Class Reflection #2 | 1/27/14

After our class I was struggling a little to ground everything we’d discussed into a cohesive thought. I don’t think that is a bad thing necessarily, rather that there was a lot to think about and consider.

What stuck with me the most was the conversation around John Maeda. I brought it up with my wife Michele as we were walking Sunday morning. As an artist and designer, I knew she’d be familiar with RISD and John’s story. When I had mentioned that he’d recently left her reaction was kind of perfect.

“Why do all the good ones get forced out?” She said and went on to share the story of Jeffrey Deitch – a NY art Mogul brought on to help turn around MOCA LA. You can guess how it ended.

The crux of the matter seems to be that people want a leader to change the institution—right up until a leader puts the challenge of change back on them to do.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/fashion/jeffrey-deitch-faces-critics-at-moca.html?pagewanted=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/arts/design/in-los-angeles-art-museum-arrival-a-foreshadowing-of-a-departure.html?_r=0

COM 536 | Wade Campbell | Reflection Paper #2 | 1.22.14

Tell Your Story Well

“I was a paper millionaire for about three days, and then I was sleeping on my dad’s couch. In some ways you couldn’t ask for a better first gig. I had this incredible insight into my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, as a manager.” —Brian O’Kelley

This quote from Brian O’Kelly in the New Your Times interview struck me. It spoke to me on several fronts. First of all, I’m a big believer in Strengths Based Leadership as a management philosophy, so any leader who uses moments like these to help better understand their own strengths is good by me. Beyond that, I was impressed with how he was able to take something as personal and painful as an early career failure and explain it with enough distance to allow himself the perspective to learn from, and leverage it into a positive experience.

The other thing that struck me about this was the passing mention of his ‘dad.’ Impossible to read that word without thinking of my own. My dad and I are a lot a like, he worked as a salesman and with that made his living a story teller. He’s amazing at it. A total charmer. Unfortunately the story that matters most—he’s done a poor job of telling. The adversaries in his personal narrative are never overcome. They are unjust, unfair and the source of great frustration. While his story certainly connects—it doesn’t deliver that sense of accomplishment that O’Kelly is able to share.

The takeaway: Do yourself the favor of telling your story in a way that makes you the hero. After all, it is your story—and you deserve that.

COM 536 | Wade Campbell | Reflection Paper #1 | 1.8.14

I’m a huge Seth Godin fan. When I saw The Icarus Deception on the reading list I was very excited to get stared with this class.

I was introduced to Seth Godin years ago by Morgan McAlenney, the Digital Czar at the Integer Group. Morgan had a really big impact on the way I see the world. He was a very persuasive pitchman convincing me (while trying to convince the agency) of the need to “embrace digital.” I was a true believer in his vision of the future. As early as 2005, it was clear to Morgan that digital technology would fundamentally disrupt the communications business. He’s been pretty dead on. When he recommended The Purple Cow, I was all over it and have been a Godin fan ever since.

Some critique Godin’s work as is somewhat repetitive. This is hard to argue because there are anthems in his writing that come up again and again. That said, I’ve found most of his books build upon the last. Linchpin, for example was about being indispensable. It provided “how to” direction to become a successful individual/standout/rock-star in the post-industrial age. The Icarus Deception picks up from there—providing a field guide to navigating a world littered with the cruft of outdated ideology.

What I like most about Godin’s work is that you can open it to just about any page and get a fantastic articulation of something that rings true. Take page 68 for example. A passage I was so enamored with on August 3^rd that I posted it to Instagram. http://instagram.com/p/ckFkB-zWrc/

This passage about typos struck a particular chord with me because as a creative writer I struggle with grammar and spelling. For someone who makes a living using English this is beyond embarrassing.

What Seth does is provides the little pep-talk I need: ‘You are creative. Be creative. Don’t let the critics let you believe that your idea is no good because of an error.’ Thanks Seth… time to ship.

Study Buddy