Filed under: Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Content, Context, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Effectiveness, Management
Running a company is hard.
There’s so many things that influence and shape how it runs, it’s no surprise they end up being such complicated beasts.
Different departments.
Different responsibilities.
Different requirements and budgets.
A bunch of different planets all operating by their own gravitational pull.
But here’s the thing … they shouldn’t be.
Because while each of those planets needs to circle the sun.
To be part of something bigger than themselves.
In our industry, the sun would be the creative work.
Or said another way … each and every department in an agency is there to enable the best creative product to be consistently created.
That’s it.
Doesn’t matter if you’re in Finance, HR, IT, Production, Planning or Creative … your purpose is to assist the creation of great work.
And while there are people who are more directly involved in the creation of that work, I don’t mean them …
I mean the end result.
The thing all that energy, tension, time, thinking, travelling, hiring, accounting, system managing, fee negotiating and creative developing has produced and will be judged by.
But sadly that is happening less and less … because on top of there often being a lack of clarity on what ‘great work’ is, as infrastructures grow, different departments end up believing they’re the sun.
The most important ingredient.
The element that decides failure or success.
And while we cannot deny each discipline plays an important role in the operational ability of an organisation … when they think – or are allowed to think – they’re the single most critical part in the whole process, that’s when it all goes to shit.
Which is another reason why independent agencies have a huge advantage over corporations.
Because they have the power to ensure their business is designed to specifically serve the work … ultimately driven by the belief great work delivers great profit whereas a focus on profit diminishes the value of the work.
And it’s true … though that doesn’t mean all independent agencies live up to that – just like not all corporations are ignorant to it – however in the main, that’s generally how it turns out.
Which is why I keep going back to what the film director Michael Mann told me about producing excellence.
He said that when he starts a movie, he talks to everyone in the production team.
Everyone.
He explains his vision for the story … his goal for it … what will be really important to him.
Then he tells them he needs them.
That they all play a critical part in the fulfilment of quality.
That he wants them to help make his vision even better than he could imagine.
But – and it’s a huge but – its about what HIS vision for the movie is, not theirs.
And that’s the key.
Freedom within a vision.
Planets going around the same sun … not going in whatever direction they want.
Remembering your role is to help make something bigger than you better, rather than just caring about how you look.
Working to enable your colleagues to succeed rather than get in the way with needless process or ego.
Making decisions based on what helps serve the ultimate goal, not just your personal preference.
And while I accept protocol and policy will impact our lives and jobs, that’s where leadership comes in.
Ensuring the things that are adopted – or have to adopted – don’t get in the way of what you’re all there to create.
Or said another way, it’s asking one simple question: Will it make the work better?
And that’s why who you hire is so important.
Not just in terms of ability … but in terms of their standards, values, vision and focus.
Because your goal is to build potency not simply capability.
Because the reason a focused company is often a better company is simply because people don’t waste so much of their energy dealing with the internal bullshit of departments who have been allowed to believe they’re the sun, rather than a planet.
