Capítulo 4
Embracing Failure: The Counterintuitive Path to Success
"I haven't failed, I've had 10,000 ideas that didn't work," said Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Edison noted that his 200 failed light bulbs taught him something for each subsequent attempt. Theater director Joan Littlewood observed, "If we don't get lost, we'll never find a new route." These pioneers understood that failures aren't just acceptable-they're essential prerequisites for success.
Most of us fear making mistakes. We worry about looking foolish or incompetent. But this fear paralyzes creativity and prevents innovation. The person who never makes mistakes is unlikely to make anything of significance. At Saatchi & Saatchi, Arden notes, you wouldn't be fired for being wrong, but you could be fired for lacking initiative. This positive attitude toward mistakes contributed enormously to the agency's success.
Consider what happens when you're stuck on a problem. The conventional approach is to work harder using the same methods. But sometimes the best solution is to completely change your tools. If you've been creating layouts with felt-tip pens for years, try watercolors or charcoal instead. Use decorating paints and oversized brushes. Blow up tiny sketches to massive proportions. Arden once turned a 150,000 budget into a 200,000 budget simply because he presented a watercolor storyboard that charmed the client and established a distinctive visual direction for the entire project.
Being wrong opens up possibilities that being right never could. When you start from the position that you might be wrong, suddenly anything becomes possible. You're no longer trying to be infallible-you're exploring the unknown. There's no way to predict what will happen, but the outcome is more likely to be amazing than if you stubbornly cling to being right.
Being right comes from knowledge and experience and is often provable. But knowledge comes from the past-it's safe but outdated, the opposite of originality. Experience builds from old solutions that may not fit new problems. Proving you're right sets you in concrete-you can't move with changing times or people. Being right is boring-your mind closes to new ideas, rooted in arrogant certainty.
To break mental blocks, lose your inhibitions and stop worrying about being right. As John Cleese puts it: "High creativity is responding to situations without critical thought" (playfulness). When stuck, try doing the opposite of what the solution seems to require. Look out the window and whatever catches your eye, make that the solution to your problem.
Even getting fired can be a positive career move. Being fired often means you're at odds with your company-the job isn't right for you. Arden was fired five times, and each time his career took a step forward. What seems negative can become your greatest opportunity.
Capítulo 5
The Art of Perception: How You Present Yourself Matters
How you perceive yourself is how others will see you. The person who presents themselves with ambition is regarded differently than one who simply states what they are. This principle extends beyond personal branding to how we position our work and ideas.
When Charles Saatchi started his advertising agency, it was essentially a creative boutique. Yet his brief for company stationery was to make it look like a bank. He also invested a third of his capital in a full-page advertisement in The Times. The effect was transformative-his small creative shop suddenly appeared to be an established company with significant resources.
Consider this scenario: A talented architect working for a prestigious firm knows their value, but nobody outside the company knows them. Meanwhile, a first-year student who prints business cards saying "Architect" or "Architects" and speaks confidently about their vision will often be accepted as an authority. Unfair as it may seem, this is the reality of how perception shapes opportunity.
When presenting your ideas, don't just give a speech-put on a show. We generally attend lectures to see the speaker, not just to hear what they have to say. How many speeches have you heard? How many can you remember? Words fade, but images persist. Instead of giving people the benefit of your wit and wisdom, paint them a picture. The more strikingly visual your presentation, the more people will remember it-and more importantly, they'll remember you.
This principle extends to how you present creative work to clients. If you show a client a highly polished computer layout, they will probably reject it. It's a fait accompli with nothing for them to do. If they don't like small details, they'll reject the whole thing without seeing the big idea. Instead, show the client a rough sketch. Explain it, talk them through it, let them use their imagination. Get them involved. Because you haven't shown the exact way it's going to be, there's scope to interpret, develop and change as you progress.
When pitching for new business, understand that clients will see up to five presentations with perhaps 200 competing ideas in total. To help them make the right decision in your favor: Focus on a powerful slogan that captures what the client wants to feel about their company but cannot express themselves. Instead of covering walls with different concepts, make your slogan integral to every headline. Reduce ideas from twenty to one. Every advertisement becomes another opportunity to reinforce your central concept. Don't be afraid to wave the client's flag-use their colors, make their logo prominent. It may not seem aesthetically pleasing to you, but it'll be reassuring to them.
Remember: perception isn't just about how you look-it's about how you make others feel about themselves when they're with you.
Capítulo 6
The Power of Ownership: Taking Complete Responsibility
Never blame others when something goes wrong. Accept total responsibility for any work you've touched. This mindset puts you in a position to actually fix problems rather than just complain about them.
The common excuses we make-terrible briefs, needing better partners, insufficient money or time, difficult directors, busy schedules, clients removing good ideas-are everyday realities on every job. That won't change. Whatever others' failings might be, shoulder the responsibility yourself. No excuses.
This principle extends beyond accepting blame to actively seeking criticism rather than praise. Getting approval is easy if you ask enough people or those likely to tell you what you want to hear. They'll say nice things rather than be critical, and we tend to edit out the negative feedback anyway. This proves your work is acceptable, but not great.
Instead, ask "What's wrong with it? How can I make it better?" You'll get truthful, critical answers that might genuinely improve your idea-and you can still reject criticism you disagree with. The point isn't to blindly follow every suggestion but to actively seek perspectives that challenge your thinking.
Taking ownership also means understanding your client's true aims, which often differ from their stated objectives. Most clients are corporate professionals protecting their careers who see creative ideas as risks rather than opportunities for advancement. Their real motivations rarely appear in briefs-they might be seeking status, prestigious restaurant tables, art patronage, company chairmanship, or even just public recognition.
Arden recalls working passionately on a government scheme helping school leavers find jobs, creating marvelous work that was rejected. The team failed to understand the politics-the minister only wanted public recognition for spending millions on advertising. It was just a PR exercise for him, nothing to do with actually helping people.
When your client won't buy your ideas, try this approach: Do it their way first. Then do it your way. If you show clients only what you want rather than what they want, they'll reject it. Show them what they want first, and they'll relax enough to consider your ideas. You've made them feel respected instead of cornered. Give them what they want and they may give you what you want. Plus, there's always the possibility they might be right.
Taking ownership means never taking no for an answer. After pitching for a government account against five competitors, Arden's team was told they hadn't made the shortlist of three. Instead of accepting defeat, they asked to present a completely new campaign the next morning-which they hadn't actually created yet. By 8am, they'd developed an entirely new concept addressing the client's criticisms of the first one. They presented at 9am and by Friday evening, they'd won the business.
Capítulo 7
The Generosity Principle: Give Away Your Ideas
Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will return to you. Being secretive with ideas is like students hiding their answers in school-it serves no one, especially not yourself. Hoarding leads to staleness as you live off your reserves. Giving everything away forces you to look, be aware, and constantly replenish your creative well.
Somehow, the more you give, the more returns to you. Ideas are open knowledge-don't claim ownership. They're not really yours anyway; they're floating in the ether. You just need to put yourself in the right mindset to receive them.
This generosity extends to how you work with creative partners and suppliers. Don't hand your work over to a supplier hoping they will produce magic. They won't. YOU are the magic. The art of the art director is to get talented people to exceed their own capabilities.
If you give a film director a free hand, he'll do what he does because he thinks that's what you want. You are employing him for the best thing on his reel, but he may only have done one or two great jobs in his life. The art is to inspire him. It's for you to have the vision that allows him to expand into something new. It's the same with photographers, typographers, and all creative professionals.
Don't be afraid to work with the best, even if they seem intimidating. The best people can be difficult. They are single-minded with tunnel vision. That's what makes them good. They are reluctant to compromise and can be intimidating, especially to the young. But if you approach them wanting to do something well, they will respond positively because they want to do something well too.
If you are clear about what you want and strong about getting it, though there may be arguments, they will respect you. The chances of getting a superior job aren't guaranteed, but they're greater than if you worked with Mr. Average Nice Guy.
Arden shares a personal story that illustrates this principle perfectly. While working with legendary photographer Richard Avedon in New York on African print dresses, Arden wanted black models looking wild and dusty. When Avedon asked to paint the models and put skirts on their heads-an unconventional approach-Arden agreed, thinking: why hire Avedon and not use his creative vision?
Walking out with the photos, Arden knew he might be fired but preferred that risk to playing it safe. His partner thought he was mad, but the client loved the images, calling them "art." They won every award possible. Sadly, the client later got fired. Those few seconds on 74th Street, choosing creative courage over safety, were Arden's greatest moment in advertising.
Capítulo 8
Making the Impossible Possible: When It Can't Be Done, Do It
New ideas are often unfamiliar, silly, or both. They can't be judged by description alone-they need to exist in the world. Since nobody will fund something they don't understand, you must create it yourself at whatever cost. Beg, steal, and borrow to make it happen. It's exciting, difficult, and fun. If it were easy, anyone could do it.
Citizen Kane exemplifies this principle perfectly. Orson Welles couldn't find financial backers for his revolutionary film concept. Instead of giving up, he raised money for casting, then begged and cajoled people into building sets and shooting tests that eventually formed a third of the completed film. Once it EXISTED-once people could see tangible evidence of his vision-backers could understand what they were getting and provided the funding. Without Welles doing what seemed "impossible," Citizen Kane would have remained just another unrealized idea.
If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules. Sometimes the conventional approach is precisely what's holding you back. When faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, try these strategies:
1. Accentuate the positive: Find what's right about your product or service and dramatize it, like a cartoonist exaggerates action. If a horse can jump a ditch, you accept it can jump the Grand Canyon. With a basic truth in your idea, you can dramatize it infinitely.
2. Don't put your cleverness in front of the communication: Creative people are paid to be creative, so they feel pressure to justify their salaries with clever ideas. While intuitive, clever ideas are often best, they don't always come along. In their need to prove worth, creatives often produce superficially clever work with little substance. Instead of seeking quick fixes, spend time understanding the problem to discover the solution.
3. Get out of advertising (or your field): Most advertising people live within the world of advertising. 90% of advertising inspiration comes from other advertising. You'll see the same books in every agency. People look for something new, but sometimes it's just something new to copy. To be original, seek your inspiration from unexpected sources.
4. Don't try to win awards: Nearly everybody likes to win awards. Awards create glamour and glamour creates income. But beware. Awards are judged in committee by consensus of what is known-in other words, what is in fashion. But originality can't be fashionable, because it hasn't yet had the approval of the committee. Do not try to follow fashion. Be true to your subject and you will be far more likely to create something that is timeless. That's where the true art lies.
Remember: what seems impossible is often just unfamiliar. The greatest innovations throughout history came from people who refused to accept conventional limitations.
Capítulo 9
The Creative Life Cycle: Freedom, Responsibility, and Rebirth
Life follows a creative circle that we all travel through. When young, you have freedom and time but no money. You can experiment and afford mistakes. As you age, responsibility grows-family, house, career-and freedom diminishes. You can't risk mistakes, becoming careful, sensible, predictable, and boring. Then in old age, freedom returns. With children gone, mortgage paid, and retirement, you have time again to make mistakes, experiment, take risks, and be creative once more.
This wheel of life's creativity shows our journey: from nothing at birth, through copying and growing awareness in youth, to political consciousness and maturity in our twenties, followed by career ambition and success-chasing in our thirties and forties. The watershed comes at 50-60 when we reinvent ourselves, followed by gentle decline, then regained youth at 75-85 as inhibitions fade, before returning to childlike self-absorption.
Understanding this cycle helps us recognize where we are in our creative journey and how to maximize our potential at each stage. When young, embrace your freedom to experiment without fear. In middle age, find ways to maintain creative thinking despite increasing responsibilities. In later years, celebrate the return to creative freedom with the added benefit of wisdom and experience.
Creativity isn't just for the arts-imagination is for everyone. We all want to be proud of the company we work for. It enhances our reputation and gives us access to the best people. But not everyone works for companies with glamorous reputations. So what can you personally do to make your organization great?
Start by talking it up. Begin thinking and behaving like a winner. If people talk it down, take issue with them. Don't expect top management to lead the way. Decide YOU are going to make the company great. Observe that organizations' reputations are usually built on one or two key accounts and one or two key people. Aim to be that person.
A junior account handler can make a big difference by setting aside money for astonishing fresh creative work on a small part of an account. Speak to the best creative people about doing special work. Get the creative director to oversee quality. Make the commercial, then show the client. If he doesn't like it, run it yourself somewhere affordable. There's risk-if you lose, you get reprimanded or fired. But if you win, creative people will want to work with you, management will notice, and you become the new spirit of the agency.
Even media buyers have huge influence in where, when, and in what form advertising is seen. Their decisions are typically determined by statistics and logic, usually erring toward the safe and dull. But putting a motorbike ad in a ladies' fashion magazine or lingerie in a motorbike magazine may not be such a silly idea-it might be precisely the creative breakthrough needed.
Remember: wherever you are in life's creative cycle, you have the power to shape your environment and leave a lasting impact.
