Q:WHY DO THE BEST

IDEAS ALWAYS SEEM TO

DIE?

CREATIVEDEMOCRACY

TM

A path to better creative thinking in business by Tracy Wong

1. THE CREATIVE DILEMMA

© 2017 Tracy Wong. All rights reserved.

RIGHT?THE BEST IDEAS DIE

A HORRIBLE DEATH.

And the shitty ones survive. Why?

A: THE CREATIVE PROCESS IS

COMPLETELY F*CKING

BROKEN.

BECAUSE IT IS RULED

BY ONE PERSON:

HAIL, THE

KING!The ultimate decider.

The boss of all bosses. The head honcho. The creative director. The CEO. Without his

royal approval, nothing matters. Nothing.

KINGS DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU OR I THINK.

Ever heard a king say:

I HATE THAT IDEA, BUT IF YOU LOVE IT, HERE’S $10,000,000

TO GO DO IT.

KINGS RULE BY

EGO.Kings generally have little experience in judging creative ideas. When they say, “I‘ll know it when I see it,” that means they really have no clue.

EGO AND

IS THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE

FORCE IN THE CREATIVE

PROCESS.

What the king‘s ego actually looks like!

THE PROCESS IS BROKEN

BECAUSE IT’S EGO-CENTRIC.

NOT IDEA-CENTRIC.

IT’S A CREATIVE DICTATORSHIP.

(DICK-TATORSHIP)

THE CREATIVE PROCESS LOOKS LIKE:

The king sits alone at the top. We, the commoners, are left

trying to mind-read what the king wants so we don't

end up beheaded!

”FEED MY

ROYAL EGO!”

BUT THE PROCESS FEELS LIKE:

OH THE HUMAN ITY!!!!!!

CREATIVE PROBLEMS

REQUIRE SOLUTIONS

GREATER THAN THE KING’S EGO.

Q: SO WHAT’S A BETTER

PROCESS?

A: A CREATIVE

DEMOCRACY.

CREATIVE PROBLEM

SOLVING IS LIKE A DEMOCRACY.

HUH? HOW?

BECAUSE IT’S ALL ABOUT CONFLICT, DIPLOMACY AND A SHARED GOAL.

THINK DEMOCRACY:HONEST ABE.

THINK DIPLOMACY:

A TEAM OF RIVALSTHINK

SHARED GOAL: UNIFYING A NATION

Secretary of StateWilliam Seward

Secretary of The TreasurySalmon P. Chase

Secretary of WarEdwin M. Stanton

PresidentHonest Abe

Attorney General Edward Bates

Lincoln built a cabinet with his biggest political rivals because it wasn’t about

serving his ego, but about winning the war, ending

slavery and uniting a nation.

ABE’S PROCESS

NEEDED THE VERY BEST

OUT OF EVERYONE.

THE PROCESS SHOULD BE

IDEA-CENTRIC. NOT

EGO-CENTRIC.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS SHOULD LOOK LIKE:

ABE WOULD

BE SO PROUD!

Everything is built around solving the problem.

Everything is about the idea. Everyone has a seat at

the table and is free to contribute.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS SHOULD FEEL LIKE:

THE F*CKING 4TH OF JULY!

A CREATIVE DEMOCRACY

KICKS A DICTATORSHIP’S

ASS.

WHY?

BECAUSE IT HARNESSES THE CREATIVE

ENERGY OF EVERYONE IN THE PROCESS.

IT BELIEVES THAT ANYONE

CAN HAVE A GREAT IDEA.

ANYONE.

THE PROCESS BECOMES EGOLESS.

AND ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

WHEN NO ONE CARES WHO

GETS THE CREDIT.

> me

THE KING IS DEAD.

LONG LIVE THE

DEMOCRACY.

Tracy Wong is executive creative director/chairman and founding partner of WONGDOODY, an independent advertising agency with offices in Seattle and Los Angeles. The agency has created campaigns for clients such as Amazon, T-Mobile, ESPN, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, Alaska Airlines and The Center for Disease Control. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

Throughout his career, Tracy has frequently been named among advertising’s creative elite. Winner of over 350 national and international creative awards, he has taken top prizes at every major award show multiple times with work that spans three decades.

His groundbreaking TV campaign for Chevys Restaurants was inducted into The Clio Hall of Fame in 2006. Other notable honors include being named an Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Marketer of the Year for the American Marketing Association/Northwest and being awarded the American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal for Lifetime Achievement. However, he is most recognized for his appearance on AMC’s The Pitch a show about the real “Mad Men.”

Tracy’s prior agency experience includes iconic Ogilvy/New York and legendary Goodby, Silverstein & Partners/San Francisco. He is a graduate of Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, and the University of Oregon, Eugene.

Tracy is currently working on a book entitled CREATIVE DEMOCRACY™ which details a path to better creative thinking in business - through an understanding of the creative process and developing a culture of egoless, consensus-based collaboration.

Lastly, Tracy is male, not female.

http://www.wongdoody.com/

http://www.creativedemocracy.com/

TRACY WONG