all are, even when we’re trying to be.
How can I start to understand how to heal from trauma?
Unf*ck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper | Depression had overtaken my life and I was grieving, lost and in a lot of pain. This book was a roadmap out. It broke down two things, what was happening and how to deal with it. But more importantly, it had the effect of making me more compassionate because grief, sadness, anger, depression, panic attacks, they’re all human experiences that we all experience.
How can I be nicer to myself?
Self-Compassion by Kristen Neff | An absolute banger. I was so guilty of negative self-talk before reading this book. I thought that ragging on myself and pointing out my flaws was the way to get my ass in gear and get things accomplished. But it’s not the only way. You can be nice to yourself and still kick ass.
How can I treat people how they deserve to be treated?
How to be an Adult in Relationships by David Richo | This book made me grow up. Every single person should read this book. It gave me a framework for relationships, not just romantic ones. It’s gorgeously written and simple to understand.
How can I accept my introverted self in a world seemingly made for extroverts?
Quiet by Susan Cain | This book gave me permission to lean into my introverted side, and strategies on how to use my introversion as a strength to have just as much success as my extroverted counterparts. Such an empowering book.
Why am I not getting what I want?
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss | This book introduced me to the concept of combining empathy and negotiation. It helped me understand even more fully how important it is to recognize that everyone is human, has different motivations and are rarely easy to connect with through anger or some other aggressive approach.
I always have more questions and I do my best to seek answers.
Creatively, I study artists obsessively and I always have.
I watch The Hollywood Reporters Actors Roundtable discussions for a peek into entertainment creatives minds and process.
I watch Colin & Samir for a peek into Creators (social media creators to be exact) minds and process.
I read this great book called Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey to see how artists through the centuries structured their lives and their process.
I loved the 99u Conference series where they brought on different creative professionals to share lessons and learnings. I’m voracious and I’ll never be tired of finding more teachers to learn from.
I get more from learning how artists learned how to structure their lives and creative process than from any tutorial because to me, that’s the real challenge - bringing myself to be in a world where I’m a bit strange, a bit chaotic and chock full of potential.
What is giving your life meaning right now and why?
Building a company and being a husband is so meaningful to me. My wife and I married last summer and just celebrated one year. Yay. And I started my business during our relationship so it's been an incredible building experience.
You can keep in touch with Joshua on LinkedIn.
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
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@ashley also writes for deaf, tattooed & employed