The Art of Balance

Balance. Yeah--can't stress this one enough. Art and Business...and in the new world Technology.  It's unlikely a single person is a master of these three regions,  but an organization can recruit and develop its staff with the balance of the Big three. Cultural awareness with operating prowess and an eye over the horizon in technology. Got art and no business people to execute on a high  level? Good luck. Then business needs to ride the right creative wind to sail it in the right direction....that's the art part, otherwise it'll collapse under its own bureaucratic weight. It's SO simple: Balance. Unfashionable and often viewed as esoteric...but reality in changing times to have it BALANCED. In a  similar way, great lasting bands are like that: Soulful expression and creativity, backed with a team of mo-fo's that work the system. Balanced. When the artists start trying to do the business part-not good. When the business team starts dictating the creative-Not good. A simple basic balance that keeps creative and business in check,  underscored with technology usually leads to the freedom of flexing with the culture without going off the deep end.

Look at who has it. Apple, especially in the Jobs era sure had---the art of their packaging and vibe with their obvious corporate muscle. Southwest Airlines,  especially when a Herb Kelleher was running it, gets it (actually I love studying their history--an exercise in balancing eccentricity with operational excellence. And for an airline!----Airlines once rooted in maverick but nowadays are among the most conservative operations around with immense challenges--The Southwest story is a remarkable one, for its combination of street smarts and sky efficiencies. these companies all had balance.

Look who lost it. MTV. Doesn't get any more obvious than that. One of the great brands hanging in on strong fumes, but the magic is....over.  When They launched the had a magic balance of eccentricity and business backbone.  Some record companies. I remember walking into labels and feeling this distinct intense street driven creative buzz...and then on another floor, an intense lawyer-driven business buzz. The buzzes seemed to be well defined and in harmony in their golden era. Nowadays a shadow of themselves,  and technology?  They've fought it rather than embraced it in the early era.   No Balance.

Time Compression. Things happen at an electronically inspired compressed rate. The most obvious is in our Internet world. You can go from cool to lame in days. Used to take years to lose "it."

The power of cool is critical just as the power of lame...and these terms affect EVERY demographic. Cool and lame ARE part of our culture's evaluation process...it's also something that happens because of actions. TRY too hard to be cool without getting why and you are lame. That’s part of the problem for some. TRYING to be cool but just not getting the "why." Unbalanced companies don't know the 'why.'

Timing: Having a feel for when to ride the wave and when to change the wave. Tricky because you can get lulled into complacency when things are going well, but the underground is about to explode into mainstream thinking. A balanced company has the mindset to keep things in sync naturally.

CLEARLY there's a massive cultural shift happenning...a new awareness on a mass scale, a 21st century version of the 60’s.  It is a mission that I hope is more people's mission. You can either take advantage of it and get in sync...or not. Living in omnivision--trying to figure it out. Living it.

In the big picture through creative, business and technical balance to achieve,  bending our culture in the shape of the future.