Comments on: “Safe” is Risky: What Creatives Can Learn from Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller & Other Olympic Athletes: http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/03/%e2%80%9csafe%e2%80%9d-is-risky-what-creatives-can-learn-from-lindsey-vonn-bode-miller-other-olympic-athletes/ The official blog of Renaissance Creative, an Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations and Brand Design agency. Wed, 03 Nov 2010 23:25:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tim Hamby http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/03/%e2%80%9csafe%e2%80%9d-is-risky-what-creatives-can-learn-from-lindsey-vonn-bode-miller-other-olympic-athletes/comment-page-1/#comment-72 Tim Hamby Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:57:50 +0000 http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/?p=224#comment-72 Matt, Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for the inspirational tweet! (And BTW, your subsequent, "Honored to be a footnote in..." tweet cracked me up). : ) Marketers and designers have so many challenges- quality and creativity vs. tight budgets and deadlines, among the most notorious. Like Lindsey Vonn, my advice is to embrace these challenges and then try to rise above them. Sometimes, you don't have to expand budgets, but simply rearrange / reprioritize them. With respect to tight deadlines, communication is key. We realize that most of our clients are on tight deadlines. Many of them rush us because that's how we've always performed for them in the past. I believe we sometimes need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of extra time to our clients. Perhaps we could gain a little ground and move closer to the ideal. They have an agenda. We have one too, built around a quality design ethic. Ultimately, in my experience, the most important characteristic of "Champions", be they world-class athletes or world-class designers, is simply good attitude. Most clients recognize earnest effort, and appreciate open and honest communication, whether easy to hear or not. I think most expect us to push for only the highest quality and we owe them our best efforts, even in the most challenging conditions. Hopefully, they acknowledge and appreciate this and if not; then maybe they're not the type of clients we should seek to work with. Thanks again Matt- Tim Matt,

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for the inspirational tweet! (And BTW, your subsequent, “Honored to be a footnote in…” tweet cracked me up). : )

Marketers and designers have so many challenges- quality and creativity vs. tight budgets and deadlines, among the most notorious. Like Lindsey Vonn, my advice is to embrace these challenges and then try to rise above them.

Sometimes, you don’t have to expand budgets, but simply rearrange / reprioritize them. With respect to tight deadlines, communication is key. We realize that most of our clients are on tight deadlines. Many of them rush us because that’s how we’ve always performed for them in the past. I believe we sometimes need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of extra time to our clients. Perhaps we could gain a little ground and move closer to the ideal. They have an agenda. We have one too, built around a quality design ethic.

Ultimately, in my experience, the most important characteristic of “Champions”, be they world-class athletes or world-class designers, is simply good attitude. Most clients recognize earnest effort, and appreciate open and honest communication, whether easy to hear or not. I think most expect us to push for only the highest quality and we owe them our best efforts, even in the most challenging conditions. Hopefully, they acknowledge and appreciate this and if not; then maybe they’re not the type of clients we should seek to work with.

Thanks again Matt-
Tim

]]> By: Matt Earley http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/2010/03/%e2%80%9csafe%e2%80%9d-is-risky-what-creatives-can-learn-from-lindsey-vonn-bode-miller-other-olympic-athletes/comment-page-1/#comment-69 Matt Earley Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:45:40 +0000 http://www.renaissancecreative.com/blog/?p=224#comment-69 Great piece, Tim. I think we all acknowledge that it is difficult to take a professional risk, whether in design, strategy, execution, or otherwise, especially when that risk jeopardizes your project, perhaps your job. For instance, if a designer sees a possible solution to a challenge in which the time necessary to complete is much longer than the time it takes to churn out something average, it's gotta' be tough for that designer to say: "I'm going to take the potential risk of being punished for taking 'too long' so that I can put forth better work than the typical quick turn-around." But, that's the kind of attitude that I believe champions have. Willing to take the risk and extra work required to perform better than average. Seeing the route to something better and not being afraid to go for it. Cheers to pushing beyond while risking failure. Great piece, Tim. I think we all acknowledge that it is difficult to take a professional risk, whether in design, strategy, execution, or otherwise, especially when that risk jeopardizes your project, perhaps your job. For instance, if a designer sees a possible solution to a challenge in which the time necessary to complete is much longer than the time it takes to churn out something average, it’s gotta’ be tough for that designer to say: “I’m going to take the potential risk of being punished for taking ‘too long’ so that I can put forth better work than the typical quick turn-around.” But, that’s the kind of attitude that I believe champions have. Willing to take the risk and extra work required to perform better than average. Seeing the route to something better and not being afraid to go for it.

Cheers to pushing beyond while risking failure.

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