Being the Most Clever Girl in the Room is Not Enough
While having a conversation with a fellow blogger on Twitter, I asked her how she came up with the name for her company. In her response, I remarked upon how creative I thought she was and said,
“Creativity is who gets there first
”
Huh?
I’m not quite sure where those words came from. When did such a thing become a mission of timeliness instead of genius? Or, is it both? Is creativity more about being lucky or opportunistic?
Side note: Yikes. There goes another one of those long winded rhetorical questions. Debate at will once you finish reading this post.
Being the cleverest person at the table helps very little when the idiot next to you manages to shout what he/she heard you reciting in the company restroom. And, this is only because they said it first. No one cares if they thought of it first. Being first is particularly appealing nowadays because being last only makes you late.
And, being late doesn’t get you anywhere besides a soggy cry-fest in the restroom.
The tactile business of usurping ideas is fraught with many unfortunate casualties. One can understand the obvious difference between someone who can think of something new to do versus someone unabashedly taking over an idea as their own. At the end of the day, what does it matter as long as the execution takes place?
How important is it to be creative if you can’t (or won’t) produce?
Secondly, while I believe myself to be a creative person, I am not sure if I’m “productive” enough for execution. I have lots of ideas. I’m probably pursing .02% of them. Does that make me unambitious (or lazy)? Perhaps.
And while that is happening, somebody with balls-of-titanium-steel gumption develops sticky finger syndrome and snatches up everything I worked so hard to “think” about.
Perhaps, I’m fooling myself because the clever person is not necessarily me: it’s the producer. So what if s/he has have to work harder because they’re dealing with a “creative” handicap?
It doesn’t matter. Because from the get go, they’re working a lot smarter than I am.
They have the common sense to recognize a good idea and run away with it.
Literally.
Raven,
As always my friend, fantastic post! Sadly, I have to agree with your statement that sometimes, “Creativity is who gets there first.” However, it does not mean that your chance to execute an idea that you have been “thinking” about is long gone. Life is full of second chances. Think about AOL. They were the first big Internet company out there and then other companies came along and blew them away. You can’t give up on your dreams just because someone got happened to get there first. Even though you may feel vulnerable be willing to take the risk and build upon your idea that someone else executed.
Excellent post!
Thanks for the kudos LaTosha. You make an excellent point. Life is made up second, third and fourth chances. You may miss your opportunity the first time around, but as long as you willing to execute (read: try) then your chances to produce something is infinite. I suppose I wanted to point out that when are spending your time thinking of all the great stuff you could do and NOT DOING IT. Eventually, someone is going to come around and scoop up your “hard thought” ideas and do it themselves.
Writer Babe- the creative person will (eventually) prevail over the thief. Also, you probably take for granted how much you produce- and it’s high quality- compared to frauds who just milk off of truly creative people.
You are awesome, don’t doubt yourself.
@Poor Lucky Me
Interesting. Do frauds get caught? I guess so… eventually. But, if this is such a common notion – why do the thieves(er..producers?) insist on doing it? Perhaps people are much more interested in the short term gains of ill-gotten creativity instead of trying to be truly innovative themselves. Thanks for the kudos…being awesome is truly inspiring…
Raven, I’ve had this post starred in my reader for a while now, and I’m glad I finally got around to reading it. Unfortunately, clever often does trump creative. I think part of it might be that the creative people spend so much time developing an idea and making it the best it can be, and that’s the most important thing. But, sometimes the one who gets there first doesn’t end up the winner because they haven’t done their research. If it comes down to developing the idea into something great, the creative one has the edge. Great post!
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You’re right. I love hearing your insights…
That’s an interesting point about the research. If you don’t check your facts, then you really can take a great idea and ruin it.
The clever person is the one who strikes an alliance between the creators & the executors. Each should focus on their strength & feel secure in their allies’ strength, the creator, the mediator, & the producer. The triune synergy generated by this cooperative union would see that the “balls-of-titanium-steel gumption”(Your writing is an inspiration) with the intelligence & intuition to use it, be used for the benefit of all. Further more, the fruits of this union would be infinite as long as the mutual faith & respect of the allies held true. Enter the political & empathic strength of the mediator.
Since ancient times there have been tales of the power of the 3 points in union, the triangle, the pyramid, the multi-level marketing company, the corporation. It permeates our very social structures & religions! I prophesy you will experience the blessing of finding your allies, if you keep focusing on your strengths.
1st time comment here. I love your flavor. Keep servin it up. -Word-
I hope to see more of you around TWS in the future…your thoughts are interesting and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read!
Intellectual honesty demands that the person who brings your idea into being acknowledges your role in proposing a novel idea.
Many creatives posess – like you and I – an overabundance of ideas that they can’t possibly expend effort into implementing.
But if we – and others – are to remain willing to share those ideas for the better collective good, then it beholds those who chose to develop them to at least credit their creator.
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