Name: Orbiting the Giant Hairball
Rating: 4 (13 reviews)
Author: Gordon MacKenzie

What’s in it for me? Rediscover your creative genius.

Do you sometimes wonder where your creativity has gone? Maybe you were once a hugely imaginative child, always busy drawing, playing, inventing stories or crafting crazy objects, but now that you’ve finally earned yourself a “creative” job, the artistic ideas just aren’t flowing.

The good news is that your creativity isn’t dead, you just need to free it.

Unfortunately, however, it’s being held hostage by a giant hairball of corporate regulations, guidelines and practices trying to make you normal – too normal to be creative. These blinks tell you all you need to know about that hairball, including how to escape it without leaving your company altogether.

You’ll also find out

about a bunch of hypnotized chickens;
what’s so great about being foolish; and
how a creative company is a bit like a dancefloor.

Everyone is a creative genius, but society suppresses this talent.

Are you an artist? Well, if you don’t make paintings or write poetry, you might be inclined to say no. But don’t be so quick to dismiss this possibility. In truth, every one of us is born a creative genius.

Undisciplined children make rash decisions, diving spontaneously into risky situations and saying and doing whatever they like. They are driven purely by curiosity and innocent desire. These childhood tendencies are an expression of creative genius at the core being of every person. Everyone is born with this blissful “foolishness” that leads us to discover and evolve.

However, lots of people fear that a society of “fools,” that is, one made up of people who follow their creative genius, can never function. So, they stifle their creativity in an attempt to be “normal.” This makes perfect sense from a societal perspective. After all, “fools” are seen as impulsive, unpredictable rule-breakers, and the enforcement of strict social norms is about protecting society from this unpredictability.

Unfortunately, such protection also suppresses creative genius.

For example, on many occasions, the author asked children from different grades if they considered themselves to be artists. When he asked first graders, they would all enthusiastically raise their hands, but when he got to the second graders, about half would identify themselves as artists. By the time he reached the sixth graders, only one or two kids would raise their hands.

So, we can see that society suppresses creativity. But we can do something about it.

To break open the full potential of our creative genius, or if you prefer, our foolishness, we have to stop aiming for normalcy and stand up to the rules that enforce it.

Corporations are giant hairballs that pull us into their web of standards and procedures.

Can you remember the last time you bought a greeting card? Well, chances are it was made by Hallmark. After all, the company is a household name around the world. And like the majority of corporations, Hallmark is also a huge hairball of corporate normalcy.

In 1910, when Joyce Clyde Hall set out to start his “social expression company,” there wasn’t a single comparable business around. Hall had to write his own rules.

Avoiding the giant hairball means orbiting around it.

Have you ever been given a so-called “creative” assignment that required you to use a particular material, format and color scheme?

If so, you know this is exactly what “creating” is not. Rather, creating is the act of producing something truly original, totally unobstructed by procedures and guidelines. And to engage in such creative work, it’s essential to avoid being snagged by the hairball, which is solely made up of how things used to be.

Companies should ditch the job descriptions and set their employees free.

Nobody likes hanging out in small, enclosed spaces. So why do corporations hold on to job descriptions that serve as nothing more than restrictive cages?

Granted, the container was an amazing invention. For instance, our ancestors needed water to survive, but it was risky to venture out of their caves for a drink. So, they looked for something to hold their water inside the caves and the container was born.

Key ideas in Orbiting the Giant Hairball