This book was written for managers who find themselves working alongside people employed for their creative skills, and who may find themselves struggling to cope with managing a 'product' which they cannot necessarily see or even begin to understand - the creative brain. An 'asset' which, as one professional put it; walks out of the building at five o'clock every day, sometimes leaving nothing behind but an empty chair!

Because of the way they work, the uninitiated, may find them to be temperamental or even undisciplined; and struggle to understand what motivates these so called 'creatives' when the usual incentive of extra cash thrown at the problem fails to get the expected response of increased productivity.
How do you quantify 'inspiration'. How to you increase efficiency when you can't even understand the process which caused the ideas that you are paying for to form in the minds of your creative staff?
How can anyone manage something like this?

Is a policy of non-interference the best policy?
Should you simply accept that the best people to manage creatives are the creatives themselves, and just leave them to get on with it?
Or should you brandish the whip and treat them like a wild flock of woolly ruminants that need to be domesticated for their own good?

This book does not have all the answers, but it does ask many of the right questions.
I didn't agree with everything in the book. In fact neither did many of the contributors whose opinions and experiences often clashed with each other. But, I certainly walked away much better informed about the industry than I had been previously; and, I've worked a good many years within the industry myself.

Winston Fletcher is uniquely qualified.

After rising from humble beginnings to become a leader in the advertising industry, serving as president of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) and as chairman of the Advertising Association; he wrote 14 books on marketing and advertising. If that is not enough; on a personal level, his daughter Amelia has been the frontwoman of an evolving series of pop groups from the 1980s to the present.
This man not only lives and breathes creativity, he literally breeds it from his own loins!

------------------------------

I do have a few observations of my own to make, which were not touched on at all by the author. Do not get me wrong. I don't claim to know better, I just have a different experience myself.

I feel that perhaps in his struggle to understand the question 'Why do certain creatives behave like they come from another planet?', he may have been closer to the truth than he knew.

The obvious thing which strikes me is the poor communication that seems to exist between employer and employee in this sector, which the author also points out from the very start.
Many suggestions are put forward, but a part of the puzzle always seems just out of reach.

To quote my favourite line from one of the classic 50s Godzilla movies, when the giant lizard swam through volcanic lava, simply to forward the plot (a highly questionable act even in SciFi). One of the scientists in the film simply reacted with the line 'These things are currently beyond our understanding.' Thus deliberately side-stepping the whole issue.

Many of the prejudices held by managers towards the 'so called' creatives (a term I have never really liked) as: "insecure, egotistical, stubborn, rebellious, poor time keeping perfectionists who seek fame and are not necessarily all that intelligent." makes slightly uncomfortable reading today; as any statement would directed, not at a specific individual but, towards a group of people.
I am not blaming Mr. Fletcher. This is a prejudice which I know from personal experience exists throughout the industries of the world.
But what I have observed, when you take into account what types of characters are likely to be drawn to the Creative Industry, is that it can be strongly suggested that they include a great many individuals, diagnosed or otherwise, who today fit the category of ASD in one form or another. As well as a larger proportion of alternative lifestyles including but not exclusive to the homosexual communities, fans of speculative fiction (sci-fi), odd-balls, vegetarians and a great many of societies other rejects. In other words 'freaks'. ;)

The general lack of understanding concerning high functioning autism and how, many of the unique characteristics of this condition compare with the above list of criticisms made in the book makes me question the contributors full understanding of that situation.

Of course, there could be other explanations. A basic lack of understanding about the creative process (which this book aims to resolve). The fact that many managers try to blame the creatives for failures which are technically down to their own lack of proper management, often gives the creatives fair justification to argue that a certain problem is not their fault. Leading some managers to then accuse them in tern of being "insecure, egotistical, stubborn, rebellious... Etc, etc, etc." and you can see how this myth could quickly be accepted.

Winston Fletcher was at one point chairman of the British autism research charity Autistica. His involvement with it would suggest that he must have made the connection between ASD and the creative industries also; but the fact that no mention of this is made within the book hints to me that it must have occurred long after the book was published (I assume in the 1990s as my copy has no obvious publication date), and likely before he became involved with the charity, only a few years before his sudden and unexpected death. Was he attempting to resolve the matter? We may never know.

Michael Grade's comments within this book "I've worked with a lot of creative people I couldn't stand. They wouldn't know I couldn't stand them. They never know that." clearly hints towards the social ineptitude of his subjects - which is a common trait among people with aspergers syndrome.

This negative attitude runs the length of the whole book.
There does seem to be an element of cognitive dissonance going on here that could have been resolved with a little more research and understanding rather than the 'us against them' attitude which permeates this book.

I am not attempting to excuse 'failure to produce' with a disability excuse. That would be an insult to the intelligence of everyone. And I am not trying to say that every creative is on the autistic spectrum; but I suspect part of the sense of alienation felt by both parties may be due to a fundamental difference in the way both sides think. Isn't that one of the main complaints of the book.
Artistic and autistic it may be discovered in the future are closer linked than first thought. If that turns out to be proven, then a great deal of the data collected could perhaps be used in the understanding of both groups.

The message of this book is better communication and understanding, and that is good advice all round.

Personally, I found this book started off quite dull (up till chapter four). It took me quite a few chapters before I could see anything at all interesting happen. But, when it did start to grab my interest (from chapter 5-6 onwards). In the end, I found this book was a very fruitful endeavour for me to read.

You may be interested to note that I am not a manager. I am a 'creative'.
Sometimes it is worth knowing how the other side thinks.
Thank you Mr. Fletcher.

Review for: 'Creative People: How to Manage Them and Maximise Their Creativity'. The book also apears to have been published under the revised title: 'Tantrums and Talent: How to Get the Best From Creative People'. ( )