Lateral Activity

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

It’s time to spread the link love by highlighting some great examples of Lateral Activity elsewhere on the web…

You can tell the economy is in a bad way when we cautious Brits are seized with entrepreneurial fever. According to Money Market UK, job losses are spurring ‘a new breed of UK entrepreneurs’:

The growing number of talented high earners losing their jobs across Britain is spurring a revolution and new generation of entrepreneurs.

Taking what experience and contacts they have, many currently out of work would rather work for themselves carving out new business opportunities, surfacing as a direct result of the credit crunch.

Quality of life, job security and becoming the master of one’s own destiny are primary factors driving this surge in new business creation.

(Their prehistoric website doesn’t allow me to link to the actual article, but rest assured this is the interesting bit.)

If you find the prospect (or reality) of the entrepreneurial life a daunting one, you might want to take Tim Ferris’s advice on Harnessing Entrepreneurial Manic-Depression: Making the Rollercoaster Work for You:

Ever since the media’s Chicken Little response to the tremors in the financial markets, I’ve felt like shouting from the rooftops “now you know how it feels to be an entrepreneur!”

Maybe Marla was right when she said ‘We’re all entrepreneurs now’.

For some great examples of real life Marlas, check out Fast Company’s Top Women Entrepreneurs in Tech.

And according to the US National Endowment for the Arts, it’s not just tech creatives who are the future of the economy:

“Artists now play a huge but mostly unrecognized role in the new American economy of the 21st century,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “This report shows how important American artists are to both our nation’s cultural vitality and economic prosperity of our communities.”

The New York Times describes artists who are Transforming Art into a More Lucrative Career Choice:

Rather than seeing art as something to pursue in the hours when they are not earning a living, these artists are developing businesses around their talents. These artists are part of a growing movement that has caught the attention of business experts and is being nudged along by both art and business schools.

No wonder Steve King advises artists to Take Business Classes with That Art Training.

In his usual inimitable style, Hugh MacLeod explains why the artist is the ultimate global microbrand:

4. Being an artist has three main components- 1. Making the actual work 2. Running the business and 3. Promoting the business. It’s REALLY hard to do all three at the same time. It’s EQUALLY hard to find people who can take over some of the duties and responsibilities of 2 and 3. Good people who actually know what they’re doing are rare and expensive.

Chuck Frey and his colleagues at Innovation Tools have compiled a report on Innovating in a Recession. They’ve interviewed authors, consultants and business owners to compile a meaty (34 page) cross-section of views on creative approaches to the recession. (If a cross-section can be said to be meaty.) There are also loads of links to more articles on the same topic. An e-mail address is required to download the free report — but Chuck and his team have really done their homework on this one, I’d say it’s definitely worth your while.

Scott Belsky of Behance has a great short essay on Productive Creativity.

If you appreciate the value of creative constraints, you’ll enjoy Dan Siedell’s uncompromising view of artistic discipline:

Studio work is an ascetic practice. It demands that the artist place limits on his or her freedom to do anything in order to do something. The artist must develop ascetic disciplines in order to avoid one of the worst of aesthetic vices: self-indulgence.

(If Dan’s surname sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the brother of another bright creative fellow, Tim Siedell.)

Digital Apple Juice offers A Different Look at Creativity, suggesting that creative types occupy a spectrum between Creators, Makers and Producers. In a similar vein, Chris Brogan muses on the relationships between Vision, Creation and Execution.

Teresa Amabile, one of my favourite creativity theorists, explodes The 6 Myths of Creativity.

And if that’s not enough reading for you, Mark Dykeman has a great list of 22 Ultra-Inspiring Blogs about Creativity and Idea GenerationI’ll admit he didn’t do his chances of inclusion here any harm by featuring both Lateral Action and Wishful Thinking. 🙂

That’s all for this week folks — have nice weekends!