This Issue: View Your Work as an Art Form

Art is a lie that makes us see the truth.

--Picasso

Picasso was not only a great artist, he was a good businessman. He knew the value of his work, and he didn’t make excuses for it. He once told a story about someone who visited his studio, stood in front of a painting, and asked him “What does it represent?” Picasso’s response was “Two hundred thousand dollars.” He was telling the truth and in no uncertain terms. Picasso obviously viewed his art as a business, which it was. I view my business as an art, which it is. You should view your work that way too.

Here’s why. Artists are known for their dedication, to their ideals, to their muse--whatever that might be--and for their perseverance in getting things just right. Those are admirable traits to possess. They will go to great lengths to achieve the desired result. Just recently a Beethoven manuscript was discovered in a library. He had made so many changes and scratches on it that he had punctured holes in the pages in some places. This work was done towards the end of his life, so he wasn’t a novice at writing music at that point. That was just how he worked. Beethoven was a perfectionist, who wouldn’t settle for less than his best. He didn’t need to impress anyone except himself. That’s a good way to be, whether you’re a businessperson or a musician.

Try to best yourself. Compete with yourself to be the best you can be. That’s the mindset of entrepreneurs. They know that competing with others could lower their own standards. That may sound tough but it’s the truth. You have to have your own vision and stick with it. Picasso definitely had his own way of seeing things, which certainly worked to his advantage artistically and financially. Don’t be afraid of being unique. It’s like being afraid of your best self.

When I was building Trump Tower, I spent a great deal of time finding and getting the exact color of marble I wanted for the lobby. I looked at hundreds of marble samples until I found something called Breccia Perniche, a rare marble and, therefore, very expensive. The color was a blend of rose, peach and pink that was absolutely perfect. When we went to the quarry, however, I noticed there were white spots and veins in a lot of the marble. Nevertheless, I was determined to use this marble. So we marked off the slabs that were the best and scrapped the rest--about 60% of the total. It wasn't cost effective, but it was worth it. The lobby in Trump Tower is truly a work of art, and the marble made the difference. It’s gorgeous.

Back to Picasso’s statement about art being a lie. One take on that is that artists often make the difficult look effortless. How hard is it to put paint on a canvas? Easy if you don’t know what you’re doing. A little more complex if you do know what you’re doing. In my first book, The Art of the Deal, I chose the title for those very reasons. Anyone in business knows that negotiating and making deals requires a lot of background work. People don’t see me doing that part, but that doesn’t mean I don’t do it. When people see the beautiful marble in Trump Tower, they usually have no idea what I went through personally to achieve the end result. No one cares about the blood, sweat, and tears that art or beauty require. It’s the end result that matters.

Art is also representational. In other words, it’s not life, but it’s about life. It can point to truths that we might not notice in our busy daily lives. It gives us a reflection. When I do a deal, it’s a reflection of my astuteness as a businessman. I strive for a comprehensive approach, much as an artist would. No matter what your field is, you can learn a lot by emulating that approach as much as possible. I didn’t have to use Breccia Perniche marble, but I knew it would make a difference. My work as a builder combines both craftsmanship and art. I refuse to settle for less. So when I say I view my work as an art form, you can bet that I’m as meticulous as any artist would be about the materials and the desired result. If you do the same, I think you’ll surprise yourself at how high your standards will become.

Don’t sell yourself short. Life is an art. Business is an art. So, be an artist and best yourself.

What does a great actor like Sir Laurence Olivier have in common with a great executive like Jack Welch? At first glance, not much. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll see that brilliant actors and gifted business leaders share many critical skills.

They command attention the moment they come into view. They use words, and body language to communicate emotions and ideas. They listen actively to everyone around them. They know how to inspire or frighten or astonish people just by using just their bodies, voices, and minds.

So, let’s put aside the business books for a moment and look at one of the greatest books ever written for actors, To the Actor by Michael Chekhov. Chekhov (http://www.michaelchekhov.org/) was director of the Moscow Art Theater before he came to Hollywood and appeared in Hitchcock’s Spellbound and many other movies. Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, and other greats studied acting with him. If you watch Chekhov in two different movies, he looks like two different actors. He was a magician, who could transform himself as the drama required.

In To The Actor, Checkhov writes that our minds can work like creative engines if we free them from overly intellectual control. If you read the book, you will see that this principle can be applied to preparing the greatest role you will ever play--the starring role in the story of your own success.

How does Checkhov’s system work? Let’s say you're an actor preparing a scene in which your character has to tell another character that her husband has just died. You could study the scene and make intellectual decisions (“I will enter the stage hanging my head sadly . . . "), but Chekhov has a better way. First read the scene, then close your eyes, and let your mind play it for you like a movie. Just watch. Your imagination will usually make astonishing suggestions that you could never have created by thinking academically. Maybe your character comes running onto the stage, for example, or laughs when given the bad news. Tell your imagination what you liked and what you disliked, and keep replaying the scene in your mind until you have something you are happy with--something extraordinary.

The key is to imagine first, then intellectualize later. With practice, Chekhov’s system can show you a picture of where you want your life to go and help you build many of the skills you need to get there.

Envision your own success by letting your imagination show you what you want to see. Close your eyes and watch. Afterwards, ask some questions. Were there a lot of people working with you, or were you on your own? Were you wearing an elegant suit or a pair of blue jeans? Did you seem to be in the country or the city? Let your creative mind feed information to you and then keep asking it to correct things that displeased you. A picture of your success will appear in stages, like a Polaroid print developing before your eyes.

You can also use Checkhov’s system to prepare for specific challenges. Are you about to give some devastating news to your staff? Do you have to deliver the keynote address at an important convention? Feed the rough shape of those situations to the image-generating part of your mind and then stand back as your creativity kicks in and makes suggestions about what you should do.

When you get your intellect out of the way, you will start to think like an artist. Astonishing things will happen. Your creative mind can show the way to the bright future that is waiting for you.

What does it mean when someone claims his or her work is art? Some people actually do make their work into an art form. In addition to competence and real talent, their accomplishments stem from their strong belief that what they do is art. Raising one’s every day work to the level of art is, as much as anything, an exercise of will.

Art takes the mundane and transforms it by infusing it with something special. To raise one’s work to a level of art means bringing to it a transcendent quality that distinguishes it from everyday work product. The standards for art are higher than the standards for mere competence or utility.

People’s ideas about what makes their work art vary. Richard Portman, one of Hollywood's best sound mixers, labors at one of the more utilitarian (certainly less glamorous) aspects of filmmaking. Yet, he sees his work as an art form, and he is an uncompromising perfectionist. He believes that when sound mixing is done right, movie viewers don't notice anything. The footsteps on the sidewalk, the cars going by, the slight rustle of leaves all blend together to make the soundtrack real. Portman's work creates the mood and tone of a film

Commerce does not determine what is and what isn’t art. There are plenty of hacks who believe they’re artists just because they’re not making money and not actively participating in a commercial system based on financial reward. There are also field goal kickers and plastic surgeons whose work, while obviously well-paid and unambiguously part of the marketplace, could be considered art.

A lot of jobs that require special skills or training require the person doing it to be much more than an employee. A degree of specialized skill and careful, consistent application to regular tasks, as well as innovation and resourcefulness, are what define the artisan. But art is something different, something entirely new.

There’s more than one way to approach work in any profession. Some workers are meticulous and unerring in the day-to-day stuff--which is quite valuable. Some are quick and accurate; others are quick and less than accurate; and others work slowly and see the task as something that simply must get done. Yet, there will always be a select few who are unusually deliberate and approach their work as an art form

What a barren place the world would be without artists. For those who have managed to take their work to a level beyond the mundane, the standards are exceedingly high, but their work proves by example that something bigger and better exists.