The OffBeat #12: Improv in the Workplace

Conventions become inventions

There’s this great quote in David Epstein’s book Range from sociologist Brian Uzzi:

“Human creativity is basically an ‘import/export business of ideas.’”

He’s speaking about creators taking ideas that are conventions in one area into new areas where they’re suddenly seen as inventions.

This concept is exactly how jazz improv works. The best jazz musicians continuously mine inspiration from a wide selection of music and plug their own version of tidbits and phrases into their solos. Sometimes they deliberately quote well-known tunes as a wink to the audience; sometimes the influence is more subtle. Same is true in writing — the best writers read voraciously; ditto, acting, editing, art directing, photography.

What about in business? 100%.

As a marketer, over the last couple of decades some of my brightest light bulbs at work have come from ingesting ideas outside my category or market (even from novels, or music, or TV shows) and repurposing them for my business’s target audience, brand personality, and whatever other factors are relevant.

Here’s the point: Whether or not "creative" is in your title or job description, your work requires creativity. Creative problem-solving, creative risk-taking, a creative management approach to tricky people challenges. As interior designer Hope Velocette says,

"Your brain is a crockpot, and you're putting all these things in it and they simmer, and you wake up one day and there's an idea."

All inventions originated, in some way, as conventions.

Some of my favorite sources of work inspiration — aka mental crockpot ingredients:

💡 Matt Klein's Zine
💡 Ingrid Fetell Lee's Aesthetics of Joy
💡 Anne Helen Petersen's Culture Study
💡Real Simple print magazine (I'm dead serious — I've had a subscription for 15+ years)
💡All things Oliver Burkeman
💡Jeff Warren's content on the Calm app
💡Memoirs, novels, and social psychology books

I’d love to hear some of yours.

Have a great week,

Allison