The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Big, bastard challenges.

The sort of challenges that people dream of overcoming, even if they never do.

That’s not just because I love the idea of being one of the people who finally ‘crack it, but because it creates a sense of infectious excitement and ambition that unites a team like nothing else.

Of course, the fact it makes you think bigger, broader, harder and more deviously is also a massive plus.

Now, having great ambition means nothing if the client isn’t behind it and sadly, more and more of them prefer to have incremental percentage increases rather than really going for moving the needle, but there are some out there and they are the people you want to work for and with.

However before I go on, I should point out that the people who want to try and change the landscape are not mad.

They’re not irresponsible.

They’re not even commercially immature.

The reason I say that is because they’re the sort of insults that many in business throw at these individuals because the harsh reality is industry – any industry – prefers ‘consistency’ to ‘drama’ … however in every case where a client has encouraged me/us to ‘go for it’, they have had legitimate business reasons for adopting that approach and personal ego was not one of them.

Well, not always.

Anyway, I’m saying all this because I keep hearing more and more people from agencies basically suppressing ambition.

Sure, they’ll go on about making ‘brave advertising’, but I’m not talking about that … I’m talking about doing the things that could fundamentally change the market, the brand and the industry forever.

However even when those amazing opportunity arise, I’ve heard certain individuals say things like, “that can’t be done” or “they’d never go for it” … basically stopping potential before it’s even begun.

Now without doubt, there are major implications and obstacles when you choose to take on the bigger challenge … implications and obstacles that can not and should not be underestimated … but by the same token, too many people decide an outcome before it’s been even given a chance to be explored.

Now don’t get me wrong, a client is not going to hand over huge amounts of cash just because you fancy doing something dramatic, but the thing is, if you want to have a chance of having a go, you have to earn the right to do it and part of that comes from demonstrable experience and part of it comes from giving them undeniable evidence that while the journey won’t be easy, there is a genuine chance it can be achieved.

That still doesn’t mean they’ll go for it, but you stand far more chance of making it happen than just focusing on the stuff most people could do in their sleep.

At the end of the day, if you want to make a major difference, you need to make a major difference.

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PS: I know today will be tough for you today Dave. Hope you’re OK.