Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Ambition, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, Collaboration, Colleagues, Context, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Craft, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Effectiveness, Emotion, Empathy, Fulfillment, Loyalty, Luck, Management, Mediocrity, Only In Adland, Perspective, Planners, Professionalism, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Ridiculous, Strategy, Success
We live in a time where the idea of ‘having a career’ is becoming more and more resigned to history.
Not purely because of technology, but also corporate culture.
Where everything is for sale in the quest for profits and bonuses.
Values.
Reputation.
Distinction.
Differentiation.
Companies will kill any baby and sacred cow in a bid to look like they have a plan – even if that plan is becoming more and more short-term, next-quarter focused.
Meanwhile, they still splutter out the platitudes of ‘our people are our best asset’ while continually reducing roles, outsourcing training, lowering salaries and demanding complicity from whoever is left.
It’s the classic story of ‘biting your nose to spite your face’ and what is tragic is we all end up losing.
Employees.
Shareholders.
Clients.
Customers.
Society as a whole.
Hell, at some point we may all be living in a world of parity products that no one can afford because no one has an income that lets them buy anything.
Worse, it feels people at the top of many of these companies know this and so their whole approach to life is ‘make as much as I can then get out before it all falls down’.
Am I being bleak as fuck? Yep.
Do I really think it will end up this way? Quite possibly.
Not soon, but eventually … hell even Elon Musk has accepted a future where society needs ‘universal credit’ to survive and you can be sure-as-fuck his version of that is giving people just enough to stay afloat rather than challenge or thrive.
Which is why the concept of a career is potentially going to be consigned to the dustbin … or at least what a career used to be.
Because rather than meaning you have worked in one industry for your entire life – slowly working your way up the hierarchy – soon, it will evolve to being about using your skills across different industries and companies … finding the optimum moment to jump to gain the maximum value from your skills. I mean, it’s already happening that way but soon it will probably be the only way.
And while this will be the new definition of ‘career’, there will be one thing that remains the same and it’s this:
You won’t be able to say you’ve had a career, if you’ve not had to deal with loss and disappointment.
Loss and disappointment are rarely talked about in terms of career.
There’s this unspoken narrative that your evolution is always a perfect, singular, straight rising line. No detours. No backward steps. No mistakes or leaps. No bad choices and no changing of minds.
And frankly, that is utter bullshit.
Maybe 50 years ago this was the case, but even then I doubt it..
Not just because humans don’t aspire to ‘evolve’ at a constant, universal rate.
Not just because companies don’t elevate their people at a constant, universal rate.
Not just because there are people – and leaders in companies – who are fucking assholes, who actively mess with plans, promises and aspirations.
But because of all those reasons.
Having a career is as much about resilience as it is about talent.
Hopefully you can do it without having to endure too much of the bullshit that so many people have shared on the Corporate Gaslighting site … but we will all face disappointment and loss.
And while we all have the right to feel sad, upset, bitter about it when we experience it, the reality is what you do next ultimately defines who you are.
I’ve personally had a pretty great career.
I’ve generally worked for and with some amazing companies, colleagues and clients.
But not all.
There have been mistakes … little ones, temporary ones, one or two missteps and a couple of great big, fat, bastard ones.
And while I acknowledge some were absolutely of my own making, some were definitely due to people and/or companies actively – and in one case, willingly – wanting to systematically undermine my confidence and ability to do my job.
And while it fucked me up for a while – which I wrote about here – I was able to get through it and past it, ensuring that while my trajectory may have had some bumps, every step still had some big wins.
Which to me is what a career really is about.
Not title, but growth.
I know others may have a different point of view but mine was forged years ago by something a friend said.
Once upon a time, I was talking to a mate about a leader we both knew. We were talking about the work they’d done – specifically one campaign – when my friend said:
“That was 9 years ago, what’s he done since?”
Now while he was being overly dismissive, he did have a point – because the work this leader was universally known for, was something they’d done in the past, not the present.
Sure it was amazing work. Sure it was still talked about. But the reality is they hadn’t done anything in the intervening years that came close to making that sort of impact … and it was at that point I realized what a real career was.
Always building your portfolio of work, rather than just resting on one thing you’ve done.
And that has been both how I define ‘success’ as well as what has driven my choices and actions ever since.
Whether I have achieved this is up to others to decide, but I’d say I’ve got a good case for saying I’m doing OK … especially because I’ve worked bloody hard to try and make it happen.
Sure it has manifested in a lot of different ways – from books to ads to new products to stage set design.
Sure it has been with a lot of different people, companies and clients in a lot of different ways.
Sure it has been in a lot of different countries and cultures.
But I am pretty proud that wherever I’ve worked, I can point to something that was pretty special – either to the subculture, the country, the client, the agency, the department or the industry.
Again, I appreciate others are the ultimate judge of whether I’ve pulled it off … but for me, I’ve always wanted a career of highs rather than titles which is why I’m proud I’ve been able to do it in a way where I can look at myself in the mirror and feel I have stayed true to who I am and what I believe as well as be in the fortunate position that – despite my age – I’ve been able to continue to evolve and grow, as demonstrated by the fact that over the past few years I’ve been able to enter a new chapter of my creative career with the work I do for a small number of very high-profile artists.
If truth be told, that came about by luck rather than talent … but I didn’t take it for granted, I ran at it. Not because I wanted to be able to say I work for Rockstars, but because I wanted to be able to do stuff I never could have imagined I’d do.
Creative highs, not professional titles.
Or as my parents always drilled into me, fulfillment over contentment.
Yes, I appreciate I have a pretty senior position … but as much as I love the job and helping teams of talented individuals create their own creative highs … the thing I love most is that I continue to face loss and disappointment, because at the end of the day you only experience that if you’re still doing what you love.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, Collaboration, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Empathy, Grifting, Metallica, Perspective, Resonance, Respect
This is a photo of Metallica’s road crew for their current 72 Seasons tour. I say that, but it doesn’t include the entire team who makes it happen … which totals around 500 people.
Five Hundred!
To allow 4 guys to play their songs to people around the World.
From stage riggers to wardrobe people to caterers to production crew to personal roadies to management to the 92 truck drivers.
Then there’s the people who are part of the tour but not on the tour …
From logistics people to fanclub project managers to lawyers to each and every one of the bands families.
It’s a lot.
Now the reality is the band are not just aware of this, but are deeply grateful and protective of everyone who is part of this … but the point of this post is not only does our industry love to place the spotlight on individuals – crediting them and them alone for whatever product, project or theory that is being celebrated – but too many of those individuals like to project the view that is entirely justified and as someone who has been in this industry longer than dinosaurs, the amount of times I’ve genuinely seen that, can be counted on one hand.
Don’t get me wrong, I have the ego of Bono.
And I appreciate everyone loves being told they’re good at what they do.
But there’s a difference between being celebrated and taking all the credit. And there’s a fuckload of people who – at least on social media – are happy to take all the credit.
Presenting themselves as some sort of comms Jesus.
Look, I’m not saying what they do isn’t good.
And I’m not saying what they do doesn’t have value.
However I am saying that in 99.9% of cases, they didn’t do it all on their own.
[Even though there’s more than a few you could possibly have that argument with, especially those who’ve never made work to back up their self-proclaimed genius or judgement]
Sure, maybe some of the help they received was people simply creating the conditions for them to be able to do whatever it is they do … but by the same token, ‘creating the conditions’ is exactly what those 200 people in the photo above do, and the band are very grateful they for that because otherwise no one would get to experience what is possible. Including James, Kirk, Lars and Robert.
My reason for writing this is because, as I said a few months back, too many people entering this industry are being subjected to a perspective that is inadvertently robbing them of what they could achieve if they didn’t fall into the ‘thought-leadership shortcut trap’.
That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t express their opinions and ideas.
That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be ambitious in their aspirations and goals.
But it does mean they shouldn’t think working with others is a sign of failure … because not only is that a recipe for disaster, it’s also why the industry is becoming less and less of a community and more and more an ego battlefield.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, today is the 1st anniversary of our dear Rosie passing.
On one hand it feels longer than that, on the other only it feels just a few weeks.
Despite being small, she’ll always have a big place in my heart and life and I’ll be thinking of her and ‘her ways’ even more today.
Miss you Rosie.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Cannes, Colenso, Collaboration, Colleagues, Confidence, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
So before Paula and I were going to do our talk for WARC at Cannes, I had a major presentation with the founder of a global sports brand.
Being a busy billionaire – especially one based in a different timezone to the one I was in – I knew they wouldn’t really be able to move things around just to accommodate me, which is why 2 hours and 30 minutes before I was due to hit the stage, I along with Si … the CCO of Colenso … walked into the Speakers Room at Cannes, where WARC had kindly organized a room for us to do our call.
Except when we walked in, we found the room was actually a cordoned off part of the lounge – where people would have been able to hear every word – so it was most definitely not going to work for something both so important and sensitive.
I should point out this was not WARC’s fault in the slightest as not only did they not know the nature of the meeting – mainly because it was confidential – but because they’d also gone out of their way to try and help with limited notice. That said, the result of this was Si and I with 20 minutes to come up with a solution.
After desperately running around to see if any of the ‘meeting booths’ dotted around the venues were free [they weren’t] we decided the best course of action was to do the advertising equivalent of MacGyver.
Grabbing a few chairs, we found a quiet corridor at the back of the venue and, as you can see from the pic below, set ourselves up.
Praying no one would walk past or through, we were there bang on time and presented our little hearts out – looking for all the World like we were in a meeting room and absolutely not in a corridor with windows looking out onto the throngs of global ad people walking past while trying to ignore the fact we were sweating like pigs as it was boiling hot and there was absolutely no air-conditioning to be had.
And yet I kind of love this is what happened.
Not just because we were proud of the work we had done and were going to present.
Not just because we wanted to honor the teams of talented people who had turned an idea into a reality.
But because advertising is filled with these sorts of stories.
Stories of grit, instinct, spontaneity, audacity and ridiculousness.
It’s kind of the things that makes it special …
Sure, TV, media and events like Cannes likes to present the industry as a highly polished machine … but show me a piece of great work that hasn’t come from a journey that tests every emotion in every person involved?
But what I love even more is how Si and I laughed about the situation.
Before. During. After.
Don’t get me wrong, we take what we do very seriously – but rather than freak out, we understood that when push-came-to-shove, we’d find a way and we’d do it well.
Of course, a big reason for that was how much we believed in what we were going to show and discuss – not to mention the fact this was not our first rodeo with the trials and tribulations of reality – but being able to hatch a plan and crack a smile as we dealt with our unexpected shitshow, ensured the audience not only were able to focus on the work rather than any sign of panic, but would see a team who trusted, liked and worked for each other rather than were just coldly clinical and at the end of the day, that’s not just how you honour the work that so many people put so much into, it’s how you increase the odds of making great examples of it.
At a time where the industry loves to promote an endless array of ‘proprietary’ tools and processes, it’s worth remembering the thing that we should be concentrating on nurturing, protecting and honouring is the stuff that comes out of it.
The work.
Too many people seem to have forgotten that.
Probably because the people promoting the systems, have never made the work.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Aspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, Collaboration, Colleagues, Complicity, Confidence, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture
A long time ago, I read an article about a former fashion executive who was talking about what he had learned in his life.
It was a powerful piece, because the individual had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and literally had 12 months to live.
I was young and can’t quite remember how I came across the article, but I remember 2 very significant quotes he gave that have stayed with me for decades.
The first was how he had always thought he would decide when to change jobs … until one day, he discovered he was going to be fired.
His point was that regardless what your title is, regardless how important you think you are and regardless how much power and influence you think you hold … you never decide when it’s time to leave a company, they do.
They may show it by firing you.
They may show it by choosing not to promote you.
They may show it by turning down your application for a vacation.
But one way or another – directly or indirectly – it’s the company who holds the power and the sooner we all realise this, the sooner we will, ironically, gain far more influence and power over our choices and decisions.
I say this because about a year ago, I said to my dear friend Paula Bloodworth, how I had recently realized what a pain-in-the-arse I must be as an employee.
She looked at me with an expression that said ‘No Shit’, until she said to me, “No Shit“.
That doesn’t mean I went out of my way to cause problems, it just means I had the attitude that for all the things I no doubt do badly, there’s no way someone is ever going to be able to say I haven’t given my all to make something great happen. Doesn’t mean I will always pull it off – far from it actually – but it does mean I’ll never back away the challenge and that I expect those around me to want to aim for the same standards as me.
Which sounds toxic-as-shit when you write it down, but just to be clear I’m fine with failing … I’m just not fine with ‘not trying’. Frankly, I haven’t got the time or patience to waste on that approach to life and I think part of the reason for that is because of reading that article many years ago.
Now I appreciate that sounds a convenient excuse to justify my attitude – and the truth is, there are/were many other factors that have driven me in my career, of which not being great at school exams is one of them – however I clearly remember how I felt when I read that article for the first time. In many ways, it triggered a ‘lightbulb’ moment in me, ensuring I would give as much time and energy as I could to make good things happen at the highest level while also having as many fingers in as many creative pies as I could.
Not just to learn, grow, explore and evolve … but also to help protect myself as best I could from the company politics, agendas and mismanagement I read were everywhere, whether you saw them or not.
Now whether this has worked out for me is for you to decide, but from a personal perspective, I am pretty sure the life I enjoy would not have happened without that approach … and that’s taking into account the huge amount of luck I’ve had along the way.
Which leads to the second thing the fashion exec said.
A thing that – in many ways is a byproduct of the first lesson, albeit something he was to discover for the very worst of reasons.
The importance of prioritization.
As I mentioned, this executive had been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.
He didn’t have much time and didn’t want to waste any of it.
So he drew a a bunch of circles around each other – small to big, like a giant bullseye – and plotted the names of people he knew in different parts of the image. Names in the middle/bullseye were the people closest and most important to him … whereas those going further out, were less so.
This formed the basis of who he was going to spend and dedicate his remaining time with.
Anyone outside the first 2 circles were sent a letter, explaining his situation … thanking them for their relationship and saying that because of the limited time left, he would appreciate it if they did not take up any more of his time with goodbyes.
However for those in the inner circles – the people who meant the most to him – he dedicated his remaining time. Actively seeking to bathe in their presence and energy. Making sure everything that had to be said and shared was fully expressed.
In essence, he discovered that time was precious.
Now I am not dying – at least no faster than everyone else is, I hope – but I am reaching a period in my life where I am choosing to limit where my energies are spent. Not because I have less energy to express – in fact, thanks to getting healthy, I arguably have more than ever – but because I realise I want to ensure the people who matter most to me, truly feel how much they mean to me.
That is not saying they haven’t had that, but the older I get, the more it has become very important to me that they know it.
That does not mean I am not going to be there for anyone who wants to chat or ask advice.
That is also very important to me – and I say that as a grateful recipient, not just a questionable provider – however in the past few years, I realized I had been prioritizing others needs over the people who should be expecting it from me the most. Somewhere along the line, I had got things mixed up and that had led to a few people expecting me to fit in with their needs and never consider mine. Let me be very clear – it was never their fault – the fact is I had allowed it, but the realization was pretty uncomfortable for me because frankly, as much as I care for a lot of people, I love very few and it was time to reorg my time to ensure my focus was on them as my priority.
This is quite hard to write because it sounds like I am angry or upset at people – but I’m not. I am definitely angry and upset with myself but that’s it. Actually, that’s not true … I’m also pissed off at a particular person in NZ who I had gone out of my way to help – way before moving here – only to realise they were a complete user and I had been too slow/naive/generous to realise that until it was a bit late. That said, when I did, they were the one that had helped me realise that I needed to prioritize where my energy was spent.
Which is a long winded way to say that sometimes, it takes a long time to really learn a lesson. Or the whole lesson.
So while I will always be creatively ambitious.
While I will always be open to the new and interesting.
And while I’ll always be there for anyone who wants/needs to chat.
I’ll be prioritizing the people who are the reason I am able to do all of that.
Put simply, I’ll alway make time, I’ll always find time … but I can no longer just blindly give time.
Not now.
Which is why I hope the fashion exec who is the heart of this post – and is long gone now – somehow knows that his story impacted a life for a big part of their life. And I’ll be forever grateful to them for that.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Collaboration, Colleagues, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Effectiveness, Empathy, Equality, Fake Attitude, Fear, Harmony, Honesty, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Music, Relationships, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Trust
Following on from yesterday’s post, this is about the value of transparency.
Years ago, I wrote a post about a [then] new Police interrogation technique, which basically centered around empathetic transparency.
In essence, rather than use traditional tactics such as intimidation or ‘half-truths’ to obtain the information they wanted, they found transparency – without judgment – achieved much more positive results.
So, for example if someone asked if their actions were going to result in jail time, rather than give them the impression they will be OK if they hand over the information they want, they simply respond with the following:
“It is highly likely you will, but I will ensure the authorities are made aware of how you have helped us in this investigation”.
And then they actually ensure the authorities are made aware of how that person has helped in the investigation.
OK, it’s obviously more nuanced and complex than that … but the heart of this approach is the acknowledgement that people react more positively to truth than harmony.
And yet, despite this, harmony prevails in our lives.
+ We’ll keep your resume on file.
+ We’ll work with you in the future.
+ We like being pushed and challenged.
+ We will issue the payment this week.
+ We will introduce you to other companies.
There’s so many of these ‘daily’ statements of harmony going on in every office and company around the World … and while most are doing it because they want to avoid disappointing or hurting the other party, the problem is when it’s not true, it ends up creating bigger issues because people find out and then resentment cultivates and trust gets destroyed.
It’s why one of the greatest lessons I have ever learned came from the wonderful LTA of Wieden+Kennedy.
He said, “transparency is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give a client”.
That doesn’t mean you are a rude or selfish prick.
Nor does it mean you can act like a sledgehammer.
But it does mean you respect the other person enough to tell them the realities of the situation rather than the fantasy of it.
Not because you want to upset them or hurt them, but because you want to empower them …
To know where they stand.
To enable them to choose what to do next.
To own their situation rather than be owned by it.
And while you may all think this is just basic common-sense, in this age of toxic positivity it’s a pretty radical approach to commercial relationships.
But then, a lot of what we call relationships, aren’t these days are they?
More marriages of financial or outsourcing convenience.
Which may explain – as I wrote a few months ago – why one of my clients is so successful.
Because while relationships are at the heart of his business, not only does he understand they need to be mutually beneficial to encourage longevity, they need to be more than just convenience to be worthy of that label.
Put simply, relationships are built, not bought.
And the foundations of the best ones are always truth over harmony.