"There's nothing worse than not trying!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
My wife and I have recently been watching the show "Anything is Possible" over on the Disney Channel - it's a 6-part series about the special effects company Industrial Light and Magic. You can watch the trailer here.
And I must say, there are so many stories on innovation and creativity that my mind can barely keep up - it seems that every few scenes I hear or see an observation it is brilliant!
One of my favorites is the moment where George Lucas talks about the team at one point and his effort to try to get them to do the impossible. "They did not know that it could not be done" - and so they did it anyway! You come away from watching the series with the realization that this organization truly learned how to capture the lightning of creativity and innovative thinking in a bottle - there are so many powerful moments! Another moment in the film was the genesis of today's quote - with one individual talking about a particularly difficult project and noting that, at the end of the day, there is nothing worse than not trying.
The entire history of the organization is geared towards creating and developing breakthrough techniques with special effects and embracing the unknown. They do this by taking on the most challenging of all projects that allow them to highlight their innovative and risk-taking culture - and the list of films they have worked on is simply staggering. From Star Wars to Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Die Hard, Titanic, and The Abyss - the list is ridiculous in terms of the number of award-winning, groundbreaking films that have won multiple awards.
With that, the series provides a captivating view into the essence of creativity and innovation - off the top of my head, there are a. number of lessons that can be learned:
- take on the unknown projects to achieve the unknown result - the entire history of the organization involves taking on new ideas, concepts, and methods
- always chase the impossible to achieve the impossible - don't say it can't be done - just get it done!
- throw a group of creative minds at a creative opportunity and you'll watch the magic happen
- don't hold back from chasing new unknown, unproven technologies - for example, the section that explores their transition to digital technology is fascinating
- take on big, bold projects - the bigger, the better - to find the next frontier of possibility
- constantly encourage employees to step outside of their zones to explore other zones - destroying the concept of comfort
- develop a talent pipeline with a group of headhunters that is constantly searching for the unique minds that can take the organization to the opportunities of tomorrow - looking for skills that are barely at the edge of the possible
- look at potential solutions to a difficult problem from multiple angles - ultimately chasing the solution that works best, not the one that is the easiest or the cheapest
- don't presume the first idea is the best - know that there are always other ideas waiting in the wings
- that being the case, always make sure there are multiple ideas in play for any particular problem
- don't hold back from the obvious solution - instead, chase many solutions (again, having to do with their shift from physical special effects such as clay animation to digital technologies)
- enshrine innovation as a core value, making sure that a willingness to embrace new technologies and methods is understood to be key to the overall mission
- double down on teamwork, by encouraging multiple people with disparate skills to dive in, often uninvited, into critical new projects
- give all employees the freedom to explore and innovate as a pathway to finding unique, original ideas and solutions.
- focus on adaptability and flexibility, recognizing always that the present day will not be like the day after today - knowing that the industry is always changing, make sure you can change with it
- encourage crazy risk-taking: watching some of the special effects ideas going from a mind storm to delivery is captivating and often hair-raising, as you wonder if what they are thinking about might be possible
- get multiple partners involved - Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and others were invited into the organization to explore, using it as an incubator of ideas for their new bold film projects.
- with that, being customer-centric in everything it does - throughout the series, you realize that the core mission is to solve the challenging ideas of its filmmaker clients, regardless of how crazy their ideas might seem
The list goes on.
I must say, if you have any interest in creativity and innovation, watch this series!
Futurist Jim Carroll is a sucker for a good old-fashioned show on innovation and creativity!