Ever felt completely and utterly out of your element?
Not to be obtuse, but I can’t really tell you where I am or who I’m with (except Steve… I’m happy to tell you I’m with Steve). You’ll have to trust me when I say their credentials are daunting to a farm kid who’s somehow managed to take everything that made him weird as a kid and gotten people to pay him money for it as an adult.
The guys at the table with Steve and me have worked on advertising for pert near everybody famous.
McDonald’s, Mercedes, IBM, Lexus, Nike, Heineken, ESPN. I could go on. For a while.
How do you not explain to your hosts… heck, your new clients… that there must have been some mistake? That there’s no way you should be in this room with these guys? Do you just get up from the table and excuse yourselves? Do you pull a fire alarm and sneak out amidst the commotion and hubbub?
Nope. Here’s what you do:
1. You fight through the fear. You suck it up, rub some dirt on it, and you whatever your other whatevers and you stay at that table.
2. You listen way, way, way, way more than you talk. Don’t feel the need to prove to anyone at the table how smart you are.
3. You remember: they picked you. Someone must believe something about you… and they’re probably right.
4. You remember Patrick’s advice. I may not be the best adman in the room, but I can try to be the best man. Don’t be the guy who’s really only interested in hearing one voice in the room: his own. No one’s ever been fired for being too gracious or too good a listener.
5. You don’t fake it. Admit you don’t know answers when you don’t know answers. Ask “why?” Ask it regularly.
6. You know your role. If you’re the writer, the art director may not need—or want—your help (he doesn’t). Get clarity on what it is, specifically, you were hired to do.
7. You remember who hired you. Give everything you’ve got to the client.
8. You remember what you observe. It may teach you what you don’t want to do or how you don’t want to act in the future. It may also teach you you’re not in so far over your head after all.
9. You remember good work is good work, and you’ve done plenty for family businesses and owner-operated companies around the world for twenty years.
10. You give thanks for a great team. Surround yourself with people who have your back… like your wife who tells you to read quotes about pushing through fear or your partner Steve who puts you at ease whenever you’re with him or your sister Lynn who knows the appropriate times to tell you to shut up.
Back to back texts about God and Pharrell Williams. I may need to get some help.