"GOD SO HATED ADVERTISING MEN
THAT HE NEVER MADE A WHOLE ONE"
(Page 2)
"..I did not change the mountain,
the mountain changed me."
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I have, you may notice, adhered to the idea of adapting oneself to the environment. To some that notion is cowardly. Why not overcome the environment? The best answer to that was one I got a year ago from a man who had spent half a lifetime in unsuccessful efforts to climb Mt. Everest. I was talking to Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa guide who finally accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary on the first successful climb to the top of the world's highest mountain. In our conversation, I'm afraid I used that dreadful cliche "the conquest of Everest."
He grinned and shook his head. "Not conquest, Mr. Dillon. I did not change the mountain, the mountain changed me."
Returning from Nepal to Chicago, however, I believe that the fact that you are here tonight is ample evidence of your interest in your own process of adaptation. And since most, if not all of you, are primarily concerned with the creative side of advertising, let's look at the process of adaptation from that point of view.
First, however, we need some agreement on the criteria for evaluating adaptation to an advertising environment. How can one tell whether an individual is adapting well or poorly? It has been frequently said that there are only two good reasons for staying in the advertising business, and that if either one is missing you should pursue another career.
The two essential ingredients being:
A. You are making a fair amount of money.
B. You are having quite a lot of fun.
"...the possibility of increasing real
income in the future is a necessary
ingredient for most people."
| I am fully in agreement with this succinct formula, although I think it needs some amplification.
It perhaps goes without saying that the possibility of increasing real income in the future is a necessary ingredient for most people.
To the literal minded, "having fun" may be misleading. It really encompasses a whole range of psychological benefits that many people have found in advertising work. Finding a creative solution to a difficult advertising problem and having it succeed in the marketplace can be a source of tremendous personal satisfaction. Being able to work alongside bright, alert and talented people is an important benefit to many. Not the least important of psychological benefits is the knowledge that the advertising environment is one that has unusual opportunities for upward movement.
"the advertising environment is
one that has unusual opportunities
for upward movement."
| Particularly in the creative area, your work can have a high degree of visibility. Many occupations put a high premium on seniority, and increasing responsibilities come slowly. But the advertising world is relatively quick in recognizing and rewarding creative talent. The flip side of this, of course, is that advertising frequently offers more downside risks. Like the world of professional sports, it offers a lot of opportunity for being a hero today and a bum tomorrow. Depending on one's temperament, this risk vs. reward ratio can either be terrifying or challenging.
Having established these rough criteria of adaptation, let's take a look at some of the more prominent obstacles to achieving it.
Some sage, whose name I forget, once pointed out that an interesting lesson can be learned from the construction industry.
"...creating successful advertising
campaigns usually involves gaining
the co-operation of other people..."
| He asserted as an undeniable fact that in the construction field foremen are paid more than carpenters, and contractors live in bigger houses than foreman.
The reason for this, he said, was that carpenters were skilled at managing things, foremen were skilled at managing things and people, and contractors were skilled at managing things, people and money.
While this may appear to be self evident, it seems that many people are not aware that the same rules tend to apply to their own occupation. Earlier on, I mentioned that family life and formal schooling frequently does little to prepare one for being the servant of an organization. Formal schooling does a lot to teach us to manage things -- words, numbers, facts, theories. But formal schooling spends little time in teaching us how to manage people. If one goes on to write books, becomes a fine artist, or engages in some other solitary endeavor this may be an inconsequential handicap. But creating successful advertising campaigns usually involves gaining the co-operation of other people, sometimes quite a lot of them.
I'm sorry to say my observation has been that creative people are frequently the most likely to be unaware of the necessity of learning how to manage people. And often it is the most able creative people who are the least adaptive. This is, of course, not unique to advertising. For years, newspaper men have observed that it is extremely hazardous to promote the star reporter to the job of city editor. Scientific organizations have similarly found their top scientists often do badly when put in charge of the lab. And it is an old adage in marketing that when you promote your star salesman to the post of sales manager, you have probably lost a good salesman and gained a lousy sales manager.
"The problem seems to be that doing something
well yourself and getting the same
thing done well by others are two separate skills.
And many people who do things well do not see
the need of learning the second skill."
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The problem seems to be that doing something well yourself and getting the same thing done well by others are two separate skills. And many people who do things well do not see the need of learning the second skill. Yet sooner or later, adaptation to the advertising environment requires very considerable skills in working through other people. Evidently many think such a skill comes naturally. I suggest it does not. I believe it requires serious study, probably more intense than in learning the tools of advertising itself. Thus we have the paradox that while advertising offers considerable upward mobility, there is a high failure rate among those who gained additional responsibilities. Almost inevitably this failure is not attributable to lack of advertising skill, but to a failure to learn how to manage people.
Going back to the construction industry analogy, there is the matter of managing money. I am afraid that except for the ability to scrutinize their own paycheck for raises, many advertising people are not very concerned with money matters. Most creative people are probably of a temperament that gets no joy out of columns of figures and are only too delighted to let someone else worry about the financial side of advertising.
"They don't have to be
accountants, but they need
to know enough to keep from
giving the store away."
| But I am afraid many an advertising agency has gone aground because, to use the words of the victims, "we had this guy who was looking after the money end."
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