Customer Reviews

Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This book contains some valuable universal truths presented in an interesting way. I would classify it at as a "Leadership Lite" book worthy of downloading to your Kindle or stashed in your briefcase to be read on an airplane.

I love "fun to read" leadership books versus the "utilitarian", "old fogy" "Harvard Business Review" style and this book is fun to read. I still read the utilitarian books...I just suffer through them. What makes this book good is the stories to illustrate points are the author's own.

Here are my top eight takeaways from Ignore Everybody.

1. The more original your idea is, the less good advice people will be able to give you.

2. Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships that is why good ideas are always initially resisted.

3. Your idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to be alone. The more the idea is yours alone, the more freedom you have to do something really amazing.

4. The price of being a sheep is boredom. The price of being a wolf is loneliness. Choose one or the other with great care.

5. Being good at anything is like figure skating - the definition of being good at it is being able to make it look easy. But it never is easy. Ever. That is what the stupidly wrong people conveniently forget.

6. Your job is probably worth 50 percent of what it was in real terms ten years ago. And who knows? It may very well not exist in five to ten years...Stop worrying about technology. Start worrying about people who trust you.

7. Part of being a master is learning to sing in nobody else's voice but your own...Put your whole self into it, and you will find your true voice. Hold back and you won't. Its that simple.

8. The biggest mistake young people make is underestimating how competitive the world is out there.

I recommend this book with one reservation. The captions in the cartoons are racy to say the least and not suited for the corporate environment or youthful readers. If the racy cartoons were toned down or removed I would have immediately sent a copy of this book to all of my clients. If they were toned down or removed it wouldn't be Hugh MacLeod's style either. So my clients will have to buy this book themselves.

Dr. James T. Brown PMP PE CSP
Author, The Handbook of Program Management

Ignore Everybody is two things in one. First, it's a series of tips designed to turn creatives into artists. Second, it's a collection of Hugh's best cartoons. While some of the cartoons do support the text, I'm going to review the cartoons and the text separately because they really do stand on their own.

===THE BOOK===

What separates a writer from an author? A rower from an oarsman? A comedian from a humorist?

Greatness in any field comes from taking a novel idea and pushing it to its logical conclusion, redefining the medium in the process.

Hugh doesn't teach you how to come up with your big idea, nor is the book a collection of theories on what makes something innovative. Rather, Hugh's rules teach a mindset conducive to pushing great ideas to their logical conclusions.

This book won't teach you how to paint, but if you're lucky you'll come away with the mental frame you need to avoid having the outside world crush your creativity. And if you really take its lessons to heart then hopefully, in the words of Steve Jobs, you'll ship.

Over the years I've sent the blog post that inspired this book to countless friends, and now that I've read the book itself I can't recommend it enough. I'd consider it a must-read for any creative who aspires to be an artist, not just some guy who lives in a loft and calls himself a writer.

But even if you don't aspire to become an artist, the book still has much to offer. In Hugh's own words, "This book is about becoming more 'creative' in one's work, whoever you may be. Or just useful advice for any one who aspires to undertake some creative or artistic journey."

===THE CARTOONS===

While reading Ignore Everybody, one gets the sense that Hugh MacLeod would be far happier if only he were a little less intelligent. The existentially depressed cynic to Woody Allen's bumbling neurotic, the Hugh MacLeod character is sort of a cross between Dostoevsky and George Carlin.[1] That is, the cartoons are really a collection of observations about people, their motivations, and the shallowness and meaninglessness of the human condition.

So, is Hugh truly an artist, someone who has pushed the medium forward? Yes. Two reasons:

1) Hugh is the only cartoonist that's figured out a way to draw his characters in a way that really lets you see into their souls. Hugh manages to nail the platonic ideals of the ditzy blonde, the pretending-to-be-an-artist-to-pick-up-girls guy, the too-full-of-himself corporate a**hole, etc. Considering that his cartoons are really only simple line drawings, it's amazing how well he's able to convey the characters' posture, dress, facial expression, body language, etc.

You can tell exactly what the character is like as an entire person just by looking at them, even if you cover up the text. Open up the Sunday comics and it quickly becomes clear that no other cartoonist can do this.

2) Hugh's second trademark is being able to write the one sentence that sums up the character's entire existence.

Man: "I can't decide what I want to be: A millionaire or an artist."
Woman: "Can't you just compromise? Become a millionaire artist or something..."

Viewed through the lens of the art, the human existence is nothing more than posturing and superficiality.

Does Hugh actually believe this? He says,

"I don't necessarily find the human condition shallow and meaningless per se. Just our egos and pride sometimes force us to act like it is. I think we're all strive to find meaning in life, we just don't always elect to take the high road when doing so; we're often far too willing to look for shortcuts."

All in all, this is a book that will change the way you think. In a good way. A very good way.

Creativity is not a genetic trait, nor is it reserved for professionals.

Everyone is creative sooner or later, but unfortunately, most people have it drilled out of them when they're kids.

This little book undrills it.

Hugh harangues and encourages and pushes and won't sit still until you, like him, are unwilling to settle.

Go ahead. You deserve it. And we need your contributions. We can't wait!

This book compelled me to find out it was possible to return a Kindle book. It's a short read, but I still couldn't even get through half of it...

The writing is poor. What is supposed to be straight to the point and efficient only manages to be shallow and unsophisticated. For your $18 (most expensive Kindle book I've seen by the way), you get recycled points from other better books on the subject. For some of the paragraphs, you can actually tell which book the original idea came from. It's not in itself a problem. Seth Godin's "Linchpin" for instance relies heavily on outside material... BUT that material is clearly referenced and expended upon to serve the authors' purpose. On the other hand, in "Ignore Everybody" the original ideas are stripped out of any of the depth and subtleties that made them so valuable, sometimes to the point of contraction. There's so little value left amidst the same 3 or 4 cheap sensationalistic rhetorical devices unadroitly hammered throughout that you can't even accuse the author of plagiarism. I guess that's a good thing...

And even if the ideas were original and the writing excellent, I would still not like this book. The author has a very high opinion of himself and does not mind letting you know repeatedly... When I read "Van Gogh rarely painted with more than six colors on his palette. I draw on the back of small business cards." I had to stop a minute and wonder if the author really just compared himself and his scribbles to Van Gogh and his paintings... Wow... OK, fine, maybe it was an unfortunate wording... Keep on reading... until... "Henry Miller was a widely uneven writer. Bob Dylan can't sing or play guitar." That's when I stopped reading and returned the book. Exaggerating to make a point is ok I guess, but not to the point of stupidity.

Finally, even if this book did not have any of the flaws I just mentioned, it would still miss the mark in the most basic way: it is not inspiring at all...

There are so many better books on the subject... Don't waste your money.

As I began to read this book, I recalled a situation years ago in which a little girl (probably seven or eight years old) announced that her foot was asleep. What does it feel like? "It feels like ginger ale." I also recalled the response of a French romantic poet (probably Charles Baudelaire, although I am not certain) when asked how to write a poem. Long pause. "Draw a birdcage and leave the door open. Then wait and wait and wait. Eventually, if you are fortunate, a bird will fly in. Immediately erase the cage!" We cannot be creative and be innovative if we are unable to experience the world with the ignorance and innocence of a child.

In this thought-provoking, for some an anger-provoking book, Hugh MacLeod identifies and discusses a total of 40 "keys to creativity." The first is to Ignore Everybody. Presumably that includes little girls with a foot asleep, poets such as Baudelaire, MacLeod, and others such as Seth Godin and I who highly recommend this book. Godin characterizes it as "A work of art, a brilliant insight, a book that will change your life." Well, it hasn't changed mine thus far (and may never) but the material provided has certainly encouraged me to question some of my favorite assumptions and premises. Also, no small achievement, it is among the few books that have caused me to laugh aloud while reading it. Moreover, I very much admire MacLeod's illustrations that clearly indicate an appreciation of other artists such as Joan Miro, Alexander Calder, Jules Pfeiffer, Saul Steinberg and Al Hirschfeld...an appreciation that I certainly share.

I am not among those who are offended by MacLeod's frequent use of profanities. In my opinion, they are not gratuitous. On the contrary, as with material created by other humorists (notably Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, and Richard Pryor), they are used to help achieve aesthetic objectives as punctuation, adding seasoning, resonance, and emphasis to his key ideas. By the way, my choice of the word "humorous" is intentional. Almost all of the most serious commentators on human nature during the last several decades have been humorists.

It was Joseph Schumpeter who popularized the concept of "creative destruction" in his book, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, first published in 1942. If I fully understand MacLeod's key ideas (and I may not), he is urging his reader to embark upon a process of self-directed creative destruction. The objective is not to "blow up" GE as Reginald Jones asked Jack Welch to do when he named Welch his successor as the company's CEO. The objective is not to "blow up" someone else's cherished beliefs but, rather, one's own. MacLeod seems to agree with Lily Tomlin that reality "is a collective hunch." He also seems to agree with Ernest Becker that no one can deny physical dearth but there is another form of death that one can deny: that which occurs when we become wholly preoccupied with others' expectations of us. He also seems to agree with Alan Watts's observations in The Book, such as these: "We need a new experience -- a new feeling of what it is to be `I.' The lowdown (which is, of course, the secret and profound view) on life is that our normal sensation of self is a hoax, or, at best, a temporary role that we are playing, or have been conned into playing -- with our own tacit consent, just as every hypnotized person is basically willing to be hypnotized. The most strongly enforced of all known taboos is the taboo against knowing who or what you really are behind the mask of your apparently separate, independent, and isolated ego." This is precisely what Oscar Wilde had in mind when suggesting, "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

What does all this have to do with being creative? In my opinion, everything. MacLeod explains that, by nature, the process of creation consists of a matrix of paradoxes: creation and destruction, affirmation and negation, less and more, anonymous and self-centric, everything and nothing. Most of MacLeod's "keys to creativity" are admonitions. That is why he urges his reader to ignore everybody; to assume personal responsibility for the past, present, and future; to identify one's personal Mount Everest and then climb it; to avoid crowds and thus avoid the limitations crowds inevitably impose; to "sing in your own voice" only the music that you have composed; to remain frugal ("The less you can live on, the more chance your ideas will succeed. This is true even after you've `made it.'"); and to remember that "none of this is rocket science."

By now it must be obvious that when addressing the subject of creativity, MacLeod views who we are and what we do, who we aren't and what we don't do, as interdependent and inseparable. He also believes that each of us can complete a self-directed process of creative destruction that will reveal the "I" to which Watts refers, just as Michelangelo chiseled away at the huge block of granite to reveal the work of art within it.

Make no mistake about it: MacLeod offers no guarantees. He fully realizes how perilous the journey is on which he urges his reader to embark. My guess (only a guess) is that his journey is still in progress. I know my own is. It is a struggle for me, frankly, to ignore everybody (including Hugh MacLeod) as I proceed. In fact, it helps to remember what he shares on the final page of this unforgettable book: "Work hard. Keep at it. Live simply and quietly. Remain humble. Stay positive. Create your own luck. Be nice. Be polite."

Lift off!

As a corporate director of human resources, I am continually seeking books that present the attributes of leadership in new and profound ways. I found it in Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity.

MacLeod has written a "business book" that is unlike most of the field. And my goodness what a blessing. A great many of the current managerial tomes are just a repeat of others with very few fresh, innovative ideas. In fact, most stick to the boiler plate recommendation of how to get ahead in this competitive world and sadly, most of them fail in their advice.

This book is different.

In 2008 I published a book which had a single chapter on this subject. MacLeod has greatly expanded on my writing and created - in my mind - a tour de force for the creative arena.

How different the business and industrial world would look in 5 years if every newly minted supervisor was given a copy of this book and asked to implement the ideas and lessons each work day. Think about it. What impact would this have on our gross national product? Our desire ship work overseas? Applying MacLeod's 40 keys to creativity could unleash a virtual flood of increased productivity and new, improved products that we have never dreamed about.

I hope you find this review helpful.

Michael L. Gooch

Ignore Everybody is a must read for anyone who is, or aspires to be creative. There are 40 "keys to creativity" that are definitely applicable to creative types, but would serve to round out the non-creative types as well. This book is easy to read, brief, and entertaining - but packed with value. The author can get a bit racy at times - but this just appears to be his style - and he does not seem to hold back. Although I do not necessarily agree with all 40 "keys to creativity" the author presents some great points. Give it a read, you will be glad you did!

This book is not for everybody. But if you are someone who has the talent, desire and skills to go out on your own, you need this book. The guy lays it out in clear terms. What you will face (especially as an artist) as you pursue your version of success. It is hilarious, unique and informative. A quick read too. But packed with heavy insight. And the cartoons are awesome.

Be careful and don't take this book to seriously. It is fun to read, and you will get some nice ideas and food for thought. The idea of writing cartoons on the back of business cards, or napkins, etc. is no as unique or original as Hugh Macleod makes you believe. But never the less, it is very creative and the cartoons are a joy to look at. My biggest concern with this book is that some of the ideas are so oversimplified that they can be very misleading; it is okay to be simple and minimalistic, but it is important to understand that things are not as simple as they seem most of the times (well, and maybe that also includes this book!). So take this book as a grain of salt, and enjoy it and have a good time. But don't let it influence you very much without gathering more information if you are about to make a significant decision in your life. I feel that people that don't have a creative output are going to profit from this book more than if you are already involved in a creative activity.

I got the book from the library - I read it cover to cover very quickly - Essentially it is a series of blog posts, presented as chapters in an "old media" format.

The good -

1 ) A lot of thought provoking content.

2 ) It has bits that inspired me, bits I wanted to read out loud to my wife, bits that outlined a "truth" that hadnt occured to me at all. In all I would give it a strong "reccomend" rating

The bad - (these are more notes for the author, if he wants to make the 2nd edition even better!)
1 ) The book is very very short - It is only the full pages devoted to cartoons that make it feel more than a magazine article. A potential weakness if you rate a book by its thickness :-)

2 ) There is a credibility gap for me - the guy has some great insights, but he only uses his own experience to support what he is saying- it would have been more compelling to use the gathered wisdom of other people working along similar lines (JoCo for example). I personally dont find his moderate success as a business-card doodler sufficiently compelling support for his points, which is a shame because the points almost stand by themselves