February 03, 2010
On Managing Creativity
I've worked now for over 12 years as a creative professional, for various companies both large and small, and I've had all kinds of bosses along the way. This will sound like a glossary from a Dilbert cartoon, but here goes. This is an 'at-a-glance' of all the bosses who have managed me in my career, and how they rate in my mind, now a bit hazy from the ravages of time–as well as the new bosses who have since taken their place on the great big wheel of industry and life.
Big, critical angry boss.
I have actually been this person myself, so perhaps it's apropos to begin here. The critical angry boss is smart about what will work and what won't, due to lots of life experience and some bumps on the head. Deep down inside is afraid of taking any chances, either because there isn't any room for mistakes, or resources are scarce, and so must drive towards a solution, often at the expense of innovation. This type of boss has a lot of pressure coming down from above which you might not see, but you will definitely feel. This type of boss can be great to have if they're on your side and you think (and communicate) in a similar language. They can tend to be prescriptive in their communication and not know how to best set up problems for creative types to solve in their own ways, instead opting to 'simplify' and provide what amounts to a recipe for their exact vision. This boss likes to sketch out their ideas and show you exactly what they mean, doing half of the creative job for you, and rendering you a mere pixel pusher (they don't know Photoshop, but are really amazing with PowerPoint).
Hyper-intellectual quiet boss.
This type of boss is a brilliant person who excelled in their function as an individual contributor, perhaps inventing a new product or process, or in some way distinguishing themselves in their role; at some point they are given the keys to an entire team to drive–after which they summarily disappear into their office, rarely to be seen or heard from again. The problem with this type of boss is that they have no social maturity or ability to understand team dynamics (they tend to be loners) and may ultimately still continue to behave as an individual contributor, albeit now with more authority and leverage. This type of manager will expect you to work highly independently, and may only provide feedback and direction on the occasion that it is given from higher up the chain. The hyper intellectual boss can come from a highly technical background whose expertise involves something extremely valuable to the company which is in some way related to the work you do, but in an extremely abstract and/or vague way. This type of boss will, over time, attempt to get better at team leadership, creative brainstorming, and other forms of management, but it will always seem like a giant act of desperacy. Ultimately this type of boss will eventually realize they are in the wrong role, and move back to the thing they are best at.
The Cool Boss.
I've had one boss who was so freakin' cool, I wished he was my dad. I still consider him a good friend. He managed the entire creative group at a television channel I worked at as a web guy back in the early 00's. Working for his team was an amazing experience, because he somehow knew how to get the best out of the ragtag crew of designers who were so diverse, and in many ways difficult, to communicate with. He gave us all enough rope to hang ourselves, and just before things got ugly, would know how to orchestrate the right solution, one that everyone had contributed towards, and one that was always the best symbiosis of the best - the truest - parts. I could write a book about working with this team, because I stayed at this company for 7 years.
I've had plenty of other bosses over the years, but this high level categorical representation gives me pause to know how lucky I am to have learned from some great managers, and even some who weren't so great - at how to encourage and promote creativity in corporate environments.
Posted by dsr at 10:49 AM
January 27, 2010
Cameron Sinclair on open-source architecture
Cameron Sinclair's motto is: "Design like you give a damn." He runs a architectural design firm, it's mission is to provide professional services to communities in need.
What strikes me the most isn't Cameron's passion to help people–this quality seems to be on the rise, especially in the design world, where people are more empowered to solve these types of human problems with innovative new ideas. The coolest thing about Cameron's approach is that he uses Open Source methodologies to attack the problem, by using the internet to procure design solutions, but also distribute them to localities, who take these ideas and implement them. This allows more to be accomplished with less; but more to the point, it allows local communities to participate at a highly functional level in managing their own destinies.
Thanks to the internet, Open Source is changing the world in some amazing ways. Due to the recent emergence of this new working philosophy, talented and passionate peers from around the world can collaborate simultaneously and solve big problems, which previously only companies and governments would ever have a chance to address-and in case you haven't noticed–they mostly don't.
The other thing I noticed is the distinction between architecture which is the product of an architect's "vision", who's aim is to produce a "gem", and Cameron's designs, which are produced with the community's benefit at the center of the idea–an almost inverse to how architecture is usually done. What I noticed is, this stuff looks cool despite the fact that aesthetic considerations aren't really the point. Through the process of making things that work on a basic human level, these approaches are also amazing to look at.
Posted by dsr at 10:08 AM
January 19, 2010
Ray Anderson on the business logic of sustainability
Inspired by Paul Hawken's "The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability," Ray Anderson completely retrofitted his carpet company in order to lead the way for big business and industry to take a hard look at reversing the decline of environmental impact caused by their businesses. Sustainability. A relatively new concept, but one which ancient people's have understood and practiced for centuries. "Take nothing, do no harm." It's an idea which is coming into fashion as even businesses like Wal-Mart have acknowledged the need (and even profitibiltiy) of going Green.
One of the most confronting ideas that Ray Anderson puts out there, at least to me, is the notion that "theft is a crime". Well, we all know that if you walk out of the 7-11 without paying for your Slurpee, you're doing something wrong, but the truly sad fact of the matter is, many of us don't have the same moral code about later dumping that empty container out the window on our way to the beach. At least not until fairly recent history in this country.
I'm reminded of a recent episode of the show "Mad Men," (the episode is called "The Golden Violin" in case you want to look it up on Hulu). The scene itself isn't very important to the episode, but one of the great things about this show are the finer details in between the larger themes. The scene is this: Don Draper takes his family on a picnic in the park, and it's a beautiful and calm moment. After they are done, Don chucks his empty beer can onto the grass. Betty, his wife, cleans off the picnic blanket by shaking all of the trash onto the ground. They all return to the car and drive away. It's both shocking and funny in a surreal kind of way. But it's also an unexpected commentary about the mess we've made due to our ignorance and laziness.
Big business has been operating like Don Draper for as long as Capitalism has existed; possibly longer. To say that theft is a crime, and to suggest that CEOs of large companies should be arrested and thrown in jail is a long overdue paradigm shift in attitude and belief. As people become more aware of climate change, and many of the other issues under that larger umbrella, companies are becoming increasingly aware that even though they might have been able to buy off the government, they can't fool consumers as they begin to factor these concerns into their purchasing decisions.
Another interesting concept is the idea of affluence itself. The old model has us polluting the environment more as we become more affluent, as a matter of course. Additionally, as technology becomes more advanced, this compounds the levels of destruction. Here is his chart:
The new model, on the right, has technology dividing, or cutting the amount of waste now that we are looking for ways to innovate and build sustainable businesses. Affluence no longer clogs the system with waste, it just means that people are happy. I'm no mathematician, but this is how I interpreted the diagram.
Personally, I am interested in expanding the notion of how we are all connected even further to include the resources themselves. Companies that make billions extracting fossil fuels from the earth, for instance, are in effect taking something which belongs to all the people of the world, not just Exxon. We all have a stake. "But Sean, isn't that SOCIALISM?" Maybe, maybe not. Could be it's time to get rid of these loaded words we use to tune out fairness and common sense, and start focusing on a new bottom line–the preservation of all our futures.
It's time to take these profits from the robber barons and use them to uplift the human race!
Posted by dsr at 01:27 PM
January 08, 2009
Songs About the News
Songs About the News is a new website I will be launching very soon. You can go to the site now and read about the concept. Myself and a few others are very excited about this idea and I can't wait to launch it into the world. Stay tuned...
Posted by dsr at 11:51 PM
November 30, 2008
Scriptographer - Javascript for Illustrator
Scriptographer is an amazing tool I've been playing with recently which gives you the ability to run javascript within Illustrator. What this allows you to do is write little scripts which will then generate illustrations either procedurally or in real-time with user input. There are a bunch already available on the Scriptographer website which show the pretty wide range of applications. I'm particularly intrigued by the tile maker script, which allows you to create interesting patterns which you then can paint with in real time. Here's an experiment I created today with a Spirograph script. The background is from a scanned watercolor illustration I made when I was in Kindergarten. I really think a tool like this pushes the envelope of what is typical these days and I look forward to posting more of my experiments soon.
Posted by dsr at 09:33 PM
November 20, 2008
Tenori-On. You Want One.
The Tenori-On is a new musical instrument that looks like a cross between a Light-Bright and Pong. There's a few dozen videos on YouTube of the thing in action, and frankly it looks like the only kind of video game that could ever possibly hold my interest. I could definitely envision abandoning my family for a few hours hooked up to this thing and not making it to dinner because I was stuck in a never-ending feedback loop of modulating my sequence beyond the need for cheeseburgers. I question whether any real musicians would find it useful in any serious musical application, only because it seems to lack any real depth or range, musically speaking. Everything it does sounds like itself, which while not necessarily a bad thing, sort of ends up being video game music at the end of the day. Still, if you're looking for a really fun, innovative way to bring music making into your home, the Tenori-On might just be your pet.
Posted by dsr at 10:14 AM
September 04, 2008
I went to Wasilla High School three years after Sarah Palin graduated. Holy Shit my brain just exploded.
I went to Wasilla High School in the 80s a few years after Sarah Palin graduated. It was a very traumatic experience that shaped my life. Wasilla is a very small town full of racist homophobic redneck "christians" who hated me because I wore an earring and wasn't a complete inbred backwoods dumb-ass. Nonetheless I got my ass kicked repeatedly and it was very cold and dark most of the time, but those two years gave me plenty of character, and I truly learned the power of ignorance. I ended up dropping out of high school...
Posted by dsr at 10:23 PM
June 06, 2008
GoObey?
I recently came across an old Wired page from 2003 profiling the pre-IPO days of Google. It's interesting to go back to those heady white-hot days and revisit one of the web's most successful companies before it's complete and utter dominance. Even more fascinating is Shep Fairey's re-design concept for Google's home-page. We're really grateful Mr. Fairey has stuck with t-shirts.
Posted by dsr at 09:34 AM
February 08, 2008
Cat Power Vs. David Lee Roth on Allmusic Blog
Checking my stats tonight and noticed that my mashup of Chan Marshall and DLR is getting mad hits! Thanks to Allmusic for getting the word out on my uh, brilliant concept.
:)
Read about it here
Posted by dsr at 01:14 AM
January 29, 2008
Sorry I lied.
I neglected this thing for a whole year. I promise, 2008 will be way better on the blog front. In the next few weeks I'll post my top 10 favorite records for 2007. Stay tuned.
Posted by dsr at 03:42 PM
December 29, 2006
More frequent blog updates in 2007
One of my new years resolutions this year is to not be so neglectful of the blog. Therefore, in the coming months, expect more frequent postings with higher quality writing on more interesting subject matter. To begin, I thought I'd share my Flickr and Delicious addresses so you can see my latest photos and places I've traveled on the web. Enjoy!
Posted by dsr at 10:47 AM
March 31, 2006
Peach Pilot
It's been awhile since I posted in the blog, and a lot of change has occurred in my life over the past year. Since pictures speak louder then words, I thought I might start things out with a photo of my new baby daughter, Minette Camelia Strahan-Ross, who is now 5 months old. Here she is, the Peach Pilot.
Her teeth are starting to come in, so we have good days and bad days with the mouth pain. She loves to grab onto Frank the cat (he tolerates her, which is very sweet the way he ducks and freezes, clearly in pain but also so accepting of her babiness in the way he allows it)... She laughs when I zerbert her tummy, a kind of gleeful kackle most of us grownups have grown incapable of. I learn an amazing amount from her each and every day, and I want to absorb every second and every drop of it - nothing renders more clearly the incessant forward momentum of time then the experience of having a baby.
I've been working from home this last year in order to be more available for my family during this time, and it's truly been an amazing experience. I've been very fortunate to have several great clients who have kept my bills paid and the work flowing, while allowing me to take naps with Min, walk the dog, and also be more available for my 13 year old son, Gabe. I'm now beginning to look for work outside the house again, which I didn't think I would want so soon. I suppose I'm less of a hermit then I thought. I've grown to miss working with people more closely and in person, and being a part of a larger organizational structure.
On the work front, I broke down (there wasn't very much resistance at all, really) and purchased a new MacBook Pro last month. I'm especially fond of the built in iSight camera, which allows me to take great impromptu photos of the baby as well as interesting self-portraits. Although we have several great digital cameras, there's something revolutionary about having one built in to your laptop and at the ready all the time without having to think about it. One of the best features of the built in software, PhotoBooth, is the great distortion filters which allow you to act like a moron with style and grace, kind of like a built in fun house mirror. Here's some examples of Gabe and I. Enjoy!
Posted by dsr at 12:33 PM
July 20, 2005
David Lynch Launches Foundation for World Peace
I love David Lynch, probably more then any other artist in history, save the Beatles. When I read that he was promoting the art of meditation, I thought it was the weirdest thing to try to wrap your head around. If you've seen his movies, you know he travels pretty far into the depths of depravity, the dark side of the human soul, etc. - the conclusion that one might reach is that he's probably a guy with some skeletons in his closet, or at the very least, some "issues". But I'm willing to bet he's more mentally stable then a lot of us. I, for one, would love to be part of a global "peace creating super-group", as crazy as that might sound. Sign me up.
Here's the story, courtesy of the SF Gate
Director David Lynch is launching the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace tomorrow which will fund transcendental meditation classes and research into the effects of yoga on body and mind.
The "Blue Velvet" filmmaker is convinced he can alleviate the world's suffering by teaching society about the 47-year-old Hindu chanting technique and its founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The 59-year-old hopes to raise $7 billion within a year, which will go towards forming "peace-creating super groups of 8,000 meditators" around the globe, to make people calmer, less anxious and more intelligent.
He tells Web site Page Six, "This is not a pretend thing. Our government spends seven times that on killing, calling it defending, and making machinery and technology to kill human beings in the name of peace.
"But today's students are even more stressed out. Their schools are hellholes. They're getting pathetic educations. They're not going forward with full decks of cards.
"But when they meditate, they will start shining like a bright, shiny penny, and their anxieties will go away. By diving within, they will attain a field of pure consciousness, pure bliss, creativity, intelligence, dynamic peace. You enliven the field, and every day it gets better. Negativity recedes."
Posted by dsr at 08:07 PM
June 22, 2005
spooky bonus
it is sometimes neccesary to take bad pictures of yourself in the bathroom mirror. in haunting red light, with sunglasses on. and holding a dried blowfish as well. and then post them on the internet.
Posted by dsr at 01:13 AM
June 08, 2005
Secrets
This post is dedicated to my dad, who had a heart attack last Friday at the age of 65. He is having open heart surgery tomorrow.
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/
Posted by dsr at 12:04 AM
April 30, 2005
testing... is this thing on?
I'm finally back up and running, this time with no password protection. I figure there's not much point in keeping this private, after all that's what my thoughts are for and a blog is for sharing. People have been asking, so when can I read your blog? So, without further ado, here you go. I hope it's not a disappointment.
Posted by dsr at 07:39 AM
