Donny-boy

I've worked with Don Hunter at Sycamore Hills Golf Club for five years. He's run the club and has been the face and heart of the operation. He's moving on to another opportunity shortly. He will do well there, too, no doubt.

As we talked recently, I shared what he had that worked so well. He has a rare combination of talents, skills and attributes. He is high-energy, determined, hardworking and creative.

I believe what puts him over the top in performance is his creativity. Having all that energy, enthusiasm and people skills; then combining it with the creative juice to solve or create something that makes everybody happy is fantastic.

A rare talent. Thanks, Don, for making everyone feel better about themselves and enjoy their lives a little more. Time to enjoy your life even more!

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com

Creativity needs contraints

Way back when I had hair and was a musician, the goal for any rock and roll songwriter was to write a hit song.

A hit song had its constraints:

It had to be approximately three minutes long
It needed a "hook" or a catchy chorus
It needed an instrumental introduction (so the radio deejay could speak over it when introducing the song)

If you didn't do the above, you weren't going to have a hit. For example, there have only been a handful of hit songs that were longer than three and a half minutes (Hey Jude, Roundabout and Bohemian Rhapsody come to mind).

You'd think that these constraints would hamper creativity. The opposite is true. Those guidelines allowed songwriters to focus in on their songs and they forced the creative ideas to conform to a structure while at the same time still retaining their originality. That's not easy, but it is inspiring when it happens.

That's what we have to do in our business lives: work within a system while still creating breakthrough ideas and concepts. Beethoven had to create symphonies that had four "movements" and Bob Dylan had to keep "Blowin' in the Wind" to three minutes long.

We have to realize the same in our businesses and not stop until we create something great.

Barry LaBov
LaBov and Beyond
www.labov.com
www.labovsaleschannel.com

Creative doesn't cost more

Look around at the advertising, marketing and training work that's going on around us. Some of it is great, fresh, and makes an impact. Then there's the other 95% of what we see every day--competent, status quo, mediocre, unoriginal, derivative, etc.

It doesn't have to be that way. Just because a manufacturer makes a seemingly unexciting product doesn't mean we have to create mediocre marketing strategy and execution.

Great ideas don't cost more--they don't take more time, they take more heart and more engagement.

Don't fall for the "we don't have enough budget to be creative" line. Almost every brand, product or situation can have inspired solutions. It takes only a few things: a client that is willing to be bold and a supplier with heart.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Why Ideas are Not Like Potato Chips...

The old Lay's Potato Chips commercial with Jay Leno had a tag line. After he did his best to convince you to eat as many chips as you want, he ended with: "Don't Worry We'll Make More." Basically, the message was--take what we made, no big deal. That's true for things like chips, cars, motorcycles, etc. But it isn't true for ideas or concepts.

If you manufacture jets, you need to protect your design, your technology and such. If you don't protect those concepts, plans and ideas, you'll soon have nothing unique to sell.

The same goes for ideas or concepts that service companies sell. If you're in the business of manufacturing ideas, they need to be protected just the same. If you allow anyone to take original ideas from you, then soon you'll have nothing to sell.

There's a good reason why cars have their logos on their hoods or grills. It let's all know who created it. That's why an original concept has a trademark next to it.

Barry LaBov
President, LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com
LaBov Sales Channel
PB&J Newsletter

Ideas - don't stop when you're ahead

Keith is a buddy, as well as a business partner, of mine. He has a pet peeve. He hates - yes, hates - when creative people settle for the first good idea that comes into their mind. He's right.

It's been proven that we just don't know when a great idea will come into our head - it may be the first one, it may be the 200th one. One thing we do know is that if we only go far enough to get the first one we like that we'll rob ourselves of a lot of our best ideas.

When our company does a brainstorm session, we'll come up with at least 100 ideas to solve an issue. I admit that 60 or so of them may stink. But, then again, how do we know if we have the best idea until we wade through the murky mediocrity to get to some gems?

We were tasked with creating a slogan for a company. After a half-dozen sessions and more than 250 ideas, we settled on a list of five favorites. Where did they come from? One of them was in the first 10 we came up with. A couple were at No. 33 and No. 77 ; another was at No. 90, and the final one was our 177th idea. You never know when or where your best idea will come from.

Don't settle for the first one you like. It's probably not the best.


Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
www.labov.com