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, Attitude & Aptitude, Context, Creativity, Culture, Dad, Education, Effectiveness, Emotion, History, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, R/GA, Wieden+Kennedy
In his iconic Ted Talk speech, ‘Do Schools Kill Creativity’, the great Sir Ken Robinson wondered what Shakespear was like …
When he was a child …
At school …
In English class.
I still remember how it felt when I heard him say that, because frankly … I never had thought of Shakespear as a kid.
Hell, in many ways, I didn’t even think of him as a real person, as my only exposure to him had been through books and films … which all reinforces what the great Bob Greenberg, co-founder of R/GA, used to say, which was:
“People know you how they’re introduced to you”.
It seems obvious, but we continually forget it.
It’s why there’s a whole generation who know Jordan as a shoe brand more than an iconic basketballer … know Wieden+Kennedy as a brilliant ad agency rather than the outcome of two brilliant – but spotlight-reluctant – humans coming together to make anything but ‘ads’ … and know the Mona Lisa as a painting, rather than a portrait.
This last one is especially pertinent because I recently saw this …
… and yes, like Sir Ken’s comment on Shakespear, I was faced with the realization that the Mona Lisa was a person before a painting.
Too often we base our viewpoints on the mistaken belief that history only starts when we discover it … which may explain why there’s so much stuff spouted on Linkedin that suggests a person has just created something radical, when in reality it’s just a new take on an old lesson.
Which is why it may be useful if we all followed the advice my Dad always encouraged when exposed to something new.
In essence he asked himself – or others – 3 questions.
What do you know about them?
What do others know about them – that you don’t?
What can you know about them that will tell you who they are or how they got here?
It ensured he was always able to talk from the context of history and present … ensuring his viewpoint was grounded in truth but wrapped in modern contexts and perspectives. Which means, for someone who wasn’t a strategist, he was a fucking brilliant strategist.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, China, Chinese Culture, Creativity, Culture, Devious Strategy, Effectiveness, Imagination, Innovation, Perspective, Planning
I’ve written about something I call ‘devious strategy’ for a long time.
In essence, it’s the art of giving people what they want but in a way where they give you exactly what you need from them.
While I’ve covered a bunch of examples in the past – from how Daniel Radcliffe stopped the paparazzi photographing him each night after his theatre performance through to how singer Grace Slick, got Chick-fil-A to pay the LGBTQ+ community to lobby against themselves – the reality is the ultimate Champions of this strategic approach are without doubt, the Chinese Government.
Their ingenuity knows no bounds.
Sure, some of the reasons for this is not great … but let’s be honest, how they ensure people ask for receipts in restaurants so they can ensure they can get the correct amount of tax due to them, is sheer genius.
But I recently learned of a variant of this approach that is less about ‘achieving a favorable solution’ and more about ‘making the problem more difficult for people to ignore’ … and funnily enough, it also comes from the evil genius brains of government.
This time, from local government in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls … allow me to introduce you to Leverage Pettiness Strategy™, and before anyone tells me that’s bullshit, just remember our industry once gave an ‘effectiveness’ award to a supermarket chain for sales growth DURING COVID.
By that reckoning, changing the name of a road should win a Nobel Peace Prize.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Art, Brand, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Design, Great Ads In History, Outdoor
I love outdoor.
Well, good outdoor.
From the madness of selling glue to igniting football pride … there’s been some incredible use of the medium.
Or should I say, incredible demonstration of design.
But for years – we’ve had the opposite of that.
Poster sites being treated like retail brochures.
Where a brand crams in as many words, visuals and sales cue as is physically possible with the space available.
Designed to satisfy the sales department and board of directors rather than their audience or even the environmental context.
But recently we have started seeing a return to what great outdoor is.
How wonderful are they?
They say so much without having to say so much.
Sure, both of these examples are for brands that have a clearly established position and role in their particular categories – but let’s be honest, there’s loads of brands who have achieved that and still make utter shit outdoor. Well, utter shit everything.
But these …
Well, for me, they’re perfect examples of brilliant advertising.
Brilliant, outdoor advertising.
Singular. Simple. Striking.
It’s beautiful.
But more than that, it’s effective.
Demanding your attention rather than pushing it away.
Fuck, it makes the streets feel like a gallery rather than a supermarket.
I hope it continues. I hope it symbolizes a move away from the blinkered and extreme adoption of certain ‘for profit’ marketing practices, that are far more about holding your place within a category than rising your brand beyond it.
So here’s to those who choose to fill the streets with imagery that makes people feel something, understand something and get something.
Because if you’re using billboards to detail all the rational reasons why people should want what you do, you need to accept you’re basically admitting you don’t have anything people really will care about hearing.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Age, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Management, Marketing Fail, Relationships, Respect
Growing old is an interesting experience.
A mixture of highs and lows … good and bad … challenging and delightful.
It will happen to us all, but one thing that I have found interesting is how quickly the industry you have worked in – regardless of duration – is happy to leave you behind without barely a second thought.
On one hand, I get it.
+ Time never stops.
+ New people are always coming.
+ Fresh thinking and ideas are being born.
+ And your work only really mattered in that moment. To the people you did it with and for.
But it’s still tough when you realise all you did – all the hours, the effort, the toil, sweat, the successes, the failures – mean nothing to those still in the heart of the industry you work/worked in.
I have experienced this – or at least, I’ve felt it – and it can sting [mainly to your ego, hahaha] but what forced me to write this was a conversation I had recently with a friend of mine.
He doesn’t want me to name him, so let’s just call him Rich.
Rich – along with 2 close colleagues – started a company in the 80’s.
With their name on the door, they experienced huge success almost immediately.
Within a matter of years, they were one of the dominant players in their industry.
Better yet, they were seen as one of the most progressive, creative and innovative companies in their category which led to them attracting all manner of people, clients and press coverage … resulting in them opening more offices around the World.
For 20+ years, they were incredibly successful until one day, he and his partners decided it was time to cash-in.
Not because they weren’t passionate about their business anymore, but because they felt they were not able to run it with the energy they once had and that they felt the business and its employees deserved.
Fortunately for them, they were not only a highly desirable company for purchase, but they had an excellent ‘success management’ structure in place … meaning they were able to leave the place they founded feeling positive and wealthy.
All good then?
Yes … kinda.
You see, within a few years Rich felt the itch and wanted to start another company.
This wouldn’t be in the same field he’d worked in previously, it would be helping people who want to start their own thing.
And guess what, it flopped.
Not because his viewpoint had no value or his prices were too high … but because too few people cared about what he had done.
I should point out his company – with his name on the door – still exists and is still successful, but because he had chosen to step out of the spotlight for a few years, the industry he had worked so passionately and diligently in, stopped thinking his opinion mattered. Or in some cases, didn’t even know who he was or what he’d done. And instead, were hanging on the every word of whoever the new, young, thing in his category was saying and doing.
I should say that when he was telling me this, he was laughing …
Apparently the ‘icing on the cake’ for him was when he met someone at a conference – who worked at the company he founded – and he realized that not only did they not know who he was, it was obvious they didn’t care who had started the company in the first place.
Contrary to what some may think, this is not a rant against younger people in the industry.
Nor is it saying we should revere those who once achieved so much.
The point of this post is to remind people like me – read: my age – that we did exactly the same thing that many of us are experiencing today.
A desire to invent, not repeat.
A focus on what’s happening now, not what happened in the past.
A belief we’re inventing, rather than understand we’re generally just re-creating.
We all did that. Hell, some of us are still doing that.
So while people with experience/history may still have plenty to offer, we have to remember we were also all complicit in what we’re currently going through.
That doesn’t mean it can’t hurt.
Nor does it mean it shouldn’t frustrate.
But it does mean you can’t bitch and complain that others are basically doing the exact same thing you once did to the people before you.
So smile. Encourage. And know one day they will likely also discover the annoying reality that while they can [hopefully] feel proud of what they’ve done, they’re not as original or important as they thought/wished or once were.
Which is possibly the best reminder to focus more on what makes you happy, because at the end of the day, that’s what counts and is remembered the most, if only by ourselves.