Projectile Creativity

You know what’s really funny? Watching people in your office run the distance of five cubicles to get to a meeting – all to save seven seconds of time. There are so many better things you can do in seven seconds.

You can blink about 17 times. You can stare longingly out the window at the sunlight and the skyscrapers. You can decrease the elevation of your office chair. You can scratch your face. You can laugh. You can cough, sneeze, crack your knuckles, take a sip of coffee, zone out, stare at the person in the cubicle next to you, eavesdrop on the conversation in the cubicle in front of you, and you might have enough time to think about writing an email. The point? If you think about it, seven seconds isn’t a lot of time to get anything “productive” done.

So why are people running?

They say, “Oh, you know. It’s urgent.” Hmmm.

It’s hard to describe the expression on people’s faces at work. Their faces are flushed with panic, anxiety, misery, and an intense desire to just get the job done right for their clients. There’s hope. I think that deep down, they like media.

Why else would they be running?

And so my journey begins. I’ve set myself on a challenge of transforming our New York office into a place where creativity can breathe. Right now, it’s like a heavy fog lingers over the agency.
It reminds me of forest fires in Florida. On the main highway that runs through the center of the state, forest fires ravage the roadside. Drivers crawl by, inching through the thick smoke. What’s interesting is that they never just stop, give up, turn around and say, “Oh well, I didn’t really want to go to work/visit my friend/pick up my children from school.”

No matter what, they get to their destination. In media, our destination is the work we create. The ideas we give life. But how can our work have life if our vision is so obscured by smoke?

And that’s why I’m here. My “plan” is to lift the angst from the faces of people who have the potential of being great. Because I think the agency I work for is great. There’s an energy obscured by an inability to channel fun into stunning media. And somehow, I’m going to fix that. Stay tuned. This could be fun.