Filed under: Comment
Photo: Vincent Chow
Quick – but serious – question/s here.
If you are a planner, what do you want to do/be in 10 years from now?
Do you want to be head of your department? Maybe you like the idea of being the head of a particular region or maybe the whole of your organisation? What about starting your own company?
Without holding you to anything, I’d really appreciate it if you could tell me …
1/ What your hopes/dreams/plans are?
2/ What you think has to happen for them to come to fruition?
3/ What factors you require to be able to do the job exactly as you want?
I’d also be very interested to hear…
1/ How long your boss has been in his/her present role?
2/ Have they ever worked on a campaign that excites/inspires you?
3/ If you were offered your bosses job – exactly as it is now – would you want it?
4/ Whether you’ve ever talked about your specific plans/aspirations with your boss?
As I said, I won’t hold you to anything – and if you prefer, you can either email me directly or post your comment anonymously – it’s just something I am working on and I’d really value your input.
Thanks folks.
18 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I think I’ve just discovered the definition of dilemma. 🙂
Comment by Pete August 21, 2009 @ 7:13 amDeathwish alert.
Why do you think most of cynic don’t come on here. It’s not because Andy stalks the place. LOL.
Comment by Billy Whizz August 21, 2009 @ 7:25 amI think most planners want to be creatives when they grow up.
Comment by Marcus August 21, 2009 @ 3:40 pmThen they can fill the jobs of all the creatives who leave to be film directors. 🙂
Comment by Bazza August 21, 2009 @ 4:00 pmI think growing up is overrated. it seems to involve taking responsibility, doing things you don’t really want to do + every now and then – cleaning up someone else’s mess….
Interesting question tho, and I will mail you my reply. As soon as my evil slave driver boss lets me have a breather =P
Comment by Kaj August 21, 2009 @ 4:32 pmsomeone asked me once about a planner wanting to be a creative. I think planners are too busy overthinking things to be a creative. Creatives just get on and make stuff.
I think Planners are creative at the intangible. Reframing problems, information, thinking. Creatives just get on and make the tangible objects.
hence the reason if you get a good planner / creative team. Magic happens
Comment by Mikej August 21, 2009 @ 5:08 pmThanks to everyone who emailed me stuff – really appreciate it.
As for Marcus and Mike’s comment …
I absolutely know that some planners want to be a creative, but it’s certainly not all. However that doesn’t mean a planner cannot contribute to creative development.
When I say that, I’m not just talking about rephrasing a question to open new opportunities – that’s very useful but hardly the unique domain of a planner – I’m talking about literally helping the creatives in developing the idea and – in certain circumstance – the execution as well.
I absolutely do not subscribe to this belief that only those with ‘creative’ on their business card are talented enough to make communication.
Do I want to be a creative? No.
Have I contributed to creative? Yes.
Do I want to continue doing this? Absolutely.
Not because I think I’m better than them … it’s because we work and trust eachother and feel we can make things better together – which is why I talk about planners being judged on ‘output’ not ‘input’, though sadly most of the effectiveness awards only pay lip-service to this sort of thinking.
Comment by Rob August 21, 2009 @ 5:29 pmI just want to be the one who orders planners and creative around.
Comment by nikoherzeg August 21, 2009 @ 5:45 pmYou want to be the person no one likes?
Comment by Rob August 21, 2009 @ 5:57 pmactually i’d be the person they liked most. Being a good boss, means you bring in business that your people can do a great job of without you getting in the way.
In fact if antyhting, a boss should be the least seen guy at the office. But..when he is there, non of that ” I don’t know how to make a cheesegrill sandwich, but i can tell u the origing of the cheddar”.
just make me my fucking grill cheese sandwich
Comment by nikoherzeg August 21, 2009 @ 6:28 pm1/ What your hopes/dreams/plans are?
Happiness. Creativity. Fun. Entrepreneurship.
2/ What you think has to happen for them to come to fruition?
More experience, more hard work, more action, more serendipity, less wankers.
3/ What factors you require to be able to do the job exactly as you want?
All wankers to fuck off.
1/ How long your boss has been in his/her present role?
1.5 years.
2/ Have they ever worked on a campaign that excites/inspires you?
No.
3/ If you were offered your bosses job – exactly as it is now – would you want it?
No.
4/ Whether you’ve ever talked about your specific plans/aspirations with your boss?
No. Wish I wanted to, but I don’t.
Night Rob.
Comment by A August 21, 2009 @ 7:52 pm1a) Work overseas in a creative agency doing planning (currently in Australia working in media planning/buying agency).
2a) Complete some great work here and make contacts in the US/EU who can appreciate my work
3a) A mentor, I wish I had a mentor so I didn’t have to teach myself so much.
1b) 4 years
Comment by James D August 21, 2009 @ 9:42 pm2b) Yes, many. A few of them are award winning too, which makes them all the better. (Effectiveness awards for media planning)
3b) God no. Hearing constantly of my boss still working until 1am is starting to drain my passion for the role. That said, Strategic Director is an interesting role.
4b) Oh yes, they’re well aware of what I want to do and are willing to help me achieve it 🙂
Hopefully in ten years many of the bad ones will have been fired and the good ones will be ‘doing stuff’ not thinking about it.
Comment by Piers Fawkes August 21, 2009 @ 10:39 pmThanks folks … appreciate the comments, even though in the case of “A”, I am sorry you are in your current situation. If you want to email me directly – depending where you are – I may know someone who you might find useful to talk to.
And hello Piers, how the bloody hell are you. Hope all is well, been too long – hope we can catch up soon.
Comment by Rob August 21, 2009 @ 11:07 pmI wonder how different the results would be if you asked creatives the same questions.
Comment by DH August 22, 2009 @ 12:04 amThanks Rob. Have a lovely weekend.
Comment by A August 22, 2009 @ 7:30 amHere’s my two cents, Robert!
1/ What your hopes/dreams/plans are? I want to build my own brand, not necessarily a product (although it would be a great first exercise) but definitely something multi-disciplinary, say, mixing planning with art/activism/urban planning/architecture/public health/literature/younameit
2/ What you think has to happen for them to come to fruition?
3/ What factors you require to be able to do the job exactly as you want? I have to experiment–a lot. I’m getting started with it as we speak, and I think I need to give it a deeper thought before I decide to jump into additional higher education (I’ve got a master’s from VCU Brandcenter, class of 2003)
I’d also be very interested to hear…
1/ How long your boss has been in his/her present role? My boss is CEO, been in his role since he started the agency in 1996 (Ogily & Mether, Peru). He’s got a business background, absolutely no planning background)
2/ Have they ever worked on a campaign that excites/inspires you? No, but my previous boss did (Regional LAtam PLanning Director at Ogilvy Argentina–he worked on winner Coca-Cola and Sprite campaigns and I helped him on a few)
3/ If you were offered your bosses job – exactly as it is now – would you want it? No
4/ Whether you’ve ever talked about your specific plans/aspirations with your boss? Not yet!
Comment by Carito August 25, 2009 @ 12:51 am[…] A while back, as part of a project I/we were doing, I asked people to answer some questions about their personal employment situation. […]
Pingback by The Relentless Pursuit Of Nothing … « The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!] November 13, 2009 @ 6:46 am