My dad was a big, tough east London copper.
In the days when most coppers were straight.
But when I was at art school, we were hippies and the police were pigs.
So I was confused.
Especially as I was reading George Orwell, writing about his time in the police.
He said “In order for you to sleep soundly in your bed at night, strong men stand ready to do violence on your behalf.”
I thought I should talk it over with Dad.
So I asked him how he felt about arresting people.
Did he have any moral conflicts, any moments of doubt?
Dad said he lived by a simple rule “The spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.”
That’s so good I’ll repeat it.
“The spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.”
I asked Dad what he meant by that.
He said you have to think about the purpose of what you’re doing, not just blindly follow the rules.
Go back to the purpose of having laws in the first place.
What’s the reason for having a police force?
The reason is that we don’t just have the law of the jungle.
So we’ve got a decent civilised society.
Where the strong protect the weak, instead of just preying on them.
So you have to keep that in mind every time before you enforce the law.
Dad said “For instance, if I catch a bloke in the act of stealing from a baker’s, I have to find out why he’s stealing first.
If he’s stealing to feed his family I turn a blind eye.
A man should look after his family, that’s right and proper.
You can’t nick a bloke for that.
But if he’s just stealing for personal gain, of course I’ll lock him up.”
That stayed with me my whole life.
Don’t blindly follow anything anyone tells you, unless it makes sense.
Use your brain.
Think about what you’re doing.
Get upstream and work out the proper thing to do.
Don’t just parrot back some rules you learned by heart.
Bill Bernbach put it differently “Principals endure, formulas don’t.”
It’s the same thing.
Think.
Or, as Buddha said “Act, don’t react.”
Think.
Picasso expressed it another way “What good are computers? All they can do is give you answers.”
Exactly, even computers can’t do your thinking for you.
They can tell you 2+2=4, but not what you ought to do about it.
Quentin Tarrantino said “A movie should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. But not necessarily in that order.”
Precisely.
Don’t just blindly follow the same rules as everyone else.
Get upstream and look at the purpose of what we’re doing.
Then we can come up with a better answer.
We can’t be creative by doing the same old thing as everyone else.
Following the same rules.
Buckminster Fuller said “If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got.”
It seems obvious.
But if it’s so obvious how come everyone still lives that way?
Bill Bernbach also said “The same tools, the same statistics, are available to us all. If we use them in the same way we’ll end up with the same solutions.”
Of course.
As Edward de Bono said “If we don’t change direction, we’re likely to end up where we’re headed.”
Again, obvious.
So how come everyone still does it?
If we want to be creative, if we want to change things, we need to get upstream and ask questions about why we’re doing what we’re doing.
We need to change our focus.
Away from the letter of the law, towards the spirit of the law.
Dave – reminds me straight away of this article titled ’8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees’:
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/the-8-qualities-of-remarkable-employees.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialmedia&utm_campaign=button
They make the point about however important it is to question and innovate, remarkable employees know when to conform and keep their ideas on ice.
I also believe that, unless you’re in or around the top of the tree, it’s very difficult to display the attitude you’re writing about from a junior position – however much you’d like to. As my old boss put it, “you have to learn to kiss ass before you can kick it.”
Steve Dunn - 28 May 2012 9:59 am
I think Bernback meant Principles.
MikeH - 28 May 2012 10:59 am
Mike,
You might well be right, I went to art school not university (smiley punctuation face winking).
Dave Trott - 28 May 2012 11:12 am
Reminds me of a phrase (that I probably now over use) that I learnt recently “Doing the wrong thing righter.” That is how some people I meet go about solving problems.
-
I think it is hard sometimes to admit that something is broken.
Jim - 28 May 2012 11:33 am
And I meant BERNBACH
MikeH - 28 May 2012 12:55 pm
Dave
I asked a guy 2 accompany me 2 the station because I was in a foreign town + lost.
Enroot, he mentioned that he thought that I would make a fine law enforcement officer.
Why is that? I asked. Well, he replied, your arms are long.
PS – It was a foreign town where English is widely spoken.
Grilla Login - 28 May 2012 3:46 pm
How does the baker feed his family, if people are stealing his bread?
You’ll know the origin of ‘baker’s dozen’: an extra loaf because giving short measure was a big no-no…
Tom - 28 May 2012 11:52 pm
Wasn’t Tarantino who said that, it was Godard.
Mark - 29 May 2012 9:21 am
You’re probably right Mark, but I preferred it by Tarantino.
Dave Trott - 29 May 2012 11:14 am
Dave
Would Godard Tarantino mind if the cinemas changed the order of the ads during films + put them on in the middle?
Me – I’d put them on @ the end so I could miss them al2gether.
Grilla Login - 29 May 2012 2:35 pm
That’s the spirit Grilla.
Jim - 30 May 2012 8:40 am
are so many quotes meant as the spirit of the law of creativity or the letter of it?
sorry, sometimes I can’t help being a smart-ass
Riki - 30 May 2012 8:36 pm
Watched question time the oher night.
Last Question.
“What do we do if all the Greeks decide to come and live in England?”
First thought.
Get to like Kebabs?
But as the replies unfolded it was clear
none of the panel were thinking differently.
Their boring solutions inspired me.
The duller the better.
So here’s an appalling solution to the above scenario:-
4000,000 Greeks suddenly turn up on our doorstep.
Despatch 4000,000 British pensioners to Greece.
BA and Greek Airlines make a fortune.
The British Government saves a fortune.
The elderly dont have to worry about heating.
They just have to get a satellite dish
and get used to Kebabs.
The Greek economy lifts.
Everybody benefits.
Kev - 1 June 2012 10:25 pm
Dave. Your father sounds like a very good man, I wish more people were able to think like him, I am sure he was very influential in your growing up
Paul
Paul Ferdenzi - 5 June 2012 7:01 pm
He was Paul, he taught me to question everything and only accept what makes sense to me.
I tried to teach my son and daughter the same thing.
Dave Trott - 5 June 2012 8:00 pm