11/09/2024 07:56:09 AM 
We are delighted that Gary Hirsch will be one of our speakers for our Meet the Makers event in NYC on December 3rd.
Gary set the crowd alight with his improv pyrotechnics at our last event in SF.
Here's a recent email interview I conducted with Gary.
1. There's something about the corporate setting that sometimes stifles creativity-what's that thing and how do you get around it?
For me, Creativity is a big fat word. It means so many things to so many different people. Years ago when I did my first piece of work with an ad agency and someone told me that there was a creative department with creatives in it I was genuinely confused, did this mean the rest of the agency wasn't creative? Seems to me that the label itself isn't very helpful and probably encourages people to keep their ideas close to their chests. I guess that's why I love improv. A great performance is co-created between performers and audience. If you want an audience watching improv and notice where they laugh, it's not at the content. If you transcribed a really funny improv scene and ready it out loud it would not be funny as words coming of the page.So if the content isn't getting the audience to laugh, then what is? I would argue that it's the joy of watching people using other's ideas, seeing people being happy to make mistakes, demonstrating their listening to each other, letting going of personal agendas and being available to be changed. These things are so rare in life and worth paying money to see on stage. To me this is what co-creating looks like and there's real joy in witnessing and participating in it. I deeply believe this can happen anywhere, on state and in a board room, you just have to practice creating the right conditions.
2. What do you believe a controlled and inspired crowd of thinkers can bring to the table that an individual can't?
More heads are better than one, under the right conditions. But instead of listening to me pontificated, try this:
1. Pair up with someone
2. One of you is the storyteller and the other does nothing
3. The storyteller comes up with a made up title of a story that has never been told before
4. They tell the story
Now try this:
1. Pair up with someone
2. One of you is the storyteller, and the other is the word giver
3. Have the word giver give the storyteller a made up title of a story to tell
4. The storyteller begins telling the story. During the story, the word giver will call out random words that have nothing to do with what the storyteller is talking about. For instance, if the story is about a trip to the beach, the word giver avoids helpful worlds like "sand", "waves", "surfboards", etc..Instead you give completely disassociated words like "pudding", "dinosaur", and "Sean Connery"
5. The storyteller has to instantly incorporate the random words into the story. The word giver must wait until the word just given is incorporated into the story before calling out a new one
6. After a while, the storyteller finds an ending to his/her story and then the players switch roles.
This is called Swedish Story Telling (for no apparent or obvious reason that I can see).
Which story is more memorable? Which was easier to tell? A Swedish Story forces new connections. It slams agendas and expectations together and allows the unexpected to emerge. It's created by more than one person. It's co-created (yes, that word again) and it's a hell of a lot more fun to tell.
3. Everyone seems to be searching these days for "breakthrough" thinking and ideas, what do you think they mean?
I have this ridiculously fun job. I get to play with grown-ups for a living using improvisation to help some of the most impressive corporate teams in the world solve seemingly impossible problems, generate breakthrough ideas and turn mistakes into amazing opportunities. But here's the thing, during these high stakes sessions it's the small things that end up creating the biggest breakthrough ideas (I think breakthrough= ideas that excite, surprise and get the group something they want). Someone will get o and change where they are sitting, we will get playful and mess around with something they've been taking too seriously, and we'll impose a ridiculous constraint and see how it shifts the entire dynamic. When we aim directly for a breakthrough idea it becomes a stressful business like trying to squeeze a breakthrough idea from a pore in the middle of your forehead. But it you allow yourself to play with an idea and set the bar low with the goal of coming up with new start points for new conversations that you've never had before about the topic, then (in my experience) the breakthroughs come with more ease and surprise.
More information on Influx's Meet the Makers Conference on December 3rd in NYC, can be found here.
Posted by Ed Cotton
11/09/2024 12:36:53 AM
We are really pleased that Ashley Alsup is going to be one of our speakers at our Meet the Makers event on December 3rd. Ashley was one of the leading strategists at Crispin Porter Bogusky and was responsible for some of thinking around BK's Whopper Sacrifice and much more.
Ashley is now working as an independent consultant as has been spending time thinking about how corporate America might re-make itself.
I recently interviewed Ashley and here it is.
1. Briefly Tells Us About Your Background?
My agency background includes time at Kirshenbaum, BBH NY, AMV BBDO London and Crispin Porter Bogusky. I always tried to work for an agency I thought I could learn the most from.
I got into advertising because I liked the idea of creating cultural change. I came to feel over time, though, that I had less and less power to change anything. I wanted to be part of the conversation to solve the real problem.
2. What Was the Most Rewarding thing You Worked on and Why?
I worked on Johnnie Walker globally pretty early on in my career and got to travel around the world and help a client figure out how to make a global campaign work anywhere. I worked with some extremely nice and committed people at BBH and Diageo. At the time, I felt like we were solving something new. We wanted to crack it and that felt good. As for my time working for Guinness in the UK, it was always easier and more rewarding to work with a great product.
More recently in my career at Crispin, I got to work on some projects for American Express and burger King that had more to do with fundamental problems in their business. I got to be part of the team that was coming up with some product ideas or new ideas for how to relate to their customers and internal stakeholders- some of which got made. Having a very different kind of conversation with my corporate clients got my super-excited about the possibilities of how planning could help clients from a perspective independent from an advertising product.
3. What does "Making" Mean in the Context of what you do?
I try to be a creative problem solver. New problems always fascinate me because they're a chance to learn. The journey is great because you get to use a lot of craft skills, whether it's conducting research in an especially effective and inspired way or creating presentation materials that capture and argument or ideas in an especially tense, compelling and clear way. The end goal is joy, happiness- the feeling within a group that we can make a great decision and change the course of a project, product, brand or entire business.
4. What's Your Feeling about Corporate America right Now?
I think corporate America is much more broken than it realizes. Not because it's so behind on ideas, because it's not. The ideas are there, they just can't get made. Mostly because American corporations are not structured around creating great products and bringing them to marker in a speedy, transparent way. They're structured around a story told for Wall St. The sheer number of business units,layers and competing roles prohibits real leadership, the ability to make decisions and get things done. But it gives the impression of a mighty ship.
As a result, privately-owned companies are the engines of innovation and ideas because that's where the purity of purpose is. They tend to produce superior products that come from a personal mission, love and insight. They have a closer relationship with their consumers and tend to tell the truth more often and behave in a transparent and responsible way. If we want to change the larger corporate culture, we have work on both ends of the market. We have to help smaller companies become the biggest threats they can be. And we have to help corporate clients regain the purity of purpose, make good decisions, agree to behave differently. But you can't have one without the other. Because people rarely change unless they are incentivized to. We have to work together to alter the incentive.
5. What Type of Businesses Do You Think Americans want to Deal with Now?
I think people want to deal with companies they feel represent something positive for people. It's funny how often the treatment of workers come up in quant surveys of how people evaluate companies. For everything ground-breaking that Walmart is doing for sustainability, there are still stories of the way they treat their workers and local communities, creating profound dissonance. And people take that personally. It taps into an underlying anxiety that corporations can do whatever they want, that they no longer exist to serve humanity or happiness. Just wealth at any cost and for a very small group of people. People aren't sure who they can trust anymore. Even Toyota has let people down. It's creating a great, untapped market opportunity for new brands and thought leaders to move in.
6. What Corporations do you feel "get it"- names names and explain why?
From a product and marketing standpoint, Apple and Google. Apple products have an almost transcendent, spiritual quality to them. Google is great at getting tools into the hands of people and letting them shape them using betas. But both are in danger of undermining their brands with some of their corporate behavior. Brands like Patagonia and Toms Shoes have made impressive and substantive and ethical practices. Method has very effectively changed the conversations around household products- from toxic things that have to be locked in a cabinet to objects of design and pleasure that can be kept out of the counter. And I think for businesses of scale, Starbucks and Whole Foods have actually stayed ahead of a lot of issues and continue to demonstrate their desire to improve the experience for their customers. Justin's Nutbutters, a Boulder company, recently led a squeeze-pack conference with major food suppliers to get everyone to change to bio-degradable packaging. All of these brands feel loved by the people that run them. They all make great products.
You can register for Influx's Meet the Makers conference here.
Posted by Ed Cotton
11/08/2024 04:11:31 AM
Horse Cycles Day 5: Interview with Thomas from torywilliams on Vimeo.
The film above is a really nice interview directed by Tory Williams about Thomas Callahan.
We are really pleased to have Thomas as one of our speakers at our "Meet the Makers event in NY on December 3rd".
Thomas' brand is Horse Cycles and he hand-crafts bicycles in his Williamsburg workshop. He clearly loves his job and relishes the opportunity to craft something with his own hands.
Here's how he describes his brand on his website.
"Horse Cycles is a one-man custom bike shop tucked away in the streets of Brooklyn, NY. Each frame is made with love and care, innovation and inspiration. Horse makes precision bicycles one at a time using the best possible materials while working in concert with the customer to improve their riding experience. Horse offers an outstanding alternative to standard production bicycles by paying attention to the individual to create something that is made locally, by hand, and with no limitations."
Thomas is one of 9 speakers at our December 3rd event which includes a diverse mix of writers, magazine creators, iPad developers, brand owners, game makers and best selling authors.
You can learn more and register for the event here.
Posted by Ed Cotton
07/29/2010 02:58:08 PM
I caught up with Laura recently to learn more about Pictory.
1. Tell us a little about your background?
Before starting Pictory, I was editor-in-chief of JPG Magazine, an internationally distributed photography magazine. JPG's content was submitted by members of their online community and polished and edited into a magazine by the staff. Before JPG I was a print designer and actually started there designing the layouts.
2. What is Pictory?
Pictory is inspired by the Big Picture blog and This American Life. I founded it after JPG went under and try to incorporate some of the best things about print publications- custom typography, careful design and thorough editing- in a web format. I put up themes, for example "Overseas and Overwhelmed" and Pictory members respond with captioned photos. Some of my most popular ones are "The One Who Got Away" and New York City showcase ( a collaboration with Josh Haner of the new York Times)
3. Why do you think now is the time for photography on the web?
I have watched the web move very quickly to much larger images. It used to be that the standard was 500 pixel wide images on 800 pixel wide design. That seems really small now. For reference, the images on Pictory are 1000 pixel wide in a 1000 pixel wide design. So in that sense, yes, it's a better time than ever to enjoy photography on the web.
4. How do you feel the iPad is going to change that?
The iPad encourages you to curl up with content, so it creates a habitat for work that requires a longer attention span. Plus the care put into the details of the browser and the many apps makes using the iPad a visual treat in every way.(Check out Pictory on there!) And I've seen many professional photographers use it as a portable portfolio. I can't wait to see what's next in how people use this versatile tool.
5. You are about to run another camp for photographers, what's the purpose behind that?
I started Phoot Camp as a way to introduce some of the most talented photographers I knew through JPG. I figured the creative energy of getting 20 of them into the same place would be stunning. So people flew from all over the world to join me on a photo workshop of a woods of a state park. I'm running the invite-only event again this year, with Virb as an exclusive sponsor. Check out some of the images from last year.
6. Who inspires you in the photography and technology worlds?
I find Ze Frank's work really interesting and I love Andrew Zuckerman. I would say though being totally immersed in the tech world, I'm most inspired by documentarians like Studs Terkel, Michael Apted, Ira Glass, etc. i try to learn from their storytelling techniques and ability to reflect culture and common humanity.
04/02/2024 09:19:21 AM
I caught up with Scott via email and fired across a few questions about Behance and his latest book, "Making Ideas Happen".
1. Please tells us what Behance is?
Our mission at Behance is to organize the creative world.
Our attention is focused on three main projects at Behance: (1) The Behance Network - A robust online platform that organizes and promotes the work of top creative professionals (behance.net), (2) Action Method - an ecosystem of products and services designed to boost productivity for creative teams (actionmethod.com), and (3) The 99% - A think tank and annual conference on execution and organization in the creative world (the99percent.com).
Each of these projects plays a critical role in helping organize the creative world. So, we've divided up leadership and development responsibilities to give them all a lot of love.
2. What inspired you to put your new book book together? Who did you talk to and learn from?
For over five years I have been obsessed with execution and organization in the creative world. It is frustrating that the people with the most ideas often suffer the greatest obstacles to making them happen.
And of course, the truth is that most ideas never happen.
But I also found exceptions - people and teams that somehow defy the odds and execute their ideas, time and time again. During the research, my team and I spoke with people like author Chris Anderson, designer Stefan Sagmeister, RISD president John Maeda, and Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh - as well as leaders at companies like Google, IDEO, and Disney.
I realized that the forces behind great execution are accessible to all of us. It turns out that we should focus less energy on searching for the best ideas and more on organization and leading ideas to fruition.
The book summarizes the methods, insights, and best practices that I observed among the most productive creative people and teams across industries.
I hope that the book prompts some serious discussion and introspection around execution and how creative people and teams should operate to make ideas happen. You can see more info about the book at http://the99percent.com/book
3. What most surprised you?
I found many of the methods and insights counterintuitive. For example, the benefits of fighting in a team, the positive impact of nagging when it comes to prioritization, and how important competition is in the creative process. But I was most surprised by the lack of correlation between great ideas and great execution. It turns out that ideas don't happen because they're great. In fact, the quality of idea has no impact on whether or not it happens.
For better or for worse, it is all about the execution.
4. Do you think idea development is different today compared to 10 years ago, if so, how?
Absolutely. One of the biggest differences is the power of transparency and the role that community plays in idea development.
The rapid iteration that takes through real-time feedback and watching people engage with your idea is invaluable. Rather than develop ideas in isolation, we are seeing more and more product designers, authors, and other creative minds sharing their ideas liberally, quickly, and broadly. In exchange for this level of transparency, they are gaining a new level of accountability and transparency that can become the catalyst for all sorts of possibilities.
Social tools and mobile devices are enabling us to tap a highly curated collective wisdom. This is awesome, and bold ideas are the beneficiaries.
Posted by Ed Cotton
08/09/2024 02:05:17 PM
1. Tell us a brief history of how Mission Street Food came into being?
The current incarnation of MSF came about in a rather piecemeal and organic way. I was happy working at Bar Tartine, but had been there for a long time and had learned each station and seen the chef's repertoire for more than one cycle through the seasons. I started to think about ways I could still work at BT, but keep learning. I sublet a taco truck which, historically, parked near my house on Friday and Saturday, on Thursday--my day off. Some friends wrote food blogs publicizing the endeavor and, much to my surprise, there was a line before I had even set foot in the truck. After a few weeks of increasing popularity a real estate mogul complained and basically harassed us and continually called the police. We decided not to get into a fight about it, and went door to door in the neighborhood looking for space to continue. After the Chinese restaurant operation was successful we decided to invite guest chefs to join us--as both a way to keep things interesting and also to make things manageable for me (in terms of sheer volume of food preparation--I was working full-time during this whole process). Eventually I left BT amicably to pursue MSF full time and opened for a second day. We also introduced the charitable element, which I'll address later.
2. Do you see Mission Street Food as part of a new movement for eating out and do you see it being replicated in other parts of the country/world?
SF has already seen the emergence of gourmet street food or occasional restaurants, which is not surprising, given both the current economic climate and that it is a natural niche. I have a received a few emails from people interested in starting similar things, and asking for advice, so maybe. In terms of what we have called "an indie chef movement" though, I don't know because we are not even overwhelmed with interest by cooks.
3. If you had more resources available to you, what would you do?
I originally wanted fine dining experience to make good (technical) but affordable food in a chain setting with the profits going to charity. MSF was never intended as a realization of that goal--just a thing on my day off. As it grew in popularity we just added that charitable element. That said, I would love to expand, and in doing so, possibly start a movement in which charity is the next "green"--that is, a viable marketing strategy.
4. How do you select the non-profits you work with and why do you feel this is a vital part of what you do?
The specific non-profits are hunger related because it seems like a good resonance with a food business. Also, I don't know if we try to reinforce this line of thinking, but if it were like cancer research, a customer's donation might account for like 0.0000000001% of an eventual cure or progress, whereas with hunger it's like your meal just bought a family groceries for a week or something. Like I said though, we don't really talk about it because it seems maybe a little preachy.
5. Who and what inspires you?
I don't really know. I think being disappointed in a lot of things (like say sandwich shops in SF), or just seeing a lot of overrated things (like MSF has become) motivates me to try and do some of those things better. Maybe also the desire to do some kind of good, even if only an arbitrary one--you know ease the ol' conscience for living a cushy middle class American life while half the world suffers.
Posted by Ed Cotton