Thursday, March 22, 2018

Great work 101.

About a thousand years ago, long before Gary Vaynerchuk was doing the "hustle" and "crushing" it and churning out bromides he calls books, a wise businessman wrote a wise book about business.

It was called “Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits” and it was written by a guy called Robert Townsend. Townsend was the CEO of Avis and it was he who selected Doyle Dane Bernbach as his agency.

(Copywriter Paula Green came up with the slogan that captured the ethic Townsend was trying to instill in his company: “We try harder.”)

Bill Bernbach told Townsend, "If you promise to run whatever we recommend, every creative in my shop will want to work on your account."

Townsend went on to promise Bernbach and DDB that Avis would only approve, disapprove but not try to improve ads. Further, and this is key, he insisted that DDB submit only those ads it truly recommended. "They will not ‘see what Avis thinks of that one’."

The result of this wisdom and collaboration is, of course, legendary.

Great work does not come from cracking the whip, or impossible demands, or unreasonable timetables, or even working all night and weekend. It comes from trust.

Trust that you’ve hired the right people, that they care about your business, and, if you give them your trust, they’ll return to you work that will change your business.











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