Mastering Fundamentals and Creative Communication

For the past few days, I’ve been discussing mentoring programs with various people. This has made me revisit some older work rather than focus on the future of our industry. Ultimately, passing on solid fundamentals is key to helping others. Feel free to insert your preferred sports analogy here.

For example, Wayne Gretzky began honing his hockey skills at age four with his dad in the backyard (Go Oilers—it’s playoff season!). Andre Agassi may have been charismatic and hit the ball on the rise inside the baseline, but he could only do that with perfect footwork. Mike Tyson was a terrifying opponent, yet his footwork and head movement were exceptional. Michael Jordan was a scoring champion but also defensive player of the year. Fundamentals consistently triumph over flashy techniques. Or, as Conor McGregor famously said, “Timing beats speed; precision beats power.” Paying close attention to the basics often surpasses natural talent.

This is why introductory courses, beginner guides, and tutorials sell so well. If you’re just starting out, you need to master the core. Understanding the established rules is essential before you can break them and innovate. Otherwise, you need to be so exceptionally gifted that the rules don’t apply to you—and very few people fall into that latter category.

To learn the building blocks of anything, you need to be taught by someone experienced in the field. I’ve been kickboxing for years and have trained in gyms worldwide. I realize I was fortunate to learn the basics from a skilled trainer because no matter where I go or how long I take a break, as soon as I join a class, the new trainer can see that I know what I’m doing because my fundamentals are strong.

Let’s talk about mentoring. We shouldn't overcomplicate it. Creativity in business relies on a few fundamental concepts that, if you understand, will set you up for future success. It's not about learning how to edit or create a polished presentation. It's about training your brain to approach business problems strategically. How you frame a problem can lead you to a creative solution. When you get that right, your solution will be grounded in reality and effective. However, this only works if you understand what creativity truly is and that it's not exclusive to those who label themselves as "creative."

We all have a responsibility to think creatively about our business, product, or service and how we present it to the world. When you face a challenge, here are three things to focus on to help guide your thinking and set you on the right track, complete with examples to illustrate each point because I'm nice like that.

Creativity involves understanding your audience. There are over 40,000 Girl Scouts in America who sell approximately 200 million boxes of cookies each year. It's a highly competitive marketplace, making it nearly impossible to stand out because everyone is selling the same product. To be successful beyond mere chance, you must understand your target audience.

How does one find consumers who consider Girl Scout cookies essential? Danielle Lei understood her audience. When marijuana was legalized in California. She set up her stall outside the Green Cross Medical Marijuana Dispensary in San Francisco and sold 117 boxes in under two hours. Her success didn’t come from a strategy department, insight, media buying, or a creative studio—just smart thinking about her key audience and recognizing who would find her product valuable.

Creativity is found in reduction. If you've watched the movie, you know that Batman himself plays Ray Kroc in The Founder, portraying the man who franchised McDonald's and is often regarded as the creative mind behind its success. However, the true creative thinkers were the McDonald brothers.

The McDonald brothers started with a 27-item menu. Conventional thinking held that offering more choices would attract more customers. They quickly realized that 87% of their income came from just three items, so they chose to focus on making those items faster and better than anyone else. This approach is based on the Pareto principle, which states that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes.

Creativity lies in what you choose to say. James Watt did not invent the steam engine—Thomas Newcomen did in 1712. However, Watt reinvented the steam engine, making it more efficient and, crucially, understood how to talk about it. What Watt actually invented was the term "horsepower" to promote the growth of the market. By explaining how many horses his steam engine could replace, he made his innovation easy for people to understand.

Fast forward 200 years, and you'll see Steve Jobs applying a similar strategy when launching the iPod. The rules of effective communication remain unchanged: speak to your audience in their language, not your own.

These principles are straightforward—they just require you to pause, shift your mindset, and consider: Who am I actually speaking to? What language will resonate with them? How can I make this message simpler?

Once you address these questions, don't be overwhelmed by the process of generating ideas to support your newfound understanding.

We often celebrate originality as if every idea arises in isolation, rather than being influenced by inspiration, culture, and constraints.

All ideas have origins. We recombine existing ideas to generate new ones.

For instance, Mr. Lamborghini admitted he never truly invented anything—he simply combined Ferrari and Alfa Romeo engines to create one of the most beautiful cars in the world: the Lamborghini Miura.

Every idea comes from somewhere, but what you do with them is what counts.

I'm running mentorship programs for young creatives to help them navigate the agency landscape and for small business owners to help them craft their messages. My availability is limited, but if there's someone you like who could benefit from this, please send them my way. Alternatively, put me in touch with someone you hate.

As you were.

MrMcK.