Our society loves a good hero story, and this is especially the case with invention and creation. Whether a scientific breakthrough, product innovation, painting, or song, people are infatuated with the idea of the solo creator. The person who persists and persists until they finally achieve a breakthrough that changes the course of history (or, you know, produces the idea that becomes an ad, or informs the direction of a new product.)

The myth of the lone genius has continued throughout history:

• Many people believe Albert Einstein single-handedly came up with the theory of relativity - the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics outlines multiple people who helped Einstein get there

• In a Harvard Business Review article titled “It’s Time to Bury the the Idea of the Lone Genius Inventor,” Greg Satell describes how people think Alexander Fleming invented Penicillin and poof, people’s lives were saved, when in fact, he wasn’t able to get his discovery beyond publication in a scientific journal and years, and multiple contributors later, it was commercialized and made widely available

• In this article from The Daily Dot, titled “The Cult of the Lone Genius is Killing Silicon Valley,” the author pokes at the myth that Steve Jobs was singularly responsible for Apple’s success, and discusses other high-profile tech leaders often get all the credit for their company’s contributions, despite almost always working on teams

• Michael Jackson claimed his bass line for “Billie Jean” fell into his lap like a gift from God ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The 61st Grammy’s were another reminder of how much the idea of a solo creator persists in our culture

Even though we often associate a favorite song as the work of one artist, most songs have multiple contributors. Nearly all of our focus goes to one person during a performance, but it’s rare for only one person to be on stage and that doesn’t even account for all the people working behind-the-scenes. And yet we continue to talk about our favorite songs as if it’s the work of one person alone.

If you take a look at some of the nominees (and winners) from 2019, you’ll see that it’s far from a one-person effort:

Record of the Year - This Is America (Winner) - 6 people!

Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson, producers; Derek "MixedByAli" Ali, Riley Mackin & Shaan Singh, engineers/mixers; Mike Bozzi, mastering engineer

Song of the Year - The Middle (Nominee) - 10 people!

Sarah Aarons, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Marcus Lomax, Kyle Trewartha, Michael Trewartha & Anton Zaslavski, songwriters (Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey)

Shoutout to all the artists (HER, Cardi B, and many more) who gave credit to the people who helped them achieve their successes, and not just in some sort of awww, cheerleader/best friend/lover capacity, but for truly recognizing their contributions to the work.

Why does society continue to latch onto the idea of the lone genius?

Maybe it has something to do with how nicely a one-person story can be packaged for public consumption and dissemination. Maybe simpler stories are more likely to spread, and over time the details become less and less important, because it’s just human nature to simplify ideas. Maybe it’s not always possible to understand how different people contributed, and there’s not always a clear record of what happened. Maybe a one-person story is more inspiring to us, because it feels more attainable, in some strange sort of way… “if they did it, then I can too!” If you have to stop and realize how many people are involved, suddenly you might feel the enormous weight of needing more than just your own talent and sheer will, but also needing the right people around you who can help you get the job done.

Whatever it is, it perpetuates the myth that ideas spontaneously come to life in the mind of a genius working alone. First of all, these sort of epiphany stories are a really idealized, post-rationalized version of what really happens. These so-called “aha!” moments are more likely the result of idea fermentation over time that occurs both consciously and unconsciously. The moment you make that connection between two disparate ideas may feel like it suddenly hits you, but it’s really just the moment of clarity and/or connection of two disparate ideas you already had floating in your brain.

We have to push past the “myth of the lone genius” not just because it’s often untrue, but because it gets in the way of great work

This is especially true in marketing and advertising, where, unfortunately, the seduction of solo greatness continues to motivate people to try to own an idea and guard it from input. Creativity is often enhanced when you work with a team. Different people bring different perspectives. They bring new levels of empathy, informed by their own backgrounds and experiences. They see things one pair of eyes can’t see. They help build on ideas with more ideas. They can reinterpret ideas and breathe more life into it. Together, people feed off of each other’s energy and build the momentum and excitement needed to evangelize an idea with authenticity. These are all the (relatively) enjoyable parts of collaboration.

The less enjoyable part is the messy middle. The part where people argue and debate over what is right. Where they point out flaws and ask questions and express skepticism. The messy middle is what many people are trying to avoid when they attempt to keep people out of the creative process or limit their input. The problem with this is that the messy middle is necessary for getting our ideas off the ground. Ideas are only ideas if they don’t get executed. And while it might seem like working in marketing means we get paid for our ideas, most us won’t be very successful if our ideas are never brought to life, because this means they’re not generating any business value.

Creating ideas is only half the battle, the other half is selling them

So much more goes into getting an idea from concept all the way through to execution in market. It’s easy to forget that at the end of the day everyone in an agency is responsible for helping to sell an idea. And not just once. We have to be able to do it and over and over again. If we can’t sell our ideas… to our bosses, our creative teams, our account teams, and our leadership, then we don’t even get the chance to present them to the client. You have a 0% chance of hitting a homerun if you don’t get an at-bat. If we can get past the internal politics, then we have to take on those of our client. Again, we face a seemingly all-or-nothing situation, in which we need our primary contact to buy off on an idea, or the idea can stall out. We’re often entirely dependent on our client contact to get internal buy-in. This means this person not only has to like the idea, but feel confident they can (a) explain it (b) get other people to like it (c) convince people it’s worth the time and money and (d) convince people the time to do it is now. Woweeee. Respect for the client.

Some ideas for getting to the best work, together

• Don’t let one person “own an idea.” Don’t let even two people be secretive about what they’re working on all the way up until a big reveal. Don’t have people bringing work to the team only at the point at which they claim it’s too far along to consider changes. Only bringing fully-baked ideas to the team is egotistical (I alone can do it all!) and self-limiting. It can also negatively impact team dynamics because it undermines trust.

• See the feedback process as a necessary way of getting to the good stuff. The questions, the challenges, the skepticism, it all helps to reveal potential weaknesses, sure, but really these are opportunities to overcome them before we bring an idea to the client. It doesn’t mean waiting until the last second and then raining questions down on an idea, or pelting it with criticism all at once to see if it can survive a coordinated attack. The goal isn’t to destroy ideas, it’s to anticipate potential issues as you go, and give yourself the opportunity to continue to evolve it, so it’s the best possible version by the time you present to the client.

• Don’t make a habit of celebrating no feedback (internally or externally). When people have little to no feedback about your work, it’s easy to want to interpret that as a sign that you’ve done everything right the first time around. But think about how realistic that is. In many situations, no feedback may just be a sign important conversations aren’t happening and changes aren’t being made in a timely fashion. Do you want to solve for problems now, or later? Would you rather have an open dialogue in the meeting, or wait for an endless email thread? From a cultural perspective, teaching people that no feedback is good inadvertently sends the message that feedback is bad, making it even harder to get teams to be open to constructive criticism. Finally, no feedback can indicate a culture of complacency. If people would rather take the path of least resistance, then you may want to take a step back and ask if other issues are taking precedence over the work itself.

• Bounce ideas off of different people in your organization and not just with the Strategy or Creative teams. Ideas can come from anywhere, and you never know who might have a certain perspective, insight, or morsel of knowledge that helps you make a connection that leads to something greater. Let people speak freely about how they experience the work before you tell them what they should be seeing/thinking/doing.

• Be willing to co-create. When you are completely open to hearing new interpretations of the idea, ways to build it out, ways to continue the story, etc., you help breathe more life into an idea and give it a better chance of getting off the ground. Co-creation has the added bonus of creating a sense of ownership, and when people feel personally invested, they’re more likely to advocate for an idea.

• Give nascent ideas the TLC they need to survive and get stronger. Ideas often start out small and vulnerable and need nurturing and protecting to get strong enough to have a chance at making it. Don’t be overly zealous in critiquing work or fanatical about looking for ways it could fail. Virtually no idea is bulletproof. Do your best, then have faith that you are capable of course correcting, if necessary.

• Give time for both independent thinking and collaboration. There’s been considerable reflection on the pitfalls of brainstorming and the challenges of trying to get a group to think together, at once. This isn’t an endorsement of group think or decision by committee. Make sure there’s enough time for people to do some really deep thinking about a problem on their own. Then, make the best use of time together by engaging in productive dialogue.

We can’t forget that truly remarkable work is rare in advertising. Making impactful creative that gets produced and shared with the world isn’t easy, but I do believe we have a better chance of getting there if we do it together.