November 13, 2004
consolidating gapingvoid
[PART ONE:]
I've been doing gapingvoid for over three years now. Recently I've been geting a lot of e-mails telling me how I should turn the whole enterprise into a business.
As I see it, it breaks down into three main parts:
1. How To Be Creative. Books, seminars, guest speaking etc.
2. The Hughtrain. Marketing and advertising consultancy etc, though I think I've moved well beyond that. I'm more interested in the aspect of managing cultural disruption [see PART TWO below]. In my mind, this SHOULD be a central job for the advertising agency, but quaite frankly, the industry as a whole is simply not interested.
3. The cartoons. Publishing, merchandising and whatnot. Hard as hell to make money (in relation to the effort required) but it's good for getting one's name out.
All three aspects I'm trying to harness under a single umbrella, "The Sex & Cash Theory: How To Be Creative In A Non-Creative World".
This is a startup idea in the making, don't you think?
[PART TWO:]
Earlier I wrote:
My current pet Egofriction gripe: the inability for “culturalists” and “technologists” to work together more closely.
Further Explanation:
In any organisation, when a new technological implementation is put in (SAP, Peoplesoft etc), it affects the culture.
When a new piece of culture is implemented (new company vision, ad campaign, whatever), the technology is affected.
If your product is made by high-tech Germans PhDs or Belgian Trappist Monks, the technology will largely depend on the shared values of the people involved.
And if you install a process where only people who have PhDs can understand it, again, that affects the values and culture.
Cultural alignment with the technology. Technological alignment with the culture. That is the ideal goal, but it's rarely achieved, especially in times of great change.
Anyway, I have an idea which will make new technology implementations less culturally disruptive to companies. And allow cultures to make better use of their technology.
Yeah. Working on it. You?
Might need backers. Might not. Need allies, of course.
Feel free to e-mail: hugh at gapingvoid etc.
You’re definitely onto something.
Posted by: Davezilla at November 13, 2004 6:28 PMI would think so too, if the number of people I've pointed towards your site recently, particularly, How To Be Creative, are anything to go by. Nobody has e-mailed me back saying "what a load of bollocks", quite the opposite.
Hey, at the very least I'd get my university to buy your books...
By the way, I emailed you a few days ago regarding interviewing you for a magazine. Not sure if you got it or not, but I would be interested if you are. You can get hold of me through the URL I've included in case "gaping" gets filtered out by various spam filters. (Don't use the email address I've posted, it goes straight to the trash - sorry, trying to clamp down on spam).
Posted by: Andy Polaine at November 14, 2004 1:35 AMI would think so too, if the number of people I've pointed towards your site recently, particularly, How To Be Creative, are anything to go by. Nobody has e-mailed me back saying "what a load of bollocks", quite the opposite.
Hey, at the very least I'd get my university to buy your books...
By the way, I emailed you a few days ago regarding interviewing you for a magazine. Not sure if you got it or not, but I would be interested if you are. You can get hold of me through the URL I've included in case "gaping" gets filtered out by various spam filters. (Don't use the email address I've posted, it goes straight to the trash - sorry, trying to clamp down on spam).
Posted by: Andy Polaine at November 14, 2004 1:36 AMI think gapingvoid is about personal frustration, and validation of ideas that should be commonplace. It is the personality that comes through which makes me reload the page day after day. The subject matter also has the effect of democratizing an innaccessible industry for those who 'get it'. Cartoons make it fun to read, and reinforce what you're saying.
Hell I dunno... please keep a blog going because you are perfect for the medium. The content is absolutely strong enough for stiffer mediums though.
Posted by: Cameron at November 14, 2004 5:40 AMIf you ever need IT or a web monkey for your new business call me :)
Posted by: Gérard van Schip at November 14, 2004 11:19 AM"managing cultural disruption" ... quite a mouthful and a mind-full.
To manage something means causing it to unfold in a desired direction, non ? Which then means having a shared vision and shared values, non ? Which means probably something more than yawping and railing against the predominant culture(s), non? (something I'm good at, in my own mind).
Do you mean "enabling and supporting the disruption of obsolete or overly-rigid culture" ? or something like that ... or do you indeed mean "managing cultural disruption", which somehow seems a bit presumptuous or grandiose to me.
Posted by: Jon Husband at November 14, 2004 8:59 PMThere are more markets that feed off the hungry than those that do otherwise.
The hungry are weak. Why not take their money?
oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, Hugh Mcleod. You ARE on to something. Really, really, really.
Seriously though.
I think you should publish a book of cartoons and comments. I think it'd be good. You could probably figure out how to brand it.
Sorry.
As for the cultural disruption management thing, um, not so sure. I expect youre having a good time in Paris, good on you, we all enjoy your stuff.
Coming from the IT/Tech side of things, I think the whole 'cultural dissonance' thing definitely exists, but it can be very, very hard to articulate in such a way that people will fork over money to 'fix' it.
'Change Management' has been a buzzterm in the industry for a long time, and (in my experience) tends to alienate users more than ever. I agree with Jon that if you can articulate it well, and perhaps distance it from 'management' (change or otherwise), then you might make it fly.
Posted by: Ben at November 17, 2004 3:39 AM