For me, 2008 is turning out to be a year of going back to the basics in order to advance forward to the future. I've been working in mass media for the last couple years, and it's a perfect example of an industry that has been around for so long that it has become rooted (mired?) in an almost mythic tradition that created a weighty and egotistical pomposity. Newspapers, Television, and Radio (as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz would say -- "Oh, my!")
Everyday you can read about (usually on the Web) another Newspaper ceasing production of their print publication and moving to a strictly digital distribution format. Just the other day, giants of the newsprint industry united to create a digital ad network. Radio and Television stations are creating YouTube channels and alternative web streams in an attempt to stay hip and relevant in the lives of their dwindling audiences.
As a big believer in the cliche "the more things change, the more they stay the same" I think the best way to move forward when confronted with such an overwhelming obstacle to your survival, is to go back to the basics that helped you first build to your success. And what could be more basic than the ABCs?
Today I start a series to recreate the ABCs as they pertain to innovation. Connecting sound advice for successful innovation to these 26 tiny symbols seems somehow appropriate, in that these symbols can be rearranged, reordered, and reimagined in an unlimited number of variations in order to created world-changing innovations.
The Declaration of Independence, the "I have a dream" speech from Martin Luther King Jr., Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Ghandi -- every great work, great author, great speaker, great thinker had (and has) access to these same number of letters and all have created legendary and life-changing innovations. From the millions of letters used to create a set of encyclopedias to the 271 words in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to the 5 characters (counting the number and mathematical symbol) in Einstein's mass-energy equivalence explaining his Theory of Relativity -- these letters are powerful in any combination and quantity.
It all comes down to how you use the most basic of building blocks -- your ABCs. Visit me next time when we start with the letter "A."
Comments