Design Indaba And Emerging Artists On The Scene In South Africa

Image: design2rise

My recent Design Indaba experience was a first, but I got a good enough taste of what’s going on in the local design and art space. I can’t say it was what I expected but surprisingly I went away with some fresh perspectives and a new appreciation of design but also art in general.

Early summer evenings in Cape Town tend to be sort of celestial and this one was no different. It was warm with a cool breeze and an inviting atmosphere I can only attribute to the unique landscape. I got my pass and headed straight to the exhibitions. A fashion designer acquaintance and one of the Emerging Creatives at the 2017 exhibition Tangeni Kambudu was displaying a ready to wear collection so I figured it would be good to go and show my support.

The space allocated him was a couple of floors up so naturally I started looking at some of the stands positioned on the lower levels as I made my way up. Initially nothing particularly stood out but what was apparent was the fervent enthusiasm the artists seemed to have. It was fascinating to see how engaging the young artists coming from different parts of South Africa were.

Art has always brought out the inquisitiveness out of me, so in such settings I tend to come out of my shell a little and not only observe but participate as well by asking questions. Being a strategist, I must admit it has become a habit to try and gain insider perspectives about different markets whenever the opportunity arises, and in a conversation I had with an energetic graphic designer by the name of Lungile Mbokane, I got some of the answers I was after. Listening to him passionately divulge details about the struggles and triumphs of trying to make a successful living as an artist, I couldn’t help but relate.

What was even more captivating was how after I had made a few rounds, looking at the different works, I went past Lungile’s stand again only to find out that he had almost sold out of all the prints and originals that he had on display earlier on. The smile of satisfaction he wore as he was telling me how he’d have to get up early the next morning to ensure he has ample stock for the Saturday exhibition was what any entrepreneur who has had a good day would have on their face.

I believe it is a worthwhile investment for any nation to promote its artists by providing them with a platform for expression and to let their work connect with the people.

He acknowledged it was all worth it because of the feeling he got seeing customers appreciate his work and wanting to possess it, but also in the process affording him sustenance and the means to continue creating. A sentiment I shared. To know that some festival goers were impressed enough with the works on display to spend some money and in turn support the artist was quite encouraging.

My mate, who I was meant to meet up with in the first instance finally showed up, so we decided to head over to the Nightscape event which had a musical showcase staging on the Artscape piazza. But before we took off in that direction, we came across a few more artists that are worthy of mention. What caught my attention was the work of Fatima Mohammed Bham whose retail product package designs and transparent bags were quite unique.

Other captivating works were by interior architect Carien Momsen whose alpha-BET furniture range was tasteful and Ivan Brown whose Beegin project I found intriguing especially because I’m also involved in the industrial design sector. I believe it is a worthwhile investment for any nation to promote its artists by providing them with a platform for expression and to let their work connect with the people.

We finally moved on to where the music was live and were welcomed by the upbeat sounds of The Frown – a band whose sound I can’t compare to anything I’ve ever heard before – fronted by leading lady Rakow who has quite distinct vocals. Overall, the evening went spectacular and it was a good social vibe.

It was also nice to just see a diverse crowd really enjoying and celebrating South African arts. What I took away from the whole experience is mainly that art is still mankind’s great unifying factor and that our common humanity finds its true embodiment in our artistic creations and expressions.

Originally published in The Huffington Post 9/3/17

Digital Consumer Engagement and the Economics of Experience

Why Strategic Networking Is The Nexus Between Entrepreneurs And Success

There’s greater probability of reciprocation when you engage in this fashion with like-minded entrepreneurs, than with other initiatives.

Image: Jetta Productions

Whether you have just established your start-up business or have been enterprising for years, connecting and networking with other entrepreneurs is crucial to building a solid foundation for long-standing partnerships.

The key here is to ensure that in your interactions you represent yourself and consequently your enterprise in an ethical fashion. Social marketing is at its core a satisfaction-based derivative product of people naturally desiring to make others aware of where to find great value.

When you network with other entrepreneurs and they become aware of your offering, over time and with continuous interaction they will eventually become familiar with it, at which point they can start to feel a deeper association and naturally endorse it. That means if you make the right impressions, it’s only a matter of time until you start to see the social proof build up. This allows you to get the word out about your brand in an authentic way.

When you network with other entrepreneurs, you are also opening up possibilities for value exchange. Often you end up mutually taking full advantage of each other’s products or services since any deals you make are likely to include personalised and exclusive rates which make your offering more attractive and in turn organically grows your businesses without the need for using expensive and often ineffective marketing or advertising initiatives such as broad-based promotions, which can really affect margins.

Furthermore, networking enables entrepreneurs to exchange ideas with others which can open up gateways to innovation through skills sharing. You may have come across the term collaborative entrepreneurship which is associated with a business model for continuous innovation.

Venturing out and connecting with people from diverse business and personal backgrounds or geographical locations will actually benefit you more than linking up with those you consider confidants.

Keeping channels of communication open may also prevent rivalries or eliminate competition and instead foster a collaborative approach to solving market challenges. There is nothing wrong with healthy competition, but if you can avoid potential escalations which may result in hostile takeovers or simply annihilation, why not opt for working toward mutual benefit?

Of course there’s a need to be strategic about your choice of partnerships or networking circles. It’s always best to work alongside people you can share common business ethics with. Never underestimate the value of your IP. If you can find mutual grounds for aligning your goals the better, but that doesn’t mean you have to only operate within familiar circles. Venturing out and connecting with people from diverse business and personal backgrounds or geographical locations will actually benefit you more than linking up with those you consider confidants.

Most businesses with a strong company culture are built on the back of a bunch of people who share common values, and who over time find ways of developing a vision that’s in the interest of helping each other achieve mutual goals. Most entrepreneurs continue to network even after their initial start-up successes because they understand the power of relationships.

In order to grow and diversify, forward-thinking is key. You don’t need to be conniving about it, but like in any sustainable venture, business or personal, a lot is dependent on the strength of relationships which can only be validated after enduring the test of time so an investment in relationship building cannot be understated.

Remember, continued networking throughout all stages of enterprising enables the formation of new relationships and unlocks possibilities of gaining new insights to help you stay ahead of the game and most importantly, it can help you secure new resources, partnerships and even customers.

Originally published in The Huffington Post 9/2/17

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/heath-muchena/

Forget Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000-Hour Rule. We Live In The Age Of Lifelong Learning.

In the age of near-constant innovation and disruption, what you spent 3.5 years learning may very well be redundant by the time you become an ‘expert’.

Let’s face it; in the broader framework within which those talents find their application, it’s probably safe to say there is no such thing as a world-class creative. Granted, there are individuals with above average creative faculties, and whose capabilities we certainly could attribute to the dedication and consistency with which they have invested time honing their crafts and nurturing those innate abilities.

At this point you may be thinking well, but why only eight hours since you’d expect a higher time input rate from anyone who deserves to be considered great. But then again, considering eight hours is in line with the average working day; and for the purposes of satisfying those critics who argue that there’s a threshold of concentration which can’t be exceeded by most able-bodied persons with good health, then I’m sure you’ll agree that eight hours is a reasonable and standard time frame to go by. With that considered, three and a half years in the digital space is a lifetime if one just takes into account the pace at which technology is changing the realm in which creatives exercise their talents.

On the other hand, those who are adept at using these new technologies have emerged the victors, and managed to capitalise, even swaying public perceptions more effectively, to the old media establishment’s dismay. A casing point being the recent media wars in which we’ve seen the underdogs come out on top, the most prominent being President Donald J. Trump whose effective use of media channels such as Twitter arguably played a critical role in securing his success.

With much of the buying power in the hands of the millennials, it’s in creative industries’ interest to ensure we create value, especially for a generation which is not so much cost conscious; but value conscious by finding innovative ways to enhance offerings which require constant learning.

Observing the recent trend in the rate of technological advancement, it’s hard to imagine there’s ever going to be a slowdown in pace. In fact it appears we’re only going to see further disruptions in the media space and many other industries in part due to Moore’s law.

With respect to the impact on knowledge and experience in relation to expertise, in many ways I do agree with Frans Johansson‘s assessment that the effect of prolonged practise on performance is domain dependent. Drawing from my own experience in the field of marketing, I’ve had to make many adjustments over the last decade in order to meet industry demands by moving away from traditional marketing techniques and learning more up-to-date approaches which are more pertinent to the times. Still, despite all that, every day seems to present new learning challenges and opportunities to grasp other techniques which are at the cutting edge.

That said, more generally, most industries have undergone some kind of transformation or are in the process of it. But none more so than those in the creative sector, which most would agree will continue to undergo further disruption for many years to come. I can’t even begin to fathom how the IoT or VR is going to influence the ways in which we operate in the marketing arena when we are still trying to get to grips with the current technologies, and figuring out how to effectively harness them to full capacity in order to find optimal solutions for our clients, consumers, and businesses.

With much of the buying power in the hands of the millennials, it’s in creative industries’ interest to ensure we create value, especially for a generation which is not so much cost conscious; but value conscious by finding innovative ways to enhance offerings which require constant learning.

I have come to accept that as long as I keep operating in the creative field, continuous upskilling and self-improvement will be key to securing a lasting career. So the concept of referring to oneself as an expert seems to be a logical fallacy and all that one can – in all honesty perceive self to be – is an education enthusiast and life-long learner, who occasionally refers to ideas from the past, but is always thriving to be more forward-thinking by looking to the future.

Originally published in The Huffington Post 01/02/2017

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/heath-muchena/

It was early in the AM peeps, excuse the sound of my voice :)

Why You Need To Redefine Yourself Away From ‘Job Titles’ In Today’s Workplace

Job titles constrain. As an independent party in the global workforce, I’m free to express my personality and showcase my capabilities more accurately.

Getty Images/iStockPhoto

Until now I hadn’t even given the subject concerning the classification and identification of capabilities by job titles much concentrated thought, only the occasional consideration that any adaptive species is bound make when confronted with opportunity constraints.

It often used to be the case that when someone asked what I did, that is, what my job title was, it always seemed as if they were inadvertently pitching themselves against me in one form or another. Admittedly, I haven’t felt any such discomfort with disclosures since my exit from traditional employment.

That’s not to say I don’t have remnant memories from years past when I used to work in chain stores, bars, call centres, and not forgetting the one time I gave a field sales rep job a good go, knocking door-to-door, and trying to convince residents of Manchester to swap their home phone service providers to the marketing company’s client’s service and getting absolutely snow-stormed this one time on the job, that I vowed the next day I’d be a no show.

It was never the fact that I didn’t take pride in the jobs I had, but there was always the feeling that once I told someone I was a call centre agent for instance, they’d most likely paint me with a particular brush, to the exclusion of other skills which weren’t necessarily associated with the specific job title.

These days however, I feel more confident about my professional depiction, since I now hold the brush and can showcase the full skills palette without subjection to an employer’s or industry’s view of what a particular job title represents, as far as what or who I am. As an independent party in the global workforce, I’m free to express my personality and showcase my capabilities more accurately.

When I think back to the days when I’d spend considerable time laughing at ridiculous GIFs while stuck behind a desk, pretending to be productive, and waiting to knock-off, I cannot help but regret the time wasted. Sometimes I wasn’t all to blame, I think some people will have had similar experiences working for companies that were inflexible with their permissions e.g. imposing unreasonable internet restrictions or not allowing their workforce to indulge in other activities deemed unrelated to their job title/spec, especially during times when there were no tasks to complete and you’d be expected to simply stay still which to me made no sense.

Depending on the task at hand, I could be a communications expert, digital estate developer and manager, social currency analyser, trends observer, Experience Economy Researcher, Ideation Strategist, or simply a Creative

That was when it was just a matter of only working to earn a cheque. Now my days have never been busier and more productive. Between executing tasks, sourcing a supply of work, setting up a start-up, self-educating, and networking, there’s little time for petty preoccupations since I’m always constantly shifting my skills applications from one task to the next, which warrants the wearing of different hats, and ultimately the tailoring of titles when prospecting.

Since opting for full participation in the ‘gig economy‘ which Guy Kawasaki described as what “most people are using to make ends meet“, I quite fancy myself more of a versatile operative, and depending on the task at hand, I could be one of several things: a Communications Expert, Digital Estate Developer and Manager, Social Currency Analyser, Trends Observer, Experience Economy Researcher, Ideation Strategist, or simply a Creative, just to name a few.

Essentially, all the limitations that I used to feel when I was making use of singular or official job titles and the subsequent undervaluation of my offerings are no more. As long as my credentials justify the title and the title is aligned with my skill set then I’ll certainly make use of it for the purposes of conveying my capabilities to potential working partners, especially if the title has pertinent application and best describes the nature of the work to be carried out. I think a few years ago the popular term was ‘dabbler’, but that is usually associated with, and carries connotations of, ‘loose skill’. So I prefer to use more specific titles, which would bring clarity to the level of know-how or depth of experience, even if I have to invent them.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that in this evolving labour economy, one has to adapt or die. I certainly don’t want to experience the latter, in the professional context of course, and due to the diversity of my undertakings, I’ve stopped assigning stringent nomenclatures as far as job titles are concerned. In fact, I’ve started modifying them as necessary, depending on the nature of the job and as long as the particular title encompasses and highlights the specific aspects of the particular field, especially in cases where the pre-existing job titles are not quite fitting or are limiting.

Originally written for and published in The Huffington Post, South Africa Edition – 20/01/17.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/heath-muchena/