Smashing just posted one of the most important pieces I’ve ever read about the creative process, and how it’s supported (or not) by structure. If you’re interested in creativity in any kind of corporate or organisational sense, this is an essential read. It’s also by turns witty, fun and sad.

Check it out by clicking here. Now I’m off to read more from it’s author, Speider Schneider.

This is part of an ad campaign put out by Levi’s called Go Forth. Some of their other recent efforts are more conceptually cluttered, to say the least. But this one is remarkably compelling.

Recently there was a case of a baseball empire making a bad call that cost a pitcher his perfect game. (I’m not going to link to it, or research names. Baseball fans will know the story way better than I do, and non-baseball fans won’t care about it, which is the camp I’m in.) The ump apologised publicly and apparently privately to the pitcher, and by all accounts there was peace.

Some took this an object lesson in apologising, manning up, etc. For me though, and for where I’m at, the most important part of this is that someone has got to make the hard call. The call may not be right every time. It might not be popular. But there would be no progress if there was no decision. So when it’s up to you, be afraid, count the cost, prepare your apologies if necessary, but make the hard calls.

I’m sort of an automotive nut. I read a lot of magazines, I follow automotive blogs, and talk to people who are wired about cars. I particularly appreciate older models. Somewhere along the line someone said that if you’re going to restore a classic you’d better love that car. If you don’t really love it, you won’t finish it. Craigslist is full of disassembled projects that people lost interest in. It’s easy to get distracted at any stage of the major undertaking, and find something else that’s more appealing, less work, or to simply get disheartened just give up on the whole thing. That same concept applies to a whole lot of things in life.

Sometimes it’s amazing how much energy it takes to make one incremental difference. And just because you achieved one step, that doesn’t mean that the next increment is going to be easier. Perhaps eventually they will, but not necessarily. You have to be realistic about that investment. Don’t look too far in the future or you will become overwhelmed. You need to establish small goals and celebrate their achievement.

You can only do this if you’re doing something that’s connected with the core of who you are. (Of course, that means you need to know that about yourself which is an investment in and of itself.) And you need to surround yourself with people that will keep you honest, humble, and driven. Using those people to help establish and celebrate the increments is a really good idea.

The revolution that you’re trying to start, lead or shape is worth the investment. Line it all up, and make it happen. When you’re done, you’ll end up with something that will appeal to a whole lot more people than it does now. Even if it’s a weird-looking, quirky contraption, it’ll be better with no rips in the seats, a fresh coat of paint and it’s running smoothly.

My first exposure to Emiliana Torrini’s music was the Inspired by Iceland video. (Warning: brief nudity alert!) I like that video, but it dawned on me that what I like most about it is the song. It didn’t take me long to find the official music video, and I think it is a much better match.

This tune is great fun, but there’s something haunting in its periphery. It’s like a dream that just became self-aware, and that gives it a desperate edge. It seems to know that it has to glean absolutely everything it can out of the three minutes it’s alive. But I could listen to this song for half an hour and let Emiliana unpack all of the sounds of the jungle drum. In my head, I still am…

Human nature tends toward isolation. We tend to hold grudges, to become righteously indignant, to break ties and burn bridges. I see this repeatedly even in how the church talks about fellow members of the body. Those with similar views are are rarefied paragons. Those holding a dissenting opinion are dangerous villains.

It’s much easier to throw stones than it is to hold fast to community. We’re called to build our entire network out of love. But most often the authors, the pundits, the artists, the musicians and the bloggers create because they have an axe to grind. In fact, viewed through that lens this post might even be seen to fit into that human nature agenda. So to ward that off, let me say go on record that finding dissension is missing the point. Our fight is to love, to bring harmony, to inspire unity, to effect peace. I have an axe to grind with everyone out of sync with that. There are myriads.

If you want to create an atmosphere of safety, you can’t start with safety as a motivation. Safety as a motivation won’t tolerate risk of any kind. When danger becomes intolerable, then smaller and smaller risks become greater and greater problems. No-one can ask questions. No-one can address issues. No real conversations exist. No real relationships either. Nothing is allowed to disturb the artificial peace. When safety is the ultimate goal, no-one will ever be safe. Everything dies by default.

But if everyone is encouraged into healthy, appropriate and necessary risk, then safety can happen. Grace can abound in a place where each person is responsible to speak their minds, to exercise their callings, to simply try stuff. Then we all learn to moderate our expectations, to allow for people bumping into us as we bump into others, to learn from both good and bad experiences. Everything comes to life!