Work as art
Many of you may know I have a penchant for making images. Every day I have a camera with me. No, not just a camera phone. A REAL camera. The kind you don't check 87 times a day. You just never know when you might experience the trauma of a lost shot. It's my main art form.
I also have many images ideas stashed in my Evernote awaiting creation. "Images will be created in the order received" Well, not exactly. But you get the idea.
The making of art got me thinking about our work as art.
What if you approached your job as your art? How would that change what you did? How you showed up? Would it be more of a performance?
Are you putting on a show? Or a master craft? Are you creating something for others to hold?
You might scoff at the notion of your work as art. You might think that art is something seen at theater or hanging on a wall.
What if you changed how you saw art? What if you changed what art is or could be? And saw your work as an art form?
Might that change how you did your work? Would you pay closer attention to how you wrote an email? Or held a meeting?
Imagine meetings as performance art. Would they be more productive with a clear outcome like a play? Or just drama-filled dysfunction? Sure, drama can be performance. But dysfunction isn't art.
Art makes you think. It makes you see. It makes you compose and pull disparate media together. Meetings require pulling disparate people together to create something larger than the parts. Just like oil paint in a tube has only the cost of production and markup in it. Oil paint on a canvas creates exponential value. The right people engaging can create magic.
When you see your work as art, you can see how you can create exponential value. It changes your mindset. Makes you more intentional about how you deliver what you do.
All of us can choose to be artists. Art is not reserved for those with special DNA. It's for those who have a passion for expressing themselves. Or exploring art as a way to interpret the world. There's no reason why work can't be treated the same.
When you think of your work as art you immediately elevate yourself from the millions who see work only as a paycheck. It can make you look forward to Mondays. More importantly, it can help you create a sustainable competitive advantage.
Given the choice, who would you hire?
The person who just needed a job and was competent
or
the person who needed a job and did it artfully?
To get good at art takes practice. You don't get there overnight. When work is art, you put in the reps. You seek results. Art requires exploration. Risk. Shipping. It risks critique. Then again, traditional jobs come with annual performance reviews. You're critiqued whether you're creating art or not. Creating art seems way more fun.
Work as art creates opportunity. No longer are you a commodity.
To make the concept of work as art more concrete, consider the example of the army mess hall. It has the job of feeding the soldiers in the field. You won't find it one of Bon Appetit's restaurants of the year.
Yet the Pegasus chow hall in Iraq is different. In "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath they talk about how one guy decided to treat it as his art. Floyd Lee was a retired 25-year Marine Corps and Army cook who signed on to run Pegasus. Even though he's charged with serving the same 21-day Army menu as other mess halls, he elevates it through his mission to boost morale.
"At Pegasus, the prime rib is perfectly prepared. The fruit platter is a beautiful assortment of watermelon, kiwi fruit and grapes. . . the white walls of the typical sports hall are covered with sports banners. There are gold treatments on the windows and green tablecloths with tassels. The harsh fluoescent lights have been replaced by ceiling fans with soft bulbs. The servers wear tall white chef's hats."
Knowing how hard it is to be a soldier, Floyd created a refuge to recharge. To show compassion. This was how he made his work his art. To him, it was far more than just serving food.
He didn't have to do any of these things. He could have run a solid mess hall that was clean and efficient. Executed to the army's standards. Instead, Floyd created art.
You can too.
No matter what role you hold.
You just need to decide to do so.
Work as art sets you apart.