Where’s The ‘Give It A Go’ Culture?

I had the privilege of attending Smith Brothers Media networking event at the Button Factory last week.

I met a few people from what I call “Tommy’s World” – marketing people, designers, writers. Creative types.

Though I studied Architecture at university, I never really came into contact with the corporate world.

During my time at a construction company, I ran jobs using the “slab economy.” I’d give a slab to whoever did me a favour; then at the end of the day I’d have slabs in the fridge so I could give beers to boys on site. It worked great – things got done on time and I had no problem getting people motivated.

Everything worked so well I became manager of a six-storey project at age 24, when others my age were still stuck on two-storey works.

That’s not exactly a big example of corporate responsibility.

When I left the construction game and entered the fruit and vegetable market, I bought Alexanders Fruit Oakleigh on a handshake.

No due diligence, contracts, or other corporate mumbo jumbo. That’s how it happened.

I tried something and it stuck.

Tommy makes this really lame joke that he’s a copywriter because he “printed up a bunch of business cards, stuck his name on it, and wrote ‘copywriter’ underneath” and that’s how he became a copywriter.

(He’s sitting next to me and rolling his eyes. I get that a lot.)

To be fair, I don’t even have business cards. I make enough phone calls to enough wholesalers in the market and before too long people know I’m a fruit and veg retailer.

In the fruit and veg game, you don’t need to go to university or TAFE or have any sort of training. You just have to go hard in with hustle. These guys are down on the market negotiating pear prices like it’s life or death. They could sell ice cream to lactose intolerant eskimos. They do it on a daily basis.

“Those are called soft skills, David,” Tommy says over my shoulder. Yes Tommy, soft skills. But there’s nothing soft about how cut-throat a market floor can be. Even though we’re rivals, we’re having coffee and cracking jokes after all is said and done.

In the fruit and veg game, you don’t need to go to university or TAFE or have any sort of training. You just have to go hard in with hustle. These guys are down on the market negotiating pear prices like it’s life or death. They could sell ice cream to lactose intolerant eskimos. They do it on a daily basis.

It’s all done through trial and error. The cream rises to the top in this world.

In my own example, I didn’t set out to become a fruit and veg salesman by studying it at uni. I dove into social media and marketing using the same method. Having a go, getting rid of what doesn’t work, and keeping what does.

I tried something again, and it stuck again. What didn’t work, I tossed aside.

I don’t know why so many people are afraid of trying and failing. It’s the only way you know you’re improving.

Corporate people talk about “continuous improvement” but does it mean “continuous failure until we figure it out?” Somehow, I don’t think so. I'd love to be proven wrong, though.

In my limited experience, corporate culture is so risk averse it’s a wonder they make any money. If a corporate sales division had the boys from the market in their back pocket, they’d be ASX listed by lunchtime Friday.

If someone says you don’t have the training, that hurdle is your way forward. Give it a go. See what happens.

The worst that can happen is that it doesn't work.