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, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, Colleagues, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Empathy, Football, Fulfillment, Leadership, Management, Nottingham Forest, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance
One of the things I’ve always believed is that the role of a boss is to ensure that when their people leave – and they always will – they are going to a job that they didn’t previously think was possible for them.
A role where it is as much about who they are as what they do.
A position based on what they’ve made not just what they’ve written.
An opportunity created because they want to hire them rather than there’s a hire needing to be filled.
OK, there is one other scenario that makes me happy and that’s when someone leaves for love, family or to explore a personal passion … however in terms of ‘direct’ career moves, I feel I’ve done my job for my team when they leave for what I call, ‘a bigger life’.
Has this always happened?
No. No it hasn’t … however I am extremely proud that in the main, it has.
I should point out here I am in no way trying to take credit for my old colleagues success. The reality is they did it all by themselves … my only role was to ensure I created the conditions, environment and standards that let their talent and ambitions be expressed, pushed and celebrated.
This last bit is important because while the industry sometimes feels it rewards popularity more than experience, a career is built on what you do, not what you say.
Or said another way: What you’re willing to put in, not just what you want to take out.
Let me be clear, I am not suggesting you have to work to the extreme in terms of hours or workload.
Apart from that being completely counter-productive to enabling you to be the best you can be, who – apart from Tom in Succession – wants a career based on ‘being able to take more shit than someone else’?
That doesn’t mean you don’t have to graft – you do – but as I’ve written in the past, graft is very different to working to the bone or engaging in that other evil beast, hustle culture.
So what do I mean by graft?
Well, there are many interpretations, but for me – this quote by Nottingham Forest’s Taiwo Awoniyi, kind of captures it best.
The significant part is this: “I think I can make you who you want to be as a player. But it is your decision to come?”
Your decision to come.
YOUR decision to come.
The acknowledgement that to move forward, you have to choose to do it.
No shortcuts. No handouts. No guarantees. Yet you still have to show up.
But what I also love about that line is the bit that comes before ‘your decision to come’.
Because in just 14 words, the coach has told Taiwo they:
1. Believe in his ability but won’t make false promises.
2. Are focused on Taiwo’s ambitions and aspiration are, not theirs.
3. Will commit their energy to the pursuit of helping Taiwo achieve his goal/s.
Shared responsibility.
Shared commitment.
Shared effort.
In essence, he removed all the pressure being just on the player by saying to them, that they’re in this journey, together.
What this means is Taiwo knows the focus is on where he wants to be, not just what someone wants him to do.
That his graft will not be in vain.
That there’s a productivity to all he puts in.
And that success won’t simply be measured by what his boss achieves, but what his boss helps him achieve.
But, to have all that, the expectation is he demonstrates it through his actions and behaviours each day.
It won’t be easy.
It definitely isn’t a given.
But if you choose to take this chance – not just theoretically, but with everything you’ve got – then they will commit to helping you get where you hope you can be.
And maybe even beyond that.
Sadly I don’t know if that same attitude is embraced by our industry much these days. Of course it’s there with some people, but it’s unlikely to be the norm.
And why do I say that?
Because we’re seeing less and less training in companies these days … and what there is, is often outsourced to a ‘for profit’ individual/company who often are only doing it for self-serving reasons. And what this is resulting in is less independent thought and/or good people leaving the industry.
This kills me, because I love this industry.
Sure, it can drive me nuts but at its best, it’s something truly special.
Special work.
Special people.
Special possibilities.
It has also given me a life that – in all honesty – I never imagined was possible, however I had some bosses through the years who were like Taiwo’s and for that I am eternally grateful to them. [Just so you know, I also had some utter pricks, but I’m even grateful to them because they showed me who I will never want to be]
This post has gone on for far too long which is why I’ll leave anyone who has got this far with a gift.
If you want to know if you’re working for a company that really cares about your growth or cares more about their own, ask your CFO this simple question:
“What percentage of the companies budget is dedicated to staff training”.
Trust me, their answer will tell you all you need to know.
You’re welcome.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Career, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Dad, Fulfillment, Linkedin, Loyalty, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Planners, Relationships, Relevance, Reputation, Resonance, Respect, Standards, Strategy, Stubborness, Success, Talent
Every new year, people tend to re-evaluate their plans and ambitions.
What they’re doing.
What they want to do.
How they can achieve it.
How they can stop doing what they don’t want to do.
So given it’s still – just – the first month of 2025, I thought I’d try and help by offering some advice that may or may not be of use to anyone evaluating where they are or where they’re going in their career.
I appreciate this sort of thing can often come across as patronising or condescending as hell, so the way I’m approaching it is to simply give the 4 pieces of advice – out of all the advice I’ve received over the years, whether I asked for it out or not, haha – that I have genuinely found valuable, useful and usable.
1. Be known for being really, really good in up-to 3 specific areas of your job.
That could be the work you create. That could be for the new business you win. That could be for how you can deal with problem clients. In many ways, it doesn’t matter … you just need to build your reputation around some specific things rather than try to be known for everything.
2. Make sure you do things of significance in your current role rather than always having to refer to something you did in the past.
By that I mean don’t think you can sit on your laurels because you achieved something of note at one point in your career. Reputation – at least one with contemporary value and momentum – is forged by repetition rather than singularity.
3. If you want to earn money, focus on being good at one or more of the 3 ‘R’s’.
While it would be nice to think you move up the career and salary ladder by performing well in your job, the reality is companies place disproportionate value on 3 things.
Relevance: your reputation is in areas that are enjoying a period of commercial topicality.
Relationships: you have close connections with people in positions of commercial significance or importance.
Responsibility: you are willing to deal with complex or sensitive issues. Or said another way, you are OK with letting people go.
[Note: As someone who has experienced this from both sides, there are ways to let people go that are far more humane than many approach it. At the heart of that is focusing on transparency and sensitivity … so study how to do it, it makes a difference for the person it relates to. Still won’t be good, but it can be a whole lot less bad]
4. If you wait for perfect, you will wait forever.
This is ultimately about being proactive. Making good things happen rather than hoping they will. That does not mean cheating, manipulating or acting in stupid ways … it’s about using your impatience and/or frustration to actively learn, evolve and engage with those who can help you move forward. Said another way, it’s about taking responsibility for what you want to have happen rather than complain something didn’t – which helps explains why I’ve always adopted the attitude that if you’re open to everything, anything can happen. And I’ve been lucky enough to prove that approach works. Again and again.
That’s it.
4 simple pieces of advice that – along with ‘learn from winners, not players’ – have had more influence over how I have approached my career than almost everything else put together.
Whether you find that valuable is dependent on your context and whether you think I have had a career of value … but for a bloke from Nottingham who didn’t go to university and didn’t do very well in his school exams, I think I am doing OK.
[Note, present tense, not past – ha]
The best thing about this advice is that I was given it early enough in my career that I could embrace it and adopt it in my choices and behaviours. But even better than that, I was given it by someone who had truly achieved in theirs.
I should point out they didn’t say it with arrogance or bravado.
They also didn’t say it with an attitude that it would be easy to achieve.
They said it because – for some reason – they believed in me and wanted the best for me.
And while it offers no guarantee for success – and still requires large dollops of luck along the way – it has served me well.
While I’m firmly of the belief that the best advice for your own development is to learn from your our own successes, failures and fucked-up choices, I pass these points on because I’m fed up of reading certain individuals [some who have achieved certain degrees of success, by whatever criteria you wish to allocate to them, and some who have most definitely not] suggest the best way to experience career growth is through the blind adoption of their ‘for-profit’ tools, products, services and training … which begs the question, whose career development are those people really focused on?
As my old man used to say, knowledge may be power … but adherence is conceding control.
Filed under: 2025, A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Apathy, Attitude & Aptitude, Brands, Collaboration, Communication Strategy, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Experience, Fulfillment, Love, Music, My Childhood, Pearl Jam, Relationships, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
Following on from yesterday’s post about Duran Duran, we have another musical post.
Except this isn’t about exploitation and re-definition, this is more a ‘blast from the past’.
I know this is going to make me sound old – it will also make me sounds a total hypocrite given I’ve always loved music for its melody, rhythm and vibe rather than its lyrics – but I got sent this clip of a crowd at a Pearl Jam gig from a few years ago and I love it.
OK, so part of it is because I like Pearl Jam.
Another part is because I have always loved the song they’re performing – Black – which is on what I consider their finest album, Ten.
God, that album is magnificent. I remember being blown away when I first heard it – probably in the Tap and Tumbler, around the corner from Rock City where anyone going to Friday Rock Night would head before a night of head-banging.
But whereas back then, my favorite song was ‘Alive’ … the lyrics of Black pulled me in over the years.
“I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life
I know you’ll be a star in somebody else’s sky
But why, why, why can’t it be
Oh, can’t it be mine?”
Maybe it’s because I became more of a sentimental, romantic fool … but I find them so beautiful. And as I said, I’ve never really been a lyrics guy … hell, I can’t even remember lyrics to songs I wrote back in the Bangkok Shakes/Virgin Records days. But those … oh I fell in love with them, probably the first time I saw Pearl Jam live [1992] and heard the crowd sing them, like in the video above.
For someone who is not religious, when I hear a crowd sing, it becomes very spiritual for me. A transcendence into something I can’t quite explain. A feeling of deep connection with those around me with a deep belief we’re creating something special together. It’s why I also love pentecostal music … except, like most music for me, it has little to do with the words, and more the vibe and emotion.
But ‘Black’ is different …
Probably because it reflects a specific time in my life where I was balancing joy and pain in equal measure. Coming into a time of my life of freedom and exploration but also deeply aware of a darkness that was seemingly trying to engulf all that was important in my life. With that in mind, I can’t think of a more perfect band to create the soundtrack to your life like Pearl Jam.
And while watching that clip does take me back to those times, it is superseded by a general feeling of joy. Watching the crowd not just witness something special, but being an active participant in the moment. Acting like their own instrument. A crowd infected by audience members scattered all around who show and lead the way for them to form an impromptu orchestra of vocal harmony and cacophony. It’s fucking beautiful … amplified by the fact there’s few camera phones. Not experiencing the moment through a screen. But a total connection and presence.
Hey, I’m as guilty as the next person for videoing and photographing gigs … it’s a way to capture a significant moment you can enjoy for years. But I do wonder if it is ever quite as significant as you would get just being there, lost in nothing but the sounds and emotions you’re all creating and feeling together.
It’s why I find it interesting more and more artists are saying their concerts are ‘smartphone free zones’. Not because – like in the 80’s – they had sold the photographic rights to concert images to a 3rd party, but because when an audience looks at them through the screen, they feel there’s a barrier between them and the energy they get back from the crowd.
As I’ve written before – both here and here – it’s a two-way street.
And while some may say, “it’s not my job to make the band feel good because I’ve paid them money to make me feel good” they’re missing the point.
Because while it’s true money ensures you receive a certain level of passion, consideration, commitment and effort from the artist in their performance … the more you contribute to the experience, the more you all get out of it.
It’s why the best creative work isn’t made for clients who dictate and judge, but those who appreciate they play an important and integral role in creating the conditions for it to go – and get to – magical places.
In the creative journey, there is no room for passengers.
And yet, too many carry energy vampires and toxic stowaways.
The sooner clients get this, procurement departments get this, marketing practice ‘guru’s’ get this, media agencies get this and ad agencies get this … the sooner we will all be able to create moments that deeply connect to rather than just shout and bore.
It’s down to us.
It won’t happen by itself.
So what happens next is down to all of us.
One by one. Job by job. Meeting by meeting.
It won’t be easy, but my god … it will be worth it.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Business, Collegues, Comment, Complicity, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Experience, Fulfillment, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Perspective, Process, Professionalism, Reputation
A few weeks ago, my beloved Nottingham Forest imploded.
Despite having the best season we had experienced in decades, I woke up to the news that our manager, Nuno – the best and most successful one we’d had in decades, was potentially going to leave the club after just one game.
One.
A game that we had won and that I’d written about here.
Add to this that Nuno had very recently signed a new contract and the whole thing made no sense.
Until it did.
Because while details were still murky at the time, it appeared that a new, senior executive had joined the club and in a period of just 2 months, they had caused huge rifts with his decisions, stubbornness and ego.
Now I am not denying that the way our manager raised this issue – via an interview – had a lot of room for improvement, however the real issue was that a club bursting with optimism had burst in a matter of weeks because of one, senior, leader.
In many ways, this is not a story of football, but of modern corporate behaviour.
Let’s be honest, we’ve all seen it …
Where someone comes in and thinks they know how to do the job of everyone else better than everyone else – regardless of the fact they’ve never done those jobs or being as successful as those in the job.
And rather than start by listening, learning, discussing and collaborating … they immediately turn it into a ‘big swinging dick contest’ and before you know it, they’ve destroyed everything that made things special before they came.
People.
Culture.
Process.
Standards.
Everything.
But if that wasn’t bad enough, they then blame it on the people they went out of their way to undermine which they’ll then justify using words such as “efficiency”, “consistency”, “modernisation”, “uniformity”, business demands” and/or “unlocking the power of our collective strength”.
I should point out at this stage, this is not always the case.
But I should also point out, it is often the case … as demonstrated by the fact that despite the owner of Nottingham Forest publicly stating he supported Nuno and would be holding ‘clear the air talks’ shortly, he ended up ‘clearing Nuno’s desk’ and firing him.
So why does this keep happening – both in football and in companies?
Is it because companies like hiring psychopaths?
Is it because companies only care about the cash?
Is it because employees are idiots when not controlled?
While it would be tempting to say yes, we all know that’s not the case.
However there is a reason why I think happens more and more – and to that, I point to this brilliant piece by the original manager of Guns n’ Roses – Alan Niven.
Put simply, he highlights how too many companies hire senior leaders from other industries – believing their ‘business knowledge’ will help them achieve greater success. And while that sounds all well and good, they forget that while business may have some steadfast principals … every industry works very differently from one another and if you fail to realise how a specific industry truly operates – or you try to make it work how your previous industry operated – you find many end up tearing things down, rather than building them up.
Pretty much nails it.
And while he writes about the music industry, we don’t have to look too far to see this happening all around us.
Where people who have never made the work, decide and dictate how the work should be made.
Placing more importance on scale, conformity and cost-saving than creativity.
Believing the only thing that motivates is money, rather than acknowledging the importance of standards, craft and respect.
Of course every industry can improve.
Every industry has things they can tighten-up and evolve.
But if you’re not from the industry, you often see the bits you don’t understand as the bits that need to be addressed and then before you know it, you’re killing the very thing that drove and defined your value.
And everyone suffers … except the people who instigated all the change.
Because the way their remuneration is structured, even when they lose, they win.
Experience matters.
Not just in terms of the roles you’ve had, but how you gained them.
Because while outside perspectives are powerful and beneficial, when there’s more people with that context than there those who have the knowledge and understanding of how everything actually works … then you find that many of their strategies end up driving a companies demise rather than their future.
Or as my mentor Lee Hill said:
“The greatest lesson I’ve learned is that when it comes to industry practice, logic is personal rarely universal”.