Hey there Mr./Ms. Creative. How are your social skills?
Think you can get by on raw talent? Think your agent, rep, manager or business partner is going to take care of that fluffy customer-facing stuff so you can be a reclusive artist, camera-hider-behinder? Think again. Like it or not, the feeling you’ve been feeling all along is becoming more pronounced. Call it unfair, call it fake, call it whatever you want, but as the world becomes more connected socially, the bias toward socially connected individuals and groups is continuing to serve out the prophecy…social skillz help pay the billz.
While geographic location clearly means a lot for earning more, growing faster, and reaping the rewards of a larger network–ie. being a professional creative located in LA, NYC, London, etc–, recent article in The Atlantic by Richard Florida (author of Rise of the Creative Class
Highly developed social skills … including persuasion, social perceptiveness, the capacity to bring the right people together on a project, the ability to help develop other people, and a keen sense of empathy…are quintessential leadership skills needed to innovate, mobilize resources, build effective organizations, and launch new firms. They are highly complementary to analytic skills [read: your technical abilities as a photographer]…and indeed, the very highest-paying jobs usually require exceptional skill in both realms.
So are you prepared to get a lot more social and heighten your chances at success?
I’ve definitely noticed the need for more networking and social interaction in the wedding business over the past couple years. In 2009, we could get by with some advertising… we didn’t know anyone in the industry except a handful of photographers. Now, our calendar is filled with all sorts of social events. It kind of feels like if you don’t show up then you loose some credibility. In our market now, it seems the up-and-coming photographers are great marketers first and average photographers second. I think that photographers who don’t adapt to the new social norm will probably have a hard time surviving in a few years. On a plus note, being social isn’t so bad and it’s a relatively easy adjustment so if you’ve got the technical skills and add it with a little networking… you’ll stand out.
Can’t help thinking of a few prospering photographers whose social skills seem to be the only reason for their success. I’d name Joey L as an example but, fearing a loyal fanboy backlash, I won’t. It’s all part of the whole though, isn’t it? Sure I once heard some big name say that the business of photography is only 10% photography. Smoke and mirrors, baby. Play the game.
It used to surprise whenever I learned that a photographer of mostly rural and developing countries, like Steve McCurry, lived in big cities. I guess always used to picture them in some cabin or something somewhere. I think Richard Florida’s theory helps explain why they in fact need to stay connected to the sources of their assignments.
While this is definitely a trend in many types of businesses, isn’t it weird that, as a culture, we’re rewarding middle-men more and more — salesmen who sell the work and managers who assemble a team — and disregarding the people who do the actual work more and more — the actual photographer in this case? The message I’m getting these days is that one shouldn’t learn to actually do stuff. The only way to become successful is to get other people to do the work for you, then selling their work effectively. While these jobs are important, isn’t it backward to consider them as more important than the people who actually create the end-product? We’re turning into a culture of middle-men.
I’ve been subscribed to your kickass blog for some time now; it’s my most fav blog in all the interwebs. This post has got to be the one that strikes me most passionately. This post and the accompanying article totally affirms my die-hard faith in the power of social networking. It also adds justification to why I spend so much time on Facebook 🙂 Thanks for sharing!