Learn a Lesson or Two from Overseas

Talking with folks in Malaysia and Singapore this week has been pretty eye-opening. Seeing the effects others have created through their decisions gives you an idea of what's possible, and even if their methods won't work for you, they give you a baseline from which to start.

One important lesson to learn is the importance of learning lessons. Take some time to see what others are doing, and don't limit yourself to your own country.

One thing that helps spark your creativity is seeing what others do. Students and Creatives throughout Asia are looking at what comes out of the West and using those ideas to start creating new ones. This isn’t about stealing intellectual property, which is fairly prevalent in this part of the world and is obviously is a bad thing. Instead, its about watching and learning from others rather than keeping a purely domestic focus. We can draw inspiration from many sources, so it helps to actually have many sources at which to look.

This works for individuals like you, too. Don’t think that all the best creative work gets done in America. You should be looking at work done in different cultures, and frankly, there are so many avenues for finding creative examples from throughout the world that there’s no excuse for not looking around. Creative work can be found on YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, corporate websites, online communities,and other places with relatively little effort. If nothing else, seeing what the competition out there is offering may inspire you to put a little more effort into your own work.

Your Creatives may already be doing this, or they may not. As a leader part of your job is to help them develop their skills, and broadening their world view would be good for that. It’ll help you, too, in your development as a leader. So look for the lessons you can learn from the rest of the world. Not everything you see is going to work for you, just as not everything you see another domestic company doing would be right for you. If you think we have a monopoly on creative talent, though, you are already way behind. See what good ideas are out there, ideas your domestic competitors may be ignoring.

If nothing else, getting overseas to check things out helps you build up your frequent flier miles and upgrade to business class. Those seats make all the difference in the world once you land. After arriving in Singapore around midnight for an overnight stop last week, 23 hours after taking off, I spent the next 6 hours running around town with one of my best friends, a graphic designer there. Try doing THAT after sitting in coach.