Today, Fast Company posted its:
“The Most Creative People In Business: Top 25” Slideshow | Fast Company
What does it mean to be creative? I think I'm creative, however, I noticed that I'm not quite on the list...so maybe I'm not creative enough. Everyone on the list is a successful entrepreneur or the lead in a business unit of a large company, as it should be. So, hmmm... how do I get on the list? There are many things I'd like to accomplish in my lifetime and I think this list could just be one of them. I did not see one Indian female or a PR professional on this list of a pretty diverse range of people.
That kind of bothered me. Isn't PR as a profession supposed to be creative? Why do the writers or marketing people get all the props? Public relations has grown to be a delicate combination of writing, marketing and creativity...Oh and a lot of calling on the phones, but that's just tactics. I think the problem has become that many have come to recognize PR professionals as annoying, ineffective cold-callers. To be honest, I think that many of them have become just that. Many PR plans lack strategy and the ability to change at a moments notice. Instead of thinking on their feet and changing with the wind, they are caught up in corporate documents and contracts. If more PR people acted on passion and end-results, I think the creativity is more likely to emerge and maybe then PR folks would get recognized as creative professionals. Strategy can be creative.
In the past few months, I have spoken to entrepreneurs, individuals and companies that have all had bad experiences with their PR agencies. Their main complaint? Lack of results, too much red tape and rejection of ideas from the client. It seems that large agencies in creative industries have become complacent and lack the creative edge that many growing businesses for branding and awareness. I've always believed in working with a client rather than forcing ideas down their throat just because 'we said so'.
Therefore, henceforth, wherewithall, there to....all that crap; creative bloaks are doing business themselves to break free from the bondage of bad management and dull lives. I guess I can't really argue with them. To be creative in a creative industry, you really have to let go of all of those corproate processes and feel the flow. Thus it begins, my journey to a top 100 list. Mind you, this may take several years but I'm just putting it out there so everyone knows where I'm heading ;). Take a brief look at the thumbnails on the list if you can't read all of them, it's pretty interesting and gives you a brief moment of hope that anything is possible.
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