Men are from Mars

When I worked in a couple of ad agencies many moons ago, I used to marvel at the hubris (read: egos) of some of the creative talent and the way in which they treated the peons who were there presumably to serve and honor them. Yes, they were smart and oftentimes very funny. Sure many of their ideas were great. But what's great on paper and not at all what the client wants is not great. Period.

Give and take should be mandatory because ideas can always be improved upon. Bi-lateral education and communication should be welcome because sometimes the client needs to be swayed away from an irrational course of action and vice versa. Sounds simplistic yet, in my experience, those workplace behaviors were rarely adopted in such environments.

For a long time, I thought it would be helpful to offer a day-long workshop for ad agencies (entitled something along the lines of "Art Directors are Creative Gods; Account Executives are Idiots") during which an industrial psychologist would walk teams through different vantage points -- both internal and external -- and the delicate art of respectful collaboration. It could be rolled out to agencies coast-to-coast because I don't think this age-old issue was confined merely to the environments in which I worked. The market could be pretty huge.

With that said, after overhearing a tech guy patronizing an obvious simpleton over the phone earlier today as I grabbed a cup of coffee, I now believe the market for this workshop may be even larger. I'm thinking the entire world could use a workshop called "I'm in IT; you (whoever you are) are a moron."

Maybe a line of t-shirts would work.

Sign Sign Everywhere a Sign

I have two clients with very different signage adorning the parking spaces by their respective front doors:

• Client #1: "Our customers come first" (four spaces/identical signs)
  
  
• Client #2: "Parking reserved for the CEO" (three spaces/signs for Founder, CEO, President)
  

In one of the latter parking spaces, a giant black Cadillac Esplanade is parked. In the space next to it, a Mercedes.

Where would you rather work?

Unless everyone at client #2 is making heaps of money and is being treated exceptionally well, I think the signs signal, at the very least, a ridiculous, internal pecking order. I'm not sure I would want to put in the requisite hours in order to pad someone else's wallet especially if the effort comes with an extra dash of hubris.

Thanks but no thanks.