In these destabilizing times, we need constant help to think in different, more creative ways. The advertising world has long excelled at delivering concise, catchy information in multiple formats. Paul Arden, the longtime executive creative director of the British agency Saatchi & Saatchi, was a master of the art. I was saddened to discover recently that he died in 2008. I reviewed one of his books, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be: The world’s best-selling book by Paul Arden, for USA TODAY in 2003. After the review ran, I received a gracious handwritten note in the mail from him, thanking me for what I had written. That book and its 2006 follow-up Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite are both stimulating sources of disruptive thinking that can help us get unstuck inside and outside the workplace. They are especially relevant if you are working in or aspire to work in fields that require daily creativity. Both are small-format paperbacks, beautifully designed and reminiscent both in word and image of some of Marshall McLuhan’s classic work. You really have to see the layout and typography to get the full effect, but here are some Arden-isms to consider… From It’s Not How Good: “Don’t Look for the Next Opportunity. The One You Have in Hand is the Opportunity.” “If You Get Stuck, Draw With a Different Pen.” “When It Can’t Be Done, Do It. If You Don’t Do It, It Doesn’t Exist.” From Whatever You Think: “It’s Not Always Good to Have Ideas.” “Mum! I’ve Failed My Exams. Disaster? It’s An Achievement.” A particularly relevant example of opposite thinking appears on pages 10-11. People told Allen Lane, who founded Penguin Books (the publisher of Whatever You Think) in the mid-1930s, that a high-quality, low-priced paperback publishing venture would not work. Arden says that practically the whole world of publishing and retailing was against Lane and his idea, yet he prevailed and Penguin became a huge, trendsetting success. In that spirit, carve out some time this weekend for opposite thinking, and follow where it leads.
