The Hired Guns Book Club: Part 1 of The Accidental Creative

on August 22, 2011

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Howdy—welcome to the party. We’re here for part 1 of The Hired Guns’ group read of The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant At A Moment’s Notice.

(Late joining us? Check out the summary of how our book club will work and what we’ll cover each week.)

The Accidental CreativeIf you haven’t bought the book yet, go grab it. This week we’ll be reading chapters 1-3, which are focused on how to stay prolific, healthy, and sustainably brilliant. As Todd points out, you can’t count on inspiration striking in the nick of time—you have to prepare for it. And that’s where his straight-shooting advice comes in!

This week, Todd made a special video just for us where he discusses the reasons that getting creative work done in the modern workplace can be so difficult. The “assassins of creativity” include fear (of so many things!), poorly decided-on objectives, and way-too-complicated business processes. All these things can make it difficult if not impossible to stick to doing what’s truly important.

Watch his video below, and then start reading the book from the intro through the first three chapters. Then stop and wait for the rest of us! Post any questions for Todd, on Twitter, in the comments below, or on our Facebook page. He’ll be chiming in with his responses.

Next Monday, 29 August, Todd will cover chapters 4-7: Creative Rhythm, with methods for staying motivated throughout the workday.

Previously:
Announcing The Hired Guns Book Club: The Accidental Creative

Also by Todd:
“Be a Laser, Not a Lighthouse” & Other Creative Leadership Essentials
The Accidental Creative: Are You Taking Ground or Just Maintaining It?
“Every Hero Needs a Bad Guy”: Who Are You Fighting Against?

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About this Gun

Allison Hemming

Allison Hemming

is Top Gun at The Hired Guns and the founder of The Hired Guns Academy. A noted career authority, Allison has helped thousands of individuals assume leadership roles in organizations through effective career and personal brand management. Follow @TheHiredGuns.

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Guidelines for Commenters
  • A reader of your book

    How would you suggest dealing with a situation where the leader consistently takes over the process, cutting out the creative team’s input and basically saying, “I’ll do it myself”? It would seem that it’s a lack of trust, but the team has always delivered excellent results. Frustrating, because the final product is always subpar this way.

    • http://www.accidentalcreative.com Todd Henry

      Has the situation – and how it’s affecting the team – been discussed with the leader? 

      • A reader of your book

        Hi Todd: Thanks for your reply to my question. It’s difficult to do this because of the — pardon the word — patriarchal setup and mindset. I guess we, as a team, need to find a way to discuss it that doesn’t make him feel defensive.

        • http://www.accidentalcreative.com Todd Henry

          That’s always a tough challenge. It’s a shame when leaders aren’t open to what the team needs to do its best work. I would say that any way other than addressing the issue – as gently as possible – with the leader will only result in more and further frustration down the road. However the conversation goes, it should probably begin with empathy to the leader’s situation. “Hey…I know you have a ton on your plate…” or “We know you have a lot of pressure from above…” or whatever you think could be contributing to the situation. (Anything other than “Hey…we know you’re a control freak, but…” )

          If your team does post-mortems of work, that could also be a good time to bring up how previous work could have been better, ideas that weren’t executed, etc. Again, pushing conversations that need to be had into the future only postpones the pain. But don’t be the martyr here. Make sure that it’s decided who are the right people to approach the leader and do it with empathy.

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