Takeaways…(Creative Olympics Edition)

Below are some notes to myself regarding last weeks creative olympics.  Hope some of these lessons help you to avoid some landmines in the future.

1. Never accept a challenge where the referee, judge, and jury have a vested interest in your competitor  winning.  Especially when the challenge is based around what the decision maker employs your competitor to do.  Just remember…it could look real bad on him if a great looking salesperson beat one of his employees that has ”creative” in his job description.  I’m just saying…
2. Never underestimate the power of being boring and lame.  In challenges where creativity is involved, it seems to be a bit of an advantage.
3. Get everything in writing before accepting an offer (challenge).  I learned this practicing real estate, but it seems that it applies to the rules of creative competitions also.  If you don’t, the rules and standards are open to be changed minute by minute, and when the deck is already stacked against you, you really need all the help you can get.