Shall we talk about the horror of overconsumption, oversaturation, overwhelming wastefulness and unsustainability of today’s industries? I cringe and would rather not. I’ve got something else in store for you, hopefully constructive, hopefully a bit more warm wooly and fuzzy. For anyone who puts anything out there, I give you the idea of FREEDOM FROM CONVENTION, as key to creating a brighter, more breathable and sustainable future.

Happy companies are the ones that are different. “They’re the ones that have found a way to radically differentiate themselves and escape from competition. All unhappy companies are alike because they’ve failed to escape the essential sameness that is competition” (Peter Thiel, Paypal founder).

In the boundless realm that is every creative field, there are endless opportunities. However, what makes something good is not about the “what” but about the “why.” Usually, it’s about the psychological ramifications of whatever is being sold and put out into the real or cyber spaces. Creatives out there, don’t you realize you hold the power to shift not only perceptions, but emotions? Don’t you realize it’s a free-for-all in free fall, and that freedom from convention is what makes people stop, think, and feel differently?

Aristotle Onassis once wisely pointed out, “The rules are, there are no rules.”

Well the great movers and shakers of Time—all those who’ve made a significant impact within their field—have always challenged what might have been old “rules,” the conventional boundaries of their time. These rule-breakers didn’t destroy traditions but instead knew that following the herd doesn’t break grounds but only creates more mounds. They knew never to go where the others go, and to go where the others don’t. Yes, my dear Spectators, the true visionaries are those who intuit that something truly different and necessary is the only way to bolt us the heck out of excessive, complacent, pretentious and/or redundant convention. As we see in today’s professional landscape, THERE IS TOO MUCH OF THE SAME THING.

To clarify, a quest for relentless novelty is not what I mean. What true visionaries demonstrate is an idea, an aesthetic, an approach that is all their own, BUT WHICH MAKES A SPECIAL, POSITIVE DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD. And coincidentally they also ooze confidence that their audience will be won over by their vision. They refuse to obey the rules because, well, they make their own rules, and their rules are the ones others wind up copying.

What unites all creative rule-breakers is their ability to deliver not just fresh new beauty and value, but a deeper message.

Let’s just say that if the message doesn’t come bursting from within, then it’s not worth it. If the “thing” offered isn’t crying out from the heart and the mind and the gut, then it shouldn’t join the heaps and mountains of the same ‘ole. If the motive is to win money, fame, and outshine the competition, well Lambies, it’s likely not going to be a good message. If it mimics everyone else’s style, then clearly it is not needed. A genuinely strong message behind a product or idea comes when it is damn well ready. Wait for it. Patiently. Make it count, make it worth it. All industries today (and ME!!!) are yawning over the next brand, next product, next influencer that’s just another version of the one before. Let’s make whatever we put out there come to life all by itself, because it’s bursted out of its our soul like a rocket.

Whether it’s a loathing of the superficial, a disdain for conformity, or a prizing of independence, groundbreakers break grounds with their message, by leading rather than following, in bold moves and upheavals or in quiet confident independence.