About a month ago I read this book under the impression it was about something completely different then what it actually was.
“Orbiting the Giant Hairball” is an entertaining look at Gordon MacKenzie’s career at Hallmark over thirty years. It is one of the most original, funny, out of the box books I have read. He biggest pursuit is how to get away from the “Giant Hairball” (the tangled, impenatrable, mass of rules, and systems that has worked in the past, that can lead to just ok results in the present. Easy, fun, and insightful read for all creatives. His title for himself - “Creative Paradox”.
Here’s a couple of his thoughts…
• Orbiting is responsible creativity: vigorously exploring and operating beyond the hairball of the corporate mindset, beyond accepted models, patterns, or standards - all the while remaining connected to the spirit of the corporate mission.
• Hairball is policy, procedure, compliance, conformity, rigidity, and submission to status quo, while orbiting is originality, rules-breaking, non-conformity, experimentation and innovation.
• If you want creativity to return, you must quit trying to focus on it.
“Orbiting the Giant Hairball”
Thu, Apr 16, 2009
5 Responses to ““Orbiting the Giant Hairball””
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April 17th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Great post! I’m sure one of the reasons NPCC is so successful is that Andy doesn’t let the organization get tangled up in a mess as it grows. His laser-like focus on accomplishing the mission is admirable (and hard to do because it involved saying “no” a lot!).
April 18th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Originally thought this post was on Feline Care.
April 19th, 2009 at 6:16 am
Brad, I’m thinking about doing this as a group study for our team. Would you recommend it in that context?
April 19th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Ken - Short answer is yes, I think so however not sure how much is applicable to the team. One of the best things about the book is that Gordon MacKenzie asks a lot of questions around the area of creativity and questioning the process of what worked before. Even a successful meeting’s process that happened the previous week. That said, some great discussions would come out of it and some great ideas. Let me know how it goes.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Brad, one the guys picked up the Book for me at Drive. Off the charts.
Is Gordon still in our orbit or did he leave this planet.
Is there a way to get in touch with him.
We are doing some videos for Reggie and the guys of Rethink and have been flying under the hairball radar for some time.
Got my entire team reading the book.
Michael Haun
THe Big Deal