Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Brand Suicide, Business, Comment, Complicity, Confidence, Consultants, Context, Corporate Evil, Corporate Gaslighting, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Fake Attitude, Imposter Syndrome, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Prejudice, Professionalism, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect, Succession, Toxic Positivity, Trust, Truth
I appreciate that at my age, the title of this post may suggest I’m going to whine about companies overlooking people of a certain age for younger, cheaper, hungrier individuals.
I’m not. I get it.
Not only that, while age and knowledge have some level of interconnectedness … I’ve met countless young people who are bloody brilliant [not relative to their age, just bloody brilliant] as well as plenty of people with ‘experience’ who, frankly, aren’t.
What I’m talking about is the blinkered confidence some companies place in their people simply because they’re their people.
On one hand I suppose I should celebrate it, given its not that long ago that companies overlooked internal capability for the external shiny and new.
And while this post does not reflect any of the clients I specifically work with directly, I am seeing and hearing more and more companies go to this other extreme and worse … enabling a level of arrogance in their people that results in any objectivity they face – regardless of the knowledge and expertise of the person delivering it, let alone the desire to help make things more successful – as a threat.
Complicity is the name of the game these days.
Blind acceptance that whatever the person ‘in charge’ says, is right.
A belief internal employees are better informed about every topic than people who are experts in specific topics … so companies can feel great about themselves.
Of course, the issue with this approach is that when things go wrong – or don’t go right enough – everyone else gets the blame. Not just by the person in charge [which you almost expect] but by the company they work for, despite the fact the only reason they gave this employee the project is because they knew a bit more about a subject than senior management, so they saw them as [1] an expert in the field and [2] a cheaper option that bringing in external expertise.
Now you’d think the fear of this outcome would ensure people would stand up for what they believe is right.
Not because they’re arrogant, but because they know their experience and knowledge can disproportionally benefit the end result.
And some do. At least the really good ones …
But even they are under increasing pressure to go along with the whims and wants of certain people/companies … because the whole industry is seeing more and more work being handed to people and companies who simply say yes to whatever is wanted.
Or said another way, convenience and fawning is more valued then expertise, knowledge and standards.
Now of course, it’s human nature to believe we can do more than we actually can.
We all like to think we are ‘special’.
We all like to be acknowledged as important.
We’ve all heard the ‘fake it till you make it’ philosophy.
But the truly special are the ones who know that however good they are, having people around them who are better than them – in different fields – can make them even more effective.
It’s why the World’s best athletes have coaches.
It’s why the World’s best musicians have producers.
It’s why my brilliant ex-NIKE/FFI client, Simon Pestridge, said: “middle management want to be told they’re right. Senior management want to know how they can be better”.
The reason I say all this is that I recently reached out to one of the best organisational psychologists in the World. They work with the CEO’s of some of the most respected and successful companies in the World including Apple, NIKE, Ferrari and Electronic Arts to name a few.
This is what they said when I talked to them about what I was seeing:
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“I call them professional imposters and the reason so many succeed in corporations is because they target other imposters. It becomes a co-dependent relationship where they ensure their ego, status or promotion opportunities won’t be challenged.”
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To be honest, I was not shocked by their view, I was more shocked by the acknowledgment.
Of course, I probably shouldn’t be. It’s hardly a new phenomenon and we also had one of the most successful shows in TV history shine a light on it …
Succession was a celebration of the role of co-dependence and complicity within organisations.
As I wrote recently, Tom was the epitome of it.
But this post is about Tom before he ‘won’ [even though he is still a pawn to the real power] … this is about Tom when he just wanted to please to win favour. Where he thought nothing of being vicious and vindictive to those beneath him because he knew that didn’t just please the people above him, it let him feel he was above everyone around him.
And so Tom eventually gets promoted beyond his capability …
Where the illusion of power and external fawning is more important to him than pay checks.
Where his belief is he is superior to all, regardless of knowledge or experience.
Where his understanding of situations is the only understanding of a situation.
Yeah, it’s bleak. It’s fucking bleak. Because while Tom was fiction, Trump got to be President of America. And what makes it worse is we all see it. Hell, we’ve probably all been exposed to it. And yet it goes on.
If companies truly want to be great, then they’ve got to kill and stop rewarding toxic positivity … because value will be revealed when they allow more people to say no to them and they say yes to more people.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Consultants, Context, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Marketing, Marketing Fail
Once upon a time, there was an ad for John West – a canned food company – that said:
“It’s the fish that John West rejects that makes John West the best”.
And at our recent talk at Cannes, I quoted this from the brilliant Janis Joplin.
And yet, when I look at my industry – an industry that is quick to call out the failings of clients – we’re not really living up to that.
Now of course I appreciate we are in economically challenging times.
And I also appreciate money makes the World go round.
But the decline of our industries power and influence was going on long before this and one of the reasons was because we chased money more than standards.
Or said another way, we sold the value of creativity and cultural understanding for the illusion of importance and association.
On one hand I get it …
As an industry, we have always been paid a fraction of what some others have got, despite – arguably – doing a lot more, or at the very least, the same amount.
But our desire to be seen as a ‘corporate insider’ has destroyed our value as a ‘corporate outsider’.
Where we have the clarity to see where society is going and what they’re valuing. Where we have the objectivity to understand what are the real issues, not what companies wish them to be. Where we have the creativity to know how to connect to people in ways they may actually give a shit about.
But more and more, we are walking away from this.
Complicity is valued more than questions.
Acquiescence is valued more than a point of view.
Toxic positivity is valued more than honesty and transparency.
Now don’t get me wrong, there’s a reason for all this …
Some of our own making, some of clients making.
But for all our talk of believing in creativity … how many really are demonstrating it?
What makes it worse is the creative talent out there is arguably better than at any point in our history.
And that’s why this is not some ‘rose-tinted-looking-backwards’ bullshit – especially as there was a whole host of shit that went on back then – this is a ‘what the hell do we value’ rant.
Once upon a time I was having a bit of a hard time at work.
A lot of it was because of the issues I’ve just written.
I went home and told Jill what was going on and what I was being told when I asked questions … to which she said something that has stuck with me.
“There’s always a reason why they’re not going to do something”.
She was right.
She still is.
Despite being in the incredibly fortunate position to work with highly successful creative people who reside outside of this industry, I still love this industry.
More than that, I still believe in what this industry can do and create.
Hell, it has given me a life that is beyond anything I could have ever imagined for myself.
In fact, almost everything that is in my life is because of what
But right now it seems we’re better at talking good things than doing good things.
And so when things get worse – not just for us, but those who use/dictate to us – we better not complain about who is eating our lunch, because quite frankly, we are doing it, and have been doing it, to ourselves.
Making decisions of convenience not of standards and excitement.
A circle jerk of blinkered and blind complicity.
The good news not everyone is like this.
The even better news is it’s not too late for us all to change.
But the muscle memory may be too old for some to remember. Or worse, care.
Don’t let the financial crisis be another excuse for apathy. That didn’t get us in this mess.
We did.
We all did.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand, Brand Suicide, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Corporate Evil, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Devious Strategy, Effectiveness, Fake Attitude, Grifting, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Relevance, Scam, Strategy
I’m all for people expressing their opinion.
I’m all for people being excited about things they see as having great possibilities.
I’m all for people trying to find new ways to evolve, grow and make money.
But come on …
It’s getting to the point where Linkedin should be renamed Disneyland given how much fiction and fantasy are going on.
What’s worse is among all the ‘consultants’ and ‘new business development people’ claiming expertise, are a bunch of strategists.
Now I know as a discipline we think we have the answer to everything … but we don’t.
Fuck, even the people who are developing the technology, don’t.
But what bothers me is the reason behind why so many people are claiming expertise.
OK, so I know some have a real understanding of the technology and its possible implications. And in that, I include certain strategists – we all know who those brilliant people are.
And I also appreciate some mistakenly believe that because they’ve used ChatGPT, they think they now know everything about the technology.
But others – and this is potentially the majority of them – are doing it because they see it as a chance to personally gain from it.
In essence, their perspective is that as long as a subject matter is highly topical and others – especially companies – don’t know about it, then they can profit from it because they can say anything because no one will know enough to tell them they’re wrong.
You can tell who this group are because they’re the one’s who are either the loudest to declare their knowledge or the first to say they had identified the trend … despite never doing anything with their ‘expertise’ or because of their ‘vision’.
Putting aside how this sort of behaviour can damage the reputation of real experts, disciplines and entire industries … the issue I have is how it is often justified as hustle culture.
I’ve written my issue with hustle culture in the past, but the fact is, this isn’t hustling … it’s grifting and the impact of it is not just damaging people and companies, but it killing the potential of technology before it has a chance to find it’s real possibility.
I appreciate this is quite a heavy post from what was just a piss-take image of Homer … but the best comedy is always based on a truth we often like to deny.
Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Consultants, Egovertising, Finance, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Money, Standards, Strategy, Technology
One of the topics that is everywhere right now is the topic of AI.
What I find particularly amazing is how many people are talking with such certainty about it, given the reality is it’s still in its early days of infancy and possibility.
The reality is – like most things – it will likely have good and bad uses.
As I wrote a while back, my brilliant son – Otis – has dysgraphia.
Dysgraphia is a form of dyslexia … except it’s less about mixing letters and more about a difficulty in writing them. In essence, dysgraphia has an impact on your motor skills and while it won’t affect his ability to learn, it will affect how he does it and what he may be able to do because of it.
More than that, there’s no ‘cure’, but with things like ChatGPT … I can see how AI could enable him to express his stories and imagination that otherwise, he would struggle to convey.
I cannot tell you how much that fills me with joy and it serves as a good reminder to stop judging and evaluating new technology by the rules, standards and experience of established technology.
But we do.
We all do.
Desperate to throw our opinion in the ring with the confidence and certainty of a mediocre white man.
[That’s for you, Chelsea]
However the recent story of Twitch streamer, Atrioc, highlights how AI can definitely be used for terrible, terrible things.
Brandon ‘Atrioc’ Ewing was live-streaming when he accidentally showed a tab that showed he had been visiting a deepfake pornography site featuring popular female Twitch streamers.
Popular female Twitch streamers he had previously claimed were his friends.
As if that wasn’t despicable enough, the site he was on requires a subscription to view its content and the page he was on was centred entirely around making deepfakes of famous Twitch streamers … which means he didn’t just choose to do it, he paid for the privilege of doing it.
Paid. For. It.
Which highlights another narrative that maybe we should also be considering about AI.
Maybe we need to discuss the character of the developers behind the tech rather than simply arguing about the value or threat of the tech.
Or said another way …
Why aren’t we having conversations about why investors place greater value on speed of monetisation than focusing on educational or humanitarian benefits of tech.
Please do not me wrong.
I’m not making any excuse for Atrioc … that fucker made his choice and there’s no way he gets to blame that on anyone else but himself … however for all the talk about the good or bad of AI, I’m not seeing much conversation about the character of the people behind it – technically and financially – when ultimately, it’s their intent and influence that shapes what it is and what it can become.
As the old saying goes, follow the money and you find the truth.
The industries problem is we have too many following their ego.
Coming from me, that say’s a lot. Hahaha.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Apple, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Confidence, Consultants, Creative Development, Creativity, Design, Distinction, Emotion, Empathy, Focus Groups, Management, Perspective, Professionalism, Standards
McKinsey.
Oh McKinsey.
I’ve written a bunch about them in the past.
Hell, they were the reason one of my tweets went viral.
Scared the shit out of me.
I mean going viral, not the tweet.
And while I appreciate McKinsey have some very smart people working there and there are stories of their bullish confidence that are mildly amusing … let’s not forget they would recommend killing their grandmother if it made them an extra dollar.
Note I said ‘recommend’ … because like a Mafia boss, McKinsey never get their hands dirty, they make others do that. Then they can blame them when it goes wrong … similar to financial institutions who pay out millions to make problems go away rather than face the music in a court of law.
Which is why I found this interview they ran with Jony Ive so interesting.
OK, so Jony Ive is an interesting person so it was never going to run the risk of being bad … but what was fascinating was the headline they ran with it.
Creativity.
Unpredictability.
A great idea cannot be predicted.
Jesus Christ, that must have been like Kryptonite to the ‘everything is a process’ Kings.
I also love how they call it ‘provocations to ponder’.
Why is it a provocation?
Why is it something to ponder?
That’s literally the creative process … except, I suppose, for companies like McKinsey, who would regard that perspective as a celebration of the subjective and the inconsistent, which means it’s seen more as an act of wilful danger than the liberation of possibility.
But because it’s Jony Ive … McKinsey have turned a blind eye. After all, Jony is a global design icon. The driving force behind so many Apple products. Steve Jobs trusted sidekick. Being seen to walk in his circles can only be a good thing, despite the fact he represents the total opposite of what McKinsey do and value.
Oh hang on … someone’s going to say, “creativity is in everything”.
And they’re right of course and – despite what I said a few paragraphs ago – it’s fair to say McKinsey do embrace some elements of creativity.
However the creativity Ive is talking about is not the creativity McKinsey value.
Or practice.
For them, it’s approached functionally and economically, whereas for Ive, it’s about enabling change. An ability to see, think or feel differently. And while they may share similarities, it’s in the same way mathematicians and musician are similar.
Both do things based on numbers … except one uses it to shine a light on problems or solutions, whereas the other is the byproduct of the light.
Both have their value.
Both are about moving forward.
But how they do it are totally different.
Chalk and fucking cheese.
Which is why if I’m going to end this post with anything, it’s this:
Don’t let anyone try to tell you the light doesn’t matter.