I had a hard time in my first agency, I won't lie.
Much of this was down to the fact I was in the wrong job, maybe the world's worst account handler.
What got me through was actually doing strategy without realising it.
Well nearly through anyway.
This wasn't the whole story though, much of it was culture.
A creative department and studio who delighted in tormenting inexperienced suits just because they could.
A macho culture built on bullying and pushing their people until they burned out.
Many of us have been there and probably still carry the scars.
Thankfully this kind of agency is much rarer these days, however, the pressure to fit in still persists even if the experience is less bruising.
Even today, many of the best agencies are more or less cults, with a very specific culture, a way of behaving and doing things that is pretty inflexible.
They'll say their culture is precious and it's important that new hires don't upset this.
Being 'easy to work with'.
So they end up hiring more people like them.
Which is perverse considering agencies are supposed to be about new thinking and original ideas.
Diversity is important simply because, well I don't really have to spell it out do I?
It's also very uncommercial, because doing things the same way over and over again leads to the outputs becoming gradually staler and more formulaic.
So when you can, try and work in a different way every time. Inject a little chaos into the routine.
Muscles get used to being trained the same way, you have to keep then guessing, even the one between your ears.
From a people perspective, even if your agency is one of those who keeps you in tight teams, or hires for a tight, one size fits all culture.
Inject some diversity into your working practices and projects.
Set up a network of people you know in your life who will tolerate talking about brands and stuff.
Talk to them about your project, about your brand or whatever.
Not only will they not be jaded by all the brand pseudo science, they'll offer a fresh view that will keep you on your toes.
If you have kids, talk to them and listen to them, they haven't learned to not ask difficult questions yet.
Go out and talk to strangers (in a non-weird way).
This is hard if you're shy like me, but learning to overcome this is no bad thing and you get a constant feed of different perspectives.
Read stuff you don't usually read.
Go places you don't usually go.
Wear stuff which isn't usually your style.
Listen to different music.
The job of strategy was, is and always will be to bring the preferences and lives of real people into the process.
Yes it's a lot more, a hell of a lot more, but the core skill has never been more important.
When creatives chase whatever in fashion in awards land.
Digital specialists don't even see people, they see data points.
When more of us are working from home (a good thing if lets more people do the job of course).
The more stimulation you can expose yourself to from the diverse, much more interesting world out there.
The more you'll stimulate better thinking and ideas.
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