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

To be honest – given I’m a boy from Nottingham – the fact I get to fly to different countries for work annnnnnnd stay in hotels that give you a free toothbrush means I already think I’m living the dream.

Anyway, the point of this is that recently, on a flight back from Singapore, I saw this:

Yes, that’s a bunch of people standing behind a flimsy piece of fabric, waiting patiently for a hostess to come pull back the curtain and let us walk through the business class section on our way out of the plane.

Putting aside the blatant attempt to give economy passengers psychological damage by making them walk through a section of the plane where they can see some people have more than 2″ of legroom and food that doesn’t resemble a baby’s nappy after being fed a vindaloo, I find it fascinating that in a country where people regard ‘waiting, queuing and following orders’ as a major character flaw … a piece of shitty curtain can hold back 250 people who are desperate to get off a plane after a longish flight.

Just think how much money the US government could save if they stopped investing in guns, fences and immigration officers and just put up a piece of crappy curtain between the US and Mexico border.

I should also point out that the fact my contract is up for renewal is purely coincidental.

When we’d sold cynic and I was looking for ‘options’, the one criteria that was really important to me was I needed to feel I had ‘a home’ … somewhere that let me feel I belonged, somewhere that embraced me for me.

Now that might sound easy enough, but having come from being a partner of a company I started to an employee of a company someone else started meant that some of the ‘quirks’ my previous colleagues basically had to accept, might suddenly be deal breakers for someone else.

Anyway, as you know, I ended up at W+K.

I really like it here.

It’s challenging, exciting, creative, provoking, demanding and invigorating … though if I’m being honest, it took me 9 months to feel that way, because at the beginning, I was trying to work out how the fuck things worked given they embraced chaos far more than I embraced chaos and I was someone my previous bosses and clients had defined as ‘a shit storm starter’.

But that’s not why I am writing this.

You see a few weeks ago, some stuff happened to me, stuff that had the potential to dramatically affect my time at W+K.

Because I have a modicum of professionalism, I told my MD the situation and – as you’d expect – he was considerate and compassionate.

Of course you should expect nothing less from your boss, especially when [1] you sit next to him and [2] you work together every single day … but it was still good to have that level of unwavering support.

But then something I didn’t expect happened.

I got emails.

Lots of emails.

From people throughout the company.

Sure, some were from folk I work with on global business … sure, some were from colleagues and peers dotted around the network … but others were from the sort of people you’d think have far, far better things to do.

Like our global ECD’s.

And our global CFO.

And our global COO.

And our global HR Director.

And they were all nice and sent encouragement and offered to help me in any way that they could.

Real help, not bland bullshit designed to make them feel better without actually committing them to do anything.

Think about it for a second … some of the most important people in the whole fucking industry, wrote to some planning twat in China to send their support.

Hell, I’ve worked in companies where colleagues didn’t acknowledge my existence, let alone the MD … and they were MD’s who had all the industry impact and influence of a muffled fart in a lift.

Hell, I once had a CEO who genuinely thought – after 3 months of me working there and seeing me every single day – that I was the fucking photocopier repair man. I kid you not.

So with that in mind, those emails from those people meant a lot to me … a hell of a lot.

Christ, I hardly have anything to do with them and yet they all took time out of their day on the other side of the World to get in touch.

That doesn’t make them great advertising people, it makes them great people and that’s why I think W+K is special – because for all the incredible talent they have residing in the walls of their 8 offices, they accept and embrace people for who they are as opposed to evaluating their value purely by their level of productivity … which is handy given the amount of time I spend writing the rubbish on this blog.

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.

_________________________________________________________________

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

Yes, swear-a-lot, lot-of-smarts, Niko.

I wrote about how he was embarking on a new adventure, an adventure where he was putting his money where his mouth was.

Anyway, that adventure has turned into GapJumpers – a company designed to help people and companies become better, more innovative and more successful.

In essence, it’s a new sort of recruitment company … built around the premise that there are lots of talented people out there who want to change industries but don’t have the experience or chance to impress the people who matter and lots of companies out there who want fresh talent and ideas, but don’t know how to find and evaluate people who don’t have the specific experience they have always looked for.

It’s a great premise and it’s doing well [I even have posted a ‘challenge’ for people interested in being a planner] but more than that, the fact Niko did it is fantastic.

I’ve written many times how everyone should start their own company because regardless of how it goes, you end up learning lessons that will serve you well for the rest of your life and career … however the fact is, most people talk about it rather than actually do anything about it … which is why in an industry where we seem to put the talkers on the highest pedestals, maybe we should save our greatest praise for the guys who actually do something they believe in, especially when it’s new and has potential to help the masses not just their own personal bank account.

If you’re an individual looking for a career change but don’t know how, try Gapjumpers.

If you’re a company looking for fresh ideas & thinking but don’t know how, try Gapjumpers.