Chaotic creative - seeks partner with ordered mind.

Tell people that having a chaotic mind is a great idea. Tell them in a two and a half minute video. Tell them when your name is Malcolm Gladwell and you have a viral hit.

The gist of this popular little piece is that for creative people, chaos is good. Hoarding ideas for the future, is good. Serendipity is good. Malcolm tells you why:

The problem kicks in when you do not have a major book deal like Mr Gladwell. Clever individuals with less income than creative superstars are being shaken out of businesses into freelance and solo roles in the knowledge economy. And they are finding that they have to be two very different kinds of people: a chaotic creative person and a highly ordered manager - at the same time.

The essential stress and strain that used to happen between departments can now happen inside one brain. It's a big problem for creatives who work on their own.

Maybe the biggest truth of our time is that it is, as Richard Florida would say, a Great Reset. Outmoded forms of organisation are coming under strain. But the ultimate outcome won't be individuals working on their own. New forms of creative business structure are bound to emerge. The ones that will succeed will get the best from chaotic ideas connectors and from highly ordered managers - working together. A great model for a robust undertaking could be a group of creatives in partnership buying in the time of trusted administrators for the whole jointly-owned enterprise. Then brand it. We did that back in 2004 to create redbrand - and in the light of experience I would still  create something very similar if we were starting out today.

The trick for such a business is adaptability. For the individual, if you are a creative soul, it's not to waste your time doing invoices. Now, I must get back to finishing my tax return.

Pride - it's about being there.

The end of a tour should be a sad affair - all a bit rock and roll. It should be like a disbanding a ship's crew at the end of an exciting voyage. So it was with CIPR PRide Awards in Newcastle just before the holidays. It was sad because after more than forty Pride shows to date, this season has been the very best so far.

Our audio-visual crew covered many miles. Starting out in what seemed like an Indian Summer, we ended up in the Big Freeze. But what really made a difference this time was seeing eleven places in a way I had never quite seen them before.

It's too easy to say that the cities of the UK have all become homogenised - that they look the same with the same retail brands, the same vibe, the same issues. Well, it's just not so. The concerns about the economy may be common to many, but everywhere - is different.

That local difference is what makes Pride so special for us. Communicators in the regions and nations know their patch. They know the people and the place - and the nuance. It's what enables professionals in the regions to go out and bat so successfully for clients and causes. Local knowledge, local skill, local pride - that message really came home this year.

I'm going to reflect on what makes each region absolutely unique and blog it soon. In the meanwhile thanks to everyone, in every place we visited, for their help, warmth, hospitality - and congratulations!

There's a PS: redbrand was delighted to be not only the a/v production team but also a national sponsor of the awards. B2B sponsorship in the context of Pride is an opportunity that's second to none. Blog coming soon to tell you exactly why we find it so.

Anthony Veitch , Producer and voice, Pride 2010.

Pride is at: www.cipr.co.uk/content/events-awards/pride-awards-2010

Thanks to Geoff at Pic-Biz for use of photography www.pic-biz.co.uk