Between Order and Chaos #6 — How Creativity and Courage changes the world

‘The artist is the most important of society for the good and simple reason that at its best art is the highest achievement of which the human spirit is capable.’

You could call Oliviero Toscani an irreverent non-conformist. You could also call him a genius. He is definitely an artist. I believe all apply in equal measure. He is known, but somewhat forgotten outside of his home country of Italy. He was born in 1942 and turned 82 in February. He is a photographer. He shot to fame being the creative genius behind United Colour of Benetton. From 1982 to 2000 his works questioned us as individuals and society on topics ranging from gender, race, sexuality, religion, war, disease, ageing, inequality, poverty and more. In brief, evergreen topics about the human condition. I would postulate that his photography will be as relevant in 50 and 100 years as it was when first published. In a straightforward way you could summarise it as ‘we are all human,’ in the words of Oliviero Toscani: ‘Every person is a piece of art’.

I picked out four of his works shown above.

- Three hearts (for the record they are pigs’ hearts), questioning our idea of race.

- Barbered wire collected from places of conflict and borders around the world, all different, but all similar, questioning why some people are kept out or why they are kept in? Whichever is the case.

- A pastor kissing a nun, I do not think I need to comment.

- The hand of a white person and the hand of a person of colour, dressed in similar denim, raising the simple questions: Who is the criminal? Or what did we as the observer intuitively think when we saw the image?

Imagine the board meeting where your creative team would present this campaign. How would you as a leader or CEO sanction a proposed campaign of such audacity? Do any of these images compel you to buy Benetton apparel? That would be the obvious business question for any company leadership. As has been the case for leading artists over centuries, Oliviero Toscani found the right benefactor in Luciano Benetton. One of four siblings that co-founded the Benetton clothing brand in 1965 and de-facto was the leader up until 2012. It is unlikely that campaigns of the nature that Benetton embarked on from 1989 onwards would have been approved by consensus. They would have been deemed too risky by most leaders. But not for Luciano Benetton. An entrepreneur at heart he had dropped out of school as a 14 year old to start working and later teamed up with his siblings to build a global iconic brand.

Controversy was never far away. The audacious nature of Toscani’s work ultimately cost him his job. In 2000 he left the firm after he had spearheaded a US media campaign targeting the death penalty. A campaign masterminded by Toscani called ‘We, On Death Row’ which included a 100-page magazine insert containing pictures and interviews with twenty-five death row inmates. The ensuing controversy caused a number of large US retailers to drop distribution of Benetton brands in protest.

In a Reuters interview in 2000 Toscani was unrepentant and described his ads as a rejection of the ‘lies’ of traditional advertising. He stated: ‘I exploit clothing to raise social issues. Traditional advertising says if you buy a certain product, you will be beautiful, sexually powerful, successful. All that bullshit doesn’t really exist. I’m not doing that’.

Every one of us is creative. We may not think of ourselves that way, but creativity is not limited to the world of artistic expression. Finding solutions to problems is applying creativity. Building a company is a highly creative endeavour. There is no fixed recipe. You may seek inspiration from others or insights that are meaningful to your business, however, you will definitely apply your own creativity in the work.

Oliviero Toscani has spent a lifetime practising the creative endeavour. I believe much of his thinking is foundational also for how you think about building a company and carving out a differentiated position and strategy. What does he have to say about creativity? In his words with a few quotes:

‘When you make something interesting you must be the first one to be embarrassed by it.’

‘The moment of your highest insecurity is the moment of highest creativity.’

‘Have the courage to know that sometimes you are really stupid.’

‘Creativity requires energy and courage. There are few people left who have that energy, because everything, from education in the family, to education in school, religious and ethical education tend to limit the creative energy in each of us.’

‘Fear of failure always produces mediocrity, because the chosen solution will always be the least risky, and the most banal, in most cases, it doesn’t even attempt to be original, but wants, rather, to be a mediocre and repetitious replica.’

‘Creativity requires a state of non-control, of limitless courage, and that is why conformism is creativity’s worst enemy.’

Does this sound familiar? The danger of appearing stupid or being ridiculed? Not to conform but to apply your energy and your courage. Does it sound more like when you started your company than now? Are there ways we can tap into that energy from the early days? I believe that Toscani’s commentary is foundational not only in starting a company, but in many steps on the way, bigger steps, or smaller ones. Building a culture, a foundation where courage and non-conformity is acceptable can be the difference between becoming good our becoming outstanding as a company. I am not talking about anarchy as culture, but rather encouraging and empowering teams to be more creative and more courageous in their thinking and problem solving. It will push you as a leader and make your company better. It may bring back the feeling of the early days of the company. The time when everything was possible!

Be bold! Dare to dream!