So, I just got back from my high school reunion (pictures of us "getting the band back together" to the right) - which year is not important, but lets just say it was long enough for a Rogain booth at the entrance - and I lived the "out of the box" experience.
As I caught up with my classmates, there was a definitive line between those who had left my small town (lets call them the in-towners) and those who had not (lets call them the out-of-towners.) For my class, the out-of-towners crowd was very small, just a handful of us. Most people who thought they qualified for out-of-town status actually just moved to another really small town, so they still lived as in-towners.
The first question you always ask is, "so what do you do?" My answer - Creative Sensei for a boutique consulting firm on the East Coast - left most people with blank stares and polite, "that's nice" responses. Okay, maybe our clever use of titles at our company is a bit much, so I tried the real title - Creative Director - and that made no difference - at least not to the in-towners.
As I sat on the plane waiting for takeoff, it hit me. The in-towners are the group of people in companies who resist change, follow the old guard and never, never think out of the box! These are the real party poopers on the new idea or process you want to introduce. They not only like the fabric of the company as it was sewn 25 years ago when it was founded, but they guard against anyone seeing anything new into it.
The point I realized is that its not that the in-towners were not as smart as me or that they were somehow stuck in time. They just never got the opportunity to get out of town (or in this case out of the box.) We all have comfort zones and I wish right now the guy sitting next tome on this flight understood mine. Anyway, the culture of an organization is the culmination of the shared values of its people.
At my reunion, I felt like the guy trying to explain why the clock is not flashing on my VCR (okay I am into Blu-ray now, but the clock thing does not work for that.) I could not understand how these people had no idea what a Creative Director did. Doesn't everyone know?
Perhaps us people who think outside the box spend a little too much time out there and loose touch with those inside. What can I do differently to make sure that I am engaging the in-towners and not alienating them or making them feel like lower class citizens of the company just because they do not share my beliefs or love of life out-of-town.
The in-towners values are part of the culture and I need to connect to them if I want to make a difference. Not by blowing them away with my creativity or posters or slogans, but by living a life of openness and paitence - always listening to the in-towners and involving them in the process. Because after all, everyone likes to travel!
As I caught up with my classmates, there was a definitive line between those who had left my small town (lets call them the in-towners) and those who had not (lets call them the out-of-towners.) For my class, the out-of-towners crowd was very small, just a handful of us. Most people who thought they qualified for out-of-town status actually just moved to another really small town, so they still lived as in-towners.
The first question you always ask is, "so what do you do?" My answer - Creative Sensei for a boutique consulting firm on the East Coast - left most people with blank stares and polite, "that's nice" responses. Okay, maybe our clever use of titles at our company is a bit much, so I tried the real title - Creative Director - and that made no difference - at least not to the in-towners.
As I sat on the plane waiting for takeoff, it hit me. The in-towners are the group of people in companies who resist change, follow the old guard and never, never think out of the box! These are the real party poopers on the new idea or process you want to introduce. They not only like the fabric of the company as it was sewn 25 years ago when it was founded, but they guard against anyone seeing anything new into it.
The point I realized is that its not that the in-towners were not as smart as me or that they were somehow stuck in time. They just never got the opportunity to get out of town (or in this case out of the box.) We all have comfort zones and I wish right now the guy sitting next tome on this flight understood mine. Anyway, the culture of an organization is the culmination of the shared values of its people.
At my reunion, I felt like the guy trying to explain why the clock is not flashing on my VCR (okay I am into Blu-ray now, but the clock thing does not work for that.) I could not understand how these people had no idea what a Creative Director did. Doesn't everyone know?
Perhaps us people who think outside the box spend a little too much time out there and loose touch with those inside. What can I do differently to make sure that I am engaging the in-towners and not alienating them or making them feel like lower class citizens of the company just because they do not share my beliefs or love of life out-of-town.
The in-towners values are part of the culture and I need to connect to them if I want to make a difference. Not by blowing them away with my creativity or posters or slogans, but by living a life of openness and paitence - always listening to the in-towners and involving them in the process. Because after all, everyone likes to travel!
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