#sparkchamber 121420 — Neal Foard
It is with great delight that #sparkchamber today welcomes long-time master-of-advertising, Neal Foard — a creative and strategic marketer, fluent in brand communication, content creation, and business development. He has led creative departments on three continents and been a creative consultant to Fortune 500 companies and Universities. Clients describe him as “good in the room,” but in his words, “for more than two decades, I have felt like my creativity has been blocked by mental self-sabotage.” Always the double-edge, though, that same energy can be a potent fuel.
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I am inspired by original voices in books, film and music, with a particular admiration for outsider genres like graffiti and self-published comics. I love authors like Charles Bukowski who languished for years and years. I love pointless-but-lovable creative exercises, like geocaching. My influences are people like Joe Frank who was clearly a genius, but never broke through.
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Albert Einstein noted “the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” Neal knows exactly how to push those limits — here’s a taste!
1.] Where do ideas come from?
Everything is a mashup. New ideas are fresh combinations of old ideas. So, to have a lot of ideas, you need exposure to a lot of ideas. And cross-pollination from different art forms. Painters can benefit from dance, musicians can benefit from architecture, writers can benefit from prison, and so on. Exposure to the world is where ideas come from.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
Anger. Frustration.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I am told that what separates true creative achievers from the rest of us is their relentless routine. They say Stephen King is at his computer typing before seven every morning and doesn’t stop until three. Every day. That’s a champion right there. That is not my habit, and that is why I am not Stephen King. My best work happens when I’m angry about something.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
You’re done when the deadline arrives. It just changes the meaning of “done” slightly. As in, “You're finished in this town.”