There are many ways to ask and answer this question. Authorship used to be rare, but now, all of us write something.

If you’re putting your words on a social media platform, you might be surprised to discover that they could disappear at any moment. Some platforms acknowledge that they own the relationship you think you have with your readers, not you. Others go so far as to insist that they can take your username and transfer it if they choose.

The words (and images) you share could be harvested for the data they contain as well.

At a more metaphorical level, in community discourse it’s easy to get in the habit of parroting talking (and arguing) points. Take a moment to think about whether you mean what you just said or perhaps are simply cheering for your team. If they’re not your words, you still might be responsible for uttering them.

More mundane but important: If you’ve ever been asked to sign a release, take a moment to read it. It probably insists that your words (and even your likeness and reputation) now belong to the company that asked you to sign. I consistently refuse, and I’m surprised that they’re surprised that I take the legal document seriously.

Words can change minds, build our culture and make an impact. They only work when we share them, but they still belong to us.

‍

If attention is what you seek and attention is what you measure, it’s likely you’ll create drama. And drama is inherently short-lived.

The managing director of Jaguar said, “We’ve certainly gathered an awful lot of attention over the last few weeks.”

Choosing the word “awful” was appropriate.

Here’s the design that made Jaguar iconic:

Sixty years later, it still turns heads and fuels dreams.

And the logo that went with the car did its job as well.

It’s easy for attention-confused marketers to get distracted. They think a rebrand and a re-logo are the same thing, they’re not. A rebrand happens when you change the promise that you make, and the expectations we have for you. A re-logo is cosmetic. Rebrand at your peril, especially when the old brand is trusted, iconic, historic and connected to a basic human need. It’s a mistake to focus on clicks, not magic.

The director of Jaguar finished his statement with a sentence that is almost certainly not going to stand the test of time: “We need to make sure that Jaguar is relevant, is desirable, is future proof for the next 90 years of its history.”

There are potholes to avoid here, even if you’re not a car designer or marketer:

1. Clicks are not purchase intent.
2. Awareness is not desire.
3. Gimmicks are not marketing.
4. Social media followers aren’t following you.
5. Noise is not information.
6. Burning down your house draws a crowd, but it’s a lousy way to renovate.

[Whether or not I like the new design is irrelevant. This is actually about the promise a brand makes and the way it measures success. What’s the promise of the new brand? How does the design make this promise?]

Design is story telling with utility. But if the story is only noise and outrage and the utility is missing, the design, by definition, is incompetent.

The thing is, we’re not running out of noise, but we can always use more beauty.

‍

No project is going to exactly match every hope you have for it.

And even before you ship the work, you’ve already succeeded. No project is totally worthless.

So, given that failure and success are on a spectrum, at least partly out of our control, the real question is:

Now that you’ve signed up for this window of time and effort, how will you spend it?

We can’t possibly control the future, but we can certainly focus on right here and right now. Any effort we spend on controlling the uncontrollable bits is wasted.