Issue 48: A Bulletin for Big Ideas and Better Business

OPINION/ CREATIVITY

Find the ‘one’: but keep it fresh

💬 Sir John Hegarty

Bootsy Collins is among the most venerated players of the funk bass. He was part of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, which helped redefine the genre in the early 1970s. His influence can be felt in everything from hip hop to house. It isn’t just a natural flair for the instrument that propelled Collins to the zenith of pop culture. A portion of his success is owed to some advice he received from James Brown. The godfather of soul instructed him to find the “one”.

The ‘one’ works not only in music but in life too; figure it out and keep coming back to it

Most pop songs use a 4/4 time signature. Broadly speaking, this means each bar has four beats. James Brown’s funk formula had a simple rule – put the accent on the first beat. Listen to any of his numbers, and you’ll hear the approach in action. Collins applied the rule to most of his music, and helped spread it as a philosophy: “The concept of the ‘one’ works not only in music but in life too. You have got to figure out what that one is for you and keep coming back to it,” says Collins. “For me, that just always means being in a great band. Playing it is one thing, living it is a whole other thing.”

The ‘one’ is a compelling concept. If you are a funk musician, your arrangements can be guided by returning to that motif in each song and playing within its laws. The same is true of creativity more broadly. The best practitioners are conscious of this in their craft – art directors, fashion designers, architects – they all have a ‘one’. But there’s a danger. Your ‘one’ can make you predictable. This is why there is pressure for creatives to constantly refresh their work. Philosophy can be timeless, but execution must change.

THE AGENDA

✏️ Pencil it in: your agenda for the coming week

1.
The first human flight is among the most staggering moments of innovation. The Wright Flyer clocked in at a distance of 36 metres on this day in 1903.
17th December

2.
The UK’s official Christmas Number One will be revealed on Friday. This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of Wham’s festive smash ‘Last Christmas’.
20th December

3.
This week offers a chance to be mindful before the holiday mania sets in. World Meditation Day offers a chance to celebrate the power of self-reflection– a vital tool for boosting creative potential.
21st December

4.
The winter solstice will be marked across the northern hemisphere on Saturday, with rituals ranging from sumptuous feasting in Rome to lantern-lit parades along the shorefront in Brighton.
21st December

5.
YouTube sensation MrBeast’s new game show Beast Games will be broadcast on Amazon Prime on Thursday. A thousand contestants will be competing for a grand prize of $5 million, making it the largest show of its kind ever made.
19th December

MADRID / HOSPITALITY

Forbes House Madrid
Contributor: Forbes

A clubbable brand

In a bid to diversify its revenue, US media group Forbes has opened its first private members’ club. Forbes House Madrid is located in the city’s financial district and bosses hope to attract business executives and entrepreneurs to its slick new premises. These encompass a swanky rooftop bar and a Michelin-starred restaurant. In a world where publications are facing an ever-increasing slump in advertising revenues, it’s a novel way of boosting income and brand awareness. But in order to succeed, it needs to excel in areas where similar institutions are failing. Earlier this year, Soho House reported a £92m loss amid claims that a rapid expansion is eroding its air of exclusivity. If Forbes House can nail this high-end sector of the market and scoop up fleeing Soho House members, it might inspire other struggling media brands to follow suit.

ON CREATIVITY /

Contributor: Clo’e Floirat

LOS ANGELES / ANIMATION

Robot Dreams, directed by Pablo Berger, was one winner from last year
Contributor: BFA / Alamy Stock Photo

Creatives feeling animated about AI

The list of features nominated for the Annie Awards will be revealed on Friday ahead of the prize-giving ceremony in Los Angeles in February. For more than half a century, the annual event has been celebrating excellence in animation. But this year’s proceedings will be shrouded by an atmosphere of panic and uncertainty. Earlier this month, Sora became publicly available in the US – an AI tool that can create video clips based on user’s written prompts. It’s capable of creating footage that might take animators hours or even days to create but the threat, it seems, might not be all too imminent. The tool, it’s been reported, produces various strange visual defects and struggles to realistically depict basic physics. But given the exponential rate that this software develops, it’s not hard to see why insiders are feeling tense.

BRITAIN / MEDIA

Aldwych, London, UK. The last The BBC World Service broadcast was made from Bush House, the final news bulletin was read at 12:00 noon
Contributor: Matthew Chattle / Alamy Stock Photo

Stumping up for public service broadcasting

Since 1932, the BBC has been running broadcasting operations around the globe. Originally intended to reach English speakers across the British Empire, the World Service today provides news to radio, TV and digital audiences internationally and in 42 languages, reaching a global audience of 318 million people. But financial pressures have left its future uncertain and a UK House of Commons committee will be holding a session today to examine whether the government, rather than licence fee payers, should be funding it in full. A panel will consider the soft power value of the service and its impact on the UK’s influence with world leaders and publics abroad. We hope the answer is in the affirmative. In an age of unverified online information and openly biased, propaganda-spewing media outlets, protecting the BBC’s global reach is more important than ever.

Improvisation is too good to leave to chance.

/Paul Simon