So my son broke his arm in October. Badly, really badly. It's mostly okay now, but took a fair amount of rehab. We were at the hospital the other day for a check up and, like always, he didn't complain at the endless waiting, the pain of getting his (still tender) arm bent all over the place, or anything.
This is nothing though, next to what he went through during the initial break. Pins put in, genuine pain. Then pins pulled directly out of his arm without anaesthetic. I've never been prouder.
And yet.
And yet.
Like all parents, it's easy to get frustrated in the hurly burly of the day to day. When he argues over time on the Xbox. Forgetting what you told him two minutes ago.
Normal human stuff.
Just as it's easy to not appreciate the brilliance of everyday. Playing football in the street together. Arguing over who's better at FIFA. Seeing the latest Star Wars movie (which we both loved). Swimming lessons. Gently winding up his mother.
Whenever I lose patience, thinking about how brave he was (and is) with his arm always pulls me back.
Just as I always try (and sometimes fail) to stop, to just take in the moments we're having fun just messung around.
Being a parent isn't the same with people you work with of course.
However, I bet they wind you up frequently and I'm sure there is an everyday flow of great stuff you're so used to you don't even notice.
I'm also confident there have been moments when you've been incredibly grateful for them. Maybe they've got you out of a tight corner, maybe they've blown you away with something amazing. Maybe they've gone out of their way to help you when they didn't need to.
Just as with my boy, it's easy to focus on the little frustrations and not the daily flow of perfectly ordinary brilliance. Sometimes the here and now can also cloud those big moments you were so thankful they were there.
People are doomed to only notice either the very good or the very bad. The perfectly brilliant of the everyday passes us by.
And past greatness is soon forgotten, the last experience is always the most vivid (which is why film studies focus group the ending more than any other part of a film. It's always why a really good campaign should end on a high note, not simply stop when the spend does).
We just don't appreciate a kettle until it breaks. Just as we don't miss people until they're gone. Just as you don't need insurance until something goes wrong.
Why am I telling you this?
Because it matters more to a strategist than most people.
Your work quickly gets forgotten when the creative work gets done and everybody loves it the executions.
Unless the creative work is bad. Then the strategy, or the brief, is of course wrong. Then everyone remembers it.
Yet the moment you try and wow folks, let your ego take over, you're buggered. When you try and do a strategic set up in a pitch like Ted Talk and forget people are waiting for the creative work. When you try and write a wow brief that is a really a thinly disguised creative idea.
In other words, when you get in the way, rather than liberate others.
It's not fair, but if you want to wow a crowd, join a band or do stand-up.
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