Sunday, September 25, 2011

Every Program Needs A Theme...can your team articulate it easily?

In a recent HBR Interview, Francis Ford Coppola was asked:
When you get stuck creatively—if you don’t know where a script should go or how a movie should end—how do you get yourself unstuck?
Well, if my intuition and asking what feels better doesn’t give me the answer, I have a little exercise: What is the theme in a word or two? In The Conversation, it was privacy. In The Godfather, it was succession. I encourage my children to do the same, to break it all down: If you have that word, then when you reach an impasse, you just say: “Well, what does the theme tell me? Should it be this or should it be that?” And usually that will suggest to you which way to go and break the roadblock.
I was struck but how important it is that your complex program, project, or initiative has a theme that:
  • captures the essence of what you are doing
  • "travels well" through internal and external social media
  • can be easily articulated by any team member

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