Business Artist Digest Nov 24, 2023

I'll begin this week's newsletter with a little story.

Once there was a king who needed to choose a new advisor. His previous advisor had served him for many years and had died a wise old sage.

The king summoned three knights whom he thought could fill the position. He said, “One of you will become my new trusted advisor. But first, you must pass a test. Go to the mountains on the outskirts of the kingdom and find the treasure I’ve buried. Come back in seven days, and the one who has the treasure will become my new advisor and keep the treasure.”

On the seventh day, the three knights gathered before the king. He asked each of them if they had found the treasure. Curiously, he also asked about the village of beggars who lived at the foothills of the mountain.

The first knight stepped forward. “Sir, I spent the entire week looking for the treasure but did not find it. I ignored the beggars because I was too busy searching for the treasure.”

The king said, “You are too cold-hearted to be my advisor. Go and learn compassion.”

The second knight stepped forward. “Sir, I also spent the week looking for the treasure, but first I left some of my food for the beggars. However, I did not speak to them because they are only beggars and I’m an educated man.”

The king said, “You are too arrogant to be my advisor. Go and learn humility.”

Finally, the third knight stepped forward. “Sir, I stopped and shared my food with the beggars. But before going into the mountains, I stopped to talk to the beggars. Then I asked if they knew the location of the treasure, and they told me. I found it on the first day.”

The king smiled. “Well done. You have shown yourself to be compassionate, humble, and curious. But where is the treasure?”

The knight said, “I spent the other six days sharing it with the village of beggars.”

The king stood and received the knight as his new advisor. From that day on, he helped the king become more successful than ever because he had the compassion to help others less fortunate, the humility to learn about others, and the curiosity to ask good questions.

Compassion, humility, and curiosity. As we move into a season of giving and celebration, I can’t help but think that these qualities can set us apart and help make a difference in the world as Business Artists.

- Adam

From the Blog

Co-Opetition: Partnering With Competitors For Mutual Success

In the HBO documentary Spielberg , famed director Steven Spielberg recounts his early days as a movie director.

He was friends with a group of young directors who would all become legendary: George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian DePalma, and Martin Scorsese. Sometimes, they collaborated with one another.

Lucas helped Coppola by editing the famous montage sequence in The Godfather featuring newspaper headlines. DePalma suggested to Lucas that he begin Star Wars with a text crawl like the ones featured in old-time movie serials. Spielberg and Lucas collaborated on the Indiana Jones movies.

They wanted each other’s movies to be good, but not too good. It was a game of friendly competition where each one drove the others to greater success.

The same is true for Business Artists. We shouldn’t just look for partners outside of our core market. We can also look inside our markets for competitors who can partner with us to create strategic successes for both parties.

The question is, how do you figure out whether you should collaborate with a partner who might seem to be your competitor?

READ MORE

Adam Recommends

Most weeks, I share videos or books that are relatively new. However, there is a treasure trove of material from past decades (and centuries!) that will inspire any artist.

One such movie is 1941's Citizen Kane , starring and directed by 25-year-old Orson Welles. Citizen Kane is usually considered by critics to be the first or second greatest movie of all time, often switching places with The Godfather or Casablanca.

The film is not just famous for its innovative circular storytelling and inventive special effects (for its time). The behind-the-scenes drama is just as compelling as the movie itself.

Citizen Kane is widely known to be a mockery of sorts of the wealthy newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. He was so angry about the movie that he reportedly offered RKO Pictures hundreds of thousands of dollars if they would burn the negative and never release the movie.

Suffice it to say, that didn’t happen. As a result, Orson Welles gave us a stunning story that’s just as relevant today as it was back in 1941.

If you’ve never seen Citizen Kane, I’d recommend reading the late Roger Ebert’s incredible review first to give you a bit of a primer. This short video is also a great introduction.

One word of caution: the movie has been analyzed more than any other film in history, so don’t spoil the fun by watching or reading endless analyses. Let the movie speak to you on its own terms.

But if you do decide to go down the rabbit hole, I’d recommend Harlan Lebo’s excellent book, Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey . The Wikipedia article is also surprisingly good.

Business Artist Spotlight

One of the greatest books for artists ever written is Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles . It’s a short, punchy book that has helped all kinds of creative people, including business leaders, musicians, writers, painters, actors, and many others.

Pressfield is a great example of a Business Artist. He’s a fantastic writer of both fiction and nonfiction, but he’s also a savvy marketer. His newest release is a giant tome called The Daily Pressfield , which contains a year’s worth of daily readings from his books, including commentary.

Pressfield is also releasing a special limited edition box set, which includes a journal and a few other items.

Whatever you’re creating, think about ways you can mix and match content or products. Pressfield has reshuffled some of his content in a daily reader-type format, but what could you do for your audience? What might they enjoy?