Opinion Surrealism for differentiation

From 1900 to 1945,the turmoil of two World Wars,economic recession and Hitler left the Western world shattered. But the paintings of those disastrous times were so imaginative they portrayed another world of thought.

Today’s worldwide turmoil is about digital language and globalisation. Digitalisation is making the world totally generic,snatching away individual identities,while globalisation is breaking society’s multi-cultural flavour. Since its inception in 1887,up to 1929,the mechanical hand-machine gramophone had diverse aesthetics and designs—American,Italian,French,Swedish,English or German. In the electric gramophone age,from 1930 to 1983,there were variations like the record changers and the two-in-ones,among others. But the last 30 years of digitalisation have made the physical element of instruments that play music look similar,either in a metal or plastic box. Several small companies had to close shop; only those with economic muscle can now dominate the world. Of course,the positive aspect is that music became available to the masses at low costs. But we have lost the art of differentiation. Surrealism is required here.

Actually,digital functionality itself is Surreal. Nobody would have believed,40 years ago,that a mobile phone can connect you to the remotest forest or desert. The problem is that this generic,Surrealistic digital technology that sits inside devices makes people interact with them without relating to them culturally.

In the late 1970s,Hollywood was becoming boring,with historical films like Cleopatra,Ben Hur and Ten Commandments,or depicting American social life as in The Graduate or going on a Roman Holiday. After Hitchcock mysteries,John Wayne’s westerns and Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns,the film industry seriously turned to science fiction. Surrealistic paintings were a niche category in 1930s,but the power of Surrealism is so strong that huge money was made by science fiction films like Star Wars that were highly inspired by paintings with Surrealist figures,atmosphere and styles. The masses gobbled up these Surrealistic images in box office grossers like ET and Terminator,among other science fiction films.

The 1920-30s Surrealist movement was a great departure for science and business. The shape of the first nuclear device resembles Elephant Celebes,a 1921 painting by Surrealist Max Ernst. Most art manifestations,from religious to realistic paintings,Expressionism,Impressionism and Cubism,have been left out as high-value museum pieces. But Surrealism created disruption in the world by combining thinking with application in mass appeal. Museums sell reproductions of an artist’s painting as souvenirs. But Salvador Dali designed products so people can experience Dali and Surrealism. He reproduced his 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory depicting time in an undulated watch,as a real watch of asymmetric design. No watch company can imitate that,as the designs are all symmetric. To sell fragrance,everybody knows the nose comes into play. Dali thought of designing a nose-like bottle that’s still among the most famous perfumes today.

In the 1980s,French haute couture designer Jean Paul Gaultier broke all codes of French fashion tradition and protocol through his irreverent style. He put his perfume bottle,shaped as a woman’s bust,in a pet food tin,a totally Surrealistic thought. Gaultier’s avant garde designs were a phenomenal commercial success.

Strategy planning and business vision are inevitably determined by benchmarking or best practices,that is,only looking at what other industries have done. You may never know their thinking process,and having spent millions of dollars,effort and time,you may find yourself back to square one. This may be due to a lack of Surrealistic thinking,which can be the catalyst of future business success.

A recent Surreal action I took was arriving on appointment at the office of a dozen CEOs with a suitcase full of paints,brushes,drawing canvas and a palette. I proceeded to arrange everything on a CEO’s desk as he quizzically asked,“Do I have to paint?” I replied,“Yes indeed! You are a successful CEO because you carry a high-value management palette in your mind. There’s no shareholder,promoter,employee,or competitor scrutiny on this. You have total liberty of expression.” The CEOs,of course,immediately understood that there is no real difference between the management palette and the colour palette. CEOs engaging in painting may have made history unfold. They all acknowledged they were totally engrossed while painting,proof of which is that each and every painting is out-of-the-box. This shows that CEOs require a divergent atmosphere in the world of business,where they can think in an unlimited way to create differentiation that can bring high net worth to their organisations.

The prime objective of my initiative of making CEOs paint was to prove that in this uniform,digital world,differentiation that’s tangible in a product or service will bring business success. That’s why I will continue the journey of finding CEO-painters.

Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management. Reach www.

shininguniverse.com