I’m not talking about the Francis Underwood (House of Cards) pissing on the grave of his father type of pissing, but the type of pissing many animals do for the purpose of demarcation and communicating….this is mine.

For the artists (and we are all artist) it’s a clear line conveying she did this, I referenced it, and voila…‘I made this’.

It looks like what she did but, I acknowledge this other persons contribution, I’ve added something substantial, and it’s similar… but this is a new thing. The way Milton Glaser used Marcel Duchamps influence for his Dylan poster.

Whatever it is that you do (manager, designer, entrepreneur, scientist) one of the best things you can do to uniquely brand your self is to piss on the work of others, doing so helps to develop the creative muscularity to develop your own style.

I recently listened to a talk by Nick Bayer at Phila Startup Grind where he explained he visited more than 50 Starbucks in a few days before opening his coffee franchise Saxbys. He used Starbucks as a model to develop something unique in the market place. So on the surface you see two coffee franchises but digging deep there’s a clear demarcation between the two franchises. Saxbys sees itself as a hospitality company, and it exist to make lives better….selling coffee is just how they do it.

George Clinton describes the collaboration with Prince for Paradigm like this. I’d send him my recording, he’d piss on it and send it back to me, and then I’d piss on it.

So we’re clear. Pissing on it means… modifying the work of someone else in a substantial way until it’s clearly your own, it means clearly marking your own territory, and acknowledging you pissed.

Photo Credit: iStock