FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF... A sharing of mistakes, wisdom and learnings by Kristin Patrick

LESSON #01: “All you need to do is go to the University of Your Eyeballs” -- Said by… (If you know him, you love him. He’s brilliant, hilarious, shrewd & tough all rolled into one) 

We all sat in the meeting reviewing design, concept, executional plan and creative. But something was wrong and nobody was saying it. In our gut we knew something was off. After months of research, the team was intimating, --surely, this is the right plan, and there should be no questions or comments.

The presentation ended and the room fell silent.

He was never afraid to be the voice of dissent in the room, and for that, I greatly admired him. He was always the first to speak in a tense meeting.

“This doesn’t even make sense. All you have to do is go to the University of Your Eyeballs to see that this is not right. I don’t need mounds of data or analysis paralysis. Trust your gut, what do you all really think?”

I used to laugh inside a little every time he said the phrase -- University of Your Eyeballs---and he would say it over and over again, in multiple meetings. But he was right.The University never fails you.

LESSON LEARNED: Go to the University of Your Eyeballs as many times as you need. Graduate from it over and over with multiple degrees. Pair it with your data and analytics but always trust it. Even if you are the first person in the meeting to dissent, an education from the University of Your Eyeballs will always serve you well. Trust your gut.