Leader Blog: We Hunt Them; We Promote Them; Take their Advice

My Castle, My Rules- Read MediaPost today

 

Great piece in MediaPost called "My Castle, My Rules" by Julia Beardwood-- where she compares the ground rules set by The King's Speech's therapist to the ground rules that are so effective for creative agencies. 

As I noted in my comments, it brings up a couple of really important issues about TRUST. Clients and agencies must work together in an environment of mutual trust, which is an interesting commodity in today's business environment. When an agency is hired, until they prove themselves, they are often viewed with some skepticism (though with relief)-- until they are a proven commodity. Aboslutely fair enough!

Building trust is a process, not unlike the therapeutic relationship-- The client/patient must trust the agency/therapist full on, or the job will not be done correctly; the interraction willl not be honest. The King's Speech showed the relationship in its ultimate state: Who is bigger than a King? And when a King needs help, he can command. But the therapist was strong enough and held his ground so well that he did not YES the King to death, which meant, he could produce results; THEY would work collaboratively. This is assistance and creative support in its finest MOMENT.Certainly my finest professional moments have always involved trust- and results.

I have also seen many of my colleagues with agencies argue a challlenge and get stuck in the argument. Sometimes that means the agency may be holding its ground but is not as skillful at creating the therapeutic relationship (so to speak) as Lionel Logue did with King George. In fact, I have seen egos flaring (both ways). Egos are allowed to be there, but they have to make room for each other and listen carefully. (You remember that TV Show: "Make Room for Ego?")

There's also the issue of "I'm the vendor; you're the king." And in a recessionary economy, there is fear, so agencies, against their better judgments buut because of their need for food and shelter,  take on those client that they know will never have that trust. Or those that they have to YES to death. I must warn that YES-ING to death can mean death. In the case of Enron, the agency (accounting) yessed the client and did something unethical. The good news is it brought about SOX legislation. The bads news ias that millions of dollars in funds were lost to honest workers. Ugh. Horrible.

Just that alone is a reason to be ethical but even more so, building that trust gives way to the best work, the most creative interchange, MOMENTS of greatness. And yes, the analytics tell the story-- but it's the great story that makes the analytics work.