There's very little point to an exchangeable, PowerPoint reading, acronym-spewing middle management type these days. The type of manager who is quick to bitch and whine but slow to actually deliver. But there is a point to managers who can bend the world to their will, with enough initiative and vision to really add value to any project. Be that manager.
The advent of technology and the internet means so many previous administratively burdensome tasks are now done by a PC or are outsourced to someone who does it better, faster and cheaper than you. We no longer have to phone for a taxi we just open our Uber app. If you want to know a fact you don't have to learn anything you can just Google it. So what are we now filling all that digital time with? Oh, I know. TikTok.
We all fail and successful people actually fail more than most. So the two things you need to do is first, stop avoiding the blame and throwing shade on others, and second, you need to make sure you sign up for the high profile and scarily important projects. Here are some tips that will help you fail your way to success:
If these tips scare you, you are getting somewhere.
Companies and resources that are owned by private individuals or entities who are free to trade contracts with each other ultimately leads to increased efficiency, greater production, and a plethora of innovation. But success leads companies to protect their assets and investments by doing everything to make their market "un-free". Locking in patents, long term pricing and building barriers to entry in order to safeguard their balance sheet. Such thinking is up against technology, forced transparency and more sophisticated consumers with regulation on their side. In the short term the monopoly seeking entity is more effective. But in the long term the free market will always win.
We all know that developers, designers and artists do their best work when left alone to get into the flow and stay well away from the humdrum of organisational management. No clockwatching, no meetings, no stress from project demands. Our creative people need to be protected from all sorts of wasteful nonsense. Managers need to think more about what it is to be a creative because we all know that creating things is more difficult than it ever was before. And most managers would probably benefit from a bit of isolation to do the truly challenging tasks before them. But the creatives amongst us need to learn to behave more like a manager. If they don't they are ultimately side lined and get cut out of the big decisions within an organisation. Neither creatives or managers insist their way is the best way, but nothing will be brought into the world if they don't fully co-operate.
There are times in our lives when we have very little information upon which to make a decision – sometimes there's absolutely no information and nothing but the hum of a white noise machine. And yet still you have to make a decision. So you can use your experience, your intelligence, you might even try and tap into metaphysics and the principle governing all things! But occasionally all you can do is toss a coin. If you want to make sure you're right do best of three. If there is not enough data, or there cannot be enough data, insist on a coin toss. At least that way you can save yourself hours of pontificating and admit to yourself that you are winging it.
The thing about lionising successful people is that we only ever remember the successful things they did and completely forget all the ideas and ventures they had that failed. A great example of it is Oprah Winfrey who has a long history of failed shows, abandoned projects, and plans that never came to fruition. But we all know how well respected by the market and loved by society at large she is. We simply don't track any of the failures. And neither should you when you think about yourself.
These are the two options available to most of us:
How many staff should answer their phone on a Saturday? What's the policy regarding postponement and cancellation? How quickly following the end of the fieldwork are the respondents paid? Can I contact the people who took part in my study? How many steps from the train station to the research venue?
Three quick tips for anyone who cares about this:
Pine nuts are served by the handful and it's literally impossible to check everyone so a bad tasting pine nut can ruin a whole mouthful. A pineapple is different. You pick it up and smell it and if you don't like it you can simply choose another pineapple. If you are selling pineapples the goal is to make your pineapples the best that there is. If you are selling pine nuts the goal is to get a uniform size and shape and eliminate all defects. Pineapples are about looking and smelling great and appealing to the individual. Pineapple buyers get to choose! The pine nut producers needs to focus on statistical - and data-driven processes like Six Sigma to limit mistakes or defects.
From a very early age we are taught how to behave towards people in authority. By the time we get to school the emphasis is on being 'good student' and that translates into "being a good employee". But in many ways this can lead to being "safe" and never challenging the way things are done because a) you don't want to rock the boat and b) there is a risk of failure so all your "good employee" kudos is lost. But does this truly help your boss? Isn't the truth that maximising what you do as opposed to minimizing and being safe the only way you can raise the bar? You might fail, you might get reprimanded, but if you want real growth you need to see those in authority as resources not limits.
We either ignore brands or we judge them, and most of the time with hardly any information. A good brand has a laser like focus, knows exactly who its target audience is, has a clearly defined mission, knows its USP, can identify its key values, tell its story from the beginning and have a brand identity reflective of these goals, and does all of this consistently. Seems so obvious. What is less obvious is an in built ability to discipline, ostracise or even expel the negative within. A good brand will fight not to get hurt from both within and without. "You're hurting us, this is wrong, we are expelling you."
So what lessons have we learned along the way?
Lesson 1: In fact, you can make a difference, you can begin something from nothing and grow it without authority or permission. Passionate people on a mission make change happen.
Lesson 2: You must be prepared to stick at it, to push yourself, to last longer than you ever expected and to care so much it actually hurts you.
It's so easy to be disappointed that you are not a huge success. But what does huge success truly mean? In market research I suppose it means being known beyond the sector, having a swanky office in London (with a viewing studio attached!), maybe even multiple offices across the globe. All we've done is bring new staff into the sector, consistently deliver top class fieldwork and recruitment for our clients, and offer members of the public amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to take part in cutting edge market research that makes the world better for everyone. There will always be someone telling you that you're not cool enough, clever enough, business minded enough or whatever enough. That's their agenda. But what's yours? Always shun the non-believers.
It's all about efficient internal operations, true fieldwork knowledge, a positive attitude, creative problem solving skills, fast response times, a highly personalised service, full support to whatever level you need, a focus on wider trends so we can add value for clients over time, and above all else absolute ownership of the fieldwork.
I suppose what this really means is that the things that have the most value or quality cost nothing - in other words the price of something does not always properly indicate its value. The extra care, the extra love, the extra attention. It doesn't cost anything at all really.
I once heard a joke about how Hallmark Cards invented various occasions simply to sell more cards so when I heard about World Back Up Day I immediately thought that the people at Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud are having a joke on us. But it's true, it exists and let's face it, if you care about it, you probably should back it up.
You learn a lot about yourself (and others) during a slow news day. You know the sort of days I am talking about. The days when there's no big problem to solve, fewer than normal new business enquiries, no dramatics on the business front.
So what do you do? Do you get to grips with all that "should have/could have" admin that's built up? Do you check over those long term ventures you are working on (the ones that could potentially expose you to failure but you're prepared to take the risk)? Do you start calling around those clients you promised yourself you'd chase up? Or do you do nothing?
Obviously I love my phone - who doesn't? That's my life right there in my pocket. But everyone knows that if you want to do the proper work you need to be sat at your desk in front of your screen (if you're like me in front of your two screens), trawling through the project details and dotting the I's and crossing the T's. Phones are obviously great, and we couldn't like without them, but we don't do our best work on them.
It's not the same as stealing and you will probably find that you and everyone around you benefits.