Offensive Innovation comes from Gerry Spence and Stephen King. Speaking to experienced trial lawyers at the Trial Lawyer’s College Gerry Spence explained “you have yet to try your first case because you have been practicing law and trying cases in a way that is expected of you.” At the college we learn to take off our mask and proceed how we intuitively know is right.
In Stephen King’s book 11/22/63 there is a passage where Jake Epping a high school English teacher tells about Harry Dunning, a janitor who returns to finish high school:
“My honors kids were juniors…but they were like little old men and little old ladies, all pursey-mouthed and ooo, don’t slip on that icy patch, Mildred. In spite of his grammatical lapses and painstaking cursive, Harry Dunning had written like a hero. … As I was musing on the difference between offensive and defensive writing… .”
Offensive innovation means knowing yourself, trusting your ability to know what is right and acting on it. Taking action in an offensive way going with what I know instinctively without defensive thinking.
Years ago I was at a lecture by the great painter, William Cumming. During the question and answer session a young man asked Mr. Cumming if an artist can learn by studying painting at an art school. William Cumming answered “the ability to create art is not taught. It comes from inside the artist.” The artist knows inside what he wants to paint and he paints it without regard for how it will be received. The artist is painting with “offensive innovation.”
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