the creative shift: disruptive talent

Factory3

As we move deeper into what is now being called the "creative economy", the creative industry as a whole, from graphic design, interaction, and experience to ideation, the fine arts, anthropology, and various other creative fields are undergoing a major shift. The shift primarily in HOW we look at the creative fields, their roles within business and life in general is causing a major "re-direction" in the lives of those who are active participants in the evolving space.

From Marty Neumeir - the Director of Transformation at Liquid, the west coast brand marketing agency, to the revelation of Chris Hacker - the Chief Design Officer at Johnson & Johnson, we are seeing a fresh new class of creative professional being birthed into the marketplace. In many cases, these creative giants are multi-disciplinary, and not only bring the "hands-on" "know how" of their craft(s) to the table; BUT they also bring a clear understanding of the "undercurrent" of what they do... Design Thinking.

Design Thinking, one of the most critical components of the design process, is now, finally becoming a valued commodity, and rightfully so, it should have been one long, long ago, however; the rage of the industrial age, where "produce more", and "think less" (mousetrap mentality) ranked king, and authentic "thinking" was viewed as no more than just a system of following past success, "re-skinning" that success, and "re-presenting" this success to the marketplace.

Same idea... Face-lift.

This was and IS a broken way of doing things, and WE are starting to realize it. Tim Brown, the Chief Thinker at IDEO the global design and innovation consultancy wrote a book called "Change by Design", which has helped the design community re-think it's value proposition, again, putting "design thinking" in the forefront.

So while what has, and is being done in the creative field is shifting to a bigger, more vibrant scope, the talent within the space is changing as well. In an essay that I wrote (that started as a book) called: "Disruption: How to BUrn The Corporate Ladder", I introduce a concept that I call "Disruptive Talent"; individuals with unique skill set's that have been refined over periods of time and developed according to market demand. For instance, the graphic designer, that now works on the web, doubles as a programmer. OR the experience designer who has played a major role in management and is now in the role of CDO (Chief Design Officer). The meshing of unique abilities formed in the marketplace (not necessarily the classroom) and deployed within the organization for one reason...

Change.