Escaping the Pesky Trap of Self-Mislabelling
Self definition is simple:
I draw. Companies pay me money to draw up things they need. Therefore, I’m an illustrator!
Wrong.
After wending my way through work — from illustrating stories in newspapers and books, to describing technologies and spatial experiences, to designing new-to-the-world expressive tools — what I am has finally hit me.
I’m an illuminator.
“Illuminator” is a word that writer David Brooks coined in his new book. It means bringing out the best in others; helping them “build confidence, and encouraging inquisitiveness.” Over time, I’ve also found this to mean bringing out the best in teams, organizations, and their projects.
Even though the nature of my work has continuously changed, illumination remains immutable. I trace it back to the first cartoon I drew: my dad, saying to my mom, “Ruth, feed the cat!” My mom saying to my older sister, “Bryna, feed the damn cat!” My brother saying to me, “Gary, feed the @*%#&! cat!” And I, wallowing in self pity say, “I’m always the one who has to feed the cat.”
Becoming an illuminator was already in my nature, but also was probably an effort to show love and understanding to those in my family who were unconsciously keeping me at the bottom of the cat food chain. Later on, I’d embed secret “I-see-what-your- doing-and-understand” imagery in biographical drawings about my brother during his somewhat drug-addled adolescence (he doesn’t see it that way). And later, during my earliest steps as an Illuminati, I’d work up “this-is-your-life” drawings for lots of people in my childhood community.
Mislabelling ourselves can last a lifetime and drive lots of output that we can confuse with purpose..
I latched onto “illustrator” because I didn’t have a clue that the “illuminator” label existed. And I did a bunch of things: illustrating drawings in the NYTimes, or French For Cats, or capturing expert talks, without realizing my real goal was to help authors be seen, and their ideas heard. It’s only in my latest work as a college professor that I see my role as illuminator more clearly — and just in time to use it to good effect.
A coach’s role is to bring out what a person is already capable of. In this sense, in my Innovation and design classes, I’m more coach than professor. I impart little “knowledge,” preferring instead to inculcate an inventive mindset and give students the tools and license to be their most innovative selves. I called myself out on this recently when I said to my students that “TnT” was not only shorthand for a “Toss n’ Trade” app they were developing, but also an explosive. One shiny fact delivered! But the students I teach are so bright, that they only need a bit of encouragement to deliver exceptional creative and technical work. And there’s joy in illuminating their innate abilities.
I meet precious few illuminators in a given day. I’m not saying people are predominantly “Diminishers” (the other side of David Brook’s coin), but when I meet someone who builds MY confidence and encourages MY inquisitiveness, I’m somewhat shocked and surprised right up until I realize they’d be fun and rewarding to have as a friend for life :) I remember meeting Daniel, a barista/manager at a cafe I work in, and watching as one person after another left that cafe happier than when they came in. I didn’t only want to be friends with Daniel but my wife and I wanted to meet his mother on a trip to Israel. Daniel’s mom teaches film-making to Israeli and Palestinian kids dressed as Charlie Chaplin. She, like her son, shines light into a lot of eyes and minds.
I remember the moment when a design strategist at Rockwell Group, looked at me quizzically and said, “You’re NOT a Design Strategist….you’re an “Envisioner.” I was flattered and ran with the title without knowing, yet again, how it missed the mark. If “illustrator” was a near miss, then “Envisioner” was a foul ball. Similar near-miss titles have included cartoonist, “Experience designer,” “Strategic Designer in Residence,” and even my favorite self-given, mislabelled, “Principal Non-Technical Staff Cartoonist” role at AT&T Labs Research. I am all of these things and none of them.
You don’t illuminate things–not a new technology, a humor book, an expert talk. You illuminate the people who think up new things and want to share them with the world. The latest instance of this is with my red-headed friend Steven who, living with Parkinson’s, has a remarkably resilient attitude. Noting he was getting out of my car with some difficulty, it struck me: Steve should author a Superhero graphic novel (or comic book series) about taking on the world with Parkinson’s. He hit the ground running with a fun and poignant script the next morning. It wasn’t my expertise in graphic novel work that I was tapping, it was elevating my friend Steve.
Will there ever be an “illuminator” role listed on LinkedIn In? I don’t know. But there are lots of people doing other jobs, while doing double duty as illuminators. The best things in life are free.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to feed the Cat. 😊
