Creativity Is a Form of Leadership
I'm a sucker for standup comedians whose material dances down the line between laughter and sadness. I love the big-hearted, the introspective, the borderline cheeseball, and of course, the inspiring. It's no surprise then that I love comedians like Bo Burnham and Mike Birbiglia.
(I listened to this song from Burnham's last special, Inside, enough to make it my third-most streamed song of my last 12 months.)
That song aside, I'm obsessed more generally with comedians whose acts help us feel serious feels and laugh big laughs, both at the same time. They so often end their stories as I like to end stories: with a lingering moment. Something that feels somehow satisfying and unsatisfying. These are moments I've heard Stephen Colbert describe (on Mike Birbiglia's podcast of all places) as creating a one-molecule-thick bubble around your person, and you don't want to move or clap for fear of breaking that wonderful cocoon. You just want to sit there, in that moment, with that feeling.
THOSE are the types of stories -- comedic or otherwise -- that I adore.
While nobody beats Burnham for sheer spectacle, his aren't the acts I've watched the most. The standup special I've seen the most in my life is Birbiglia's Thank God for Jokes, on Netflix.
Today, I find myself thinking about Thank God for Jokes because of one line in particular and how it smashes the illusion we have about being "leaders" -- even though the line itself wasn't about leadership.
In the special, Birbiglia is telling a joke about sitting on a plane eating a chicken salad sandwich on walnut raisin bread. (This is a bit he calls "nuts in the air," which he jokes about on stage as being one of his favorite rap songs.)
While he's eating, a concerned flight attendant walks by because the woman next to Birbiglia has a nut allergy.
(The standalone joke is tough to find online, but he re-tells the story on this appearance on Conan.)
As Birbiglia winds down the "nuts in the air" bit and his audience rolls with laughter, he pulls a classic yet effective storytelling move that I've dubbed "that's the thing about." This is where you tell a story as a means of illustrating a larger point later. It doesn't have a name. Maybe it's just "effective storytelling." But I like "that's the thing about," because after you deliver the story, you might say something like, "That's the thing about ... [topic of the story], [insight from the story]."
To help someone understand the universal, start with the specific. Tell the story, then reveal the insight. It's a much more powerful way to communicate than delivering advice -- which is why so much of our work ends up feeling flat. We forget to start with a story.
Following Birbiglia's "nuts in the air" story, he basically says "that's the thing about [jokes]" when he says the following:
Alright. So, you know who doesn’t like this story ... are people with nut allergies. [small chuckles]
And you know who DOES like this story? EVERYONE else. [big laughs]
And… I feel genuinely conflicted about that, ’cause there’s almost a thousand people in this room together right now. And about 997 of us are like, “Ha, ha! Nuts in the air!” And then three of us secretly are like, “Wahhh... that’s my life.” You know?
And I don’t want to be that to you. But jokes have to be about ... something.
* * *
Jokes have to be about something.
Stories have to be about something.
Our work has to be about something.
And this is why I get so dismayed when I see yet another social media post re-telling a story found on Wikipedia or any number of popular blogs or shows. I think, "Great story, but what is this ABOUT?"
In other words, where is this going for me, the audience? Why are YOU telling it? Why should I care about you, the storyteller?
I could get that story anywhere, and I suppose you're anywhere. So why should I care?
Help me care.
That's what marketing is about. It's not about "getting in front of them." It's about ensuring they care.
Help me care.
I know you'd admit you want your work to make a difference. I feel the same way. But how often do we stop and consider what we mean by "difference" in the first place? That's the something the story is supposed to be about.
To make a difference is not just "drive a result," like filling today's open spot to ship content on your calendar or growing followers or, yes, driving a lead or sale. To make a difference is to inspire change in others. To make a difference is to make. something. different.
That's why I think creativity is a form of leadership in the end. It's about inspiring others to think differently and act better. You've led them away from something and toward something better. But either or both of those things are often missing in the work.
Jokes have to be about something.
Stories have to be about something.
Our work has to be about something.
The stories you tell, the work you do, the stance of leadership that you take -- it can all only mean one thing. You're here to lead people away from something and towards something else. You can't have no point-of-view. You can't have zero beliefs. You can't make everyone like you.
Should they feel offended? No! Do we need haters? Despite the chest-thumping of so many thick-headed morons on social media who love to talk about all their haters ... no!
But things don't improve unless we manage to push people out of their comfort zones, ever so slightly, bit by bit, over time. That's the role I hope to play for you: urging you forward, little by little, until it looks to others like you've made a giant leap.
I hate to make you feel uncomfortable. I hate when someone doesn't see what I see or care about what I care about. But my work has to be about something.
* * *
Consider that there are only two types of "somethings" the work is about and, really, two types of businesses we can be in.
Some people assume they're in the blogging business, or the book writing business, or the podcasting business, or the YouTube business, or the social media business, or the app development business.
The rest of us realize: We're in the change business.
And the change business doesn't require another post or book or video or episode. These are all just delivery vehicles for the actual product we build and offer the world: our ideas.
I like to refer to the best ideas as our IP. Intellectual property.
These are our biggest ideas for addressing the frustration or stagnation of the status quo in order to push us all towards something better. When I hear the term "visionary," that's what I actually picture. You, and your vision for what might be better.
The good news is, visionary ideas can be proactively developed. But we must first learn to see the IP as separate from the projects delivering that IP. This very essay you're reading right now is part of my IP development process. I don't consider my newsletter or podcast to be parts of any marketing funnel, because they're much more important to my IP development. The ideas I develop in both projects then help grow my business. They're the only reason anyone knows, likes, or trusts me as a storyteller, coach, and consultant.
This is a delicate dance move, since it's not like we can really decouple a Big Idea from the vehicles that distribute it. My writing and my episodes are, of course, driving results for my business. But the priority is to create a practice for developing my IP. As soon as I turn them into "growth engines," my growth sputters, because my ideas get worse. I feel drawn to dilute them in favor of growing reach or revenue.
Think of it this way: We embrace that creative people can turn anything into inspiration for the work. Every moment, story, or snippet can contribute to the projects being built. But what is your means for doing that? If you're constantly taking in all kinds of inspiration, then how do you consistently turn debris into pearls? You need your IP development project(s). Mine just happen to be a newsletter and a podcast. Yes, they contribute measurable results. But they're really about idea development. That's how I gauge their success. That's how I decide whether to continue them.
And that's how they contribute to my measurable business results.
Your ideas can and should be developed. They're your real product. Everything else is a way for others to access your product. Your ideas are your product. And the reason you develop your product is to change people. The goal of our work is to inspire reflection and action in others. That's where results come from. People taking action. They take action because they want to experience some kind of change. If they didn't, they'd just sit still. The status quo would persist.
As storytellers, we are not in the "content" business. We are not in marketing or sales or whatever niche we occupy. Not really. We are in the change business. So learn to be in that business. Make sure your work is about something.
This is a choice. It's far easier to see yourself as a writer, a podcaster, a creator, a SaaS marketer, then go traipsing around the internet looking for what writers, podcasters, creators, or SaaS marketers ought to do to move their days. This just creates more sameness, more flat work which offers generalized advice at best and fails to serve others at worst.
Where's your point-of-view? Where's your frustration with what's wrong in the status quo? What are you moving people away from? Where's your vision for what might be better?
You know who WON'T like that kind of work? People who want things to stay the same.
But you know who will? EVERYONE else.
You're in the change business. That is why you do your work. So what is your work about? Although it sounds silly to say, we too often forget:
It has to be about something.