Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

ignore-everybodyWhile I have listed the gapingvoid blog as one of the websites that I visit, I doubt that many readers have visited the site.  Hugh MacLeod, the author of that site, is a marketer.  He has a hobby/profession as a cartoonist and usually illustrates those cartoons on the back of business cards, publishing them on his blog.

MacLeod has taken excerpts from some of his pithiest writings and illustrations from his blog and published a book, Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity, with his thoughts about creativity.  The concepts are MacLeod’s and expressed in his direct, earthy style.  The book is easy to read, totaling 40 chapters and 159 pages.  While I read the entire book, the chapters that I liked the most were:

Chapter 1 – Ignore everybody.  MacLeod states that the more original your idea, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.

Chapter 2 – The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be yours.  MacLeod maintains that the more the idea is yours, the more freedom you have to create something amazing.

Chapter 3 – Put the hours in.  This idea I have experienced many times in my career.  Most people who put the time in, succeed.  MacLeod states that stamina is important and it is only possible if it is well-managed.

Chapter 7 – Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.  Listen to your inner voice says MacLeod (he calls it the “wee” voice).    Your adult voice tries to tell you that it can’t be done.

Chapter 8 – Keep your day job.  MacLeod illustrates this point with his “Sex & Cash Theory.”  He states that creative people have two jobs.  One of them is sexy and creative.  The other job pays the bills.  He says you are more apt to succeed if you balance the need to make a good living while maintaining your “creative sovereignty.”

Chapter 9 – Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.  MacLeod states that creativity has been sacrificed in favor of promoting the interests of the “team player” and that “team players are not very good at creating value on their own.”

Chapter 10 – Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.  MacLeod states “you may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven.  But if you don’t make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.”  This chapter and chapter 3 are probably my favorites along with Chapter 17.

Chapter 17 – The world is changing.  “Some people are hip to it, others are not.  If you want to be able to afford groceries in five years, I’d recommend listening closely to the former and avoiding the latter.  Just my two cents.”  MacLeod provides an example as to how his former industry, advertising, started changing ten years ago and people thought the solution was to “work harder.”  It didn’t work.  MacLeod states that you have to be creative in order to navigate the world of the “New Realities.”  He also states that this applies not just to artists, writers, and CEO’s but to janitors, bus drivers, and receptionists too.

All in all, Hugh MacLeod has crafted an easy-to-remember, wise, experience-laden advice book on how to be creative and the importance of being creative.  If you are in the mode for a book to read on your next plane trip, buy it.  It might just get those creative juices flowing (again).

Subjects of Interest

EdTech

Higher Education

Independent Schools

K-12

Student Persistence

Workforce