I've had a shitty time of it lately.
I won't go into detail.
Going into detail will only get me into trouble.
However as Richard Nixon used to say, let me say this about that.
The problem most societies, most businesses and certainly most agencies face is all the same.
There is a shortage of grownups.
People willing to actually accept responsibility for their actions and for their words.
People willing to actually do the job they're paid to do.
People willing to man up.
Shit, forget about manning up.
People who actually show up.
On time.
Prepared.
With ideas.
Ideas they're ready to defend.
Ideas they're ready to make work.
No, there's no one who takes responsibility.
Who is accountable.
Who makes work work.
I digress now.
Half of the people in agencies don't even know how to put on a pair of pants so their ass-cracks don't show.
They don't know that you don't wear wool hats in 80 degree weather.
They don't know.
They're children.
There are no longer people with the balls to tell people who actually do the work that they did a good job. Or a shitty job.
No, it's so much easier to be a weasel.
A dirty, smelly, mother-fucking, mealy-mouthed, credit-grabbing, panty-waisted, candy-assed, finger-pointing dickwad.
We live in an Empire of Illusion.
Where people rise to the top based on their scarf-wearing ability.
And your prowess in creating ads that never ran for clients that never had a budget for accounts that never existed. Ads that never ran.
The people who talk a lot and say nothing.
The people who see every problem but offer no solutions.
Children.
Babies.
Twerps.
What we need are grown-ups.
George, I am new to your blog but am becoming a big fan.
ReplyDeleteMy own recent experience is that most agency leadership does not want anyone taking responsibility. Too threatening. Too disruptive. Agencies much prefer collaboration, which is a euphemism for what used to be call group-think.
S.
stevesilvercreative.com
Leadership doesn't want any one taking responsibility? Hardly. MIllenials are a generation of Morlocks. Gen Xers never developed a work thic and Boomers are seen as history with irrelevant experience. Just the opposite of what you see i the medical profession or others.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue I believe is that the bigger agencies get, Chiat's axion, the worse they can evolve into a mediocre, safe, dull hulk. most do. Weiden is an exception. But their reverence for the work is exceptional.
Maybe you belong there George.
George forgive my typing .
ReplyDeleteFull of typos above but my Galaxy # isn't cooperating this am. Apologies.
award winning ads whether they actually really ran, or whether they are for some small and basically insignificant business is what gets agencies and individuals high up on awards charts. There is a lot of money in that. A creative who can come up with an ad, scam or not, that wins awards will be way better rewarded than a creative who do some serious heavy lifting on a big and complex piece of business. Just one example of the power of the award schemes today. The industry lives in two parallel universes.
ReplyDeleteSteve, glad to make you acquaintance. I love your work.
ReplyDeleteg