Category — Thinking Differently

Clearing out the kitchen cupboard where I throw all my papers this week, I came across an IBM proposal dated November 1997 outlining how they could help me with the Customer Information Programme I was running at the time - for a mutual organization as it happens.  As I’m a great believer in serendipity, I had to wonder why this particular document had suddenly decided to reveal itself?

Flicking though its pages the names of the wide variety of people I worked with so closely on that ground breaking work brought back memories: the collaborative mix of IT and business skills; the innovative ideas from outside that we shaped to our own business needs; the smiles and tears, success and politics.  Some names, I still know well others I’ve completely lost touch with.  However, I’d like to thank Merlin Stone, Andrew Law, Derek Starling, Pete De’Giovanni, Chris Atkinson, Kate Lennard, Leslie Ross, and Alistair Stevenson for all their support and guidance.  The results of the work we did ten years ago has travelled the world and been the base of good CRM practices in many companies.

And if you’re goggling your names and find this, and we’ve lost touch, do send a hello, I’d like to tell you what happened to all our ideas!!

Whilst William Blake campaigned to free people’s imaginations from the slavery of command and control authority (see below),  his acolyte Samuel Palmer envisioned the warmth, harmony and intimacy of community.  Like Blake, he was not successful in his lifetime,  again because he did not market his work well,  but his early Shoreham and later art still has the power to reach out to us today.   His early work could well have been the inspiration for Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings; whilst his later paintings are worth studying for what they say about the importance of environment and community values to our well being.

Use examples of his work in innovative brain storming session on improving staff experience.

Art has been a key medium for ‘change’ in past centuries, so art history makes you realize that there is little new in the world.  Whatever we are trying to do,  someone has probably attempted before,  thereby providing a source of learning.  I was reminded of this on a visit to Cambridge  this week to study William Blake and Samuel Palmer - artists of the Romantic era who lived through the last huge economic change, from agricultural to industrial society.

Blake was a social visionary reacting against the deductive rationalism of  Isaac Newton and the Enlightenment.  A way of thinking that reduced everything objectively to it’s smallest part to be analysed,  but which often seemed to miss the bigger picture;  and, more importantly discouraged people from using their imaginations; cutting them off from their emotions.  Not so different then to the way businesses today have reduced everything down to a process and forgotten the need for spontaneity, relationships and experiences.

Blake’s answer was to take familiar stories of the day,  from the Bible,  Dante, and Bunyan  and rework them in ‘art’ to criticise ‘poor practices’ whilst demonstrating good ones.  The irony is that whilst his work was mainly overlooked in his time,  quite possibly because he was a bad networker and did not market well, his ideas to inspire imaginative thinking and individual spirituality are taking centre stage again in 21st century business .

The Tate in London has an art room where you can take a party to look at a small set of requested paintings - the staff are very knowledgeable.  A good way to inspire some creative thinking for your 2008 plans - and just what Blake wanted to achieve.

“Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.” 

If you are feeling down, need some inspiration or just need to count your blessings listen to The Sunscreen Song, by Baz Lurhmann.