REACHING BEYOND OUR GRASP
Artists and designers are most eloquent when we speak through our work. Whether we mean to or not, we reveal ourselves - our vision of beauty and ideal form, how we would shape the world, how we tackle human problems. Our works are monuments to our values.
The problem is, our culture tends to frown on naked ambition. If you openly aim too high, you are considered arrogant and people wait for you to fall. We avoid the grandiose and bold, and mistake timidity for humility. We laugh at ourselves to avoid being laughed at. But if we don't take ourselves seriously, no one else will.
When I first returned from New York to set up my own firm in Manila, my father asked me about my plans for my new company. I said I wanted it to be a boutique firm known for providing high-quality interiors and excellent service to discerning clients. He said, "Is that all?" He said that I should aim higher than merely pleasing my clients. I should aim to make an impact on society. My father himself was just stepping down from his position as Health Secretary, and I reminded him that he was seeing things from a slightly different perspective. He said he didn't think so. He asked if I had written a mission and vision statement. I admitted that I hadn't yet gotten around to. He said "You need to."
Years later, when the firm had achieved a measure of success, I was struggling to cope with a never ending workload. I wondered why it seemed that I was always the one doing all the thinking and driving, and my staff never seemed to be getting it. It dawned on me that I had never actually told them where we were going. I had never written out the Mission and Vision Statement. It is not enough to walk the talk – you need to talk the walk, to get people to buy into your goal.
In a course I once taught on design, I would have each student name three of their core values. From then on, we would critique each assignment, not only based on program and aesthetics, but on how well they reflected those values. This approach would become the basis for developing a design philosophy, with their designs embodying their values, eventually resulting in an authentic style – a signature style – that would stand for something. As the course progressed, they became less shy about discussing wild ideas and less prone to copying from the internet, and some came up with really amazing, original work. There was one student though who asked, “But can you change your philosophy, if it turns out you can’t afford it?”
This is a very real problem – that values can be seen as negotiable. In the best of times, most of us will come up against a budget or time crunch, and will be forced to choose what to trade off in order to meet our targets. In a crisis such as the one we all face today, the choices we make can literally spell the difference between life and death – the survival or failure of our enterprises, and the preserving or abandoning of the ideals we claim to hold.
Not too long ago, our team was working on the finishing stages of a design for a new boutique hotel in Makati. We conceived of the building as a large interactive art installation, with each room as a 3-dimensional canvas you could walk into and experience. Everything was going fine, when suddenly the world began to come apart. Financial institutions collapsed, marking the start of what we now call The Great Recession of 2007.
And so began a mad scramble to save the project. It was clear that the design budget was no longer feasible. We were asked, could we work with half the amount? What choice did we have?
1) Leave the project, walk away.
2) Give up the vision, and revert to a conventional design (the clients would have agreed)
3) Navigate through the storm and keep moving forward.
For us there was never any question of WHAT we were going to do, because for me the situation was simply another version of what had lured me into design in the first place. Designers exist to solve problems. We respond to challenge with creativity. We should embrace change.
I approach life and business challenges in much the same way I approach a new project. This approach can be summarized in four words: Commit, Obsess, Respond, Engage.
Commit. Whether you are setting up a company, or starting on a new project ask What is the Big Picture? Articulate it, and share it with the team.
Obsess. An equally important question is “What is the (Focal) Point? This means focusing intently on the essence, the aim, the mission, and never losing sight of it.
Respond. Although we should hold fast to the vision and the mission, we should be responsive to the situation. Be open to changing your strategy or plan, in order to achieve your end goals. Always have a Plan B.
Engage. Don’t play safe or go half measures or you will end up with mediocrity. Be an activist. Be willing to fail. Often, a better solution will emerge from the ruins of an original plan, as it contains “antibodies” that will ensure its durability over time. Innovation only happens when you immerse yourself in the problem.
We all want to feel that we are creating works that are relevant and significant. If we want to achieve this, we should start by aiming beyond what is given. Mere success is easy if you single-mindedly pursue it. All you need to do is to aim low, and you will always hit your target.
To be relevant, our works must be:
Visionary – must transcend the visible – must challenge the notion of what is possible or even tasteful, and propose fresh new solutions
Authentic – must transcend the pragmatic, and express deeper truths
Lasting – must transcend time, by addressing not just the present moment but the values that have impelled humans since history began – architects would call them the classical principles.
Universal – must transcend the particular instance and apply to a greater whole – not just our clients, but our societies.
Excellent – must transcend expectation. To achieve excellence, not just success, you have to aim so high that failure means that you only met expectations rather than surpassing them.
And so, let us greet this world crisis the way we tackle each new project – as a challenge to be inventive, expressive, and definitive. Let us approach this crisis as a defining moment, an opportunity to affirm what we believe and live for, and we are far more likely to emerge stronger from the storm, with those things we most cherish still intact.
Talk given at a webinar "Excellence in Times of Crisis" hosted by Kanto.com and Lixil during the pandemic of 2020.
The problem is, our culture tends to frown on naked ambition. If you openly aim too high, you are considered arrogant and people wait for you to fall. We avoid the grandiose and bold, and mistake timidity for humility. We laugh at ourselves to avoid being laughed at. But if we don't take ourselves seriously, no one else will.
When I first returned from New York to set up my own firm in Manila, my father asked me about my plans for my new company. I said I wanted it to be a boutique firm known for providing high-quality interiors and excellent service to discerning clients. He said, "Is that all?" He said that I should aim higher than merely pleasing my clients. I should aim to make an impact on society. My father himself was just stepping down from his position as Health Secretary, and I reminded him that he was seeing things from a slightly different perspective. He said he didn't think so. He asked if I had written a mission and vision statement. I admitted that I hadn't yet gotten around to. He said "You need to."
Years later, when the firm had achieved a measure of success, I was struggling to cope with a never ending workload. I wondered why it seemed that I was always the one doing all the thinking and driving, and my staff never seemed to be getting it. It dawned on me that I had never actually told them where we were going. I had never written out the Mission and Vision Statement. It is not enough to walk the talk – you need to talk the walk, to get people to buy into your goal.
In a course I once taught on design, I would have each student name three of their core values. From then on, we would critique each assignment, not only based on program and aesthetics, but on how well they reflected those values. This approach would become the basis for developing a design philosophy, with their designs embodying their values, eventually resulting in an authentic style – a signature style – that would stand for something. As the course progressed, they became less shy about discussing wild ideas and less prone to copying from the internet, and some came up with really amazing, original work. There was one student though who asked, “But can you change your philosophy, if it turns out you can’t afford it?”
This is a very real problem – that values can be seen as negotiable. In the best of times, most of us will come up against a budget or time crunch, and will be forced to choose what to trade off in order to meet our targets. In a crisis such as the one we all face today, the choices we make can literally spell the difference between life and death – the survival or failure of our enterprises, and the preserving or abandoning of the ideals we claim to hold.
Not too long ago, our team was working on the finishing stages of a design for a new boutique hotel in Makati. We conceived of the building as a large interactive art installation, with each room as a 3-dimensional canvas you could walk into and experience. Everything was going fine, when suddenly the world began to come apart. Financial institutions collapsed, marking the start of what we now call The Great Recession of 2007.
And so began a mad scramble to save the project. It was clear that the design budget was no longer feasible. We were asked, could we work with half the amount? What choice did we have?
1) Leave the project, walk away.
2) Give up the vision, and revert to a conventional design (the clients would have agreed)
3) Navigate through the storm and keep moving forward.
For us there was never any question of WHAT we were going to do, because for me the situation was simply another version of what had lured me into design in the first place. Designers exist to solve problems. We respond to challenge with creativity. We should embrace change.
I approach life and business challenges in much the same way I approach a new project. This approach can be summarized in four words: Commit, Obsess, Respond, Engage.
Commit. Whether you are setting up a company, or starting on a new project ask What is the Big Picture? Articulate it, and share it with the team.
Obsess. An equally important question is “What is the (Focal) Point? This means focusing intently on the essence, the aim, the mission, and never losing sight of it.
Respond. Although we should hold fast to the vision and the mission, we should be responsive to the situation. Be open to changing your strategy or plan, in order to achieve your end goals. Always have a Plan B.
Engage. Don’t play safe or go half measures or you will end up with mediocrity. Be an activist. Be willing to fail. Often, a better solution will emerge from the ruins of an original plan, as it contains “antibodies” that will ensure its durability over time. Innovation only happens when you immerse yourself in the problem.
We all want to feel that we are creating works that are relevant and significant. If we want to achieve this, we should start by aiming beyond what is given. Mere success is easy if you single-mindedly pursue it. All you need to do is to aim low, and you will always hit your target.
To be relevant, our works must be:
Visionary – must transcend the visible – must challenge the notion of what is possible or even tasteful, and propose fresh new solutions
Authentic – must transcend the pragmatic, and express deeper truths
Lasting – must transcend time, by addressing not just the present moment but the values that have impelled humans since history began – architects would call them the classical principles.
Universal – must transcend the particular instance and apply to a greater whole – not just our clients, but our societies.
Excellent – must transcend expectation. To achieve excellence, not just success, you have to aim so high that failure means that you only met expectations rather than surpassing them.
And so, let us greet this world crisis the way we tackle each new project – as a challenge to be inventive, expressive, and definitive. Let us approach this crisis as a defining moment, an opportunity to affirm what we believe and live for, and we are far more likely to emerge stronger from the storm, with those things we most cherish still intact.
Talk given at a webinar "Excellence in Times of Crisis" hosted by Kanto.com and Lixil during the pandemic of 2020.