Week Notes: Vol. 3 – № 9

Anyone can copy yet few choose to create

Judging work is easy. Doing the work is difficult.

When my wife and I travel, it’s always fascinating to watch her maneuver through art museums. I like seeing what pieces she gravitates to and which make her stop.

I majored in art in college, so I like to linger. I like to get up close and check out the marks, the brush strokes, and the layers.

I also pay attention to how works are arranged and how the exhibits are designed to move people through the space.

My wife, on the other hand, practically speed walks like a retiree getting her steps in before the mall opens.

She’ll get through a whole floor by the time I’ve walked a quarter of it.

Picasso? Weird. Matisse? Meh. Warhol? More like “bore”-hol.

It’s not because she doesn’t appreciate fine art. She’s just selective, curating the curation. She’s guided by what speaks to her and doesn’t waste time with anything that doesn’t.

Inevitably we’ll get to a piece by some contemporary artist like Rothko, Pollock, or Mondrian, and she’ll say to me, “I could do that.”

The truth is, yes, anyone could splatter paint on a canvas or make it all one color or put squares, circles, and lines all over the place.

You could probably even go home and make a decent replica or at least attempt an interesting variation worth hanging in your home.

But could you make 50 pieces? Could you make enough to develop a coherent body of work with a clear style and point of view?

That’s where the real work happens.

There's also something to be said about being the first.

The difference is in intent, not execution.

We mischaracterize examples as blueprints. We see the outcome and think that's the only thing that’s worth replicating.

Business leaders also fall into this mindset. A new product arrives on the scene or a new startup threatens to disrupt the market.

Their first reaction? “We could do that.”

So many companies copy their competition but put little thought into why.

They race to compete as a commodity, not on competitive advantage.

Writing is easy. We learn to do it in elementary school.

Writing well takes practice, thought, and intent.

An audience can tell the difference.

Talking is easy. We start to talk around 12 months.

Presenting a new topic or communicating a strategic vision is hard.

An audience can quickly sense when your message is falling flat.

People will readily critique the work of others. Yet we fear being critiqued.

Critiquing is easy. Creating is hard.

Only when we try do we realize how hard it actually is. But few choose to even try.