Ask a child to draw something and you get a blank look. Ask for a purple animal and the ideas come pouring out.
I told Mari Reisberg that story early on, because it is the part of my work people least expect. A canvas, a fixed sequence, a set of questions: it all looks like a limit on creativity. In practice it is what lets a team stop saying “we do this” and start seeing who they are talking to. You can almost hear the clicks in the room.
Mari’s show is about the creativity in everyone, so we went wider than brands. We walked through the three steps I use. Recognition: I am a solo consultant looking for a CRM, and the first site says “the best tool for teams”. I am not a team, so I am gone, even if the product was perfect for me. Perception: what is it, and do I trust it? Being clever rarely helps. Projection: can I picture the switch, so I do not put it off until next week and never come back?
Then we left business behind. Why “what do you do?” is a bad question. The workshop rule where nobody introduces themselves, only a colleague, and has to brag about them, because it is easier to tell someone else’s story than your own. And the two-hour Thursday parties where every guest has to bring someone I have never met.
What we covered
-
Constraints as a creative engine
-
Recognition, perception, projection
-
Why clever rarely helps
-
Introducing a colleague, not yourself
-
Selling as a duty
-
Flow and the video game curve
A lot of people treat selling as the dirty part of the job. I don’t. If you are sure someone’s life will be better with what you offer, helping them see it is close to a duty. That takes no tricks and no Halloween deal. It takes a story that says, from where they sit: I see you, I get you.
