New Years Resolutions

Let’s talk about collaboration, specifically among designers. Yes, we could have a debate on collaboration itself, is it important and necessary, is the data out there is right about the positive vs. negative impact on creativity. But I won’t get into that because, from experience, I believe in the power and impact of well planned and executed collaboration between designers, period. My question is really about how naturally collaborative are designers.

For me, every time I read something from James that makes me uncomfortable, I remember and remind myself that this is what I liked about him from start. I may not agree with what he thinks and says, but boy does he continue to blow my mind. Thank you, James.

And it’s a shame, because if you love people the way I do, bumping into them, eye to eye with a smile, an exchange of words, a simple hug or a handshake, having this type of thought popping in your mind is really annoying, and almost makes you want to do just the opposite, head towards that large dense crowd of people, down that corridor full of people, basically a feeling of “getting back on the horse”. And maybe, if you can’t control what pops up into your mind, you can what you do about it.

So, it is a message crafted by someone with a particular story, aimed at a group of students in a particular context, and if we left at that, it would probably be Ok. Even when I remind myself of the latest data stating that peak millennials are in fact correct when they say that “it sucks to be 33”.

Yes, she was my mother, but also a remarkable woman, that will not show up in the annals of history as having done anything significant, not even bearing me. And I think of so many other women, doing this and even more, every day, every year, in conditions so many times worse than my mother. And I ask myself, what else does the world need to recognize women for what they are, every day, everywhere, on every situation?

We only had about 15 attendees, in a 50-person auditorium (glad we didn’t pick the 500 seat one…). But the guests were at ease, no cameras, no computers and online platforms, just us and them. It felt real and intimate, you could feel the atmosphere, the guests themselves stated they loved the intimate format, and it makes you rethink criteria for success in these events. Could we have had more people in the room, sure. But you know what, those that showed up had a good time. Mission accomplished.

Learning by doing, learning by watching and listening, even without knowing how to read music, is a classic way to master many crafts, and music too. Practice, practice, practice, but do it with others as well as by yourself. Put in your 10.000 hours, if that is your goal, but do at least half of it with others, you will learn much more than whatever you are trying to learn in the first place.

Saying to yourself you had a day of meetings and got nothing done doesn’t help, believing that because you had so many meetings you didn’t get any work done might also be a fallacy. For me, doing a lot of meetings is hard work, before/ during/ after, and meetings are a part of getting things done.

I remind myself wineries and olive making farms have been doing this for a long time, and some pay a hefty price and wait for a long time to visit mythical factories like Porsche or Ferrari. So how different is this really, and though I doubt how much brand building for Portugal and for the visited factories this really amounts to, in this new era of so many different types of tourism, what is wrong with industrial tourism?

The presentation starts, a story anchored in process unravels, slide three of a compacted 10 slide presentation starts a conversation that keeps treading away into no man’s land like Alice in Wonderland, soon enough most of them go to the last two pages looking for a conclusion, which is not to-the-point as they expected. The poor presenter in the room, after receiving direction and rehearsing his presentation in detail feels powerless and frustrated. Sounds familiar?