Some things never change…
Some things never change
I once heard someone say “While much in our lives changes, it is what stays the same that shows us what truly matters.”
For example…
I’m typing this on a MacBook Pro that I bought last year. It’s my favorite computer of the many I have owned. I’m typing this in Google Docs, a cloud-based word processor, which I find to be a creatively stimulating workspace BTW. You are likely reading this either in an email, or on a social media platform. You may also be reading it on the blog page of my website, or perhaps listening to an MP3 file I have released as a podcast after recording it through a high-quality microphone. You might be reading a paper copy that I printed on my Hewlett Packard to hand to you at a conference or talk which may have included projected slides. And, if we have a consultation in the near future we may speak using our smartphones and paired Bluetooth headsets, or we might use video conferencing software such as Zoom, again with aforementioned headsets and/or microphones.
The preceding paragraphs contain numerous references that would be highly confusing 100 years ago or 100 years hence. In the past it would be nonsensical because these tools didn’t yet exist. In the future it would be archaic, because there will be different, state-of-the-art tools of the trade.
Get it? It’s not the tools, it’s how you use them, why you use them, what you use them for, and, ultimately, the intention you hold as you do.
A mentor of mine called this the phenomenon of “temporary delivery systems”. I went to him to learn how to more effectively market and systemize our music school. He said “In previous decades it was Yellow Pages, newspaper, and direct mail. Now it’s websites, Google Ads, and social media.” But the goal is always the same.
As creative leaders our job is simple: keep up with the temporary delivery systems, and always remember why you are using them.
In other words, intention before tool.
So, what is the goal and intention that unifies cave paintings, papyrus scrolls, printed pamphlets, telegrams, faxes, phone calls, emails, websites, sermons, social media, etc.?
The goal is PERSUASION, and the intention is AGREEMENT. We call this process COMMUNICATION, and it will always be THE central activity of being human.
I think it’s illuminating to look at the word “communicate”.
The root is the Latin “communicare”, which means “to share”, which is also where we get words like “commune” and “communism”.
Do you also see that it contains “uni”? I’m not sure if that’s etymologically sound, but I find it highly significant.
Communication is seeking UNITY through SHARING MEANING. When unity is achieved, desired actions result. As a leader it’s your constant job to conceive of, control, and reinvent this process in pursuit of your vision.
The tools keep changing, but not the job. It’s the same in all times and all places.