the magnificent seven and the double-deckers

I've worked with a lot of creative companies in my time. And been in some. And other sorts of companies. And I've occasionally been asked to think about what makes a great creative business. I've never given very good answers because I always bang on about The Magnificent Seven and The Double-Deckers, and, depending on the age of the audience have to start off by explaining who they are before I can ever pursue the analogy. So I thought I'd try and have another go here.

I think there are two ways to start / be a great creative business - 'the group of experts' (which I think of as The Magnificent Seven) and 'the group of friends' (which always makes me think of The Double-Deckers.)

The advantages of the Group Of Experts are obvious. The chief one is their ability to compete with organisations many times their size. (Listen to the song: "They were only Seven but they fought like Seven Hundred".) Because, in the creative industries at least, once you get larger than seven experts you tend to be adding support staff rather than more experts. Some combination of ego, business sense, the desire to do your own thing and human/business dynamics means these things fall apart if they get too big. They either suffer from talent dilution if they grow or bitterness and stagnation if they don't.

(I can't remember if I've ever bored you with my theory of talent dilution. It's simple, dumb really, and explains why creative businesses don't scale. {Except the ones who approach things differently}. If you've got 5 excellent people in a company of 20 - a reasonably regular occurrence - then it's probably an excellent company. If you've got 15 excellent people in a company of 200 - an even more regular occurrence - then it's probably rubbish. I suspect Bill Joy put this more succinctly.

Ideally The Group Of Friends would also be a group of experts but you can't normally have both. If Ringo had been a better drummer and a worse friend then The Beatles wouldn't have been as good (though I happen to think he was a fantastic drummer.) When a business like this is working nothing feels like work. When it's not working it's like being trapped in a horrible marriage. And The Group of Friends model fails too. All the time.

But the reason I like The Double-Deckers as a model is that the home-base is important. And that's where I think the Group Of Friends wins over the Group of Experts. The Experts tend to be Ronin, loose, untied, uncommitted to a place or to each other. The Friends like hanging out together, they're reluctant to go home, so they build a great place to hang-out, a good, welcome environment. And I suspect a good environment is a massive contributor to the success of a good creative business. The Experts believe they carry everything with them in their laptops or saddlebags, but they miss something human when they do that. Which is why I'm starting to feel the need for an office.

Comments

[Bryan Fuhr]

Interesting model for creativity. At Organic, we also believe you need a diversity of thought and emotional connection to facilitate great work. However, we take the view that the model isn't pluralistic. Actually, it takes three minds.

[Jonathan Rigby]

hmmm. neither 'group of experts' or 'group of friends' does it for me. it's not quite somewhere in between but like creativity itself (or like falling in love), it's the spark between people (whether they're friends or experts) that's the magic bit. on their own, these 'experts' are good, but when they are together they become complete - more than complete - better. bigger. brighter. what i do agree with is the importance of spending time together - the most practical venue being an office. this makes a group of people bonded. maybe they didn't know each other for long, so maybe they're not friends. i haven't seen a group of friends make a successful creative business - they're often too similar to be 'sparky' enough. having said that great creative partnerships often become very. very good friends very quickly. but it's definitely important to have a place to spend the right amount of time together - thinking, talking. making mistakes, taking the piss, doing nothing, being able to appreciate time apart and so on.

[Jonathan Rigby]

hmmm. neither 'group of experts' or 'group of friends' does it for me. it's not quite somewhere in between but like creativity itself (or like falling in love), it's the spark between people (whether they're friends or experts) that's the magic bit. on their own, these 'experts' are good, but when they are together they become complete - more than complete - better. bigger. brighter. what i do agree with is the importance of spending time together - the most practical venue being an office. this makes a group of people bonded. maybe they didn't know each other for long, so maybe they're not friends. i haven't seen a group of friends make a successful creative business - they're often too similar to be 'sparky' enough. having said that great creative partnerships often become very. very good friends very quickly. but it's definitely important to have a place to spend the right amount of time together - thinking, talking. making mistakes, taking the piss, doing nothing, being able to appreciate time apart and so on.

[Andrew]

Part of this is why the idea of coworking really appeals to me: being around people who you get on with and bounce ideas off, even if you're not per se working on the same thing right now.

(Research groups work quite a bit like that, thinking about it.)

[graham furlong]

great post. we've got a spare desk so come and hang out with us.

[Hiro Kozaka]

Both groups have a lot in common. Well, at least a funny coincidence (source: Wikipedia):

"It should be noted that prior to Here Comes the Double Deckers, the series creators had also produced a similar series that ran on the BBC, called "The Magnificent Six and a Half," which ran from 1968 to 1972. The series was also seen briefly in the United States in syndication in the early 1970s. Both Auderson and Forde were regulars in this version as well."

[Hiro Kozaka]

Another funny coincidence:

Peter Firth (Scooper, the leader in Double Deckers) also played as a Marshal in the TV Series "The Magnificent Seven" in 1999.

[sam]

Interesting... I wonder where this leaves the BBC - "the most creative organisation in the World"

[Mer]

Great post...Friends become enemies, that´s also true...Cheers!

[John]

In addition to the D'Arblay Street office?

[dlr]

There's a always a spot for you at the Substance table whenever you're in Portland.

[Chris]

You forgot to mention that beyond the analogy, 'The Magnificent Seven' also doubles as the greatest agency name in the history of the world.

[Marco]

Thanks! Russell.