Gravitas, suits, and a damned fine tailor...

There are suits...and then there are SUITS...

I remember the first suit I came across, in the first ad agency I joined.?

He was a gnat’s whisker over 20 years old and constantly loud.?

It was a coping mechanism for lack of confidence.

He wore a cheap off-the-peg grey number, a red tie permanently undone, and brogues with a shine that was duller than dishwasher.?

Or ditchwater.?

His teeth were crooked and stained.

The middle and index fingers of his right hand were yellow with nicotine. His breath smelled like a well-used ashtray. And he thought he was the dog’s bollocks.?

He wasn’t, of course.?

He was the dogsbody.?

The gofer on the bottom rung of the ladder?

But because he also possessed the gift of the gab, he was tolerated.?

And because he was as keen as mustard, he was encouraged.?

He had arrived from college (with a detour at his uncle’s estate agency) and pretty quickly discovered what it felt like to be thrown in at the deep end…sans water wings.?

That was 30-odd years ago and at the time there were a lot like him.

Then something changed. He learned how to swim.?

And gradually he turned from a suit into a SUIT!!

He knuckled down.?

Came up the hard way.?

Learned his trade.?

Developed a serious face.?

Stopped smoking.

Learned how to dress properly.

Moved agencies a few times.?

Sorted out his teeth.

And turned into a damned good Account Director.?

Clients loved him.?

Suits under him loved him.?

Creative Directors loved him.?

He didn’t just present campaigns to clients, he sold them like his life depended on it.?

Of course sometimes the best ideas he presented sold?themselves. He simply sat back and refused to take the credit.?

Which is why writers and art directors loved him, too.?

No new marketing development escaped his attention. As time went on and the future beckoned, he embraced the digital creative revolution and all things social media with the fervor and passion of a true believer.

He was old school and new school. He was past, present, and future. All his rough edges had been buffed smooth as silk.

He had gravitas.?

And style.?

And experience.?

And a damned fine tailor.

Eventually, he became a respected board director, with special?responsibility for the acquisition and training of talent.?

Who better, his fellow directors reasoned, to oversee the pursuit?and mentoring of raw newbies, than someone who had clawed his way up from the dark pit and into the bright light.?

Someone who truly, madly, deeply understood the difference between a suit…and a SUIT!!

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Above is an excerpt from one of my books of urban essays... Ad Lib.

All my books are available separately and unblocked from those nice people at Amazon…right here

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