We can be heroes, just for one day...
Bowie’s most creative work was inspired by self imposed obstacles
Marcus Timson
In this article, we look at how obstacles can provide opportunity.
As we get older, become more experienced, more competent, respected, expert even, we become on the one hand better, but on the other hand more limited.
What do I mean by this?
I have often thought that expertise makes us operate within a very narrow field of operation. It does not necessarily mean we will be more creative or innovative. Often, the opposite is true in that is can limit us to a set of rules that become our comfort zone, and as a result, we stop learning new things and worse still trying new things out.
So what could we do about this?
Tim Harford, in his excellent podcast ‘Cautionary Tales’ features some really interesting insight along this theme in ‘Bowie, Jazz and the Unplayable Piano’ which explains how obstacles beyond our control can often lead to growth. In the podcast, one of the examples he talks of is David Bowie’s time in Berlin. Off the back of a tough personal time in LA with a failed marriage and an accompanying drug problem, in Berlin, he had what is now widely regarded as one of his most creative phases. One of the things that his producer Brian Eno did was get all of his musicians, all virtuoso levels on their respective instruments to play an entirely different instrument, one they were not familiar with. And they really hated it to begin with. But through persistence, some interesting results were generated, and mega-hits were recorded such as Heroes with its signature guitar line.
These results demonstrate that when we become expert we actually only really tend to operate within a particularly narrow field of competence. We should ask ourselves, is becoming 1% better even noticeable? But by pushing these musicians completely out of their comfort zone he was able to create some real classics.
I think that obstacles do not need to be seen as final. Obstacles, repositioned, can actually be an opportunity if there is a willingness for us to try to meet the challenge, and develop new ideas aligned with solving problems that may be right in front of us.
There is always an opportunity in adversity. There is a silver lining but it requires adaptability, action and preparedness to get things wrong. Once we accept this, we can, through a process of discovery uncover new opportunities.
In the print sector we have seen plenty of examples of adaptability during COVID-19 from PPE equipment, social distancing graphics, printed sports crowds in stadiums etc. Once our creativity is ignited, we can create value despite being confined to our computers and in our homes most of the time.
*Bowie chose Berlin as a divided City and one that he regarded as the centre of the future of Europe. Heroes was co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno, produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and recorded in July and August 1977 at Hansa Studio by the Wall.
**Bowie's performance of "'Heroes'" on 6 June 1987, at the German Reichstag in West Berlin has been considered a catalyst for the later fall of the Berlin Wall.