Norman Kay
We have often heard that IBC shell is a house of a different color, and we truly are.
We have a singular enthusiasm and an innate ability to inject our passion for our clients into everything we do each day.
It’s also true that we have an obsession with great design and meticulous, lean production. We produce remarkably effective products within a broad array of materials incorporating a variety of processes and 3D rapid prototyping. The common denominator, and there’s nothing common about it, is our passion and our intuition. Our creative aptitude and tactical IQ are matched with a preoccupation with detail and an uncompromising eye on quality.
CEO and inspiration behind IBC Shell’s creative intuition and market influence.
Director of IBC Shell’s design team providing guidance for concept development and marketing innovation.
Design & direction of award-winning packaging and brandware for established global brands including Grey Goose, Estee Lauder, Chivas Regal, Swiss Army, Victoria’s Secret, Bombay Sapphire, Dewar’s and Stoli Vodka.
A member of IDSA, IOPP, and The ADC, Norman holds patents for Viewluxe packaging, The Infuzo culinary devices, the Cocktail Crusher, and is the inventor of Mutual Fundz – The Game.
Conferences include HBA and Luxe Pack, speaking on product design, packaging, and amplifying the brand experience. Norman’s work has received The Global Design & Advertising award, American Graphic Design award, International Excellence for the Visual Arts award, The American Packaging Design award, The Davey award, plus Creativity International awards.
A suicide hotline counselor for 15 years, he presently sits on the B.O.D as Treasurer at L.I.C.C, one of the most respected agencies of its kind in the United States. Founder of Trees R Us, donating and planting trees at public venues throughout the five boroughs of New York.
Mining for social connectivity in extraordinary ways, he acquired a New York City taxi license, and is perhaps the only driver ever to refuse a fee for his services.
Designer and brewer of Blackgamin Private Reserve Craft Ale; Norman also invests time hiking the American West, distance biking, and has a lifetime preoccupation with the metaphysical.
Mind Marrow
One
Two
The Hedgehog
The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing.
Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity.
Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single basic principle that unifies and guides everything. For the hedgehog anything that somehow doesn’t relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance.
The following were all hedgehogs:
- Freud and the unconscious
- Darwin and natural selection
- Einstein and relativity
- Adam Smith and the division of labor
They took a complex world and simplified it.
Hedgehogs see what is essential and ignore the rest.
The hedgehog concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, or a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at.
The distinction is absolutely crucial.
The hedgehog always wins.
Jim Collins’ viewpoint based upon Isaiah Berlin’s essay on an ancient Greek parable.