Making it Happen in Creative Industries
The New Yorker published a piece by Jonah Lehrer that explores why we get a great idea when we do. It got me thinking about the ideas business, the article is absolutely worth a read, and you can read it here.
First intriguing part is where they describe how a study isolated brain activity in one region when an insight appears:
- “When the scientists looked at the data, however, they saw that a small fold of tissue on the surface of the right hemisphere, the anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG), became unusually active in the second before the insight. The activation was sudden and intense, a surge of electricity leading to a rush of blood.”
And then about this area of the brain:
- “A few previous studies had linked the area to aspects of language comprehension, such as the detection of literary themes and the interpretation of metaphors.”
Ok but then I thought how do you get to insight, any advice:
- “The insight process, as sketched by Jun-Beeman and Kounios, is a delicate mental balancing act. At first, the brain lavishes the scarce resource of attention on a single problem. But, once the brain is sufficiently focused, the cortex needs to relax in order to seek out the more remote association in the right hemisphere, which will provide the insight.”
Seems simple right, take a break after a sustained focused period and this could lead to the type of brain activity that would lead to an insight.
Advertising in many capacities remains an ideas business, the thinkers, the do-ers the smarty pants, the sophisticated and others are at the agencies thinking of great ideas to change their clients’ business. An over-simplification of course, but getting to a larger point about how great ideas are actually not rare and can be cultivated. For proof we can cite an article from Malcolm Gladwell titled “In the Air –Who says big ideas are rare.” In this article Gladwell talks about how it is actually common for those who came up with big scientific breakthroughs to have not been the only ones with this breakthrough, that many others around the world had the same epiphany at the same time.
Exactly what is rare sometimes is the effort, dedication and skill to make great ideas come to life. Or is that luck/chance in being in the right places at the right time. I have found two people writing about how they disagree: Seth Godin and Marc Andresson.
Let’s look more closely at Seth Godin’s post, first off, why focus on effort vs. luck:
- “I think we’ve been tricked by the veneer of lucky people on the top of the heap. We see the folks who manage to skate by, or who get so much more than we think they deserve, and it’s easy to forget that: a. these guys are the exceptions and b. there’s nothing you can do about it anyway.”
If it’s just effort then why doesn’t everyone just do it and why should I try it:
- “And that’s the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.”
Is there any scientific rational to this, yes there is but you must read the Andresson post on your own for that.
All this lead me to thinking that if you can demystify believing that a great idea is a coveted epiphany that might never come, to understanding that you can arrive at good thinking. The only piece missing is how to accelerate chances for success, which is where effort comes in. I urge all to take a look at the advice and research of Seth and Marc Andresson and see what results they have.
