Currently browsing category: Thinking

Why promotions are like drugs

by Jye on Dec 13, 2011 with 2 Comments

Short term fixes to long term issues Users, pushers, dealers, and addicts. Hierarchy, and the promotions that go with it, can be a dangerous way to recognise the efforts of those around you. And be recognised yourself. Are you a user? Peer pressure Your peers become probably your first introduction. You see them all doing it - so why not you? Doesn't seem hard, or dangerous. Just let out some steam about what you're upset about or threaten to leave, and boom. You've got your first fix: more cred and more money. In fact, the person who gave it to you probably has ...

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Resilience, adaptability & capacity

by Jye on Jun 17, 2011 with No Comments

Be adaptable, not annoyed. Another installment on surviving agency-land. There are lots of facts that we just need to accept: people will let you down, people are resistant to change, people have different levels of capacity, and there are always things you can't control. Oh yeah, and most people have good intensions. Resilience: All these things need to be accepted. But I think all too often we quickly fly off the handle.  It is far too easy to let your frustrations explode into the environment around you. Tell everyone how annoyed you, stamp your foot and call your client stupid, or just generally not think much of someone.  All ...

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People experience process

by Jye on May 13, 2011 with 5 Comments

I've always been a big believer that timelines, documents and due dates don't deliver projects: people do. You only need to ask my former boss, Andy Jamieson (Co-founder of Switched On Media), how unfamiliar I was with process. But I, like a lot of people in the discipline, think process is something that less creative, less enjoyable and all together dry people enjoy and enforce. No one wants to be process driven: it's stigma. A fear. When maybe it is just a lack of diligence or professionalism. Then suddenly your faced with the fiscal, people and client management circuses of agency land. And ...

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Professionalism: In the mirror

by Jye on Apr 04, 2011 with 6 Comments

Another note to self (gen y). I think the most professional people, do lots of little tiny professional things to create that aura around them.  I like that. It's something you could still down into a list of actions and to-do (and not to-dos) - but it is those people who assess each situation practically and reasonably, that we consider professional (including moments when no one is looking).  Communications, leadership, commentary, appearance, actions and inactions. It is through one's considered character that one can build trust and relationships with those around them. It is one's self awareness, and awareness of the situation and people ...

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Leading with generosity

by Jye on Feb 17, 2011 with 4 Comments

Last week I was talking about the affect our attitude has the affect on communications, and as a result, outcomes.  As usual, Gavin opened my mind to explore another notion - generosity. Being open also implies generosity. When you are generous, you don’t know where that will take you. When you are closed to that possibility, you won’t be going anywhere. Here’s to the generous travellers of life ;) What really got my attention is again, down the path of management versus leadership, is what generosity means in a work environment. If you want to lead, rather than manage I think the clearest ...

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Attitude driving communications and outcomes

by Jye on Feb 02, 2011 with 10 Comments

Everyone else but me There's not denying I exhibit the tendencies, attributes and traits of the infamous gen-y.  But if there's one critical sticking point I've noticed in myself, and see mirrored in many of those I've worked in over the past years, is that we have too many expectations of those around us and perhaps not enough of ourselves. We naturally have a expectation to demand why everyone else around us is acting in such an unfavourable manner, without ever looking at ourselves and are relationship with the situation. It might be in the workplace - but there's something I always try and remind myself ...

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The Cult of Done Manifesto

by Jye on Feb 01, 2011 with 2 Comments

An introduction to The Cult of Done Manifesto From 2009, but still amazing today, this was written in collaboration with by Bre Pettis and Kio Stark in 20 minutes because we only had 20 minutes to get it done. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. There is no editing stage. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than ...

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Manhood

by Jye on Jan 04, 2011 with No Comments

Liberation and strength To start the year I came across a very powerful TED Talk by Tony Porter entitled "A call to men".  Having grown up always knowing I was adopted (a story I shared during ManWeek along with many others) - I was constantly searching for a sense of identify and belonging. Something that took me a long time to find peace with. Tony Porter shares with us some very powerful stories about growing up  and the lessons he learned, like so many of us, the hard way. And like many of those lessons, are tied to drugs and sex and ...

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Attitude, communication or outcomes?

by Jye on Dec 09, 2010 with 2 Comments

I took the photo above on my recent trip to New York with the family. Behavioural over-thinking Which one is more important - attitude, communication or outcomes? Is one more important than the other? Do we all respond in different ways?  I'm sure there's someone who has actually spent more than a few meetings in agency-land thinking about this and done some study. But I asked the question to my Facebook friends and got some solid responses - what is yours? Attitude to me was the key here - and I find myself more and more coming back to it. Being open, positive ...

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Key leadership indicators

by Jye on Jul 16, 2010 with No Comments

When we find out if we're managers or leaders I think we all want to be leaders or be lead, few us want to be managed. Most of us by now will recognise that there are some very key differences between managers and leaders - and being one doesn't necessarily nullify the other, nor does it guarantee you're able to do both. I think the moment we find out is much clearer to those we manage or lead: stress. It's all about when the shit hits the fan: when we're having an "emergency" when clients threaten to pull, when our ego is at stake: are ...

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