March 2006 Archives
Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but won't taste very good.
Joe Paterno
There it was, someone's dream job, advertised in the Sunday paper. The art director's position with a well known, long-established studio and headed by the President of the local Society of Illustrators. It sounded like an opportunity to work with people who knew what they were doing. As I waited for the owner to arrive, I flipped through the studio's portfolio; lots of quaint illustrations in ads all laid out exactly the same. But the walls were covered with sophisticated, multi-planes-in-space editorial illustrations signed with the same name as the studio owner. I was impressed and eager to meet him. Oh, sure, we use computers here. It didn't take long to realize he was not the man who did the fabulous illustrations. I came to know him as the man who threw his chair into the wall when his airbrush clogged and as someone who displayed his brother's illustrations to imply they were his. Oh, and yes, they had a computer; the one used to invoice clients. Hmmm . . . no foolin'
Hold'em, like life itself, has its defining moment. It's the flop. When you see the flop, you're looking at 71 percent of your hand, and the cost is only a single round of betting.
Lou Krieger
"Boy, have I got an awesome opportunity for you! My band needs a logo and we're inviting you to submit designs for consideration. If your design is chosen, there will be more work than you'll know what to do with. If you come up with the idea we're looking for, your work will be used on all our products, you'll get a free t-shirt and if you think you need it, a CD of our unknown band." How can this offer get any worse? An experience designer would hear the spiel differently: We don't want to spend any money because we might flop, so we're looking for some sucker to do this stuff for free. It's our money, but only time for you. In fact, we heard graphic designers are all suckers, so we're throwing out a net to catch a few to work for free. If we like what you do for free, we'll give you more work to do for free. If you realize we're taking advantage of you, we'll throw you a free t-shirt. If things get ugly, we might have to give you a CD. But, hey, it'll be fun.
The weirder you're going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person.
P. J. O'Rourke
Cookie cutter conformity--that's what Wall Street old timers call it. Advisors suggest entrepreneurs stick with the suit formula or wardrobe eccentricities may be read as nonconformist tendencies. Thinking outside the box may prejudice potential investors. It's okay to be creative, but not with other people's money. French cuffs, a full Windsor knot in that red silk tie, bracers, a big name designer suit and wingtips are de rigueur on bullion avenue in New York City. It's the uniform of fiscal responsibility and helps birds of a feather recognize each other.
