Where Do Ideas Come From?
Last week, I walked into a meeting, and a friend of mine had this sweatshirt on. It had a graffiti style name written on it, so I asked him who that was, and he told me that it was Harry Mack, who’s a freestyle rapper from LA. It honestly sounded cringey, because we’ve all seen bad improv…
Regardless, I looked him up, and holy sh**.
First of all, everyone he interacts with has the same first impression that I just did. Stone faced skepticism. Just not a believer that this will be a good, let alone transformative interaction.
He asks people for 3 words, or themes, or something that they provide to him, that he then uses as the basis for his rap. He then gets a beat going, and just goes off, and they quite literally melt in front of him. Sometimes it’s in person, sometimes it’s on YouTube, and sometimes it’s at a radio station, when he did the same thing with Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar, who had no idea who Harry was, but if you watch the clip, just watch Kendrick melt and see the skill and creativity that’s coming out. At the end of their radio segment, Kendrick specifically comments that seeing this is inspiring for himself, and it pushes him “back into the lab” to write and create himself. If Kendrick says it’s legit, that seems like a pretty solid validation in that world.
YouTube - link
After the requisite YouTube deep dive (I particularly recommend this one, at the 12:35 mark), I was thinking about the way that Harry would talk about “I get my inspiration from you”, and “thank you for your time and your energy”, and when one person said “I’m excited to see what you come up with”, Harry replies “me too!”.
So what does any of this have to do with our creative (non-rap) work?
In my teaching, and in my personal experience, there can be a legitimate fear that you just may run out of ideas. That the thing you’re working on could be the last good thing you ever come up with. Or that you might hit a wall of some sort. Writer's block. That kind of thing.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become less concerned about that. I’ve realized that a lot of my creativity comes from that interaction with the client, or the topic, or even just an abstract idea that you have, but it’s that interaction that creates the inspiration for the work. Listening to Harry Mack talk about that type of energy exchange as his inspiration really rang a bell for me.
Good clients and partners make projects better, because of this.
To bring in some other examples, for any of us who have been to a bad improv comedy show, part of the problem is that any of us could stand there and try to crack jokes. Of course there are people who are better and worse, but that’s also got a lot to do with opinion, since even though there can be training involved, it’s not fundamentally required to make jokes on a stage, as cringey as that result would probably be.
A better example would be jazz improvisation. I used to play the trumpet, and our high school jazz band traveled all over to do competitions, from Lincoln Center to the middle of nowhere. I wasn’t very good, but there were people in the group who were. They were the ones who would solo/ improvise, and a few of them ended up working professionally and going to Berklee after high school (a really good music college).
The main thing that jazz improvisation requires is a massive technical foundation to do it well. Anyone who has ever tried to bang on some drums or play a trumpet has undoubtedly realized that there is a pretty high barrier to entry, and to get to the point of excellence requires tremendous study and practice and then creativity and inspiration to do it well.
So jazz improvisation really doesn't work without that technical base, which allows you to listen to the beat, the time signature, the key, etc., etc., etc. The point is that it’s not just a solo act, and it’s not just happening in a vacuum. There are specific skills that have been learned, practiced, mastered, and then deployed in a strategic, meaningful, and impactful way.
It’s no accident. It feels free, and sounds effortlessly smooth, but it’s no accident…
It’s the same way that Picasso could paint a beautiful realistic looking flower, but he preferred to imagine another version. His basic skills are the same fundamentals that anyone can learn, but they are necessary to move beyond that, to where unmistakable work is created.
In an interview with the Harvard Business Review, my guy Deepak Chopra (he doesn't know he’s my guy) is asked about the nature of the crowded self-help field, and the criticism that he’s more salesman than healer. His response;
“Well, my credentials are important. I’m a board-certified internist with licenses to practice in both Massachusetts and California. I’m a medical school professor. I have consulted with the NIH, and although I have many critics, I also now have many people whom I would consider allies in my thinking.”
That’s the same idea, that the work wouldn’t be possible without the significant foundation of education, experience, licensing, and lifelong study professionally and personally.
Personally, as I’ve received more licenses and registrations, I find myself talking about them less. My Architect license (AIA, NCARB) and contracting registration (GC) illustrate the foundation of knowledge and technical skill that gives me confidence to interact with clients and know that we’ll figure it out, whatever it might be.
But that’s not the point. The point for me, is to help people and create meaningful transformations in the best way that I know how, which is through the built environment. The technical knowledge, education, and experiences are cultivated over time, and the licenses are just checkpoints along the lifelong process of learning.
So where do ideas come from? I think they come from our interactions and exchanges of energy with clients, thoughts, nature, or whatever. That’s why you won’t ever run out of ideas, because you can always find inspiration, if you’re open to it.
Chris
P.S. I specialize in delivering expert design and proven development solutions, quickly and efficiently. Please reach out if you’d like to talk.
