I always look at everything as rungs on a ladder.
You’re never going to jump straight to the top of the ladder.
If you try you keep failing, and eventually give up.
So personally, I believe in going up the ladder one rung at a time.
When I got my job as a junior copywriter at BMP, I knew I eventually wanted to be a creative director.
One rung down from that was deputy creative director.
One rung down from that was group head.
One rung down from that was copywriter, which was me.
So my next step up must be group head.
But John Webster didn’t see it that way.
He said that was the structure of old-fashioned uncreative agencies.
And he didn’t want that at BMP.
He wanted a flat structure of copywriter and art director teams.
And one creative director: him.
Well that definitely made sense creatively.
Problem was it didn’t fit my agenda.
So how to go about changing it?
All I wanted, to start, was a little junior team working under me.
Then at least I’d have the beginnings of a group.
But arguing about it was not going to get him to change his mind.
So I thought, let’s help John to have the idea himself.
And so I started taking on a lot of work.
I mean a lot of work.
And I started getting in student placement teams to help me do it.
And pretty soon I had a little group.
And we were getting lots of work out.
And eventually John spotted it,
And he said to me, “You can’t carry on doing all this work on your own. Why don’t you hire a junior team to help you?”
And, effectively, I was a group head.
See, how most people think the world works is HAVE-DO-BE.
What most people would have done is say they can’t BE a group head until they HAVE the title.
If they HAVE the title group head, they’ll DO the work involved, and they’ll eventually BE performing as a group head.
They operate the HAVE-DO-BE principle.
So they try to get someone to give them the title.
And sometimes they wait their whole life and never get it.
I didn’t have the time or the inclination to do it that way.
So I took the other route.
BE-DO-HAVE.
I decided I would BE a group head, and I would do DO all the work of a group head, and eventually I would HAVE the job title.
For me, doing the job comes first, the title comes second.
So that’s the sort of people I’ve always promoted.
People who are already doing the job rather than just waiting for someone to give them the title.
People who just get on with it, instead of waiting for permission.
For me it’s the advertising equivalent of a bunch of men digging up the road.
There will always be one man down the hole digging, and 2 or 3 men standing around the top watching.
The person you promote is the one down the hole digging.
Not the ones up the top watching.
I used to notice that a lot of secretaries were grumpy, and didn’t enjoy their job.
I used to ask them why they were doing the job if they hated it.
They usually said they were only doing it because they wanted to get into the TV department and become a producer.
This is the HAVE-DO-BE principal at work.
She’s not going to do a good job until someone gives her the title she wants.
Well let’s see how that works.
Is it possible that the Head of TV is thinking, “What we really need is grumpy secretary who hates her job and does it badly. So we can train her up to be a TV producer.”
I doubt it.
What happened to us at GGT, was that we had a creative secretary called Diane Croll.
She was a brilliant secretary.
So we asked her to liaise with the freelance producers and production companies we were using.
And she did that job brilliantly as well.
So we asked her to be our TV producer.
And she did that brilliantly, too.
Whatever job you gave her, however small, she did it brilliantly.
And she became head of TV and in charge of six other producers.
And, eventually, a member of the board.
She wasn’t HAVE-DO-BE.
She was definitely BE-DO-HAVE.
Ask yourself, what sort of person you’d prefer to be.
And what sort of person you’d prefer to have working for you.
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Brilliant Dave. A real insight - thank you.
Dave, was that jnr team, John Pallant + Tina Morgan by heni chance?
Have you ever considered Sinatra’s approach? - Do be do be do
Or of course that of Sting & The Police - De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da…..
Hi Grilla,
No, the first team was Gordon Smith and Pat Woodward. Then Dennis Lewis and Steve Hooper. Then Mike Partridge and an American girl. Then John and Tina.
John and Tina were great though, afterwards they came to GGT.
Thanks, Dave.
Already forwarded to my young adult daughters–members of an entire generation that wants all the lights always green and all the doors always open.
Hi George.
I was expecting “To do is to be”: Descartes. “To be is to do”: Sartre. “Do be do be do” Sinatra.
Sting’s must be the next in the campaign.
I’m pretty young and have been working in a digital marketing agency for a couple of years now. In a few years I intend to head up my own agency. But as you said, you can’t simply jump to the top rung of the ladder. I still have a lot to learn.
I don’t believe in the process of crawling up through the ranks - junior, middleweight, senior, team leader, design director, creative director. I’ll be climbing all my life at this rate. Waiting for the opportunity to arise to prove myself worthy of a raise or promotion is, to be quite honest, tedious.
Isn’t it more fun to create the opportunities yourself?
My job title is a designer. However in a day-to-day working environment my role can switch between designer, developer, copywriter, new business, creative, social media, marketing strategist, user experience designer etc.
I’m blessed with the opportunity to work in a small, forward-thinking agency that doesn’t believe in static positions or hierarchy. Every member of the team brings a certain set of skills to the table, but is valued in every aspect of the running and evolution of the business.
If a press release needs creating quickly and people are busy, I’ll step in and give a hand. In the evenings and weekends I’ll develop ideas for attracting new clients, or research latest developments in social marketing or web design tecniques.
Frankly, doing the same job every day would bore the f*ck out of me. So I take it on myself to become what I want to be, as opposed to letting my job title dictate my direction.
Sometimes your rungs on a ladder metaphor seems too linear. I’d say it’s more like traversing a mountain; sometimes straight up isn’t the most appropriate route. Perhaps there’s a faster, more dangerous, more fun path to take!
Just don’t forget your flag when you reach the top
Absolutely Nathan,
Well done so far.
ABSOLUTELY agree Dave.
Brilliantly put.
You have to show you can DO the job before they give it to you…or rather that you TAKE the job.
If you wait around for people to GIVE you responsbility and position, you’ll be a long time sitting around.
I hear often how people WANT to do something and I always say then just DO it. Or DO something that moves towards it.
http://ex-blank-page.blogspot.com/2010/03/in-reply-to-daves-great-posts-125-126.html
The old \Help me to help you help me\ routine always goes down well.
Don’t ask for more responsibility, assume it.
Dave, taking it the American girl was…er,
… that’s it, forgettable.
Gordon Smith, what became of him?
Grilla,
The American woman was, I think, called Marcie(was it Brogan?)
I think I got confused because she kept switching between her maiden and and her married name.
Also she didn’t stay as long as the guys, or stay in touch afterwards.
She was a mum, and I think she went back to the US.
Didn’t Gordon Smith go off to do zoology specialising in why some apes didn’t evolve into humans I think, Grilla?
Great post, Dave. What I find inspiring about you is, you don’t seem to have stopped trying even though you’re now an ECD running your own agency. Sounds daft, I know. But many of my friends opened their own little ad agencies/design houses - just so they could take a very hands-off approacery by working half day every day. I don’t see the point of setting up your own shop just to do no work.
Beautifully true as always Dave. I decided I wanted to add directing ads to my repetoire last year. So in September
I made a 60 second ad for £541.23. Then I had something to
show clients to prove I could do it. By November I was
getting paid for it.
Attagirl Rachel.
I heard he discovered that both apes and humans evolved from a common ancestor but are two separate species; i.e. one didn’t evolve from the other? And, a guy called Darwin stole all the credit…
fake it till you make it
Yes, attagirl Rachel. You have to create your own opportunities and create is the optimum word for creatives. It’s all a bit like the old football adage “If the ball won’t come to you, you have to go looking for it”.
‘Be it and you’ll get it Kel’you said… and it works.
Thanks for all the times I heard that Dave. My boys thank you too - as I have used the adage in your name for many years now.
Aw thanks for the encouragement Dave and John. John I think there’s a ball in that tree over there. Race you to it.
Hi Kerry,
Great to hear from you.
I didn’t do a thing, you did it all yourself.
All I did was get out of the way.
For everyone else raeding this:
Kerry was GGT’s Creative Services Director.
She was exactly like Diane Croll, and also ended up on the board of the agency.
Whatever you gave her she did better than required.
Her standards were higher than the standards needed to do the job.
Like all the best people she was working for herself and the agency got the benefit.
Well done Kel.
30 Rock -
Jack Donaghy: What I’m saying is: don’t dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want to have. So now, Manny?
Manny: Tomorrow I show up for work, dressed as a Mexican Wrestler.
i’m not sure if this is the appropriate forum to say this, or if this is an appropriate thing to say, but rachel carroll’s website is brilliant. i’ve just had a looksee and it’s cracking.
rachel, i doff my hat to you.
Hi Whelan,
It’s definitely appropriate but 2 questions:
a) are you sure it’s the right Rachell Carroll?
b) what’s the link, can you paste it?
The link is her name. Just click on it. It’s a really simple format, that is really fast to load, gets the message across, and made me smile.
Thanks Whelan,
I had seen it before but I’d forgotten.
You’re right it is a very good website.
Thank you Dave. I like your philosophy of Be-Do-Have. It seems like a good attitude to have in an agency in times of plenty. Paul Arden used to preach it to us at Saatchis, where he encouraged us to nick briefs. But in these more financially constrained times, where there aren’t so many briefs to nick, the prevalent attitude is Do Behave.
Hi Dave,
3 months ago my neighbour Jim, Curator of the local pavilion
told me I should run an art class to supplement my income.
It was a good idea, but it wasn’t what i wanted to do, so I thanked him
told him I couldnt see how it would work, but would come back to him.
Then I read your blog about Creativity not being just limited to advertising.
Then my abstract artist friend Tony said he wanted to paint large,
but can’t splash paint all over his redecorated flat and I suggested we use the
hall to slap paint around and just have a lot of fun. He said great, but who’s
going to foot the bill for all the paint.
Then I read your blog about when you have no money, you have to think.
Now there are six of us. A student fashion designer, a tryptich artist,
an ex-art college student, an unemployed abstract artist, Jim the curator, and me.
We are currently bidding for funding for art materials and things are moving forward.
I feel alive again. My seemingly insignificant job fits perfectly because it gives me time,
valuable time to paint. I’ve set myself a target of a painting a day. It sounds insane because it is, but if you’re going anywhere in this world, you have to build a head of steam, so my wife buys up the canvases in the pound shop when they appear.
Thanks for your encouragement Dave.
It has manifested itself in the most unexpected of ways.
Art is and always has been my one true passion.
These days when I paint, it’s like my blood running through my veins.
Well done Kevin,
I’ve just been listening to great talks from Ken Robinson, J K Rowling, and Steve Jobs.
And they all say the same thing: do what you love.
So good for you, you’re doing the right thing.
This is exactly like my Creative Director also said to me.
“If you’re a copywriter, work like you’re a senior copywriter. If you’re a senior copywriter, work like you’re a group head. If you’re a group head, work like you’re a creative director. And so on and so on…”
Great posting, Sir
Whelan and Dave thanks for being so positive about my website. Was thinking of changing it but I won’t now!
Whelan - so very kind of you to be spontaneously nice about my website. And ta Dave too. Was going to change it but won’t now! Whelan, would love to see your work if possible and return the compliment.
What is Love?
Is it money or art?
Rachel,
The website is very good.
You don’t have to change it but you can always improve it.
Heard this great quote last night from Eric Clapton: “If you’re any good at all then you know you can be better.”
Thanks Dave,
I gave my abstract artist friend Tony a dustpan and brush to paint with to thank him for the 98p palate knives. He’s still trying to work out how to use it.
Tomorrow I’m off to the R.A. with a seemingly insignificant painting. I don’t know if I even like it myself, but I’m not the judge, so who cares, I can always paint over it. I already have done once. I had to, I tore the canvas when it fell off the tripod last year and patched over it with a massive dollop of Zinc White because the stitching was so bad, but then I’m not being marked on my needlework am I? The funny thing is it’s a very significant picture to the development of a moron but to look at it you’d never know. I call it a transition painting. The Summer Exhibition subject for 2010 is Raw, so I’ve done as rough a job as I could because the idea of the exhibition is to get inside an artists’s head (heaven forbid) to see how an artist thinks (God help them). Sometimes you just have to do what you told us Harry Redknap did: just put your boots on and run around the pitch and see what happens. I’d kill myself laughing if I got elected to the RA. Now that would be a dream come true in the most unexpected way. Let’s pray they elect me. Ha!
Hi Dave,
Hope you read this. Just wanted to let you know that by following your ‘BE-DO-HAVE’ philosophy I’ve recently earned myself a salary increase and have taken a big step towards becoming Deputy CD. Thank you for the insight!
Fan-fucking-tastic Gareth.
It makes it all worth while when I hear things like that.
Well done.