Create something that can get criticized

// June 21st, 2010 // Banking, Books I'm reading, Innovation, Jeff Stephens, Non-technical innovation

I have long argued–to creatives, my clients and bankers and credit union folks at large–that it’s better to create something that some people will LOVE, others will HATE…than to create something that people are indifferent to.  That stands true whether you are creating an ad for the local newspaper, a brand for a new financial institution, or a presentation you will give at a conference.  You need to polarize people–if you leave anyone indifferent, you have wasted your time.

As I was reading Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin the other day (a book that’s been on my list forever, and I’ve finally gotten to), I realized Seth had given me a new way to phrase my message: create something that can get criticized. Our whole business culture is based on the idea of not getting criticized–the idea that criticism is a bad thing, to be avoided.  The truth is that if you want to change the world (which I’m assuming you do–if not, you might want to unsubscribe from this blog), you WANT to get criticized. Because when you get criticized, it means you’ve created something WORTH reacting to.  Most ideas and work is so boring that nobody reacts, because it’s not worthy of a reaction.

What can you create today that will get criticized…and therefore noticed?

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2 Responses to “Create something that can get criticized”

  1. Brady Walen says:
    June 21, 2010 at 2:43 pm

    Jeff, I’d take it one step futher and phrase it like this:

    Create something that WILL BE criticized.

    I feel like the way you’ve phrased it isn’t strong enough. It’s not absolute. And, it gives people the ability to convince themselves that they’ve created something that ‘could be’ criticized – when in reality, they’ve just created something that falls into the indifference category, something that no one will notice.

  2. Jeff Stephens says:
    June 21, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    Great point, Brady. If what a person is doing is not being criticized, it’s not worth doing. Something that doesn’t get criticized might as well not exist–it’s invisible.

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