ThoughtSpurs (again-the sequal)

"In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switerzland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock."

Orson Welles in The Third Man

I like this quote. Not only because it's smart and funny but because it get's me thinking about the role of conflict in creativity and innovation.

When I was working with the team at Idealog on prototyping our baby there was an occasion I have sworn never to talk about in detail. So I won't. But it involved conflict with a contributor who felt so passionately about her work that she…well I can't tell you what she did. But, needless to say I will never forget it. I have worked in hotbeds of creativity before but I have never had any body (deleted) me before.

I loved it. Inspite of the shock. Why?… For crying out loud she cared!
(About the wrong thing, I have to say- "That took me an hour,…I did what was asked of me… so you should love it...")

Don't be afraid of conflict.
Don't suppress it.
Don't (supressed, …becasue I said i wouldn't ever reveal it) though.
Enjoy the fact that other people think different to you.
Embrace it.
Otherwise you'll simply live a template,what other people think you should do,…not an authentic life.

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Johnny Bunko competiton

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ThoughtSpurs

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