Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars has a great line in his hit song “Uptown Funk.” The line is “Don’t Believe Me? Just Watch!” This line makes me think of all the people who have been counted out, disregarded, or marginalized because they didn’t follow the “established set of rules.” They have been called names like strange, odd, different, or a little off. A kinder statement is they are a free spirit.
Well, many of these free spirits create their own path, dance to their own music, trust, and follow their own set beliefs. They are confident, not arrogant, in their ability; they are risk-takers, but not reckless. They see a problem or as many free spirits call it, an opportunity. They study and research why there is an issue with the current method, collaborate with other like-minded people to determine if and how a different approach will improve the situation, and then most importantly, they take action. These free spirits are innovators or a new term, designers in the truest sense of the word.
I love the term designers. I recently read “Designing Your Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans who wrote:
Designers imagine things that don’t yet exist, and then they build them, and the world changes. Designers believe in radical collaboration.
In other words, they seek organizations like THE TAG TEAM, to develop strategic alliances and relational capital to investigate and try to do what hasn’t be done or design a completely new way to drastically improve a process or industry. They look at the established best practice and often say, “I see what you are doing, but what if we did this?” Don’t believe me, look at Starbucks, Apple, Google, Amazon. They didn’t invent coffee shops, or technology, or search engines or logistics. What they did was design a better more intuitive and convenient customer experience. They changed the world.
They don’t worry about perfection, because perfection never happens. Instead, they focus on continuous improvement.
Designers aren’t afraid of failure. In fact, they view what most of us call failure as one step closer to success. They start the project, test and challenge the progress, make adjustments, and keep moving forward. They don’t worry about perfection, because perfection never happens. Instead, they focus on continuous improvement. Unlike many major corporations or established organizations, they don’t milk their product or solution. Why is this important? I have been involved with far too many people or organizations that once they find initial success, they get lazy. They turn their focus to attacking their competitors or hyping themselves with marketing/branding propaganda.
Our free-spirited innovators/designers continue to make their product or solution better to the point where there is no other viable alternative. Their solutions are not just what the customers do or buy it is what they are. For example, Harley Davidson customers are Harley Davidson. They will wait longer and pay more because they are Harley Davidson. There is no other option. The same is true with Apple from Macs to iPhones, to iPods to “iEverything.”
We have all heard the saying: There are people that make things happen; people that watch things happen; and people that wonder what happened. These free-spirited, innovators/designers are the people who make a major impact in the world or their industry. They believe none of us are in this alone. The secret to walking on water is to know where the rocks are, and they are finding the rocks.
You know what and who I am talking about. I am willing to bet I am talking about you. Call me. Let’s talk.
A “free spirit” is a person who owns his shares, who thinks and decides for himself without letting himself be influenced by society. A person who is not a product of social engineering but takes over the reins of his life and takes responsibility for his actions. He knows how to enjoy solitude, which is a sine qua non for introspection, and also allows us to take the psychological distance necessary to find our true “I” under so many social strata. Listen with an open mind, but then evaluate and decide for yourself. He has the necessary strength and courage to challenge a society that does everything to make people adapt to pre-established patterns.
It is free individuals who attempt intellectual progress, even if in reality they are more insecure and weak, since they have to demonstrate “new things”, more just opinions: in essence they are detached from tradition. And this happens with luck and success but also and above all with many short-term failures, which will then turn into permanent successes, if indeed the “free spirit” was right.
Thank you Darlene. I received your information and will provide some sample talking points for your appearance on my radio show.
I live continuous improvement! Thanks for sharing the value of doing so Frank.
blessings,
Cynthia
Frank, welcome to the BIZCAT family. Just as @DarleneCorbett stated, “Unleashing creativity takes risks” your statement ” don’t worry about perfection, because perfection never happens. Instead,… focus on continuous improvement,”really resonates with me. Like beauty, I believe perfection is often in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks Kat. So looking forward to have you and @ArielPatricia on my show Oct 6 – the release date for Crappy to Happy. Thank you for including me as a contributing author.
Thank you Darlene. I look forward to collaborating with you.
Hi Frank,
Again, welcome! You and I have met virtually through Sacred Stories. I love what you just wrote. Unleashing creativity takes a risk, but as someone said long ago, ”Without risk, there is no reward.”
I look forward to reading more of what I believe is uplifting. You just provided it. Thank you!💖