Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Attitude & Aptitude, Community, Context, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Empathy, Happiness, Harmony, Humanity, Inclusion, Japan, Love, Perspective, Resonance, Respect
Over the years, my wife has told me all she wants me to do is listen to her when she faces challenges, rather than try and fix them for her.
I suspect she is not the only woman who has had this conversation with a man.
And while she knows the reason we do it is out of love, she finds it annoying-as-fuck.
Fortunately we’ve been together so long that its finally got in my thick skull, hence I now listen rather than automatically run to ‘fix’ mode.
The point of this is that I think a lot of advertising needs to adopt this trait.
Too often we think we can solve everything.
Marketing.
Politics.
Poverty.
World hunger.
You name it, our ego believes it can solve it.
But there’s something quite magical in embracing problems rather than trying to solve – or go around them.
Sure, we’re paid to help clients move forward … but that doesn’t always have to be from tackling issues head-on … sometimes, it comes from realizing some problems don’t – or can’t – be solved.
Recently I read something that embodies this perfectly.
A ‘solution’ that doesn’t fix the issue, but deals with it with dignity and grace.
It’s not unique, I’ve seen things like this before and have written about some in the past … but where they tended to be addressing issues in a private environment – such as care homes and parks in the Netherlands – this is something where the public are actively encouraged to be part of the solution.
Except it’s more than that.
Because they benefit as well.
In connection. In understanding and – at a time where there seems to be less of it about – in humanity.
It’s not just magical and beautiful, it’s important. For everyone.
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Chaos, Creative Development, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Entertainment, Fear, Individuality, Music
We’ve all been there.
At school, work or home … where you realise what you have done is not what you thought you had been asked to do.
And when that happens, your mind switches off from everything around you to intensely focus on all the possible scenarios of what is going to happen next.
The shouting.
The insulting.
The feelings of stupidity.
The need to find time to fix something you haven’t allocated any additional time to fix.
Basically, it becomes a catastrophization-fest.
Now of course, more often than not, the disaster you imagine doesn’t eventuate.
That might be because you’re able to make your case for the work you did … or you’re able to adapt your work on the fly, to meet the expectations of the meeting you’re in or you just come clean and discover that – in most cases – people are reasonable and just ask you to sort it out as soon as you can.
But even though most of us will have gone through this situation countless times, the feeling of trepidation when you sense you may have messed up, never goes away.
I say this because I recently saw a video that captures this experience at a magnitude that – fortunately – few, if any, of us, will ever experience.
Pianist Maria João Pires stepped in as a last-minute substitute for the conductor, Stephen Hough.
Because of the timing of the concert, there was no rehearsal time, but having talked to the conductor over the phone, she felt confident as the piece – Mozart’s Concerto in A major [K.488] was something she had performed at a concert previously.
Except she hadn’t.
Because as the orchestra struck up the introduction to the piece – in front of a paying audience at a full concert hall – Maria discovered the piece she was expected to play was in D minor [K.466] … not only a fundamental difference to what she knew but also how to play.
The video just shows the utter panic she experiences, amplified by the fact there was a room full of people all staring at her, waiting for the moment where she begins.
And you know what, she pulls it off.
Because after the feelings of trauma, drama and death that no doubt went through her entire being, she realized she had nothing she could do except trust her talent.
Which she did.
Flawlessly.
Even though the appreciative audience will never realise just what she did for them.
Which is my way of saying as bad as things can sometimes feel – as long as you’re not in your situation because of laziness – there’s 4 things to remember:
1. Believe in your talent.
2. Remember you’re not in as bad a situation as Maria.
3. Whatever situation you’re in, it’s not the end of the World … it just temporarily feels that way.
4. The most powerful moments of creativity are often born out of adversity.
Check it out below …
Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Agency Culture, Attitude & Aptitude, Australia, Community, Corporate Evil, Creativity, Culture, Delusion, Education, Egovertising, Food For Thought, Imposter Syndrome, Individuality, Influencers, Management, Marketing, Marketing Fail, Mediocrity, Planners, Planners Making A Complete Tit Of Themselves And Bless, Planning, Professionalism, Reputation, Strategy, Sydney, Yahoo
A few weeks ago, I went to Sydney where I had the very real honour of spending a few days mentoring a bunch of talented people who were all relatively new to the industry.
One of the things that I heard from quite a few of them was the pressure they felt to build their reputation as a ‘thought leader’ on platforms like LinkedIn.
After telling them that a good 90% of what you read on there is nothing more than ego landfill [of which I am perfectly placed to make that statement given I’ve been spouting rubbish on the internet for over 20 years] … the reality is the best reputations are built on what you do, not what you say.
But I get it.
When you’re starting out, you’re desperate for professional acceptance and/or validation so you can find yourself blindly following whatever or whoever is currently popular amongst your peers – even more so if you’re based outside of the big cities where so much of the industry focus is concentrated.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying there is anything wrong with expressing your thoughts and ideas.
Frankly, it can be a brilliant way to learn, evolve and grow.
Hell, one of the best things about doing this blog for so long is seeing how some of my opinions have changed or been honed through the feedback/commentary/abuse I’ve received from so many people on here.
Of course, it helps that most were/are very smart and talented, but I fully acknowledge their input to my output has had a huge impact on what I do and how I think. But – and it’s a very big but – you only get real value out of expressing your thoughts and ideas if you’re doing it because [1] you want to – rather than feel you have to – and [2] you never adopt a tone of self-righteous, condescending, smugness.
If you do that, you may as well have a blinking neon sign over your head that screams, ‘Delusional, egotistical, blinkered dickhead’.
[I say ‘dickhead’ because, sadly, 95% of these sorts of people are men. White men.]
And yet, despite this, there’s still a hell-of-a-lot of people out there who adopt a tone that suggests they believe everything they do – and I mean EVERYTHING – is ‘unquestionably and undeniably right’ and anyone who dares to have a counter point of view, regardless of their experience, success or knowledge of their industries history, is automatically wrong.
A certain academic is a poster child for this sort of behaviour.
With these people, I always remember something my old man used to say, which was: “if someone needs to let others know how smart they are, they’re not that smart” – or said another way – if you meet someone who wants to be seen as a thought leader, they’re probably not and they probably won’t be.
Which is why the best advice I can give is to say ‘be you and no one else’.
I get the desire to feel like you belong.
I appreciate popularity has seemingly become more important than experience these days.
But if you ever feel pressured into writing on Linkedin because that’s what ‘thought leaders do’, remember this quote from Dennis Thatcher and save your energy for when you do have something to say or explore.
“It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt”.
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, Awards, Birthday, Bonnie, Cannes, Cliches, Comment, Creativity, Culture, Jill, Otis, Paul, Paula, WARC
So, I’m back.
And I survived.
Better yet, the family … pooch … and my colleagues seemed relatively happy to see me, which is a massive win.
Plus the people with the birthdays, had good ones. Albeit maybe because I didn’t get to share it with them.
Anyway, Cannes was interesting.
I have a very weird relationship with it because while I love hearing great people talk … looking at some incredible work and seeing old friends, I do hate a lot of ‘the scene’.
The indulgence.
The egotism.
The excess.
That said, so much of that is now coming from people and companies who work in consultancies, tech, research or big multinationals – rather than ad agencies or companies who practice creativity in the truest sense of the word. Part of that is because they’re the only ones who can afford it … but it also reveals a chink in their ‘armor of confidence’. Evidence that for all their smarts, they’re desperate to feel admired, liked, wanted … without ever realizing their American Psycho approach to life attracts derision more than attraction.
At least for me.
I often wonder if all industry conference get-togethers create this sort of energy.
Do dentists/analysts/publishers [delete as appropriate] start to convince themselves they’re the Masters-Of-The-Universe when all packed tightly into one room?
As I said, Cannes is brilliant for the talks, the creativity and the ability to reconnect with old friends.
It’s nice to see a celebration of what we do when so often it faces a barrage of abuse from people who wouldn’t know creativity if it smashed them in the face.
But the vulgar displays of excess are less attractive to me.
As are the giant ads from tech/consultancy companies which are trying to position themselves as creative but end up demonstrating they’re the total opposite.
At least that’s slightly amusing, especially because you know it took them 6 months of board approval/design to make it happen.
But I digress …
I’m back.
I had a good time.
I’m thankful to WARC and Paula for making it happen.
I’m very happy to have seen some old friends after years.
But – unfortunately for you – I’m ready to write more blog bollocks.