Creative Dinner About Struggles

So a few months ago, it became clear to me that I needed to get out more. I needed to talk with other creative types to see how they thrive in this Mad Men inspired age of being labeled "creative".

So, I did just that. I booked a restaurant, got on Linked-In, sent some emails and asked for help. The restaurant had an awesome spot, five people confirmed – and we were all set!

Then life happened and everyone canceled.
 
Well, not everyone, one creative director said he still wanted to meet, but we realized that the two of us sitting down for dinner would be..not the same. So it didn't happen.
I quickly re-booked and re-posted.

This time even more people were interested, yet only a couple could make it.

My goal was five at the table, (inspired clearly by Dinner for Five hosted by Jon Favreau) I strongly feel that magic happens when five people put there minds to a topic.
To make a long story short, five confirmed, four showed, one person was totally MIA, ( you out there Nigel? anywhere? ) one other had a conflict, and another was out of the country.
So, three people in total joined me. Fine by me-especially considering who came! They were:

Jeff Gothelf
Whitney Hess
Michael Calleia

We dined at En Japanese Brasserie which was fantastic for sure, but frankly, the four of us could have eaten in Crif Dogs and still had the same energy and spontaneity behind the talk. (Wait..I love Crif Dogs, going there is actually an awesome idea..)

After much back and forth in my brain, I kept the topic basic: What do we all struggle with?

We dug right into the topic, the food, ourselves and each other. Yes, it did have an air of group therapy-but how could that be avoided?

The group was honest, funny and open to the process, as well as each other (Lucky me, since I only had met one of them in person before this).
We discussed, personal maturity, business acumen (HATE that term), client expectations and team building.
Through every topic someone always touched on how they managed a bit of sanity while tackling diverse challenges.

By dessert we were all exhausted.

So the result for me was that I learned a lot that night; about these three and about myself (..I dislike Uni, no matter what..).
Let me step back- I didn't flat out learn anything new as much as I confirmed some key beliefs.

I confirmed that creative vision must be properly shared by removing the blocks between clients and creative teams.

I also confirmed that trust, real trust, is only wallet deep in the sometimes harsh world of business, but that if we-as "creatives" focus on that, our love for the art of the deliverable can be lost.

My next step is to assemble another dinner, maybe even invite someone from the first dinner so that there is carry over from the first gathering, developing a sense of continuity. I would also like to bring in an "outside discipline" to hear about their world-and how they work with creative teams.

Stay tuned!

/Van

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By Van

Accomplished human-centered designer, impassioned leader, enthusiastic educator and perennial learner. Versatile craftsman and thinker, facilitating solutions for positive change through empathy-driven ideas.