Essays on creative leadership,
culture, and the human side of work.
Published weekly, with an original illustration. Two series: Becoming and Advisory Notes.
I think of negotiation as investigation. When I investigate, I enter a learning mode, reducing my anxiety. By considering negotiation the first creative activity in a project, I create the opportunity to shape the project to meet my needs and those of the client. For me, replacing negotiation with investigation eliminates the potential for conflict…
Hubris ruins negotiations. Unrestrained pride can cost you friends, employees, clients, deals and even your life. Yep, hubris is dangerous and life-threatening. And, like the common cold, we can all catch it. Yes, I’m intimately familiar with hubris. Here’s how it rolls out for me. First, I find myself striving to achieve something; then I…
Naysayers suggest the merger may reduce client options and perhaps encourage growth among independent agencies. As thousands of small creative service providers react to the consolidation, the change could increase creativity across the industry. According to Omnicom’s John Wren, the purpose of the deal to acquire IPG is to scale capabilities in media buying, data,…
A follow-up to my earlier piece: Creatives, AI will take your job I do understand people being afraid AI will take their jobs. I’ve had times in my life where my income vanished unexpectedly. Scary times, those. So, I get that. I’ve seen technology changes take people’s jobs. CAD software replaced draftsmen at Boeing just…
We feel before we know. The car bounced a little when I hit the post. “Shit.” A quick glance and it looked like no one was around to notice. It was mid-morning, so the underground garage was full of cars but empty of people. I’d backed right into a concrete support. I didn’t want to,…
How do you get work and, more importantly, gain a continuous supply of work with acceptable fees? Better yet, at greater than acceptable fees? Suppose you’ve done a few similar projects, the work makes you happy, and you’re making decent money. With that, you have the beginnings of a niche and the possibility of a…
Yes, AI will replace designers, writers, illustrators, filmmakers, and all the functional roles we consider professional in the creative services realm. It could happen quickly. It may take a while. But in any case, don’t buy the bull about AI not having feelings, so it can’t do deep-feeling work. And don’t buy the “work by…