Baron Ponders

Kevin Smith on Leadership and Creativity January 9, 2010

Recently @ThatKevinSmith replied to a question Twitter and I thought his response was well worth noting. 

@Henrikse “Dont you always think the next film’s gonna be the big one?” That’s the director’s job: to believe in their dopey vision- quest so much that it fuels not just him/her, but the entire cast & crew as well. For months. As the person everyone’s looking to for answers, you’ve GOTTA believe. Anyone can be negative, because bitching takes no discernible talent and costs nothing. And sure: every once in a while, you die in despair a bit, broken-hearted that your ideas didn’t reach more people. But until then? You have hope that the next flick WILL reach a larger audience. You’re living in hope. Living ON hope. And hope is life’s sweet elixir, touching not just human beings, but every thinking organism on the planet. Living in a constant state/haze of hope = smoking God’s own strain of Kush.

Kush, for the innocent, is exceptionally high-grade marijuana.

I have seen no better recognition and description of the kind of hope necessary to accomplish any creative project, including software projects.

Kevin Smith is the critically acclaimed director and writer of films such as “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy.” This note is especially poignant in that his last film did not achieve box office goals. I appreciate the kind of guts it takes to do what he does, and I appreciate the guts it takes to keep doing it.

I’m sure he’d disavow any such earnest abstruse praise as I have undertaken but I hope my tribute helps make this bit of wisdom more widely appreciated.