It is wrong to be right

[texxter]

I keep this little gem of a book on my nightstand, on top of a pile of bigger books, and I read it often, especially when I need a little push. It's called "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be" by Paul Arden. It's a good little book.

Tonight I re-read the section titled "It's wrong to be right" - I'll paraphrase the content. Keep in mind this is a book about being a creative director in advertising.

Being right comes from past knowledge and experience, and you can usually prove it. The past is safe, as you've gained confidence based on old solutions to past problems. You will use this experience when confronted with a new situation. The problem is that using past experience is the lazy opposite of creativity. Being right closes your mind and rightness can lead to arrogance. Being right leads to dull ideas and inflexibility.

It's right to be wrong. Start being wrong and all of a sudden anything is possible; you're no longer trying to be infallible. You are in the unknown, and that's where the amazing resides. Being wrong carries risks - those who don't take risks are trying to preserve what the have; those who do end up having more. Being wrong is not being in the future or being in the past, it's about being in the now, inventing it every step of the way - it's becoming friends with the unknown.

What do you think?

[danchez]

do you remember when the new Coke came out? How good was it for the Coca Cola company to be wrong?

[raevyncent]

Originally Posted by danchez

do you remember when the new Coke came out? How good was it for the Coca Cola company to be wrong?

It was very good for them...once people realized what they were missing, Coke started selling "classic" Coke again which was a blockbuster!!

[Cajungaltx]

I think that making yourself think in varying ways is important.

One of the roadblocks that my husband and I often run into is that he looks on experience to determine whether something can be, or can't be done.

I start off thinking it CAN be... I just gotta figure out how to do it.

There have been times he's right... and times I'm right... but he admits that it's good to be wrong when him being right means it wouldn't have been accomplished.

[texxter]

New Coke was a 77-day crisis. Coca Cola became a stronger company as taking this risk taught them something important about the loyalty of their US customer base. The marketing boss behind the New Coke campaign pronounced in 1990 that "New Coke was a success because it revitalized the brand and reattached the public to Coke." (from Wikipedia) And the stock price continued to go up regardless of the New Coke experience.

[questor]

Honestly most modern thinking is to keep our thoughts and actions inside the box and I believe that it has damaged our society as a whole. Sure there are still those that think out of the box (aka creative to wildy creative) but a large part of society condems them for being different. The book has a point, we need to not be afraid of thinking out of the box (not be afraid of failure). Being wrong can lead to wonderful creations, inventions, beautiful art. Being wrong at times will push one to think, to dare I say it.... try something different and outside our comfort zones.
Being and independant insurance adjuster has helped me exercise that thinking outside the box and get creative in paying the claims I work. All insurance policies are worded in ways that it is entirely too easy to deny a claim or not pay for all that is truly owed for.
The companies that I do claims for love me because I find ways to make sure that all that is owed for is paid to their customers.
I deal all the time with others that are afraid that they will make the wrong call. So they take the easy way. I look at the damage to someones home and during my inspection I find ways (all legal I promise) to pay for the damage.
I end up towards the end of a storm going out to clean those files up because management knows I'll find a way to take care of their insured.
Wow where did that come from? Paco I think you made me sprain something inside my head.... lol

[raevyncent]

What is this box thing? I haven't seen that.....

[danchez]

I think this fits well into this thread:

Man with no arms can’t cash check without thumbs.

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA, Fla.---- A Florida man born without arms says a Tampa bank would not let him cash a check because he couldn't provide a thumbprint.

Steve Valdez didn't have an account at a Bank of America location in downtown Tampa, where he tried to cash a check from his wife last week. However, Valdez has prosthetic arms and is unable to provide a thumbprint. He says he presented two forms of identification but was still denied.

He says a bank manager told him he could either come back to the bank with his wife or open an account himself.

Bank of America spokeswoman Nicole Nastacie says the bank has apologized to Valdez. Nastacie says the bank should have "offered alternative requirements if an individual is not able to give a thumbprint."

This is a perfect example of people obeying past rules and rights and not thinking out of the box. My first thought when my girlfriend asked if I had heard about the no armed man not being able to cash a check, "Get a toe print." I mean come on, how hard is it to come up with a feasible solution to a rather unique situation. Stories like this really frustrate me because people can't think outside the box.

(stepping off soapbox now)

[stephenthomas]

Paco these are good words of wisdom , Especially with me photographing all the
Kids now, thank you

[ito4u]

I don't mind admitting I am wrong... I end up learning more that way. However, I don't try to let it get out of hand.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by texxter

I keep this little gem of a book on my nightstand, on top of a pile of bigger books, and I read it often, especially when I need a little push. It's called "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be" by Paul Arden. It's a good little book.

Tonight I re-read the section titled "It's wrong to be right" - I'll paraphrase the content. Keep in mind this is a book about being a creative director in advertising.

Being right comes from past knowledge and experience, and you can usually prove it. The past is safe, as you've gained confidence based on old solutions to past problems. You will use this experience when confronted with a new situation. The problem is that using past experience is the lazy opposite of creativity. Being right closes your mind and rightness can lead to arrogance. Being right leads to dull ideas and inflexibility.

It's right to be wrong. Start being wrong and all of a sudden anything is possible; you're no longer trying to be infallible. You are in the unknown, and that's where the amazing resides. Being wrong carries risks - those who don't take risks are trying to preserve what the have; those who do end up having more. Being wrong is not being in the future or being in the past, it's about being in the now, inventing it every step of the way - it's becoming friends with the unknown.

What do you think?

I think that's kind of a backwards way of looking at it. He practically says that experience is bad, which I certainly don't agree with. And I think we can all agree that setting out to deliberately be wrong is a pretty stupid thing to do.

He could have just said "don't avoid taking risks for fear of being wrong" and it would have made a lot more sense.

[questor]

Originally Posted by raevyncent

What is this box thing? I haven't seen that.....

You haven't seen it? Good I hope you never do.

[texxter]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

I think that's kind of a backwards way of looking at it. He practically says that experience is bad, which I certainly don't agree with. And I think we can all agree that setting out to deliberately be wrong is a pretty stupid thing to do.

He could have just said "don't avoid taking risks for fear of being wrong" and it would have made a lot more sense.

I think your rewrite of the key message works. I agree with you. However...

I'd say that he's taking it a step further and insisting to actually let go of "the right way of doing things" as dictated by our experience, and venture into the unknown or the "wrong" -in my reading he's equating being "wrong" with "not knowing whether this is right."

I agree that his writing is intentionally obtuse, probably on purpose; anyone reading "don't be afraid of taking risks" will yawn and skip the page. But the header "it's wrong to be right" necessarily makes you pause and ponder for a moment. It's an attention grabber.

The more experience we gain, the more confident we are in our abilities to handle any situation. This is a good thing. It can also be a limiting thing if we reapply the same way of doing things to new problems - his point is that if we let go of experience and safety, we may find more and new ways of doing things.

[danchez]

I think this has a lot to do with your profession too. My girlfriend is a paramedic and in her profession, it's wrong to be wrong and you shouldn't take risks and you do not want to let go of the right way of doing things. Now I'm not saying that there wont be newer and better ways of doing things down the road, but some things just work the way they are. I think in the photography profession though, we have the ability to let go and experiment.

[texxter]

Dan, your point is a good one. We're only taking about creative professions that require us to make something new everyday. The author is not talking about open heart surgery. Although, in a deep sense, someone some time ago came up with the idea of opening a man's chest and fixing his heart with tools, and it had never been done before. I bet that went against experience.