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, Attitude & Aptitude, Bands, Brand, Cannes, Colleagues, Contribution, Creativity, Culture, Diversity, Emotion, Leadership, Legend, London, Management, Metallica, Music, Relevance, Resonance, Respect
There’s a lot talked about the ‘ad community’ but so much is lip-service.
Not all of course … but a lot.
Acts or statements designed to look like generosity while really being done to elevate an individual/organisations position, standing or commercial success from likeminded audiences.
But then, as much as I love the industry, I also hate so much of what we do.
Robbing the meaning of words to upsell what we do.
Like ‘brave’.
Or ‘revolutionary’.
Or – as I said – ‘community’.
It’s why this story of Metallica serves as a reminder of what community really means.
Looking broad, not narrow.
Allowing privilege to open doors, not close them.
Going out your way for those who share the same values as you, even if not the same tastes.
[Albeit, EDM is the metal of dance music]
It wasn’t easy, but that’s kind of the point of what community is … a commitment to the inconvenient so that others can succeed.
That’s quite different to getting pissed with each other at the Gutter Bar.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Cars, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Resonance, Respect
Once upon a time, I got called ‘too emotional’ by a senior member of an agency I worked for.
It came about because we had just witnessed a client of ours, basically destroy 2 years of work we’d done – even though he had been on the journey with us all the way, including a huge offsite meeting 2 weeks prior with all his reports. But when we were presenting to his boss – and he was very vocal about some issues he had with our work – we watched our client basically turn on us to protect themselves.
That’s when my ‘too emotional’ side decided to came out and play because in front of everyone, I said:
“I find the response very confusing given you were all behind it when we went through it a fortnight ago”.
Cue evil stares, and a mass of pointed fingers and excuses.
Or said another way, a huge clusterfuck of awkwardness permeated the air.
Now of course I knew my comment wasn’t going to go down well … but neither was their attitude and behaviour.
They’d been part of this work.
They’d been advocates of it.
And yet the moment it required them to step up and defend it, they stepped away …
While we did end up losing that account, it wasn’t because of that moment. It probably didn’t help … but other things happened that resulted in us parting ways. And all being happy/relieved for the fact.
That said, I was kind-of nervous for what was going to happen to me post-meeting.
I didn’t give a fuck the client was upset – frankly, they’d done it to themselves – however I was a bit concerned about what was going to happen to me with my bosses.
Which leads to the ‘too emotional’ comment.
Amazingly, the senior member of the agency wasn’t mad at what I’d done – in fact I think he was quite proud I stood up for the work and the agency – however they were not too impressed in how I’d done it.
On one level I understand and was grateful they had been able to separate how I did it, with why I did it … however, saying it had happened because I was ‘too emotional’ was a shit way to refer to it.
OK, so they were the sort of person who considered eating a packet of crisps too loudly as an act of hysteria … but what they inadvertently were telling me was that regardless of situation, I should be emotionless in my response. Or as the Brits say it, ‘maintain a stiff upper lip’ come rain or shine.
Now this person was good to me and still is, and we’ve talked about it over the years … but it bothers me that ’emotion’ is still viewed as a negative in business. That giving a fuck is an act of weakness.
Well what about the people who obviously don’t care about doing the right thing?
Who don’t care about respecting the people who have put their blood, sweat and tears into trying to do something to benefit everyone … brilliantly?
Why are those people not challenged or questioned about their lack of emotion … about their lack of will or fight … about their inability to respect and value the person who cares deeply about what they are doing?
I get there are good and bad ways to express yourself, but it is kinda bullshit that any expression of emotion is often viewed as someone lacking control when it is actually someone showing they give a shit.
Of course, the people who are often the recipient of this sort of comment are women … a way for certain men to try and assert control of a situation by undermining the other persons validity or professionalism. Hell, even Hillary Clinton experienced this.
My view has always been that as long as it’s not personal … as long as it relates to the issue … as long as it is objective rather than subjective … as long as it is expressed with respect rather than red-mist recklessness, emotion is not a weapon but a gift. A way to unite, connect, engage, drive and define ideas, possibilities and concepts.
Emotion is never a weakness, it’s a power and I’d rather deal with someone who cares enough to show it than a fucking robot.
As Andrew McCarthy said in the utterly terrible 1992 movie, Only You …
“If you want boringly consistent, go marry a beige Volvo”.
Seems there’s a lot of car fuckers in business these days.
OK. I feel much better now. Thank you.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Cannes, Context, Craft, Creativity, Culture, Distinction, Emotion, Fashion
There were a lot of stylish people at Cannes.
There were also a lot of try-hard people at Cannes.
But of all the folks I saw over the days I was there, one stood out.
Not just for how they looked, but for the statement they made:
About Cannes …
About the people at Cannes …
About the attitude and behaviour of the industry at large.
I don’t know who you are.
I don’t know what you do.
But if it were up to me, you’d be walking away with a Grand Prix Lion for owning a look I’ll never forget – which, where our industry is concerned – is what we once were brilliant at creating before we sold out the value of creativity in favor of making cash off process and being complicit to a set of rules developed by people who [1] have never actually made the stuff we’re brilliant at and [2] claim the rules for effective marketing are things like emotion, distinction and consistency as if that hasn’t been the case for 200 fucking years.
I suspect, that’s the emotional baggage she’s carrying with her.
It’s the same emotional baggage anyone who cares and creates work is dealing with as we watch certain individuals get wild applause from the broad industry despite the fact they continually demonstrate they either don’t know their history or are choosing to rebadge it so they can flog it off as a ‘proprietary systems for success’ despite the fact all their blatantly bloody obvious lessons have come off the back of the hard work the creative industry has been creating and making for decades.
Seriously, we’re in full-on, corporate Emperor’s New Clothes territory these days … and while there’s a lot of fools being taken in by it, we’re the biggest idiots for having let it happen and then standing by as they do it.
Happy fucking Monday. I’m up for a fight this week … Hahaha.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, AI, Attitude & Aptitude, Communication Strategy, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Humanity, London, Technology
While I was in London, I saw this:
What the actual fuck?
The worst thing is I can imagine they’ll get lots of enquiries … probably from companies who are very vocal on saying ‘their staff are their greatest asset’.
But as we know, the companies that shout the loudest about their people are often the ones who are the worst offenders of them. Like some supercharged gaslighting trick, except everyone knows what they’re doing.
The bit I find confusing though is who do these companies think will be their future customers if they are shedding jobs in favor of AI?
Who is going to have the money and why the fuck do they think those who do, will spend it with them when there is a distinct lack of customer care, craft or consideration?
AI has incredible possibilities, but the scary thing is most companies like it because they see it as being able to do the same things they’ve always done, just cheaper or faster.
That’s it.
What these companies fail to realise is that if their products and operations can be replicated this easily, then they may not be that good in the first place.
I’m seeing this everywhere – especially in advertising.
Agencies and clients banging on about how they have used AI to create an ‘ad’ that would have cost millions before – without once stopping to realise that not only is it something we have seen millions of times before, but while the ad may be visually rich, it is also fucking shit.
Sure, it’s early days … but that so many people are focusing on the optimization of the technology rather than the possibilities of it is tragically sad. But then – as I’ve talked about a bunch in the past – I have always been more alarmed by the people behind the tech than the tech itself.
Maybe this is why my client – the biggest investor in luxury and street culture fashion on earth – believes the future of luxury will be built around personal service. Not the illusion of personal service … but the engagement and interaction with real humans.
Highly trained, highly experienced, specialists.
That doesn’t mean they don’t see the value and power of AI … they do. It’s just they recognize that you can’t claim value when you’re doing everything you can, on the cheap. And yet so many brands forget that … mistaking a premium price for a premium product. Until they find out by the actions, choices and behaviours of the people.
Technology is amazing and nothing is possibly more amazing than AI.
It has the power to liberate opportunities we’ve never imagined.
It can enable and facilitate whole new ways of working and creating.
It will provide an outlet for people who have been overlooked for decades.
This is all incredible and important stuff.
But if companies increasingly see it as a way to cut costs to drive short-term gains … then frankly, not only do they deserve all they will get, they need to realise they are the embodiment of Artificial Intelligence.
So to the people behind Artisan … go fuck yourself.
Said with love. Human love.