Company
How artful thinking pushes collective progress.
The exercise called “I am for a…” is based on Claes Oldenburg’s poem “I Am for an Art…”—a list of more than sixty declarations about what art should be. The poem ranges from the poetic to the absurd, expanding the reader’s frame of reference with each line. Claes Oldenburg, Statements and Interviews, ed. Richard Kostelanetz (Simon & Schuster, 1971), 108.
Paddy Harrington uses story as a tool for discovery and transformation. He learned this on the job in design, advertising, research, and architecture.
In this piece, he explores the connection between organizational purpose and creative engagement—through art, story, and imagination. Creative exercises, he argues, aren’t distractions from strategic work; they’re essential to it. They help individuals and institutions surface their core values—those few, deep convictions that shape behavior and define mission.
His perspective aligns with what I’ve seen in my own work with companies and brands. A shared narrative can unify diverse teams, spark momentum, and clarify vision in ways no spreadsheet ever could. When people draw a system, a process, or a future, they don’t just illustrate it—they begin to understand it, remember it, and reshape it.
