Antinomies and change

Jeremy Bullmore: In praise of Antinomies from JWT on Vimeo.

I've been meaning write about this for a while, but was spurred into doing so over lunch today. The whole talk above is totally worth watching, and talks with typical wit about planning in advertising and the antinomy between art and science that seems to surround it.

If time pressed, as well as out-loud laughs, the first four minutes offer an insight on what seems to be the problem. Quoting E.F. Schumacher's observation from Small is Beautiful, we are told that

'all real human problems arise from the antinomy between order and freedom.'

While this may be the case, we realise as the talk goes on that the answer is simple, and very D&A - it's not one or the other, nor even compromise, but rather it is both one and the other at the same time that is desirable and where parenthood, management and advertising planning thrive. Order and freedom need both be present to raise each other aloft and create successful outcomes.

The reason why lunch prompted me to do this was that it was spent with a Director of Delta7, a company for whom

Visual Dialogue™ uses Big Pictures to help leaders clarify and communicate strategy, increase employee engagement and drive real change.

They do really fascinating work, which in itself uses the alchemy of creative and analytical thought (as, essentually, as visualisation of the data that is organisational structures), to help businesses manage their own antinomy between order and freedom and help them come together for the business' benefit. A couple of interesting examples of their work below, and many more here.