Issue 102: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

OPINION / Creativity

Creativity comes together in the last 5%

Anant Sharma is the founder & CEO of Matter Of Form, a luxury brand and experience design consultancy. As well as being an adjunct professor of branding and CX, he sits on the board of the UK Crafts Council, and hosts What The Luxe, a leading industry podcast.

💬 Anant Sharma

I speak publicly a lot. And the journey to get to a final presentation is messy. It’s painful. One would hope over two decades there would be a natural amelioration of process; there isn’t. It’s often the liberty of a blank canvas, an open brief, that serves the tightest shackle.

The least enjoyable part of the Keynote rigmarole is the practice run. I never plan my talks verbatim, it’s always something of a journey that’s kept on course by the order of the slides – and some support from adrenalin. I used to believe these run-throughs killed my mojo because they tend to go terribly. Until my partner encouraged me to take a different view.

“Just allow the practice to be a car crash,” she said. “But know that in the back of your mind, things are processing.” As is often sensible, I took her advice. While my run-throughs are never smooth, I’ve yet to dry up on stage during the actual bit. I think this same principle applies to creativity. You have to trust that ideas are taking shape in the background. This is why drawing things out over an extended period of time (deadline permitting) often leads to the best work. And rather than spending hours in concentration it’s about allowing things to sit, then trusting that the process is taking place somewhere in the recesses of your brain.

The ideal course of action has to do with stimulus. That is, exposing yourself to the things that inspire, as well as inform, the process. This is something that you mustn’t leave too late. While the output that matters might come together in the last 5% of the weeks or months you allow yourself, the other 95% is pure exposure, interest, curiosity, criticism. You survey the things that exist in the world around the problem you’re trying to solve. Then – out of the miasma – comes magic.

We asked Anant a couple of questions on how he personally relates to creativity, here’s what he had to say…

TBOC: What is your creative North Star?

AS: The destination is the journey.

A bit of a cliche I realise. But I find its good thing to remind myself of. Most of the joy should be an indulgence of process. Not simply a desired outcome. My mantra isn’t quite the same for running the actual business!

TBOC: What has inspired you lately?

AS: People read a lot on business. On goals, performance. On management, leadership and psychology. These things are obviously important. But I try and ensure I read some epic novels. Ones that span generations. Where the protagonist starts off in a mud hut and their great-grandkids have a car. All within 500 pages. Classics like 100 years of solitude. I’m currently in Jaipur, and am reading The Covenant of Water (particularly nice to read books set in your country of travel). They remind you of the cycles of life, and the bias we carry within our own narrow aperture. And stories are always more educational than directives.

That aside, I am hugely fortunate to speak and work around the world. Travel inspires me; makes me feel alive. Fills my cup.

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