Something I love about artists is that they recognize the power of choice.

Whether the art is writing, painting, music, filmmaking, visual, or otherwise, there is a power inherent in designing something, and that power can be summed up in that the artist has deliberately made a decision to choose one thing over another.

A book title lists “13 things one needs to know” instead of 12.

A song lyric uses the word “like” instead of “love.”

A painter picks red instead of blue.

From an outsider’s view, these things may seem trivial. But from an artist’s perspective, these choices are incredibly meaningful. In fact, they may actually be the most important thing, because without the power of choice, an artist wouldn’t be able to make art at all.

And so it is with all of us. We are all artists, painting our life’s canvas with the colors we choose. It’s just that we often think we’re not choosing, though we always are.

Sometimes we even believe we’re not true artists… which is perhaps the biggest lie of all.

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Today’s post is by business card sketch artist Hugh MacLeod; I personally quite enjoy his slightly irreverent insightfulness. This excerpt, #8, is from his new book, “Ignore Everybody” where he describes 37 tips that he says have worked for him over the years. Read the first 25% of the book for free at gapingvoid.com, then go buy the rest. Enjoy! -Josh

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.

Nor can you bully a subordinate into becoming a genius.

Since the modern, scientifically-conceived corporation was invented in the early half of the Twentieth Century, creativity has been sacrificed in favor of forwarding the interests of the “Team Player”.

Fair enough. There was more money in doing it that way; that’s why they did it.
There’s only one problem. Team Players are not very good at creating value on their own. They are not autonomous; they need a team in order to exist.

So now corporations are awash with non-autonomous thinkers.

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

And so on.

Creating an economically viable entity where lack of original thought is handsomely rewarded creates a rich, fertile environment for parasites to breed. And that’s exactly what’s been happening. So now we have millions upon millions of human tapeworms thriving in the Western World, making love to their Powerpoint presentations, feasting on the creativity of others.

What happens to an ecology, when the parasite level reaches critical mass?

The ecology dies.

If you’re creative, if you can think independantly, if you can articulate passion, if you can override the fear of being wrong, then your company needs you now more than it ever did. And now your company can no longer afford to pretend that isn’t the case.

So dust off your horn and start tooting it. Exactly.

However if you’re not paricularly creative, then you’re in real trouble. And there’s no buzzword or “new paradigm” that can help you. They may not have mentioned this in business school, but… people like watching dinosaurs die.

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For all of us
The future is a chapter unwritten
And much can be said
Much has been said
About the emerging workforce
And
What is to be
What is to come
Like most things
It’s all about our perspective
How we choose to see it

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I had a great conversation the other day with David Kinnaman, the President of The Barna Group and co-author of UnChristian (a fascinating book centered around a research study about the perception of the Christian subculture amongst larger society). While we were talking, we ambled onto the topic of my writing, and the topic of my latest book, The Silent Revolution. During this dialogue, I realized I didn’t have any information about either of my books on my website!

As of today, that’s fixed.

Check out my new “Books” page here.

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For more than a year, two of my best friends, Will Gray and Jon Kofahl, have been hard at work on a documentary about the state of the music industry and the uncertain future of independent musicians. The film is gorgeous and the story is compelling. Please support these guys, and support this conversation!

Is it possible for an artist to break?

Record labels continue to strive for reinvention in the brave new worlds of digital music, Internet marketing, and social media. The star-making radio deejays of yesteryear have taken a backseat to trendsetting celebrity bloggers and the purveyors of the latest ringtones. Rapidly evolving technologies provide revolutionary benefits to new and undiscovered musicians, but the ever-changing landscape of the Internet remains uncertain terrain. More music is being produced than ever before, but in light of the current climate, can the makers, marketers, and promoters of that music find a way to capture mainstream attention?

Following on-the-verge artist Will Gray through the recording and release of his debut album (featuring production by Grammy Award-winning producer, T Bone Burnett), Broke* chronicles the stories of artists and executives searching for ways to thrive in the face of today’s music industry challenges. Featuring candid interviews with industry insiders and intimate profiles of some of the brightest emerging musical talent in the country, the film digs beneath the clichés and standard storylines to reveal an industry struggling to find a new identity and an artist who’s simply trying to establish one. Can a new act be “broken”?

Release date for the film is still TBD, but you can stay connected to Broke* on Facebook or Twitter. If you’d like to contribute to the cause, and get a great looking t-shirt at the same time, please visit their website!

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Even though it never snows where I live, I grew up in a place where the cold of winter seeps into your bones and December really does hold the darkest night of the year. Sparkling lights, hot cocoa, and melancholy music all seem to make more sense in that atmosphere, but the nostalgia still feels real and I’m grateful for that.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite holiday songs this season. I tried to make sure they were either slightly left-of-center (maybe even off your radar) or so extraordinarily beautiful that you simply must have them.

Happy holidays, my friends.

01. Ron Sexsmith – “Maybe This Christmas”

02. The Weepies – “All That I Want”

03. Over The Rhine (feat. Terri Templeton) – “Silent Night”

04. Sleeping At Last – “Silver Bells”

05. Hem – “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”

06. Brandi Carlile – “The Heartache Can Wait”

07. Matthew Hall & Meagan Moore (from The Polar Express) – “When Christmas Comes To Town”

08. The Rescues – “All That I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)”

09. Fall Out Boy – “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out”

10. SHeDAISY feat. Rascal Flatts – “Twist Of The Magi”

11. Sufjan Stevens – “Get Behind Me, Santa”

12. Gayla Peevey – “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”

*BONUS TRACK* Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip – “O Holy Night”
TV Series Here | Download Here

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One of my favorite things to do is to create music. In fact, before I started working with leaders and writing books, I was playing shows with talented folks like The Fray / Sister Hazel / Mat Kearney and writing songs.

Now I produce and write music in my spare time, and I’m always keeping an eye on new music business models. I’ve just teamed up with NoiseTrade (Fair Trade Music) to offer my last album, The Let Go, for whatever price you like.

Seriously!

You can even get it for free, you just have to let a few friends know that I’m doing this.

View On The NoiseTrade Website

The files are all DRM-free high quality 192 kbps mp3s.

I originally released this album in 2006. If you’d like to learn more about it, you can go here and click along the links at the top (it’s basically all the liner notes online).

Free is good. Happy holidays!

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Welcome to Part III of 12 Songs You Need On Your iPod.

This list is something I’m calling the Goosebumps Edition. I don’t mean this in a scary, book/tv series from the nineties kind of way, but more so in a “these songs tell such heart wrenchingly beautiful stories they give me goosebumps even after I hear them a hundred times” kind of way.

You might think some are a bit cheesy, but, well, I happen to like a bit of cheese now and then. I hope you enjoy at least a few as much as I do.

01. Five For Fighting – “Note To The Unknown Soldier”

02. Butch Walker – “Joan”

03. Tim McGraw – “Don’t Take The Girl”

04. Eminem – “Stan”

05. David Wilcox – “Last Chance Waltz”

06. Ben Folds – “Still Fighting It”

07. Billy Joel – “The Downeaster ‘Alexa’”

08. James Taylor – “Millworker (Live)”

09. Taylor Swift – “The Best Day”

10. Jason Robert Brown – “Nothing In Common”

11. Imogen Heap – “Goodnight & Go”

12. Rascal Flatts – “Skin (Sarabeth)”

HONORABLE MENTION: Bob Carlisle – “Butterfly Kisses.” As a man, this song absolutely wrecks me in my more vulnerable moments, but it’s a little too cheesy, even for this list. Taylor Swift’s “The Best Day” is about as far as I can go without degenerating into a weepy mess all over you.

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Welcome to the new blog design! The WordPress theme is called Press and was designed by the great folks at Obox.

I still have a few bugs to work out, but I’m hoping this makes the site a bit more aesthetically pleasing and my oft-long posts a bit easier for you to read.

Take a look around, and let me hear your feedback below!

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Here’s a brand new social media facts video from the kind folks at XPLANE and The Economist. I’m always a big fan of the Did You Know? videos; here are a few of my favorite facts from this one:

• More video was uploaded to YouTube in the last two months than if ABC, NBC, and CBS had been airing new content 24/7/365 since 1948 (which was when ABC started broadcasting).
• 95% of all songs downloaded last year weren’t paid for.
• 90% of the 200 billion emails sent every day are spam.

Makes one wonder where it’s all going…

I have some ideas. Love to hear yours below!

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