On the Shoulders of Giants

"We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants."

—John of Salisbury

Two neighborhoods in my fair city, Washington, DC, take their names from giants we've all but forgotten.

Oliver Howard graduated from West Point in the 1850s and was sent to fight Seminoles. While encamped in the Everglades, he was "born again." His peers would forever after mock his piety.

An abolitionist, in 1861 Howard found himself leading Union troops at Bull Run. A year later, he lost his right arm at Seven Pines, but would return from the hospital three months later to fight at Second Bull Run and Antietam. In subsequent years, Howard led bluecoats into battle at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta and Savannah.

After the war, Howard was made commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau. He believed former slaves would most benefit from education, and in 1867 started Howard University in Washington.

Robert Shaw, the fair-haired son of a family of Boston abolitionists, dropped out of Harvard in 1859, uncertain how to spend his life. When the Confederate states seceded two years later, he enlisted in the Union army, soon reaching the rank of colonel.

While home convalescing from a wound received at Antietam, Shaw was tapped to organize the 54th Massachusetts, one of the North's first regiments of African American troops. Sent to South Carolina as manual labor, the regiment was soon chosen to spearhead an ill-fated assault on a Confederate fort outside Charleston.

In the attack, Shaw's exposed troops were shredded by artillery and musket fire, but their remnants managed to reach and scale the ramparts. During brutal hand-to-hand combat inside the fort, Shaw was killed.

The Confederate general in charge refused to return Shaw’s body to the Union army after the fight. To show his contempt for a white man who would lead black troops, the general tossed Shaw's body into a common burial trench. After the war, Shaw's family chose to leave their son's body there, his father remarking they couldn't wish for him better company.

While you wait in line for your latte, celebrate February 29, the bonus day of Black History Month, by Tweeting this post. Include the hashtag #ShouldersOfGiants.

Fish Story

Here's a story with a hook.

Skift reports SeaWorld's CEO, after denying his employees posed as animal rights activists to infiltrate PETA, has admitted to conducting a covert operation.

In a report to stockholders, Joel Manby acknowledged corporate spies were sent by SeaWorld "to maintain the safety and security of employees, customers and animals in the face of credible threats.”

But a PETA spokesperson says SeaWorld sent agents provocateurs to bait PETA's people.

“SeaWorld’s corporate espionage campaign tried to coerce kind people into setting SeaWorld on fire or draining its tanks, which would have hurt the animals, in an attempt to distract from its cruelty and keep PETA from exposing the miserable lives of the animals it imprisons,” Tracy Reiman said.

SeaWorld's spokespeople have clammed up, claiming further comment would disclose "confidential business information related to the company’s security practices."

SeaWorld has been angling to fix its damaged brand for three years, after the movie Blackfish sent park attendance reeling and put profits in the tank.

As a case study in floundering PR, this one's a keeper.

Creativity Carries a Big Stick

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club,” Jack London once said.

Creative problem-solving is a free-for-all, as creative problem-solvers know.

It's toilsome work that British psychologist Graham Wallas said, in his 1926 book The Art of Thought, unfolds in four stages:

Preparation. The problem-solver acts like a hunter/gatherer, finding and grabbing materials she can use to construct new ideas.

Incubation. The problem-solver takes an indefinite time out. "The period of abstention may be spent either in conscious mental work on other problems, or in a relaxation from all conscious mental work," Wallas says.

Illumination. The problem-solver arrives at the eureka moment. That moment, Wallas says, is "the culmination of a successful train of association, which may have lasted for an appreciable time, and which has probably been preceded by a series of tentative and unsuccessful trains."

Verification. The problem-solver hunkers down to serious work "in which the results of the inspiration are verified and the consequences deduced."

The four-fold process may be serial, but creative problem-solving isn't, Wallas says.

Creative problem-solving proceeds like music, with wandering and overlapping parts.

"In the daily stream of thought these four different stages constantly overlap each other as we explore different problems. Even in exploring the same problem, the mind may be unconsciously incubating on one aspect of it, while it is consciously employed in preparing for or verifying another aspect."

Poser = Loser

Authenticity isn't a strategy, says "hippie marketer" Tad Hargrave, so "stop trying to be so authentic."

Authenticity isn't a target or a tagline or a tone; and you can't get it by posing.

"There’s the old story of the archer who misses his shot because his eye is on the trophy he wants to win and not the bullseye," Hargrave says.

Forget authenticity. Aim, instead, for transparency.

If your organization is sales driven, be salesy. If it's tech focused, be geeky. If it's bureaucratic, be stately.

To win customers' trust, first trust yourself.

By playing a game of bait and switch, posers wind up losers.

Customers aren't gullible.

As Mad Man David Ogilvy said, "The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife.”

Where Do You Draw the Line?

Admirable work only results when creatives draw the line, Seth Godin says in his recent post, "Milton Glaser's Rule:"

"There are few illustrators who have a more recognizable look (and a longer productive career) than Milton Glaser," Godin says. 

"Here's the thing: When he started out, he wasn't THE Milton Glaser. He was some guy hoping for work.

"The rule, then, is that you can't give the client what he wants. You have to give the client work that you want your name on. Work that's part of the arc. Work that reflects your vision, your contribution and your hand.

"That makes it really difficult at first. Almost impossible. But if you ignore this rule because the pressure is on, it will never get easier."

Agency exec Bill Kircher (my former boss) used to spout similar adages when the pressure was on. I'll sum them up in a rule I'll call "Kircher's Law:"

Whenever an agency bows to a client's creative direction, the probability of later incrimination approaches 100%.

Although creatives are quick to cite their duty to themselves, the truth is, every professional shares the right to draw the line.

Remember the film The King's Speech? 

Early in the story, the therapist draws the line with a haughty Queen Elizabeth: "Sorry, this is my game, played on my turf, by my rules."

But with prerogative comes accountability. You can't have your kingly cake and eat it, too. 

Do you:

• Respect everyone, coworkers and clients alike?
• Arrive on site ready to work?
• Tackle chores that need to be done to stay in business?
• Avoid short cuts and excuses?
• Learn from mistakes?
• Consider how your decisions affect the company, not just your department or career?
• Speak truthfully and with the passion of an owner?

Do you—where do you—draw the line?