vineri, 22 iulie 2016

Seth's Blog : "You can not make a spoon that's better than a spoon"

"You can not make a spoon that's better than a spoon"

Umberto Eco said that when he was talking about the form of paper books.

But I think it raises a challenge for just about anyone who seeks to do something truly great in the world of design (in any of its forms):

Can you invent a thing for which no one will ever invent a better version of it?

Certainly, Dylan has done that for dozens of his songs.

And Frank Lloyd Wright did it with 'Falling Water'. No one will ever build a better version of it.

But Like A Rolling Stone and Falling Water are specific instances of general ideas (songs and houses). Not quite the same as Eco had in mind.

But you know what, that's probably worth aiming for regardless.

Can you make the thing you make next to be spoonlike in its unimprovableness?

       

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joi, 21 iulie 2016

Seth's Blog : Singular isn't about scale



Singular isn't about scale

Tracy Chapman was outsold by the Doobie Brothers by 40:1. But the Doobie's aren't 40 times as singular an artist as she is.

Lou Reed was outsold by Van Morrison at least 40:1. But again, our image and memory of Lou compares to Van's, it's not a tiny fraction of his.

Singular is the one that we can tell apart, the one we remember, the one we will miss when it's gone.

It's entirely possible that creators with scale are also singular (like Van, or Miranda), but it's not required. Many of the artists, leaders and teachers that have had an impact on you and on me have done so with very little popular acclaim.

It doesn't pay to trade your singular-ness for scale.

Singular might lead to scale, but popular is not enough.

       

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miercuri, 20 iulie 2016

Seth's Blog : Living with what happens next



Living with what happens next

Most people are okay with living with the consequences of what happens.

The hard part is living with our narrative about how it happened and why.

If your plane is late and you miss the meeting and you don't close the sale, well, you didn't get the work.

But if your meeting is missed because you planned poorly, the story you tell yourself about why you didn't get the sale might just be worse than the business impact of not having been to the meeting.

Stress in a typical job isn't the stress of losing or being killed in action, it's the stress of imagining the narrative of failure in advance, the self-shaming and the what-ifs. When we leave those out, we get a chance to do our real work, undistracted by drama, cliffhangers and blame.

       

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