Sweet Inspiration

Inspiration can come in many forms and from many places. It can come from daydreaming, or seeing someone do some amazing thing, or even being faced with a seemingly impossible situation. But it always has to do with suddenly seeing things in a new way. Something happens inside our imaginations and we suddenly see a new possibility, and are stimulated to pursue that possibility.

Traditional business has long been about efficiently executing more or less routine operations and managing existing assets, but that approach is fading away quickly as anything routine is moving to third world countries. Today’s leading businesses are more about innovation and creating new assets – and that’s why it’s so important for businesses to actively nurture inspiration and creativity.

For many, the word “inspiration” is about mystery and divinity. While I like that aspect of the word, I also have a more down-to-earth version. It’s one that has a lot to do with having prepared mind, and then purposefully stimulating imagination.

During the fifteen years that I lead the amazing team of high-performance creative people at Pittard Sullivan, we were faced with a continuous demand to develop fresh, high-end creative solutions. I had both the necessity and the opportunity to develop reliable ways to help people feel inspired. Grappling with this challenge through the years, I learned a lot about inspiration.

I found the number one thing that inspires people is seeing what other people do. Much of what people are able to accomplish (or not) has to do with what they believe can be done, and seeing someone else do something can be all it takes for an individual to enable them to do it as well. As Henry Ford is quoted, “Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.” A classic example of this is the four-minute mile. Before May 6, 1954 it was widely believed that it was physically impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes. But on that day Englishman Roger Bannister ran a one-mile race in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. Once people knew the four-minute barrier could be broken, it was broken repeatedly. Today, serious runners see the four-minute mile as more of a benchmark than a barrier.

Inspiration doesn’t just come from seeing someone reach new highs; seeing things done differently or being exposed to new or different modes of thinking can also inspire great leaps of imagination. Within my own experience there have been many times when I have seen something “new” that immediately inspired me as if fertile ideas had been there in my mind all along but had been hidden from view. Somehow the inspiring thing cleared away my former limiting beliefs and let me see these beautiful new possibilities – and stimulated me to pursue those new ideas.

At Pittard Sullivan, I set out to provide the staff (and myself) with ongoing programs to inspire. Because inspiration comes from seeing things in new ways, I used as many “new ways” as possible. Here are some of the inspiring programs we conducted:

• Friday Matinee: There are many wonderful films and videos available about the work of highly creative people, but it seemed like no one ever had the time to watch them, so we scheduled a screening every Friday at lunch time. This was possibly our most successful program.
• Life Drawing Classes: Life drawing is one of the most fundamental – and most stimulating things a person in the visual arts can do. Our classes were conducted in the early morning before regular business hours – and the classes were always packed – voluntarily.
• Lunch with Billy: Every Tuesday that I was in the office, we held an open lunch for all employees. I would prepare a few notes in advance about the kinds of creative projects we were currently working on, and engage an open discussion with all attendees. It was a great way to stimulate ideas about the work we were doing. The conversations could be heard to continue days after the gatherings.
• FYI / For Your Inspiration emails: I would distribute whitepapers, links to websites, etc. via email to the entire staff. Eventually a few clients got wind of this and asked to added to the distribution as well.
• Expert Classes: We brought in various types of experts for either single appearances or carefully-planned series that lasted several weeks. We had outstanding teachers from top universities as well as expert filmmakers, authors, and other top professionals.
• Design Challenges: I developed a series of design challenges that put very different kinds of restrictions and requirements than our work normally entailed. Participants were able to accomplish wonderful results that they would have otherwise thought impossible. The lessons learned translated directly into our client work. And it was a lot of fun.

And those are just a few highlights. Notice the variety of forms of these sources of inspiration: watching videos, physical skills (drawing), discussion, reading, surfing the Internet, formal classes, and fun challenges. All of which goes back to my point that inspiration comes in many forms.

The examples described above worked great at Pittard Sullivan because they were part of an overall plan. To fully nurture inspiration and creativity, an organization’s values, processes, and structures must be in full alignment with creative endeavors. I am very passionate about this, and helping businesses become more creative is possibly the highest value service that I provide. 

For me personally, I always found it to be incredibly inspiring to seek and share sources of inspiration. With that purpose, and to raise awareness of my services, I have re-instated my [FYI] For Your Inspiration program. This time, it’s for my network of clients and friends. It’s my hope that readers gets as much out of these musings as I do from preparing them. Please contact me with your thoughts and comments, and don’t be afraid to ask me to come into your business to help you achieve a greater level of creative excellence.

Copyright 2009, Billy Pittard