/// Topics
Category
Creative Field
- Advertising
- Architecture
- Art Direction
- Consulting
- Design
- Entrepreneurship
- Fashion
- Film & TV
- Graphic Design
- Illustration
- Industrial Design
- Interior Design
- Jewelry
- Motion Graphics
- Music
- Nonprofit
- Performing Arts
- Photography
- Publishing
- Retail
- Social Media
- Storytelling
- Technology
- Visual Arts
- Web Development
- Writing
/// Articles
Imagine a world where the best ideas have the best chance to
succeed. No more favoritism that places the wrong people on creative projects.
Cut out the middlemen that arbitrarily recommend cost-efficient talent over the
most deserving talent. Forget the corporate nepotism that appoints leaders
based on relationships over merit. Every individual, team, and industry would
benefit from a world where the most talented people got the most opportunity. I call this dream "creative meritocracy," and I
believe that advances in technology, online communities, and platforms that
empower career independence will make this dream a reality in the near future.
Unfortunately, we're up against centuries of entrenched practices unfriendly to merit-based opportunity. Most industries – and society as a whole – are plagued with inefficiencies, middlemen, and tainted systems for determining quality. It's a sad truth: The quality of your ideas and talent is less important than who you know, who represents you, and what your name is. Why? Because the "old school" systems around us make it so.
Without creative meritocracy, we suffer because our talent and hard work aren't enough to land the job. Clients suffer because they receive inferior work. Moreover, our industries and society suffer from mediocrity.
Call it depressing or unfair, but don't accept it. Creative meritocracy is within our reach. It is our job as creative minds and leaders to foster an era where capability is matched with opportunity.
Here are a few ways we can usher in the Era of Creative Meritocracy:
1. Proper Attribution
In the modern day of transparency and easy access to information, we should be wary of any efforts to isolate talent. Headhunters are known to find talent and then send around pieces of portfolios and resumes without any names attached. They purposely conceal the identity of talent and, as a result, are able to override meritocracy. Oftentimes, headhunters will use one person's credentials as bait and then offer up less qualified talent that yields a higher profit margin.
Creative meritocracy relies on transparency and direct attribution. Appreciation for one's ideas and creative work must be directly credited to the source. The accumulation of appreciation (or credit) is the currency that buys opportunity.
2. Leverage the Opinion of "Credible Mass," Not Critical Mass
Community curation is probably the most valuable force of the Internet today. Amidst an endless flow of content from creatives with varying degrees of talent, the primary challenge becomes how to discern quality. Aided by tools like Digg and Facebook's "Like" button, communities are starting to curate themselves. Anything from articles to pieces of art can now be sorted based on consensus.
Over time, community curation will gain more dimensions. For example, when evaluating the quality of a photograph, the opinions of 1,000 photographers may matter more than that of 1,000,000 random people. This is the difference between a critical mass and a credible mass.
Once professional communities develop algorithms for credible mass, creative meritocracy will shine in unexpected places.
3. No More Static Resumes and Stand-Alone Portfolio Sites
Great talent must be more efficiently (and honestly) displayed. The time has come for the classic Microsoft Word resumé to be replaced with something more interactive, credible, and connected. A resumé should have hyperlinks to show rather than tell, and be fact-checked by community scrutiny. The power of live testimonials connected to one's resumé will become as important as interviews. LinkedIn has already provided a glimpse of what an interactive resumé would look like.
For the creative professional community, the situation is similar. We must transition from the stand-alone portfolio site to a more interactive approach to showcasing work. Personal portfolio sites are great for friends or existing clients, but it’s an uphill battle to get prospective clients and employers to visit your individual website. Your work is much more likely to be found if you showcase it where people are already looking.
Networks will empower talent to get opportunities from like-minded companies. They will not only foster more connections but better connections. Prospective clients and millions of bloggers, recruiters, and enthusiasts will benefit from having the ability to search and sort through a vast range of creative work all in one place.
As some of you may know, we are working hard to address this challenge with our own platform for creative professionals, Behance.net. The purpose of Behance Network's recent integrations with LinkedIn, AIGA, MTV, and others is to help creative professionals efficiently display their portfolios across the web from one central hub.
Creative meritocracy will thrive with the adoption of platforms that organize talent – like LinkedIn and the Behance Network, among others.
4. Crowds Cannot Be Subjugated
Central platforms for talent will only thrive if we protect them from abuse. I have written before in BusinessWeek and elsewhere about the promises and perils of crowdsourcing. Online communities, especially when they are curated, offer an amazing opportunity to source talent. However, when technology is used to source vast amounts of talent without pay, the entire community suffers. I don't call this crowdsourcing, I call it crowd-subjugation. The bottom line is that, unless talented people get paid for their time, output will suffer.
Crowd-subjugation works against creative meritocracy because only mediocre talent has the time and willingness to participate. Clients get sub-par output (and worse, they often don't realize it). Participants quickly become disenchanted due to the low odds of actually getting paid. I liken it to discount sushi: You're likely to try it once but regret it the next morning. Creative meritocracy is fueled by incentives that are optimized for top talent.
5. More Reason To Do What You Love
Under current conditions, you can still get away with making a lot of money doing something you don't enjoy. Why? Because there isn't enough focus on authentic drive. Bureaucratic hiring, review processes, and HR training programs fail to reward creative potential and punish those who pursue the status quo. But this would all change under the influence of creative meritocracy.
If the best talent were paired with the best opportunity, you wouldn't succeed unless you loved what you did. After all, creativity and ideas are inherently the result of proactive thinking which is, in turn, the result of passion. When you do work that you love, creative meritocracy is the wind at your back. I could go on and on about how academic institutions and Fortune 500 companies could help foster creative meritocracy. Suffice to say, it starts with rethinking evaluation, reward systems, and operating principles.
6. The Resistant Must Innovate
Of course, creative meritocracy is not good for everyone. Those with mediocre talent will need to develop their skills; they won't get lucky with undeserved opportunities. Entire industries that capitalize on our inability to source and measure talent would dissipate. Those that fear creative meritocracy should look beneath their resistance and, dare I say, innovate.
--
What Do You Think?
What industry do you think would benefit most from creative meritocracy?
What other types of tools or techniques will foster creative meritocracy?
Where will we encounter the most resistance?
Unfortunately, we're up against centuries of entrenched practices unfriendly to merit-based opportunity. Most industries – and society as a whole – are plagued with inefficiencies, middlemen, and tainted systems for determining quality. It's a sad truth: The quality of your ideas and talent is less important than who you know, who represents you, and what your name is. Why? Because the "old school" systems around us make it so.
Without creative meritocracy, we suffer because our talent and hard work aren't enough to land the job. Clients suffer because they receive inferior work. Moreover, our industries and society suffer from mediocrity.
Call it depressing or unfair, but don't accept it. Creative meritocracy is within our reach. It is our job as creative minds and leaders to foster an era where capability is matched with opportunity.
Here are a few ways we can usher in the Era of Creative Meritocracy:
1. Proper Attribution
In the modern day of transparency and easy access to information, we should be wary of any efforts to isolate talent. Headhunters are known to find talent and then send around pieces of portfolios and resumes without any names attached. They purposely conceal the identity of talent and, as a result, are able to override meritocracy. Oftentimes, headhunters will use one person's credentials as bait and then offer up less qualified talent that yields a higher profit margin.
Creative meritocracy relies on transparency and direct attribution. Appreciation for one's ideas and creative work must be directly credited to the source. The accumulation of appreciation (or credit) is the currency that buys opportunity.
2. Leverage the Opinion of "Credible Mass," Not Critical Mass
Community curation is probably the most valuable force of the Internet today. Amidst an endless flow of content from creatives with varying degrees of talent, the primary challenge becomes how to discern quality. Aided by tools like Digg and Facebook's "Like" button, communities are starting to curate themselves. Anything from articles to pieces of art can now be sorted based on consensus.
Over time, community curation will gain more dimensions. For example, when evaluating the quality of a photograph, the opinions of 1,000 photographers may matter more than that of 1,000,000 random people. This is the difference between a critical mass and a credible mass.
Once professional communities develop algorithms for credible mass, creative meritocracy will shine in unexpected places.
3. No More Static Resumes and Stand-Alone Portfolio Sites
Great talent must be more efficiently (and honestly) displayed. The time has come for the classic Microsoft Word resumé to be replaced with something more interactive, credible, and connected. A resumé should have hyperlinks to show rather than tell, and be fact-checked by community scrutiny. The power of live testimonials connected to one's resumé will become as important as interviews. LinkedIn has already provided a glimpse of what an interactive resumé would look like.
For the creative professional community, the situation is similar. We must transition from the stand-alone portfolio site to a more interactive approach to showcasing work. Personal portfolio sites are great for friends or existing clients, but it’s an uphill battle to get prospective clients and employers to visit your individual website. Your work is much more likely to be found if you showcase it where people are already looking.
Networks will empower talent to get opportunities from like-minded companies. They will not only foster more connections but better connections. Prospective clients and millions of bloggers, recruiters, and enthusiasts will benefit from having the ability to search and sort through a vast range of creative work all in one place.
As some of you may know, we are working hard to address this challenge with our own platform for creative professionals, Behance.net. The purpose of Behance Network's recent integrations with LinkedIn, AIGA, MTV, and others is to help creative professionals efficiently display their portfolios across the web from one central hub.
Creative meritocracy will thrive with the adoption of platforms that organize talent – like LinkedIn and the Behance Network, among others.
4. Crowds Cannot Be Subjugated
Central platforms for talent will only thrive if we protect them from abuse. I have written before in BusinessWeek and elsewhere about the promises and perils of crowdsourcing. Online communities, especially when they are curated, offer an amazing opportunity to source talent. However, when technology is used to source vast amounts of talent without pay, the entire community suffers. I don't call this crowdsourcing, I call it crowd-subjugation. The bottom line is that, unless talented people get paid for their time, output will suffer.
Crowd-subjugation works against creative meritocracy because only mediocre talent has the time and willingness to participate. Clients get sub-par output (and worse, they often don't realize it). Participants quickly become disenchanted due to the low odds of actually getting paid. I liken it to discount sushi: You're likely to try it once but regret it the next morning. Creative meritocracy is fueled by incentives that are optimized for top talent.
5. More Reason To Do What You Love
Under current conditions, you can still get away with making a lot of money doing something you don't enjoy. Why? Because there isn't enough focus on authentic drive. Bureaucratic hiring, review processes, and HR training programs fail to reward creative potential and punish those who pursue the status quo. But this would all change under the influence of creative meritocracy.
If the best talent were paired with the best opportunity, you wouldn't succeed unless you loved what you did. After all, creativity and ideas are inherently the result of proactive thinking which is, in turn, the result of passion. When you do work that you love, creative meritocracy is the wind at your back. I could go on and on about how academic institutions and Fortune 500 companies could help foster creative meritocracy. Suffice to say, it starts with rethinking evaluation, reward systems, and operating principles.
6. The Resistant Must Innovate
Of course, creative meritocracy is not good for everyone. Those with mediocre talent will need to develop their skills; they won't get lucky with undeserved opportunities. Entire industries that capitalize on our inability to source and measure talent would dissipate. Those that fear creative meritocracy should look beneath their resistance and, dare I say, innovate.
* * *
The best ideas will not see the light of day unless we let
them. Our team at Behance is interested in the conditions (within a team,
community, industry, or society) that support creative meritocracy. In our
mission to empower creative professionals to make ideas happen, we know that
creative meritocracy is an important part of the puzzle. In the spirit of
creative meritocracy, I wanted to share this idea and see where it takes us!--
What Do You Think?
What industry do you think would benefit most from creative meritocracy?
What other types of tools or techniques will foster creative meritocracy?
Where will we encounter the most resistance?
My argument is not to discourage, but rather I think a re-phrasing of your points to be more accurate. I really enjoy most of the content here, and this is my first attempt to give back a little.
This feeds into business skills as well, really. Independent artists may be exceptional at their craft, but horrible at delivering what is asked...do you include business skills, or at least an ability to meet a deadline, in with the talent you describe?
As Kurt Russell said in "Miracle" when he played Herb Brooks, the coach of the gold medal-winning hockey team: "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right ones."
@Ben Great point! ...only so many people can get to the top. The image that opens this article makes that clear.
My offering to the discussion is that there is more than one top that can be reached. The Who Gets Paid the Most climb isn't the only mountain worth climbing. Currently I only have clients who don't pay as much as massive companies might and I very rarely even meet any big spenders - but I can still climb to the top of where I'm at.
Behance interest me because it has the potential to cross over from one game to another, allowing clients or talent hunters to pick up talent they wouldn't have found any other way.
As for getting to the top, if those clients want to invite a new individual to the top of their game then others who are there already up there will perhaps have to make room.
So, are we seeing clients using, more freelance opportunities and more job-by-job contracting? Perhaps talented individuals will be more fluid, taking take it in turns being at the top as and when they've got the appropriate skills for the job.
It is a very insight article and gets at the heart of the unmistakable
truth. I feel that I am one who has been a victim of many of these
circumstances. The overlooked are always passed by. We need
to spread and get the word out to hiring people about a new
approach in hiring creatives. It's not about who they know and
who they worked for, it's about what they know and what they
can do. When decision makers look at creative work, they
shouldn't react to how great it looks, but what is being said.
Creative work is a form of communication. They need to
understand what the message is, and that is what is
supposed to be interesting. I want to Thank the author
for bringing this to light.
A far better approach is for companies to offer an alternative career path based on skills/mentoring. That way, top creative people can become mentors who are enjoying what they do, actively coaching others and promoting creativity within the organisation. Like you say, create the conditions and you'll open up the possibility for it to happen.
I did not study design and never had the money to for media industry but I know to invent and create compelling TV shows, game shows ,Realty and drama.
I allow myself to dream for four years that someone would see in me what they saw in you and after I signed five contracts with production companies, I still hope Someone in this world will take what I create and do something with it. Sometimes I cry, sometimes my stomach hurts when I see someone else make it and I admit I'm jealous, how can you desire something so strong, invent, create, write and speak with so many people in the world on your desire to leave something to the world and still be with nothing. How the world can ignore somebody that really wants to give but has no money or connections with key people
I learned that I still did not fail and my success is only delayed But for how long ?
Five contracts say I'm in the right place so why no one gives me a chance
WDYT: It's what we need
Rather than a specific industry, but all the so called developed economies like US and Europe should benefit of the creative meritocracy.
A new kind of organization without "command and control" managers.
Anywhere there are extrinsic systems of motivation based on the reward if you get the result, anyway you get it.