Diversity & Creative Footprints

My latest project is a collaboration of sorts.

Not in the traditional sense – we’ve not sat down and worked together on anything, and in fact, this other person doesn’t even know that I’m working on this yet.

Still, the other person is instrumental to this project, and it quite literally would not have happened without them.

So, it’s an asynchronous collaboration, but only one of us knows it exists at the moment (me).

Just how I like it. 🤓

Reflecting the magic of this project, I couldn’t help but notice that the two of us are complete opposites, in every way imaginable.

This reflection brought to light the true value of skillset diversity.

When you have two people from two completely different backgrounds, skillsets and worldviews, you get to maximise the full 100% of each person, adding up to a full potential of 200%+ in terms of the combined creative footprint (the plus is the parts that supercharge when mixed together).

When you have two people who have more or less the same backgrounds, skillsets and worldviews, you still get 100% of each person, but because there is so much crossover, you end up with far less than 200% between the two of you.

You are effectively the same person, so that crossover eats into the total creative footprint or what you both bring to the table of your collaboration. If you’re too similar, you only end up with 100% + the tiny bit of difference between you.

So if you want to increase the likelihood that you’re going to create something unique or special, work with someone who is quite different to you.

The bigger the difference, the bigger the creative footprint of your alliance.

Stay classy ✌🏻