Hugh MacLeod
Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards
August 25, 2004
More thoughts on “How To Be A Copywriter”:
4. Seek out the exceptional minds, avoid everyone else.Life is short. You don’t want to end up in The Watercooler Gang.
OK, I
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Ah — takes one to know one. Could be very few people, you would end up having conversations with. Eliteist nonsense — every body has a history to tell, if you’ll lend an ear. So train your ear as an alternative to narrowing yuor vision is my advice.
All the best
Arne
It’s exceptional for you, mediocre for someone else.
It’s mediocre for you, exceptional for someone else.
I have a feeling that most of these stories are about you. Especially the bartender one.
P”, I would say I was venting my two cents based on personal experience, and not because I found my two cents carved on stone tablets on top of a mountain, hanging out with a burning bush etc.
Of course, my schtick wasn’t bartending. But like I said, it’s an allegory.
Should I have picked another profession? Would you have preferred that? Copywriter, perhaps?
Also:
“It’s exceptional for you, mediocre for someone else.
It’s mediocre for you, exceptional for someone else.“
Ummm… Yes, true… but irrelevant.
Wanting to work with exceptional people — that are exceptional in the way you are (or are inspired by) — is exactly the way to be exceptional yourself, (create exceptional teams or art or products or breakthroughs or …).
Should we suspend all judgement, becoming pure relativists? No.
Should we assume our judgement is anything more than personal? No.
Should we discover what we are exceptional at, encourage other people to find what they are exceptional at, and encourage everyone to find others they can be exceptional with? Yes.
Should we sacrifice our own exceptional experiences to include those who we find mediocre, only to be mediocre ourselves? Hell no.
Every time my boss asks me what one thing our team could do to improve our products and ability to deliver, I tell him, “Half the people, twice as good.” Exceptional delivers. We have control over creating the exceptional.
Jim Jarrett, I totally agree =)
I like what Jim says about encouring others to find what they are exceptional at. I think that is the key. Not they only some people can be exceptional, but that everyone has the potential, but they are not all living up to that potential.
So the key is to avoid the folks who have settled for mediocrity and work with those that are trying to meet their potential.
I think the folks to be around are those whose talent is combined with bravery, a willingness to take risks, and a willingness to discover and then be themselves. I have seen exceptional talent (cleverness, concentration, verbal or quantitative ability) and without this passion and authenticity it doesn’t interest me. Your site and writings have helped me recognize this. I think this is what you mean by exceptional minds — a combination of intelligence, talent, passion, and bravery. A willingness to direct one’s own talents, rather than use them in the service of the conventional. This definitely interests me. I think it is the reason people who are happiest are happiest, and people who are bitterest are bitterest. Talent without risk-taking and passion looks almost sadder to me than mediocrity.
Absolutely. My “exceptional” may not be yours, but the principle holds. And if you’re exceptional, and I don’t recognize it, you will find that useful information about me.
Is the most electric and generative model a collectivist slog where *Everyone has a Contribution to Make*? Or is it a sunrise meadow dance neatly sidestepping the mushrooms and rocks and ordure and the self-congratulatory mutterings of the Received Obvious.
Hugh’s sallies here help me determine a more conscious answer to that. Fuck the poor and mediocre. They can’t afford me. And don’t want to. My cooking gives them indigestion.
Doesn’t mean I don’t tithe a part of my very fine income and efforts to serve others as asked. Just don’t expect me to wear the Biblical bushel as a coolie hat. It Will Catch On Fire.
A. the Hunny
Well, I’ve been keeping an eye on your blog here for a spell. Seeing as how many things you speak about I hold the same views on. Sooo, i suppose I may be of a like mind.. not so sure if I would categorize myself as exceptional– not sure I would categorize myself in anyway— but I do know that I tend to surround myself with people who have vision.
You are irrelevant. Get off your horse and drink your milk.
I am/want to be a teacher. I’m going to be the one making exceptional minds, or at least directing minds towards the fields where they’ll be exceptional.
It’s good to fell this confident sometimes.
Except for the fact that people get really pissy at me when I tell them that they don’t have the qualities I need in them to make things work and thus they’re wasting my time, I think this is right on.
I’ve been spending the last couple of years figuring out better ways to honestly reject people. Less because I want to become an expert in rejection and more because I realize this whole thing is subjective and about what I need and I don’t want to crush peoples’ dreams – I just want them to stop wasting my time.
On the flip side, some people do come through with interesting ideas by accident so I try not to burn too many bridges. On the flip flip side, some people really need a big kick before they figure out they need to go find something else to do.
I fear mediocrity worse than death!
I find a lot of what you say interesting. But sometimes the way you say it (“fuck the poor, they can’t afford me”) leads me to assume you’re naturally unpleasant and/or on coke. I’m not knocking excellence, nor the idea that seeking out exceptional minds is a Good Thing. Just that to do so at the cost of being civil is a price not worth paying. I’d rather tolerate fools some of the time, be a bit more relaxed about life and be more fun to be around.
You’re confusing “cartoons” with “cartoonist”, RIch
Your “creativity”, which I thought a good theme at first, now seems curtailed to creativity in advertising. Your idea of good writing is writing good ads. As time has gone on, it has struck me that you yourself have a fear of mediocrity and do all you can to tell yourself that you have not ended up as mediocre. This I understand, it is a common fear amongst those who regard themselves as “creatives” but spend most of their time writing ads for medocrities.
Shazam, actually, I would say you might be projecting your own fears on me, but what the hell.
I do find your lack of valid e-mail or web address rather telling in that regard…
Hugh — I just wanted to write to say that I really appreciate what you write.
Thank you.
–Max
Hugh,
You’re words resonate with me. I am a true fan of exceptional minds, exceptional people, and exceptional experiences. I detest waste– wasting my time on mediocrity, wasting potential on dead ends, wasting away while life happends to me.
But not all exceptional minds are found in exceptional people and not all of my exceptional experiences have been with the brilliant among us.
Like you, I feel more connected to the exceptional rather than the average (with a tip-of-the-hat Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick!). But experiencing it requires cultivation in some, patience to see in some others, and humility in ourselves.
My plan: connecting with the exceptional is mostly about me, not about others. I get to decide what “exceptions” I’m looking for. I will try to find it where it is, to build it where I can, and not be afraid to walk away if it isn’t there.
What’s your plan Hugh?
My plan? Keep on doing what I’m doing.
i.e. Start conversations with like-minded folk, turn them into markets. Heh.
I generally like what Hugh has to say. But I am not sure if he’s got the pedigree to say what he’s saying in this post.
He didn’t make it in New York, for whatever reason. So he left, which is fine. He’s now working in a small town somewhere in England. That, I am sorry to say, doesn’t sound amazing to me. It sounds a little bit sad. Watercooler sad.
Jamie
Few thoughs on your comments and your post:
Settle is such a nasty word.
You create your own exceptional mind. Those without the desire to do the same, are not worth your time.
Most exceptional people I’ve met don’t describe themselves as being exceptional. They just do their thing.
It is a model I am trying to emulate. Not always successfully, so far.
Good writing, Hugh.
The one thing this conversation hasn’t really addressed is why it’s best to work with exceptional minds. I would argue that it’s only when you work with exceptional people that you reach, even exceed, your level of talent.
You can be good in a void and please yourself with the quality of your work but I’m not convinced you can reach what you’re capable of that way. And God knows you can make a pretty good living being “good enough,” which is all you need for a paycheck. In fact, you’re probably better off just being good enough if a paying gig is all you’re interested in.
Namby pampy though it may sound, if you want a sense of satisfaction from what you do, you want exceptional people around to motivate you, feed you, push you and inspire you.
One of the other reasons writers should want to work with exceptional people is because it’s one thing to write a piece it’s another thing to execute. For example, you can write great copy for a TV ad, or a movie, but without a great director you’re hooped. And great performers and so on.
“Great script. Too bad the ad sucked.“
There’s a nice romantic notion of the isolated writer. This is largely crap. In the real world, everyone depends on other people, even writers. To the degree it is possible, I want those people to be exceptional.
Psst… Go ahead and avoid us, but don’t ANNOUNCE it. Have some tact.
Hugh, I totally agree.
Who’s the bigger fool? The fool, or the person working for the fool?
We all become products of our environment. Best to choose the enviroment. =)
Hugh, I’d like to respond but I’m not sure I’m exceptional enough to join the conversation. All these other brilliant minds who already responded are intimidating. I guess we can only tell if we made the cut by seeing if you write a comment to our comment. The others must just be a bunch of poorly used and currently discarded furniture. You know, I’ve found some amazing things people have placed along the streets in piles of rubbish…
It is the exceptionals which grow the pool of knowledge, by crawling over the edges and claiming new territory. This is exciting, interesting and creative.
However, two things are important to remember.
One is that about 80% of those people are forgotten because the approaches they explored failed or did not stand the test of time. This is the risk.
The other is that you are building on top of the common pool, which has provided you with a kick start — nowadays people learn in school about Pythagoras, the solar system, the human body, chemistry etc, all of which have been ‘exceptional’ or even cabal secrets once, but have flown back to the common pool for others and more people to build on than ever.
The lesson?
Don’t diss elitism; it’s needed to grow.
Don’t diss the average, for you are standing on its rising tide, and it’ll be drowning you if you fail.
I’m working on a somewhat larger essay dealing with some of these thoughts, so they are not yet well organized.
The Sufi’s have a law called the Law of the Ladder. Essentially it warns that on the spiritual road in life you can only assist those who are one rung below you. Just as important, you can only be assisted by someone one rung above you. The sad truth of the matter is that not all of us hear the wisdom of the most spiritually advanced. And how sad, too, that if we sit up high upon the ladder the feeling of impotence in not being able to help those below.
Prescription: Help those you can help. Accept help from those who can help you. Do both and drink plenty of water. Call if you think your rung is one rung away.
The Sufi’s have a law called the Law of the Ladder. Essentially it warns that on the spiritual road in life you can only assist those who are one rung below you. Just as important, you can only be assisted by someone one rung above you. The sad truth of the matter is that not all of us hear the wisdom of the most spiritually advanced. And how sad, too, that if we sit up high upon the ladder the feeling of impotence in not being able to help those below.
Prescription: Help those you can help. Accept help from those who can help you. Do both and drink plenty of water. Call if you think your rung is one rung away.
We view people through the lens of circumstance… and a person who is quite unexceptional in one circumstance may be wonderful in another. We rarely see the best of others, and thus we rarely make use of the best they have to offer.
but what is life if we stand still and are *gasp* satisfied with that which we have? what is the point of continuing if we have nothing to strive for, nothing to reach for, no potential to push toward?
the word “elitism” has far too many connotations attached. i, for one, like the words “constant motion for momentum” or something vague along those lines.
i’ve tried sitting on my ass and it bores me to no end. to the point where i cried today because i hate my life because i sit in this damn chair getting no closer to my life goal, even if it is just a summer job.
thanks for your site, it’s daily entertainment to my mediocre summer life, sitting here at my desk job.
i once read a blurb that seemed to summarize me perfectly: i am in a flux of latent possibilities. i dream, each and every day, from small situations to larger picture of things that could be, and the one question that remains on my mind and always has a different answer to is: what if? it’s so powerful, no? a simple 2 words, “What If…“
heh. as always, i lost my point somewhere in the journey of this comment.
cheers.
Thanks for all the comments, gang. I was offline for a few hours.
Andreas, I would agree. Most exceptional people I know are very humble.
I had the good fortune, once upon a time, of working for a short time alongside one of the writers of Investors’ Business Daily’s regular column on success and successful people. I had always been a huge fan of IBD and that column in particular so I took a few minutes to excitedly pick his brain and share with him some of the writing ventures I had recently embarked upon for myself. After chatting for several minutes about all the wonderful people he’s met and interviewed, he stopped and thought for a moment. “You know…” he said, “of all the people I’ve spoken with over the years, there’s one thing they had in common: Each and every one of them loved what they were doing.”
Yeah, Max K. Love is powerful stuff, indeed.
Lord Krishna says to his pupil Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita, “Better one’s own dharma [path, aim in life], however imperfect, than the dharma of another perfectly performed.“
So I’m not sure what is “exceptional” as it’s quite subjective, but as long as one is committed to becoming or being exceptionally themselves you’re probably going to resonate with me.
There’s absolutely no need to reject or even avoid people. There’s a self-selection process in play. In my experience, as you become more exceptionally yourself, there’s almost a magnetic energy field (not literally, it’s a metaphor) created that naturally draws in ALIGNED people…and everyone else runs away as fast as they can
“What about you? What’s your plan?“
To work with people who do, and who appreciate, good work. To avoid people who worry about who is, or isn’t, “exceptional.”
Bring out the best in people. It’s there. Somewhere. If you can do that, THEN you can call yourself truly exceptional. Then you could even call yourself tremendously exceptional. You could even add an f word to it, and it would be alright.
I agree with Shazam.
Also with the idea that different people are exceptional in different areas. An exceptional Java programmer may not be exceptional at talking to customers.
Wow. So you only want to work with exceptional people. The question is, how can you tell who they are?
Erebus, that comes with experience (hopefully). Heh.
I’m going to run the risk of sounding like an awfully old-fashioned fuddy-duddy, but I’m going to stick my neck out and say, Hugh, your aims are going to be difficult to achieve, as there simply are no exceptional people in advertising. There just can’t be, it’s flogging toasters. Let’s ‘ringfence’ (wow, jargon) the word ‘exceptional’ and save it for Da Vinci, Shakespeare and Einstein, huh?
The poor are still paying some of my bills, so I can’t tell ‘em to fuck off just yet, though I hope to get there.
What I find interesting in conversations about security and insecurity is that in this new world order, seems that folks who have made a name with big corps or hot post-IPOs have instant cred for whatever POV they wish to toss out to the masses. Much as I respect Godin, would we care about him as much if he started out with Lycos or Infoseek instead of Yahoo!? (although I guess you could argue that those two might have become Yahoo-like with Godin). Same could be said for just about any of the myriad of brandblogs out there. There are some very good branding case studies on companies in marketspaces we’ve never heard of and could care less about, but it’s the folks who do the mainstream stuff that get read and discussed. As if nobody else could’ve thought of these tactics.
Those of us who don’t the right company names on our CVs have to work all that harder, even though we may be just as brilliant. I suggest lesson one is to do the internship with the big guys and hot guys were brilliance is all around you because osmosis works. Do it even if it means a term in poverty. You’ll get payback.
If you’ve already gone down the wrong path,figure out where brilliance exists and is still accessible to your lot. Then worm your way into it. Suck it up and ingratiate yourself. Never too late. If you’re game and can match wits with the folks you’re trying to impress, you’ll find success. If not, go back to doing what you were doing and learn to be content with it.
As for your critics, blogs are about POV. Nothing else. Any consistent POV can find a market. I happen to like yours. It’s challenging.
I think “pretentious asshole” as a brand is perfectly legitimate, provided it sells. Not that I’m suggesting that’s my feeling about GV, but it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
Most individuals commonly accepted as “great” worked at other, less glorious pursuits. The filter of history removes that context leaving us with singular icons cleansed of the mundane struggles they endured.
Einstein worked as patent office clerk and developed the Theory of Relativity with his exceptionally intelligent wife. Shakespeare may not have been so exceptional if he never had to compete with the brilliant Marlowe. And Da Vinci started out like every other artist at the time…a young “studio slave” for an established artist. Their association with other talented individuals was a key factor in their success.
No, you’re not going to become an icon simply by hanging out with exceptional people. But if you might learn something other than who was caught copulating on the boardroom table.
Re: your “i.e. Start conversations with like-minded folk, turn them into markets. Heh.“
Coinversations ?
Jon Husband– you, know, conversations.
e.g.
“You sell computers? I make computers…“
Very Wirearchy-friendly, I assure you
Brilliant. Those who do not understand will be left behind. Some may choose to usher other’s along; however, I, with few exceptions, do not. Is this self-centered? Of course. But everything we do is for the self.
Look, unless someone knows something I don’t, we’re all mortal. So any time wasted in my life by mediocrity comes straight out of my allotted span. It’s like drip poison… bore me, and you might as well be injecting me with slow death. Of course, the same applies when the mediocrity is my own fault.
I think the key is to be so fucking brilliant that everyone but the very brilliant and the total fools will be too intimidated to approach you at all. How’s that for strategy? Use the brilliant people as a foil to spur yourself and the total fools as entertainment fodder…
and yeah, context. If you routinely take risks, you will spend some portion of your life in both camps: brilliant and total fool.
‘m with Erebus and Shazam on this one. Does that mean I’ll get
banned, as I’m sure they will if they continue to critisize your
arrogant and self-defeating methodology?
What about all the ‘exceptional’ people who function even further
above your own lofty level, will they be justified in throwing you and
your lesser ideas out with the trash, or will they just be people who
to you ‘don’t get it’.
It’s this pseudo-intellectualisation and justification of the process
of establishing hierachical values that’s most detestable. Its this
place from which history’s greatest iniquities and most regrettable
events have risen from.
Hitler anyone?
I agree. I seek out the exceptional (sex) but to achieve my goals I can not yet — realistically — afford to throw out the non-exceptional (cash). Throwing them out “like old furniture” would unfortunately be like throwing out the baby with the bathwater for me at this stage of my game. It concerns me, though, because dealing with dullards wears you down — speaking dullard-speak, breathing dullard-air. After a (short) while I can see that Jane Goodall smelled as bad as the apes; it’s hard to quickly soap up for high society.
Three more things come to mind that I can see affecting one’s ability to polarize themselves and live by your statements (not to play into calling you Moses, but if your words are resonating true in one’s own thoughts). (1) Location. The ability to run across (sex) in BFE. So, you say? Move. — Thanks for playing, that’s my segue to #2 — (2) Personal trade-off. There are things we do — or, more often, that we do *not* do — that go against our ambitions to only make those choices leading to a “life of exceptionals”. For myself, staying near my four-year-old daughter trumps anything. Everybody probably has at least one of these. The challenge here is not using it as a “crutch rationalization”. (3) People are not Ginsu knives. Is that a prerequisite to be exceptional? Crises dull or jagged the edge. I would warrant to say that striving to sharpen that edge again shows merit as exceptional — but in the meanwhile are you truly a dullard? Food for thought — I myself have not fully digested.
I appreciate your thought provocation. I want to pass along something I think you — and others here — can appreciate.
Herman Melville wrote this letter talking about Ralph Waldo Emerson and his philosophy:
Nay, I do not oscillate in Emerson’s rainbow, but prefer rather to hang myself in mine own halter than swing in any other man’s swing. Yet I think Emerson is more than a brilliant fellow. Be his stuff begged, borrowed, or stolen, or of his own domestic manufacture he is an uncommon man. Swear he is a humbug — then is he no common humbug. Lay it down that had not Sir Thomas Browne lived, Emerson would not have mystified — I will answer, that had not Old Zack’s father begot him, old Zack would never have been the hero of Palo Alto. The truth is that we are all sons, grandsons, or nephews or great-nephews of those who go before us. No one is his own sire. — I was very agreeably disappointed in Mr Emerson. I had heard of him as full of transcendentalisms, myths & oracular gibberish; I had only glanced at a book of his once in Putnam’s store — that was all I knew of him, till I heard him lecture. — To my surprise, I found him quite intelligible, tho’ to say truth, they told me that that night he was unusually plain. — Now, there is a something about every man elevated above mediocrity, which is, for the most part, instinctually perceptible. This I see in Mr Emerson. And, frankly, for the sake of the argument, let us call him a fool; — then had I rather be a fool than a wise man. — I love all men who dive. Any fish can swim near the surface, but it takes a great whale to go down stairs five miles or more; & if he don’t attain the bottom, why, all the lead in Galena can’t fashion the plummet that will. I’m not talking of Mr Emerson now — but of the whole corps of thought-divers, that have been diving & coming up again with bloodshot eyes since the world began. I could readily see in Emerson, notwithstanding his merit, a gaping flaw. It was, the insinuation, that had he lived in those days when the world was made, he might have offered some valuable suggestions. These men are all cracked right across the brow. And never will the pullers-down be able to cope with the builders-up. And this pulling down is easy enough — a keg of powder blew up Block’s Monument — but the man who applied the match, could not, alone, build such a pile to save his soul from the shark-maw of the Devil. But enough of this Plato who talks thro’ his nose. –Letter to Evert Duyckinck, March 3, 1849.
–fin– Scott
Don’t toss out your comfortable old furniture, you might end up buying it back at twice the price!
If you only surround yourself with dreamers and schemers, then you run the risk of losing your common sense. Anyone remember the dot-com 90s? Can I get a witness? Of course, if you only surround yourself with sensible, predictible businessfolks then you won’t be motivated to try anything new.
Everyone has something useful to share: predictions, common sense, or even card-toons. — this comment is hereby declared public domain.
i like when all the assholes converge in one comment box
Imagine a society of iconoclasts. Imagine a society where the dominant ethos is “fuck the poor.” Next time you’re in an confined, public space, try imagining that the person next to you has multiple drug resistant tuberclerosis. Maybe that will help snap you out of your megolamaniacal self-absorption.
Nice to see the rigorous debate Guys =) Thanks
john t unger: “and yeah, context. If you routinely take risks, you will spend some portion of your life in both camps: brilliant and total fool.“
Wow. I really like that thought. Seriously.
Yeah, I think being a fool is a big part of the journey.
dbc9box, I’ve been tossed about like old furniture many times
Made me harder, made me smarter. It’s all good.
My experience has also been, people who are good at discriminating and setting priorities are much less likely to screw you over than people who are bad at it.
Relativism isn’t as well-intentioned as it likes to pretend it is.
Ummm… Katherine,
“To work with people who do, and who appreciate, good work. To avoid people who worry about who is, or isn’t, “exceptional”…“
Without good people, without exceptional people, without people who hold themselves and others to very high professional standards, you don’t get to make even good work, let alone exceptional work. You get to make drek.
Good work, I mean really good work, doesn’t just happen, doesn’t just spring into being because a bunch of nice, affable, well-intentioned people met for brunch and decided it would be a good idea. Good work happens because somewhere along the line someone decided to fight like hell to make it happen.
Your statement seem to imply that good work is generally a groovy, conflict-free proccess. My experience says otherwise.
To use my day job as an example:
Let’s say you’re the boss of a company and you’re coming to me asking if I can help you raise your sales. Let’s say your company is in a precarious state. Let’s say you really, really need the sales curve to go up or else the business will go under. And let’s say if we fail then the bank will take away your house, close down your company and force you to lay off 30 good people who gave everything to the cause. Then yeah, well, I would SERIOUSLY recommend you start worrying about whether I was exceptional or not.
Scott Cramer, well done, beautiful. I’m like, so totally with Emerson on this one. Like.
My earlier point, well fielded by Mark Huebner, was intended in the spirit of what Emerson says. But the exceptional achievements reached by Shakespeare, Einstein, Da Vinci et al are not to be devalued in themselves just because their current springs from the happy, rare meeting of the streams of chance, genetics, knowledge and history. I am not a subscriber to the ‘great Man’ theory of history, I favour the idea that the pressures of human desire, experience and history culminate occasionally in one individual whose socio-historical importance is inevitably (as humans) defined through the base circumstances of their physical and temporal existence (i.e. the thing we think first about Einstein is the hair and the tongue, right?).
That just seems obvious to me. Hell, I’ll admit, I think I’m exceptional. I’m a writer and I really do think I’m the dog’s bollocks. But at the same time, I know this is irrelevant — because I have developed what I think is the mildly psychotic delusion/safety net that I think is necessary to both succeed, or if not, guard against failure. It’s simply this: if I fail, it is not me, I remain exceptional, it is the world that is wrong.
Of course, thinking the world is wrong is going to give me some problems if in fact I do eventually have to admit I’ve failed. But that’s the trade-off. Otherwise I’d have self-harm with a wooden spoon at every rejection letter. Instead: the people who have rejected me are major-league assholes.
This is very straightforward stuff, I know. But what I’m saying seems contradictory:
A. No-one doing anything creative should think of themselves as anything less than ‘potentially exceptional’, otherwise what business do they have? ‘Oh yeah, I’m a pretty good sculptor, not great, but I’m still going to show my stuff.’ I scream, ‘WHY?!?!’ (the infuriating thing is that most creative types DO think they’re exceptional, it’s just self-regarding post-religious modesty that keeps them from saying so).
B. This necessary standpoint of regarding oneself as exceptional is utterly irrelevant, as one can never trust the world to recognise the exception — and achieving true greatness is always in the hands of history, not yours.
Therefore: believe you’re great, take the rejection letters, take people’s comments, and at the same time thinking your work is great, don’t give a shit about it. This is the age of accepting the great contradictions, I think (the biggest one of all, of course,being ‘Be a good person your whole life, save the whales, don’t give people crabs, and remember: you’re not going to heaven at the end of it).
But I am rambling on and long and on, and I apologise. My original point was simply going to be this: self-justification often hides behind abstraction, so what I want is, Hugh (or anyone else) is to know specifically what you regard as ‘exceptional’ in the people you work with. What criteria would I need to make the grade? I’m talking examples, anecdotes, hard facts, baby. Can you give me what I need?
My entire life has been spent resenting that which is stupid and mundane.
Sigh… This is just so reductivist. There are only 2 classes of people? Exceptional and mediocre? And you call that vision??
Of course we all want to surround ourselves with bright people — they challenge us and make things more interesting. But don’t confuse arrogance with exceptional.
“Sigh… This is just so reductivist…“
Nothing like starting off a comment with the word “Sigh” to electrify your audience, Rick.
It’s a bit like starting a conversation with a girl who won’t sleep with you with the phrase “We need to talk about us” in order to get her to change her mind.
When I started reading ‘gaping void’ not to long ago it seemed you had a lot of interesting ideals and concepts. But now, each time I visit, I am less impressed with the (repeat) content.
The fact that you believe you are deserving of only “the exceptional minds” is quite egotistical. And frankly anymore, you read like a Salesman.
Just a comment from someone who prefers to look for the exceptional in everything.
“Just a comment from someone who prefers to look for the exceptional in everything.“
Christine:
1. It’s a great philosophy for living, and should be applauded.
2. Yet it’s so utterly worthless on a practical level if you’re being paid a lot of money to make hard choices. And nobody pays you a lot to make easy ones.
Frankly, having read your blog for a while, I would say you are as every bit aware of that as I am.
Whatever. Seems like 1 and 2 are in conflict. They are not in alignment.
So, what do you do if your basic inner philosophy is not aligned with how you make a living?
Do you try to make the job more like you, or vice versa?
Or is that decision ultimately made by someone else?
Questions, questions…
Thanks for the post, Hugh. Clearly everyone has different ideas of what it means to be exceptional. I believe the exceptional person has passion, an open and independent mind, honesty, authenticity, and a willingness to stand up and take responsibility for what needs to be done instead of saying, ‘that’s not my job’. It’s not necessarily about intelligence or creativity, although often the exceptional person has both (so I suppose there are levels of exceptionality). I prefer to surround myself with exceptional people because they reflect my values.
I also like your comment ‘fuck the poor, they can’t afford me.’ I relate to it in a figurative, not literal, sense… with the ‘poor’ being unexceptional, unimaginative prospective clients who think they have nothing to learn from anyone (despite the fact that their business is in the toilet.) They’re closed-mindedness results in a poverty of knowledge and insight, and they’re not worth my time. Sounds callous, but it’s just the old adage, ‘don’t cast your pearls before swine.’ Don’t work for anyone who doesn’t appreciate your value.
“Good work happens because somewhere along the line someone decided to fight like hell to make it happen.“
Well, duh.
My point is that “exceptional” is too fuzzy a metric to apply in most situations. I honestly don’t care if my personal assistant is gifted, creative, exceptional. I care very much that she handles my schedule and travel arrangements without alienating my clients or stranding me in Chicago.
Same thing with your example. I want to know exactly how my ad agency plans to increase sales, and I want them to be able to demonstrate that they’ve accomplished similar results for other clients. If they can’t do that, then I don’t care how many pretty awards they have sitting on their shelves, or how many inspiring manifestos they’ve published.
Katherine,
Yeah, agreed.
Duncan J. Watts writes: “Real science occurs in the same messy ambiguous world that scientists struggle to clarify, and is done by real people who suffer the same kind of limitations and confusions as anybody else.… Our papers get rejected, our ideas don’t work out, we misunderstand things that later seem obvious, and most of the time we feel frustrated or just plain stupid.“
This is the story of my own experience, and to that I would also add the impossibility of knowing about everything in one’s own field, let along the wider world, the unertainty in the face of critics, some of which are genuine and others of which are less so, and the difficulty of expressing that which is so clear in one’s own mind as clearly in written words, equations, algorithms or diagrams.
In such a state is the exceptional. How, then, to expect them to simply declare themselves as such? Any self-declaration will draw a mixture of the profound and the pedestrian. Probably the only way to find the exceptional is to know what you are looking for, more or less, and to then go looking.
Andreas: you have described the paradox that I think most people whom consider themselves to be exceptional (including myself) struggle to overcome.
Here is the logic behind our affliction:
–You cannot truly be exceptional, in every sense of the word, without being morally exceptional.
–Being morally exceptional is to be truly humble.
–One who passes judgement upon another based upon _any_ metric has abandoned humility.
So then, by brazenly dismissing others as lacking exceptional qualities, Hugh therefore cannot be exceptional. And in doing the same thing, neither can I.
As others have mentioned, part of being exceptional is having an ability to cultivate a harmonic existence. When we fail to do so, we ourselves fail to be exceptional.
It is easy to toss up our arms in frustration when dealing with a seemingly incompetent boss, co-worker, or spouse. But it is at this point in time that we must stop to realize that these ‘difficult’ people are ultimately in our life because we allowed them to be there. If my level of consciousness and self-worth is so awe-inspiring, than why have I allowed these hurdles to become a part of my life?
In my view, those whom have reached the true pinnacle of exceptionality view the above question differently: These problems I seem to encounter, they are of my own making, how can I overcome them? What can I do in order to ensure the most amount of smiles on the most amount of faces?
Once you reach this level of consciousness, you sail through life. This is why Andreas remarks that in general, the people she’s observed to be exceptional, are not trumpeting their achievement. To them, having self-fulfillment is an almost natural and effortless occurance. They needn’t tell others about it. Their humility does not permit their doing so. Having the opportunity to live in a state of self-actualization is in and of itself sufficient compensation.
Examples of historically exceptional people in this regard might include Mother Teresa, Confucious, Abraham Maslow, Bob Marley, and/or Epictetus.
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Thank you, Hugh, for the stimulating discussion. Your blog is new to me and was found via blogdex.
e-mail = digs ( at ) myway .com
All good points, Dave.
Moral of the story: it’s OK to seek out the exceptional minds, just not OK to discuss it with others. Heh.
Maybe “remarkable” would’ve been a less contentious word choice. But less punchy. Oh well…
This is a truly enlightening discussion. I think the problem with the world at the moment is that it isn’t run by ad agencies. People keep complaining about the lack of accountability, honesty and results from our society’s leaders, without realising that such mundane concerns are better seen as the lack of CREATIVITY and EXCEPTIONALITY. If the world was more supportive of the truly, creatively exceptional (don’t bug me, anyone who’s exceptional *knows* they’re exceptional, we’re self-selecting) we’d be so much better off. For instance, products would be nicer, people would be inspired to spend more (which in the long run provides opportunities for the poor anyway), and so on. I’m surprised no-one’s picking this up. Don’t politicians read blogs?
I just recently quit my job to go work somewhere else. I’d been interviewing at various places for over a year, but no place had really impressed me. Last week, talking to the director who would be my boss, he told me, “Other places I’ve been and people I’ve worked with all try to surround themselves with average people who make them look good in comparison. I hate that. I only hire people who are smarter than me and harder working.“
I accepted the offer without a second thought.
from monty python:
– All of you guys are so exceptional!
– I’m not! (somebody from the crowd)
I remember a poem by Bukowski:
The Strongest of the Strange
You don’t see them often
For whereever the crowd is they are not,
these odd ones ‚not many ,
but from them come the few good paintings,
the few good syphonies,
the few good books,
and other works
and from the best of the strange ones
perhaps nothing,
they are thier own paintings,
thier own books,
thier own music,
thier own work.
Sometimes I think I see them,
say a certain old man
sitting on a certain bench
in a certain way
or a quick face going the other way
in a passing automobile,
or there’s a certain motion
of the hand of a bag boy
or a bag girl
while packing supermarket groceries,
sometimes its even someone
you’ve been living with for sometime,
sometimes its even someone
you’ve been living with for sometime
you will notice a lightning quick glance
never seen from them before
sometimes you will only note thier excistance suddenly in vivid recall some months,
some years after they are gone.
I remember such a one
he was about 20 years old
drunk at 10am
staring into a cracked new orleans mirror
face dreaming againt the walls of the world
where did i go?
“I am unique, just like everybody else.
We all have our strenghts,
We all have our weaknesses,
That is what makes us unique.“
I used to believe (genuinely) that I was better than everyone else. I went from nothing to having a VC put great gobs of cash into my dream. I was achieving. I worked hard. Too hard. I had a nervous breakdown. Depression, suicidal. Then, with the help of my CBT psycologist, came up with the above mantra.
It gives me value (I am unique), it gives you value (you are unique).
To phrase this another way, I am exceptional in something, you are exceptional in something.
It is not about anyone being mediocre.
Life is about associating with people who share your passion about what you are exceptional at. Your passion may change, who you associate with will change.
It’s ok not to spend a lot of time with the others, but it is foolish to dismiss them as mediocre.
Touch
I love it.
I’m the controversial ruthlilycat at livejournal.com — look me up and join my blog if you’re interested.
its been interesting reading all your views here and i can’t believe the amount of commentary over such a short timespan! (aside to hugh — do you really work/sleep? you’re quite omnipresent).
to add a little thought — i fundamentally agree with the nurturist view touched on earlier that most have the innate ability but lack the motivation/catalyst. the solution for excellence/exceptionality and what we should be striving to is to solve THAT riddle. when everyone (read “the majority”) start climbing the ladder concientiously — then we will see progress and then will our hopes be attained as humanity.
the best we can acheive with minimal participation is discrete bubbles of acheivement (read “the brilliant”). sure feeds the individual ego for those that make it but leaves the rest behind and in a rut. especially the gawkers!
out of curiousity — are most of you commenters here based in the US? the tone and idiom here suggest so but i just wanted to check. it would be interesting to see if this is a culturally unique mode of thought. to make it simpler — who here is not in the US? (disclosure — i am in kuwait)
hugh — a final note: keep up the brilliant work.
i find there is another alternative to avoiding the water cooler groupies: isolation. this is actually a good thing, as it allows me to be productive in an attempt to do something with merit that will lead to many conversations with gifted people. until then i toil…
[i’ll end up in the dissipated-dreams-midlife-depression category most likely, but at least i didn’t take anyone else with me. heh]
Hugh:
I like what you write. Ever read any Ayn Rand? I ask because even though I think she’s over the top I do agree with her in many regards. Especially when it comes to having to deal with people who just can’t keep up with you.
Gaylord
What is most exeptional off all is this fork in the road website. Everything on this website is true in perspective, and understanding yourself could very well lead you to a exeptional perspective. I turn, doing so will only promote great ideas, and to me everyone has a great idea but getting of their block and doing so is another thing. Idea+Ambition=(You tell Me)