. . . my emotional life is sensitive and my purse is empty, but they say I have talent.” ~Marc Chagall. My kind of crazy!

People ask us all the time in the Creative Department of Arrowsmith Shoes: “What’s your job there?” “What do you do?” I’m usually annoyed by these questions because I always thought it was obvious. Well, in short, we think in Technicolor! That’s our job. It’s not to say that other people don’t think this way but I’ll be you a lunch they don’t think like we do. I don’t see the world the same way you do. I believe that humans get in the way of themselves

We think all day long and then we come up with creative ways to apply that thinking to our jobs. We are creative thinkers, artists and writers and we want to apply that craft to marketing so that you see the world in a different way. When I tell people that our job is to “think” they look at me as if I think of myself as a genius of some sort or I get a smug looking face of doubt in the comeback. Granted, I could have been a lot more specific but I need to have a little fun to but, I know what they’re thinking: ‘he’s pretty stupid for a thinker.’ For the most part when you think of thinkers you immediately come to some type of math conclusion or Stephen Hawking or even Shakespeare. Right? I think Paul Simon and Van Morrison are geniuses.

None of us here have a need for the analytical left side of our brain. We could probably donate that side to science although science would probably send mine back. Left brain thinkers worry too much about being wrong. They worry about everything. We don’t live in that world. We don’t care about being wrong and were not going to worry about it if we are. Actually, we learn more from being wrong than from being right. We are driven by wrong. Our entire crew is not afraid to think differently and those silly worries about always having to be correct never come into play. Therefore, we have no boundaries and no limitations. We are FREE to think about anything we want and how it will apply to our work. Do you know that when you start to think this way you can actually work longer and become more efficient? I don’t know of a bean counter that puts in overtime.

I actually believe in our early days of schooling that we are taught not to be creative because you can’t make any money in life thinking about the things we think about. “Study math or education not art or music. You’re not going to make any money as an artist or a musician . . . !“ Did your parents ever tell you that? I believe we are educated out of creativity and that’s why there are so few of us in the world. Think about this. The worlds is always in turmoil and it’s not because it’s run by dancers, artists, playwrights, musicians and poets.

Picasso (who I believe was a genius by the way) once said “all children are born artists; the problem is staying an artist as you grow older.” Exactly Pablo, thank you!

A fun little story to tell is that a teacher was concerned about a little girl who sat in the back of the class and would doodle and draw all day long. She wouldn’t pay attention to any other subject but when it came to art she was exceptional. One day the teacher walked back and asked her what she was drawing and the little girl said; ‘a picture of God!’ The teacher said that know one knows what God looks like. The little girl said; ‘they will in a few minutes. . . !’ Send that girl an application.. . . Quick!

Jim

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