Three lessons your creative team could learn from Led Zeppelin.

When Led Zeppelin's “Four” came out in 1971, they were already the gods of rock-n-roll. I was a skinny kid with a weird accent who liked Glen Campbell. 

That same summer, I was over at my friend’s house, and his much older bully of a brother pinned me to the living room floor, put headphones on me, turned up the stereo as loud as it would go, and then dropped the needle on Black Dog. He didn’t know it, I didn’t realize it, but we turned it up to “11” long before Spinal Tap even was a thing.

There’s a movie out right now, “Becoming Led Zeppelin.” It’s fantastic. As a lifelong student of the creative process, there are some things Led Zeppelin can teach you to supercharge your creative team, approach, or agency.

Small teams are better. And that number for creative teams is two. Zeppelin had four and only four, but they were a band, and you’re not a band. Two is the number. Three is right out, as Monty Python would say. (Fun Fact - Led Zeppelin was the largest financial contributor to Monty Python’s Holy Grail.) Why two? I think it comes down to trust. You can’t get ganged up on if it’s just you and your partner. You can say anything you want, shout out any stupid, politically incorrect thing, and because there are only the two of you, there’s plausible deniability built in. And that’s the key - trust leads to being able to say anything, and saying anything leads to risky ideas. Ideas that a room full of people might laugh at. And that’s fear. Fear has no place in the creative process. You must be fearless. You say stupid things, your partner says stupid things, and that’s where it gets interesting. You start combining weird, stupid things, and you come up with original ideas—hopefully lots of them. 

Sequester yourself. Led Zeppelin met one another, decided that the vibe was right, and immediately rented a house in the sticks. Then they got down to creating the most bombastic out-of-the-gate record they could. The lesson is to get away from distractions. Go for a walk. Go concept at a museum. Go to a restaurant, get a booth, and hang out for as long as possible. But get out of the office. The best idea you’ve ever had will vanish, never to be seen again the second someone pops their head in and interrupts your thinking. Don’t let that happen. 

Figure out how to sell your ideas. This might be the most important point. I lost so many creative pitches to lesser ideas because I didn’t ever take the time to sell my ideas. So how did Zeppelin do it? Led Zeppelin rehearsed, recorded, and produced their first album by themselves. When they thought it was perfect, they took the record to record labels as is and sold it. They owned the record, the songs, all of it. So, after you come up with a great idea, figure out how to sell it based on the brief and strategy. The people you’re pitching it to must sell it to the client who wants to know how it will achieve their sales goals. It’s not how zany your idea is. It’s how smart your idea is. 

Even if you don’t like Zeppelin, see the movie and put some swagger into your creative process. You’ll appreciate their hard work, grit (Robert Plant was homeless when he met Page and Jones), and determination to dominate the rock-n-roll world.