Apparently, a few years ago a commercials director was at a dinner party with an ad agency CEO.
The CEO had given the director some great scripts and helped make him successful.
The director was a very funny guy, and kept everyone amused.
But at some point he said something the CEO didn’t like.
The CEO couldn’t think of a witty response immediately.
So he poured his glass of wine over the director’s trousers.
Now there are basically two responses at this point.
The director can react emotionally.
He can thump the CEO (unlikely, it could end in a law suit).
He can get up and walk out (bad choice, it looks a sulk).
He can wittily put the CEO down (he looks good but it’s probably the end of the relationship).
He can ask for money to get his trousers dry cleaned (embarrassing, the CEO will probably just toss him a couple of £20 notes).
Or the other choice is to act rationally.
Not emotionally.
Just laugh it off and carry on with the evening.
Realising that the CEO has given you many expensive commercials in the past.
He’ll probably give you many more in the future.
You can load a few grand onto the next commercial to assuage the insult if you want.
In fact you can load several grand onto every commercial he gives you from now on.
You can get even that way.
That glass of wine ends up costing him tens of thousands of pounds.
That’s if you act rationally.
Or it ends up costing you tens of thousands of pounds if you act emotionally.
See, none of the options are wrong.
But, like everything in life, they each come with consequences
To stay in control of your life, all you have to do is constantly be aware of the consequences of your choices.
Then choose accordingly.
There’s nothing wrong with standing up and thumping the CEO.
As long as you’re prepared to never work for him again.
Plus a possibly costly court case for assault, and expensive damages from the restaurant.
If you’re willing to accept all of that then go ahead and thump him.
But don’t moan about it afterwards.
The director didn’t.
His immediate thought was probably something like “This is really embarrassing. Shall I throw my glass of wine back?”
Followed immediately by “What will that cost me?”
And he weighs the short-term benefits of getting even against the long-term benefits of swallowing the insult.
He decides he’d rather have the big money, thanks.
The trousers cost around £150, he stands to make tens of thousands.
It would be nuts to throw that away.
So he sits and smiles.
He balances an evening’s embarrassment against a lot of money.
That’s existentialism.
That’s street smarts.
There’s nothing wrong with whatever choice you make.
As long as the preferred consequences are factored into your choice.
The only thing wrong is pretending you have no choice over the consequences.
That’s what Sartre calls ‘living inauthentically’.
Pretending you have no choice.
You always have a choice.
Of course, you may not like the choices.
But you always have a choice.
Incidentally, that commercials director now has much more money than that CEO.
I don’t know Dave, it also depends if the CEO’s a bully
And uses this as an excuse to see how far he could push the director
I know an MD who sidelined an art director so that he could hire his own art director son
The art director thought the MD would leave him alone after the sidelining
But no
The MD kept faulting the art director
Hoping that the sidelined art director would quit
So the MD’s son’s position would be more secure
What I find sad in the CEO/director case is this
Ad agencies are often told to stand up for our beliefs
From young, we read about Bernbach (and Sir John) talking about ‘a principle is not a principle until it costs you money’
And then suddenly because of money, we put up with what we don’t believe in
And then we wonder why there are so many crap ads.
That is why some advertising creatives really need the account department to handle this sort of client and agency soirees.. They are the ones to keep their cool at a moment like this, and also more likely not to acrevate the client.
I’d have topped his glass back up.
Absolutely John.
Reminds me of The Goon Show.
SFX: Thump
Eccles: Ow. You’ll pay for that.
SFX: Ka-Ching
Eccles: Ta, want another go?
Dave, been thinking about the director
If I were looking for a director and had heard about his reaction to the CEO, I probably won’t get him to direct my commercial
Why?
A guy who’s willing to suffer personal indignity for money – is he not liable to make compromises if doing so would reward him financially?
I suspect that’s why many of us respect agencies – or individuals – who are willing to let even big clients go because of strategic\creative differences
Robin,
I don’t know if there’s a right way to be about this.
Paul Arden always admired Graham Fink for throwing a yucca tree through a window over a point of principle.
I always thought it was a dumb thing to do.
Whether it was right or wrong depends on who you want to impress.
Remember, Bill Berbach apparently always carried a printed card in his pocket that he used to look at in meetings.
It said “Maybe they’re right”
IMHO compromise isn’t always a bad thing.
Don’t get mad, get even.
Eleven years ago, I almost hit an Acting Creative Director. He is crap and the only reason he called any shots is he’s drinking buddies with the CD.
What got me so angry was we had to launch a new product. At first, we were given a week and a half. Then the suit changed it to 3 days, which of course is ridiculous.
So the matter went up to the Acting CD whose answer is, “I don’t see what the problem is.” Of course it was not a problem because he was not doing the work.
Much as I wanted to hit the Acting CD, I didn’t. But when I got into another room, I hit the wall so hard I fractured my fingers.
The comedy team CDs then refused to let me go on Medical Leave, saying it was self-inflicted. I was advised to see a lawyer, which I did.
The lawyer said he just couldn’t understand why I was so worked up about work. He kept chiding me for being so work-focused. So I fired him on the spot. He was amazed.
I told him, ‘I take my work seriously and I expect you to. Since you cannot understand why I did what I did, then I really don’t think you’re the best person to help me through. Because someone who cannot understand my frustration is obviously neither committed nor dedicated to his profession.’
In the end, I went on Medical Leave. Months later, the Acting CD quit, the CD was retrenched a few weeks after me.
Think what a happy (or rather happy messed up) world this would be if we all went about being ‘Maybe they’re right’ card carrying people.
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet