(Picture of wisdom and strength as portrayed by Paolo Caliari, 1528-88, Italian painter - not sure what the baby stands for)
1. Be brave to say you don't like something
You need to have a good reason and articulate why, but generally it's better to own up to not liking a creative idea at the start of the process (for better or worse), than to end up working on it and not be passionate about it. You have to have an opinion on it and sell it to clients [in front of peers no less] - and that's much harder to do when you feel indifferent or negatively about something than something you're proud of.
2. Think
In the words of Cat Stevens, take your time, think a lot. Don't get wrapped up in the 'doing' part. It's easy to get into that bubble, and can erode creativity very quickly. (I find my best thinking time is in the bath, ideas usually come to me there too).
3. Don't listen to what recruiters tell you
Always trust your gut feeling about a job, agency, or future line manager. If the recruiter says they're the best thing since sliced bread - but they simply don't blow you away, the chances are they never will.
4. Experience it for yourself
I asked someone I knew previously what they thought of their agency before I took a job in the same place. The question was 'how integrated is it?'. They responded, 'not at all, I never work with digital'. I took the job anyway and how wrong he was. But it's HIS opinion, HIS account. Every angle is different.
5. Read
That thing your Mum says about clever people...'ooh she sounds well read'. How true it is, the smartest people I know read ALL the time and it shows. Must read more myself truth be known.
6. Keep looking at friends in different careers
This is sort of 2 fold. 1) Don't get wrapped up in the advertising bubble too much - or the bloggersphere come to that. A brilliant planning director recently told me, 'read The Sun!'. 2) Look at other people's careers. David Ogilvy learned presentation, discipline, organisation and patience from his time as a Chef in Paris. Appreciate skills in other job sets and watch how people take pride in them.
7. Carry a pad - always
You'll have an idea, hear something you'll want to steal or get a load of stuff dumped on you by someone senior - it just makes good sense.
I'd like to have had a rounded off '10', but don't want to make them up for the sake of it. These I GENUINELY learned and are pearls!
2 comments:
Nice post
A build on your "Read" recommendation - read things that other people don't read (this is a Jon Steel and Richard Huntingdon recommendation as well) Anyone can talk about The Tipping Point, but stories and pitches and work becomes much more alive if you can draw analogies from art, history and literature.
A good ad-person finds something fascinating in every single section of the Sunday papers...
Yes, listened to a Huntingdon interview where he said he was struggling to find something good and different to read; and that reading all the industry books like John Grant etc would never give you a competitive edge because everone else has read it!!
I'm reading a book on strategies for how to get into investment banking at the moment (something I've no real interest in) to try it out - and it's really working.
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