‘They f**king love you. One idea can change your business.’
Busy. Lots to do. Deadline looming. Plenty of reasons not to drive over to Liverpool for this event. But. There was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to hear what David Hieatt had to say.
Howies, Hiut Denim, The Do Lectures (voted in top ten events in the world by The Guardian), The Do Books (over 40 of them). This is a guy with such a fascinating and inspirational story, and a boat load of lessons learned and shared.
One of my favourite take-outs (and there were plenty) from what David had to say - ‘Ideas are your friends. They f**king love you. One idea can transform your business’.
Having ideas, trying ideas, sharing ideas, putting ideas out there. Running with them if they look like they might work. Moving on from them if they don’t. Sometimes ignoring those who say they won’t. This is the mantra.
Something else that really struck a chord - ‘There’s lots of clues, but we’re not always sensing what’s happening.’
Making direct reference to the following of trends, and how short term they are, our speaker pointed out ‘…by the time you’ve followed a trend, it’s already too late, because it’s probably not a trend anymore.’
Looking past the ‘now’ (the trends) and sensing what’s happening, what’s coming - reading the room, recognising the clues - is the catalyst for those ideas that love us. The ideas that transform.
Like the man said, people just need to get off their screens, meet up, have conversations, ‘just grab a coffee’, share stories, share ideas.
I’m so happy I shut my laptop and did exactly that.
‘The most powerful thing about your story is that other people want to share it.’
David Hieatt.
The event, held at Liverpool’s beautiful Bluecoat Chambers, was brought together by Gather, a community for digital, creative and tech leaders in the Liverpool City Region.
