George Tannenbaum on the future of advertising,
the decline of the English Language and other frivolities. 100% jargon free.
A Business Insider "Most Influential" blog.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Now that I'm 52.
I've learned not to make any pointed comments when I post a cartoon like this one, which is from this week's New Yorker.
How different do you think your professional life would have been if you had not gone into an industry dominated by C students out of Syracuse and Boston University? Do you think you would have felt more accomplished knowing you spent your working hours with A students out of Virginia and Michigan and Berkeley?
When you're 52, you can ignore comments about C students from Syracuse. However, shining a light into the ear of most advertising professionals would only let the doctor see his diploma hanging on the opposite wall.
Once you've spent time in the company of truly talented and intelligent people, you'll come to understand that you've squandered your life working in advertising. Brain cells are a terrible thing to waste, and Madison Avenue is just the place to waste them. There you'll find no sense of irony, no enlightened thinking, nothing that lifts us toward the better angels of our nature. It's all small, hobgoblin minds.
Oh, Kelly, my birthday was months ago. And my goodness, I am feeling my age. Not that I can't keep up, it's the denigration of one's experience for people who haven't got any.
How different do you think your professional life would have been if you had not gone into an industry dominated by C students out of Syracuse and Boston University? Do you think you would have felt more accomplished knowing you spent your working hours with A students out of Virginia and Michigan and Berkeley?
ReplyDeleteWhen you're 52, you can ignore comments about C students from Syracuse. However, shining a light into the ear of most advertising professionals would only let the doctor see his diploma hanging on the opposite wall.
ReplyDeleteOnce you've spent time in the company of truly talented and intelligent people, you'll come to understand that you've squandered your life working in advertising. Brain cells are a terrible thing to waste, and Madison Avenue is just the place to waste them. There you'll find no sense of irony, no enlightened thinking, nothing that lifts us toward the better angels of our nature. It's all small, hobgoblin minds.
ReplyDeleteGeorge,
ReplyDeleteAnon was busy, so I didn't want to interrupt. Coast might be clear now.
Happy birthday... if that title was a hint. You don't (look) "read" a day over 45.
;)
Regards,
Kelly
Oh, Kelly, my birthday was months ago. And my goodness, I am feeling my age. Not that I can't keep up, it's the denigration of one's experience for people who haven't got any.
ReplyDelete