Ignore Everybody: Hugh MacLeod

I don't know about you, but I find everywhere I look (either online or face to face) there are people who are self-proclaimed experts. But dig a little deeper and you will see they are like the Emperor with no clothes, with very to add to the equation.

Once in a while though I come across a guy like Hugh MacLeod, who is the real deal. Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist who makes his living both by publishing fine art prints via the internet and consulting other companies on web 2.0. I first heard of Hugh only a year ago, by reading his blog which receives over 1 million visits a month, and following him on Twitter where he has thousands of followers. I should disclose that over the last few months Hugh & I have struck up a friendship and are exploring some collaborations together, so there is some inherent bias in my review of his new book. On the other hand, if his book was complete shit, I would not mention it at all rather than write about it here.

Ignore Everybody is a collection of ideas on how to be more creative. At first I was skeptical about whether or not creativity was something that could be taught to people. But after reading Hugh's book, I realized that in many ways creativity is a muscle that can lay flacid or be exercised and nurtured.

Each chapter in Hugh's book begins with a point (and an accompanying cartoon) that seems almost impossibly obvious, but he adds to it in a way that set off lightbulbs for me on how to approach what I'm doing with the gallery. As an example:

Chapter 4: Good ideas have lonely childhoods
"Good ideas exist in a social context. And not everyone has the same agenda as you"

Chapter 11: The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props
"Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on a piece of ordinary stationery that he had borrowed from the friend whose house he was staying at. Ernest Hemingway wrote with a simple fountain pen. Somebody else did the typing, but only much later....There's no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. None. Zilch. Nada"

Hugh says things in his book that we all have considered in our minds but have never said out loud. Perhaps some have not considered this point of view at all. My one beef is that the book does go a little overboard in giving the finger to those that have seemingly rejected Hugh in the past, painting all those folks, whether in the advertising industry or the art world with one stroke, but hey it's his book so it's his right to do so!

This book landed in my lap at exactly the right time and I find myself reading certain passages over and over to help me articulate the longer term plans for the gallery and articulate how to take these principles and apply them to my life. That is the mark of a good book and I know this one will be a regular read for me for many years to come. Hugh's book strikes the right balance between art and commerce which is a struggle many galleries and artists face.

Ignore Everybody is a must-read for any entrepreneur, and by entrepreneur I include the person starting a business out of their home or an artist trying to develop her practice or the owner of a contemporary art gallery smaller than most people's dining rooms. You can get your own copy through major online booksellers or ask for it in your local bookstore.