The Friday Thing #735

Hello there.

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The Friday Thing #735 is a bit of a follow-on from last week. A week ago I wrote about an interview with Peter Carter, the retired Group Vice President of Brand Building and Communications at Procter & Gamble in Contagious – sharing his thinking on creativity and simplicity in storytelling. In that same interview, he talked about career development in a way I have never thought about, and it really stuck with me this week – so much so that I felt compelled to write about it here.

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Pete was asked this question: What wisdom would you pass on to people who are just starting out in their careers in advertising right now?

His response, I think, is insightful so am sharing it in full here:

Let me offer what I offer to the junior people at Procter & Gamble. We have an interesting tradition that the most junior person on the brand actually provides comments to the agency first. Then it goes right up the chain. So the most senior person is the last one to comment. We do that because the most junior person has probably spent more time with the consumer than the guy at the top and the junior people are probably closer to the target. They might understand what’s happening in the world today, they might provide a unique perspective that isn’t found within the hallowed halls of Procter & Gamble.

I tell them, advertising is like a game of golf. The most junior person on the team, you get the biggest club, you’ve got the least control, and your job is to get the ball down the fairway as far as you possibly can. You’ve got one shot, make that one shot as clear and as crisp as you can. Don’t try to answer every issue that you’re seeing, find what you can do best and do that. The chip shots and the putting are more finesse shots. Those require people with more skill, so let your bosses do that part.

Another thing is, it’s okay to make mistakes. If you make a mistake on your first shot, you’ve got a couple more to make up for it. Just drive that sucker down the fairway, the best you can.

And the last thing I would tell them: you need to tip the caddy. In your career you are going to see the same people time and time again. So you better leave a good impression when you do, whether it’s agency people or whether it’s clients. It’s amazing how many people I have seen again in my 40 years.

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First off, I enjoyed the golf analogy here – it conjures up a visual for me of a person on a tee with the big driver, taking aim. The invitation to drive an idea as far down the fairway as possible, and then add more experience the closer you get to the pin got me thinking. To me, it was a novel idea – though I would add a few twists to it. I assume from Pete’s response that this tradition is well understood in advance as I have to think it’d be pretty intimidating for a new employee to be invited to speak up first in a room full of more experienced folks. Note that I make a distinction here between new and age because I don’t think this principle should be predicated by age or even rank, but more experience on the subject matter. The lack of experience on a topic can sometimes be the precise thing that brings much needed, outside perspective.

Second, I appreciated the ‘one shot’ approach and the encouragement to not try to answer every issue but to explore what you can uniquely add to drive the ball down the fairway.

Third, I love the encouragement to make mistakes. If the proverbial ball drops into the sand or water hazard, that’s fine. Just keep advancing the ball (and learning along the way).

Finally, the tip the caddy. This is just wise advice for life. I’ll leave that there.

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Pete’s answer is perhaps a bit too skewed to the advertising world so it’s not applicable in all fields of course. But I was struck by the golf analogy and the balance of experience/risk/learning and gratitude. I think it’s an interesting way to think about things.?

Speaking of golf, one of my favorite finds of the week was an interactive experience form The Washington Post that helps explain elections maps in the US and efforts to redraw them. It’s a brilliant way to engage readers in understanding Congressional redistricting and gerrymandering. Hat tip to Aimee for this one.?

Okay, that's all for this week.

Happy Friday & have a great weekend.

-Steve