Creating the original – Part II

The original meaning of the word “original” was “close to the source”. An original message had to come directly from the mouth of a person. Socrates (who by the way discouraged the written word as an awful modern thing), had the strong principle that if people wanted to hear what he had to say they had to come and listen to him. Plato wrote down what Socrates said but then it was his interpretation, and hence not the original message.
We still have the meaning of original as being “close to the source” today as in “an original Picasso” or “listening to the one and only Bill Clinton”. These things and persons have have intrinsic value which can’t be copied without loosing most of their value.

In the age of the printing press “originality” again changed its meaning. Now it translated into “a good copy”. If you could copy a bible so perfectly that you couldn’t tell it apart from the original, well then “original” and “good copy” had to be the same. During the industrialisation originality retained that meaning. If people looked at a standardized product such as a screwdriver or a bottle and uttered the words “Wauw, what an original thing”, what they really meant was “Wauw, this copy is just as good as the original”.
We still have the meaning of original as “good copy”. When we say “the original Coca Cola” or “the original apple pie from the shop in my home town”. What we mean is “the way we have always been doing it”.

But that is not what we mean by “originality” today, is it?

As futurists we believe that the word again is changing it’s meaning. Many would say that “originality” means something strange, surprising, a different perspective, something farfetched, provocative. But mostly, originality just means “something new and different”. Today you can still go to a party with a new and different phone and people will stop and ask you about its looks, features, size and feel. That is soon going to be a thing of the past. Originality, as a notion meaning something new and different, is loosing its importance as we are drowning in new products and services.
The same goes for companies. Working in an “original company” does not have anything to do with money, benefits, material equipment, or financial results. It has much more to do with immaterial things such as a funky culture, passion and enthusiasm, and results that go way beyond individuals and bottom lines.

At Future Navigator we have studied original people, companies, organizations, services, products, and results for several years and here are our “original critera”:

So what characteristics do you think define these terms?

copyright 2007 – future navigator

By Anne Skare Nielsen
& Liselotte Lyngsø