I chose the Art and Science theme this year for our Content Marketing Conference (CMC) for lots of reasons.
There has always been tension between the creatives and artists that create the brilliant marketing campaigns and the data scientists that generate the information artists need to achieve their performance goals.
Different skills. Different DNA. But similar goals.
How do these two groups co-exist, without collision.
That got me thinking, and reflecting on Takaharu Tezuka and his Ted Talk on The Best Kindergarten You’ve Ever Seen.
He describes a kindergarten that was designed around children’s wants and needs, not the traditional school architecture. Here’s an image and video so you can take a look:
His circle design, which is mostly out-of-doors, allows kids to circle around and around and around, something we all know kids love to do. Risks can be taken at any moment by any child, without restrictions, so they can learn to assess risk and establish their own boundaries. Climbing big trees with built-in safety nets, for example, can be done anytime throughout the day. But these small doses of danger actually inspire the students to help one another, given there is little supervision and an expansive space to run and play.
Best of all, there’s no “quiet box” or set classroom children must attend during the day. Kids come and go as they wish, floating in and out of study, learning and play.
Perhaps our workplace design should be re-thought to inspire artists and scientists to help one another, in creative ways.
Does anyone have an office that requires artists and data scientists to:
- Share the same office or cube?
- Pair up on projects from the beginning, not as needed?
- Create art and/or harvest data together?
- Play together, on non=work-related stuff like ping pong (or beer pong)?
My vote is to encourage all our staff members to take risks, try different roles in the company or try working on things that are valuable to the company, but not necessarily something that they are assigned to work on because they are an expert.
About 30 percent of our staff have, over the years, moved from one department to another, with great success along the way.
We need to get art and science on the same page, in a magical playground that delivers the creativity and performance required for business success. And we’ll be exploring that at CMC this year, so do join us, or give us your take right now, and chime in.
