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Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: Damn Good Advice (For People with Talent)

For those of you who don’t know who George Lois is, let me assume that you know his work.

• Ever see the commercials with celebrities like Mick Jagger crying, “I want my MTV!”?
• Ever see the Esquire Magazine cover with Mohammed Ali in boxing trunks, arrows piercing his body?
• Ever see the commercial with big name sports stars crying for their Maypo?

See, you know who George Lois is; he is the man behind these ads and many more. In fact, he has been called the original “Mad Man.”

If you want a book that not only shows how to be creative and spark your own creativity, but provides real-life examples of what true originality looks like, this is the book for you. It is a small book filled with 119 ways to spark your own creativity. I love this book. I keep it on my desk at all times so that when I get stuck for an idea to write about, I look through it and I always find something that will get my engine running again.

Here are some of my favorites from the book (taken from the 119 numbered ideas):

36. Most people work at keeping their job rather than doing a good job.

62. Any good creative idea should stun momentarily; it should seem to be outrageous.

69. Picasso was right when he said, “Art is a lie that tells the truth.”

77. The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.

79. Most designers forget that their work must talk to human beings

118. If you do it right it will live forever.

Whatever your job is, no matter what you are doing, this book will get your proverbial creative juices not just flowing but spewing with new ideas. The author is one of the most effective and fascinating creatives ever to come out of the ad industry and this little book proves it.

I strongly recommend not only this book, but anything Lois has written. If you want some additional fun, go check out his videos on You Tube. 

Damn Good Advice (For People with Talent): How to Unleash your Creative Potential by America’s Master Communicator
By George Lois

Publisher: Phaidon Press Limited
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 119
Price: $9.95

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.