Respect.
Respect is an amazing thing. We all want it. We all have the ability to give it. But for some reason or another, it seems to be something that so many of us seem to overlook.
Everybody deserves respect in one way or another. Whether it is the president of a large country or the person that empties their bin at night, both of those people deserve respect.
Within an agency it is just the same. The Interns deserve respect. A receptionist deserves respect. The Accounts people deserve respect (theoretically they deserve the most respect as they make sure you get paid). The Creative team deserves respect. The Media team deserve respect. Production/The Art Department deserve respect. The Suits deserve respect. And Management deserve respect.
The Clients deserve respect.
I've probably missed someone out.
The point is, we all need each other. Without Clients, none of us have a job. Without Suits, Creatives have to deal directly with the Clients. Without Creatives (and of course the Art Department) there is nothing beautiful and amazing to show the world. And without Media there would be nowhere to put that amazing work.
We all need each other. We all have our role to play in this game we call Advertising and if we don't have each others back and respect one another, then what a sad sad world we live in.
This Industry is not easy. People are constantly putting down our work (if you don't believe me, read Campaign Brief) and rejecting our ideas. The thing that makes it better is the people that we work with. The ones that tell us that we're great, even if it didn't pan out. Hey, we all have to start somewhere, keep going, you'll crack it; or you'll write the brief more concisely next time; or you'll remember to check the material deadlines and make sure they're manageable before promising something to the client.
We're all still learning. Whether we've been in this game for 25 years or 5 months. We're all here because we were given an opportunity and we grabbed it with both hands because we knew this was the most amazing Industry to work in. For that, we all deserve respect.
So I'm going to put this out there:
Think about how you deal with the people you work with everyday. Do you show them the respect they deserve? And if you don't, do you have a fair and just reason not to?
I know that the world is not perfect and I tend to live in a bit of an idealistic bubble sometime, but if the pure and good feeling you can get when you treat people with respect is not enough for you, let me put it to you this way...
One day, you might be asking them for a job.
3 comments:
Well put but respect is earnt and not an automatic right.
Great post iChild. Well said.
Every time feel disrespected I ask myself if it ever happens that I do that to anyone else.
Today a client (of sorts) had an issue with something that had been agreed, and despite my best efforts only wanted to see things from one perspective & rewrite the rules the way they felt was right. To me, that is disrespectful, but I don't think that would occur to them.
Timely reminder. Much respect for your writing ;)
Anon: I completely agree that respect is earnt, however there has to be some degree of respect when you first come into contact with a person. You cannot automatically assume that they are not worthy of your respect.
Thanks for your comment Julian. Always frustrating when it comes to a client too. In theory they decided to work with you because you are an expert in your field, so why would you put them wrong? Sometimes it's a pity you can't tell them where to go!
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