The Creative Contrarian

Although Diller claimed that what he was describing was not a philosophy, he did find a way to quote George Bernard Shaw, who, he said, "once defined success as the willingness to take the path of maximum advantage rather than the path of least resistance." That's why Diller so enjoys the attitude of a contrarian. Based on his extraordinary experiences as an innovator, Diller advised that "the really big successes come when people challenge the conventional wisdom with ideas that only have their own integrity and no track record to give them credence."

And how does one cultivate this kind of creative integrity? Diller prescribed that each of us needs "the patience to relax and follow your curiosity instead of hyperventilating and chasing the crowd."

Artfulness and Nuance

What Diller was really pointing toward was the creative process, which is all too frequently lost in the barrage of business plans and in the re-purposing of old media. To further illuminate this point, he offered a valuable historical perspective: "To define television as 'radio with pictures' is completely accurate, but completely wrong. It misses the point."

Diller himself began to understand the value of this insight as he pondered the new medium of TV home shopping in its early days. He thought, "It's TV; it's not TV ... It's computers; it's not computers ... It's retailing; it's not retailing ... It's advertising; it's not advertising ... To define home shopping as 'cable television with telemarketing,' or as 'a transactions-processing network with live video' is accurate; but it is completely wrong. It misses the point."

That's when Diller first discovered that there is "artfulness and nuance in convergence." (And you thought that we were going to be forever stuck with streaming media programs that are so clunky that they can be compared to the ransom note-style flyers that gave desktop publishing a bad name.)

Bottom line, Diller implored us all to meet convergence, (or the challenges of creating this new streaming medium) "on its own wildly unique terms." He reminded us that we still need innovators like Edward R. Murrow. After all, it was Murrow who, in TV's early days, was the first to break out of the pattern of TV as repackaged radio by creating the medium's first truly intimate programs. Diller reminded us that it is the producers among us that have the all-important opportunity to deliver nothing less than "the spark, the ignition ... [that gets] audiences to respond in new ways."

Now, that's a new media approach that I believe is worth pursuing. It is also a fundamental kind of media power that can help any streaming media company survive even the most damaging stock market downturns. I'll use this column to keep my eye out for what I think are the true convergence innovators; and while I'm at it, I'll thank Mr. Diller for his guidance. Stay tuned.

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