Lessons from "Abundance", Part 2
Finishing up on applying lessons from Thompson and Klein's book to your own work
Welcome:
Welcome back to State of Play!
Let’s finish our discussion of Abundance, what I learned from it, and how I’m applying it to my day to day.
Focus on Execution and Results
This is Part 2 of this series. Find Part 1 here
Invention is a beginning, not an end
Thompson and Klein spend a great deal of time toward the end of the book talking about the false notion that a “eureka moment” is the one thing that sparks change. Instead, they put forward that any moment of invention is but the beginning of a long process toward meaningful change. Executing day in and day out and moving toward mass implementation of new invention is the real key.
It’s easy to be excited about a campaign when it’s being proposed and you’re revving up for approval from finance. It’s easy to hype up a campaign with a great marketing concept and a celebrity attached. It’s really hard to be four months in to a project that’s proving difficult to nail down. It’s excruciating to try and work out contractual details with a b-list celebrity who was your third choice for the campaign after the deal fell through with the first two.
However, that’s where the real work is done. Everything is fun in the abstract, with endless doors of opportunity and no real challenges. As you begin to zero in on whatever you’re working on, the possibilities get slim. The compromises begin. The excitement from leadership dwindles. The pressure starts to build. Folks stop showing up to meetings and answering emails.
Usually, though, this is overcome. In my own work on campaigns, I find that the work is a roller coaster of emotion. There is a great deal of excitement in the beginning of the work, a malaise that takes place when finalizing scripts for approvals, a great anticipation as a shoot approaches, a feeling of dread that occurs when trying to work out all the logistics for said shoot, and a spark of excitement that occurs when you’re actually on set making work. This gives way to the endless stress and tinkering that happens during editing (“I think I remember we got this line with more excitement, can we look through the raw footage one more time to find that take?”), the joy of presenting work back to teams, and the tedious nature of trafficking work.
This leads to the final point. By the time you need to analyze the work and make an assessment on what to do to optimize it going forward, everyone is exhausted. It’s usually easier to just take some top line numbers, throw them in a deck to show how great you are, and call it a day.
Too often we move into whatever the next thing is without providing a proper analysis of our previous work. How can we expect to succeed in the future if we don’t know what has worked in the past? Additionally, how can we expect to move on from middling or continuously depreciating projects and efforts if we do not know that we are trending in the wrong direction?
Invention is great. Creation is great. The real work that will differentiate you comes in implementation, step-by-step and with continued focus. Don’t get too excited about an idea at the beginning and then fail to implement it as you go. Don’t forget to take the time to analyze what you’ve done and work to improve on it in the future.
Why should you care?: Thompson and Klein wrote an excellent book that shines a harsh but needed light on the inefficiencies in our government and what we need to do to solve for them. But the expertise they lay out is not limited in its application. There is plenty we can take away from the book. Apply some of these lessons and you will improve your life!
Have a great rest of your week!