Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Innocence, Insight, Management, Perspective, Standards, Talent
I’ve always found management an interesting concept or – more specifically – how people become managers.
Most of the time, it seems someone who is good at their job gets promoted and told “… there you go, manage the department”.
Little support. Little guidance. Masses of responsibility.
Now having done this for a long time, I realize the folly of this approach.
Sure, it’s nice to feel you’re being recognized, have a bit more responsibility and power and get more cash … but it also is the fast-track to bad habits, bad practices and bad career decisions.
You see management is complicated.
On one hand you have to lead your department … set a direction, instill standards and beliefs and develop a gang.
On the other, you have to put yourself second to enable your team – and the people within that team – to grow and develop and ultimately, take your job.
Few have the skills to work this out on their own – let alone execute it – which is why the older I get, the more grateful I am that I was given such great help from my amazing mentors and certain bosses.
You see in the early days, I saw career development as simply going from employee to boss to big boss.
In my mind, if you were a good employee you might get to be a boss and if you were a good boss, you might get to be a big boss.
That was it.
But my mentors – and some good bosses – made sure I understood that career progression wasn’t just about how good you were in your day-to-day job, but in your ability to develop additional skills.
Sure, some of these were operational skills – really important operational skills – but the advice that made the biggest difference to me was when they told me how I’d need to understand the difference between good management and good leadership.
To be honest, previous to this I never really saw a difference between the two but this quote by Peter Drucker sums up what they told me perfectly …
Now I appreciate anyone who has worked with me in the past might think I am terrible at what I do – and I accept my approach is often unorthodox and filled with dollop-loads of chaos – but understanding how the development of skills and outlook was better for your long-term career than consistency and capability made a real difference to me and that’s why I am such a big believer in feedback and goals.
I should point out this does not mean the ‘annual reviews’.
Sure, they have their use, but if you’re only having these conversations once a year, you’re really not helping anyone that much.
But constantly having conversations – where you discuss where people are and what they’re working towards – makes a difference.
It lets you know where everyone is.
It lets you know where everyone is heading.
It gives you the opportunity to offer the right advice at the right time.
Which enables them to develop the skills that will help them grow not drown.
Which lets them develop their own voice and approach to the challenges they face.
Which lets them work out where they are heading and want to head.
Which lets them get hired for who they are not just what they do.
Which means, ultimately, you’ve done what I believe a boss is supposed to do … which is help your people get opportunities they never thought they could have.
This all may seem so obvious to you all, but I still meet people who think being good at their job means being good enough for career progression and while many companies may agree with that, I am so grateful to my mentors and certain bosses for putting me straight.
May this year be your year.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Brand Suicide, Comment, Marketing Fail, Standards, Talent
A few weeks ago I wrote about a Facebook ad Marcus sent me.
It was for some tech support social platform and – alarmingly – featured an illustration that looked very much like me.
As in, it looked EXACTLY like me.
Well either Marcus was behind it or he’s frequenting some very weird places on the net, because he just sent me another one.
Yes, another!
Same company.
Same social platform.
Same – but in a different pose – illustration of me.
WHAT. THE. FUCK?
I know we keep talking about the personalisation of ads, but this is ridiculous.
It also shows an alarming lack of strategy, because anyone worth their salt would know I wouldn’t want to be part of something I’m part of.
So a while back, Marcus [remember him?] sent me this …
Like him, I immediately thought it looked like me.
Then I looked again and I am convinced it’s me.
Sure, the glasses are wrong, but the rest is scarily right … so scarily right, I swear it has been taken from this video.
Now of course, there is a chance this is all one massive coincidence which would mean one of two things.
1. There is someone very, very unlucky out there.
2. If this ad career goes to shit, my calling appears to be in Tech Support.
Filed under: Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Chinese Culture, Comment, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Cunning, Deutsch, Devious Strategy, Egovertising, Family, Goodbye China, Marketing Fail, Planners, Planning, Talent, The Kennedys, The Kennedys Shanghai, Wieden+Kennedy
After 7 years, today is my last day at Wieden+Kennedy.
Just as traumatic is that in 6 days, it will be my last day in China.
Or said another way, it will be my last day living in Asia-Pacific after 22 amazing years.
There’s honestly too much to say.
Too many memories to write about.
Too many people to thank and talk about.
So instead I’ll just say it has been the time of my life.
An amazing, spectacular, wonderful adventure both personally and professionally.
From marriage and babies to being part of work that defined World Cups and Olympics.
Wow.
It’s absolutely fair to say I will miss every bit of it but I’ll take the memories because it means I had the experience and for that I am truly grateful.
Now, because we’re in the middle of mad moving mode, this blog will be on a little hiatus for a few weeks.
Probably about a month. [Though we all know there’ll be the odd post here and there]
On the bright side, when it’s back – probably sometime in June, in time for my birthday [ha] – you’ll get to read posts that won’t just be about planning, but how I don’t understand how to make anything in America work.
I honestly think I’m going to find it harder to acclimatise to America than I ever did to China.
Hell, I can’t even order a cup of coffee without getting confused about their cup sizes.
So with that I want to sign off with a few little thank-you’s.
The reality is a huge amount of people made my time here amazing, however there’s some who had an even bigger influence and I want to call them out because the adventure I had – and am about to embark on – literally wouldn’t have been possible without them.
My wonderful planning team. Past and present. Every day was a genuine fucking honour. The awesome Kennedys. It was seriously the professional highlight of my last 12 months. Thank you. And that definitely includes you Juni. Kel Hook. For hiring me. You changed my life and I’ll never be able to thank you enough. Jason White. Thank you for supporting me even when I caused destruction. John Rowe. For being brilliant in every possible way and making my time at W+K Tokyo so good, I never wanted to leave. NIKE. I know that might sound corporate toady, but as I have nothing to gain from saying it, it means it is true. 99.7% of every person I met or worked with at Wieden+Kennedy worldwide … whether they are still here or long gone. Martin Weigel. You’re a cantankerous, warm hearted, brilliant man. Just propose to Mercedes and get on with it. Whiteside. Because you’re awesome and funny and humble and deserve so much and yet are happy with what you have. Clare Pickens. I love you. I literally fucking love you. [But stop cutting your hair because it makes you look shit] Sandi Hildreth. For being awesome and gorgeous and loving the same sort of rubbish music as me. Claudia Valderrama. For looking out for me even though you told me I was a “pain in the ass”. W&W, Azsa, Arlene and Max … for making sure I stay excited – and in awe – about the birth of amazing ideas. Gerber, for somehow – and I’m not sure how – influencing me to get tattoos. I came here with none, I leave with not enough. Simon Pestridge. Thank you for everything. In many ways, you changed my career and opportunities. You’re more than a great client, but a friend. Kim Papworth. For that talk that was totally worth the wait. Luhr. For being Luhr. Stech. For making your 6 months here, the most exciting 6 months for me full stop. David Terry and Paul Colman for trying really hard to be ‘alpha-males’ but actually being fucking sweethearts. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Joe Staples. He won’t understand why, which is why. MJ. No, not Micheal Jackson or Michal Jordan, but Matthew Jung … for being a phenomenal Nike and Converse client who backed us to do the best work we can do every-single-time. Karrelle. For pretending to still be British when he’s basically American. Steve Tsoi for still welcoming me to the table even though I never made life easy for you or your team. Scott Silverman. You had nothing to do with China, but if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have had the chance to be here. Chris Jaques. You also had nothing to do with China, but if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have had the platform to show others what I could do. What I could be. Dan Wieden. For not actually firing me even though you said, “You’re fired” every time you saw me. And starting a place that is so special amongst special companies. Xiaoli. For everything you have done for us, but most specifically for the love and care you have shown my son. China … for being so important to global business that you gave me access and exposure to the sort of senior leadership few in the World will ever get to experience. The amazing, warm, slightly crazy people of China. I will absolutely miss everything about your unique ways. Except the spitting and the plane delays. And finally – and most importantly – my beloved Jill, Otis and Rosie. Without you guys, none of this other stuff would have mattered.
OK, the Gwyneth Paltrow bollocks is over … and to prove it, have a look at this.
Do you know what it is?
That’s right, it’s one of the 600 stickers I have had made that I have spent the last 5 weeks hiding throughout the refurbished Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai office. And I mean ‘throughout’ … including various W+K hangouts, like Baker & Spice, Jamaica Blue and Little Catch.
That should make their life a pain in the ass for a few years.
It will be like I’ve never gone.
And with that, it’s time to go.
It’s been a lot of fun. Time for an adventure in LA. God help us all.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Authenticity, Comment, Communication Strategy, Confidence, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Management, Marketing Fail, Potential Darwin Awards, Standards, Talent
One of the things I do when I first get a brief is try to see the creative opportunity.
Where we can make the biggest and most interesting difference.
Changing something.
Pushing something.
Destroying something.
However the reality is that in many briefs, this isn’t always clear – mainly because so many are written from quite a transactional perspective, designed for an agency to ‘answer it’, rather than use it as a springboard for bigger, more powerful and more sustainable impact.
And that’s why the best thing you can do is ask questions.
Explore.
Prod.
Challenge.
Not just in terms of who authored the brief, but the people who are responsible for what comes out of it.
There are some people who think this approach has the potential of alienating clients, but in my experience it has quite the opposite effect. People in power regard this as a demonstration of someone who gives a shit … someone who wants to help them achieve the best outcome in ways that can best serve their business. Ideas they may simply never have seen or considered before.
And that’s exactly why I do it because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t know the level of the clients ambition … their desire for change and impact … and without that you can’t possibly see the creative opportunity you have in front of you and you may go down a path that leads to nowhere because you have made assumptions that simply aren’t true.
Don’t get me wrong, we all need new business to survive – let alone thrive – but my point of view is that if people aren’t excited or clear on what we are looking to do, then it either leads to a painful journey with painful work at the end of it or just mistrust and quite frankly, I haven’t got time for either of those in my life.
So what’s all this got to do with the title of this post?
Because I recently read an article on the famous Woodstock festival and was reminded – from a comment by Tommy James from the band, Tommy James and The Shondells – how dangerous ‘assumption’ can be.
And who is Tommy James from Tommy James and The Shondells?
Well, this might tell you why you haven’t heard of him or them …
Don’t assume the person communicating with you has total clarity on their situation.
Don’t assume the people around you have total clarity on the situation.
Just don’t assume.