Art vs Commerce

WRITTEN BY Casey Mitchell — Director of Business Development

The interplay between art and commerce, visionaries and beancounters, or the impassioned and the impartial, is often considered a conflict that can’t be won, just managed through compromise. It’s often reduced to a zero-sum game, where each win for one party is a loss for the other, and since neither party comes out happy, it’s best to disappoint everyone equally. 

This conflict comes down to a divergent definition of success. To the creative, the quality of the output determines success; to the commerce-minded, ROI is king.

Instead of allowing each side to define their own finish line, we focus on the midpoint. It’s here that the left-brain and right-brain meet, the point where both show their value. The commerce-minded provides the tools, the creative shows how best to use them; the artist thinks big, the beancounter is inspired to find ways to make these dreams viable. In the planning phase, both parties are on similar footing, and equally open to collaboration in the interest of success. It’s not about outcome, it’s about operations, where everyone is working towards a shared goal.

This is where the most successful pathways are created. Everyone has the opportunity to provide value, and all have a shared understanding that what comes next incorporates their input. This is a combination of expertise, not the balance of wins and losses.       

The WOODSIDE team was born of individuals who had these battles in the past, but instead of defaulting to the old war lines, we learned through trial how to not only manage the conflict but leverage the unique strengths at each end to produce superior outcomes.