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.
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