A man I respect enormously, Richard Huntingdon, has come out and said he is passionately opposed to brainstorm meetings because he feels they are ineffective, a waste of time and are more about cultivating mediocrity than powerful, motivating ideas.
Bollocks.
Actually I’ll re-phrase that … Semi-Bollocks.
You see on one hand I can understand where he is coming from … quite often these meetings are attended by individuals with little experience [both interms of work and life] so their frame of reference and/or ability to recognise a great idea is severely limited – resulting in the sort of ‘bland idea by committee’ output he finds [quite rightly] so offensive.
However … and it’s a big however … I do not think it is right to say ALL brainstorm meetings are pointless because …
1 If you DO have the right people in attendance, amazing things can happen. [Look at where some of Apple / IKEA / Pfizer / Sainsbury’s greatest ideas came from]
2 As far as I know, there is no law saying a moderator has to be all nicey-nicey and ensure ‘everyone goes home happy’. I am a complete bastard when I run these things because [i] I won’t settle for 2nd best, [ii] I believe with the right guidance [and forward planning – including helping the participants see what they could achieve] great things can happen, even if it still is the exception rather than the rule.
3 At his level … brainstorm meetings are as much about advancing the minds of the people in attendance as they are reaching an ‘idea’.
Look, I appreciate Richard’s frustrations … I acknowledge the big potential of mediocrity … but to come out and say anyone who does a brainstorm meeting is a celebrant of mediocrity is fucking bollocks.
Like most things, how you approach a task influences what you get out of a task … and maybe I am lucky that when my clients ask me to run these things, they want me to approach it with the goal of helping something great come out or nothing at all … but it is wrong to imply ‘idea development’ should only be handled by those ‘deemed’ [or self proclaimed] great at it – because no one has the right to assume they have the monopoly on good ideas, even if quite often that seems to be the case.
Don’t get me wrong, companies should not treat at brainstorms as [1] the solution to all their issues or [2] a training program for creative thinking … but by the same token, agencies and the like should not believe they are the greatest idea generators in the Universe because …
[i] They’re not [though some are fucking great]
[ii] Many can only think interms of an ‘ad’
[iii] Too many don’t really understand [like many clients] what their consumer really wants
[iv] If they were that fucking great, they should pack in the advertising game and start their own companies to enjoy the fruits of their brilliance.
At the very least, a brainstorm – if handled well – can expand the expectations of the people in attendance and given we live in a World of growing mediocrity, surely that is worth the effort?
Oh and finally, I’d like to point cynic has had planners working in teams for about 3 years … because as brilliant as all our guys are, we know ego can sometimes be as dangerous as mediocrity.
Richard is a brilliant, talented, clever guy who has been involved with some of the greatest communication ever created … but as his post proves, he can be wrong occasionally, ha. [Just teasing Richard!]