How can the favorite lose?

By that I mean – a person, or group, or team that was a sure bet – the best bet in fact:  the odds were in their favor – even the real money odds in Las Vegas – say.

And yet they don’t pull through.

What prompted this thought was the (to be 100% politically correct) United States Football Annual Championship Game – the Super Bowl – a night of sports, chili, beer, commercials and an occasional great game.

This year the match up was between a team that had won before and had the undisputed best quarterback in the National Football League – the Indianapolis Colts – and a team that was newer to the scene, had never even been in the finals and came from a city that had seen devastation – the New Orleans Saints.

The odds were clear – some thought the game would be a waste – and yet the underdog won.

The easy message and great motivational thought is simple and clear – maybe too much so.  They worked hard – harder than the others, were focused, kept driving, didn’t give up – you know all the clichés.

But this year that just didn’t do it for me. And I started to reflect on what defines “best,” and can one always be best, and if not, what is the solution?

And then I stumbled across this thought from a most interesting source (follow it):

“Only the mediocre are always at their best”. Jean Giraudoux

And there you have it.

Best is a moving target. It is not a static metric. As a definer, it is elusive – here today and gone tomorrow – unless you constantly refresh its source and re-evaluate the playing field on a regular basis.

Bottom line – the danger of thinking you are always best is that very quickly you narrow the completive set and, as they say, a minister with a congregation of one has a very small congregation indeed.

The challenge is clear – today you are the best quarterback in the world – tomorrow you might lose – and then you have to up the game – seriously.

So one can claim best – and be the best of some set, no doubt – or strive always to be better – as opposed to best.

What do you think?

Speakers, workshops, discussion—all pushed to raise the bar, to intensify their thinking, collaboration and execution and to increase the value they add to their own organization.

The bottom line is that you can’t declare victory…ever…there is always room to grow; always something to learn; always some new mountain to conquer and envelope to push the edge of.

Which led me to the following thought:

“Put up with it and you will get more of it.”
~Lynne Deal

If you put up with poor behavior, with settling for what you have instead of going the final mile, if we let our clients and friends and significant others off the hook and worse if we let ourselves off the hook, we will get what we deserve…more of it….

Don’t put up with it. And, don’t let others put up with it…..

Clearly, they look for many things. But since we are not in the catering business, I will exclude lunch and business dinners…

What is an Ad Agency? What is a RM Agency? What the heck do those media guys do? We need to be digital…that’s the answer! It’s all about ideas. No it’s about ROI. It’s about Gold Lions at Cannes. It’s really about relationships and who you know. It’s all going away anyway soon consumers will be the only source of communication and companies will only manufacture or provide service.

What’s a client to think? What’s an agency to do?

The truth is, I don’t have a clue, but I I have an opinion or two! I don’t believe there is one answer or that there should be.

So let me spread the table with some food for thought.

We live in an ever specializing world. Interestingly, I would argue—even strongly argue—this is really a return to the past when “guilds’ took pride in their workmanship. Carpenters “carpented”; plumbers “plumbed”; and masons lay brick and stone. Think about the artifacts created hundreds (even thousands) of years ago that last longer than the stuff we buy from so called artisans today—not to mention from IKEA.

Maybe we (not just us but the big all inclusive WE) became unspecialized for a spell. We became “jacks of all trades” and masters of none. Then, the small focused players started to nibble at the edges. As they got bigger and needed scale they encroached on our centers and soon we all began to look the same, often confusing ourselves. Yet, our clients were, perhaps, less confused (think on that one).

We began to acquire specialty players. Interesting! Yet we worry that they will nibble at our edges; encroach on our center; weaken our proposition – maybe – but maybe not.

Can we be the best at everything? Should we? Will the market pass us by? What do you think of this:

It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf. – HL Mencken

Never mind advertising or RM. Imagine if someone said to them “get with the program…”

That said, I point you to a hugely instructive article from Fast Company. It is about an Agency in the US that seems to have it all. It found a niche. It has a focused proposition, or does it? Maybe it just solves client problems in and around the simplest proposition of our industry – it has to sell…

Read on and comment…
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/116/features-clan-of-the-caveman.html

I found a great thought written by an advertising great that I think embodies the notion and completes last week’s thought

“When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either.”
Leo Burnett

I would only add that there is nothing more fun than playing a little in the mud. So even if you do come up with less than stars and even if you do occasionally get dirty, so what!

The ultimate reward is going for the gold and that lifts all of us and our clients. It changes the way people think about us/you. Ultimately, it raises the bar and creates a unique space for what we do.

Go ahead……..jump…..

I don’t mean physically…and I don’t mean arrogantly…and I certainly don’t mean gratuitously……

What I mean is this. Do we push enough for excellence, for doing our best; for going all out, for running the distance? You get the point.

I’m afraid that all too often I hear—“It’s good”… “The client liked it”… “We didn’t need to do more.” I’m sure you have heard the same and similar.

Here’s my confession. I am as guilty as the rest. Sometimes it just seems to be the right thing to do, that is, to let it go. Sometimes it seems to be the path of least resistance. The truth is that it never, ever serves us well.

Only our best should be good enough and even then there is room for more. Even if others are ready to accept less, don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that you have done really well. I have seen it time after time. The surprise when a client tells us that we just haven’t been doing the best. “But you liked it,” we protest! Need I say more?….

And so it goes: business, personal, there is no difference. The results are the same, as the saying goes:

“The best is the enemy of the good. “
Voltaire

We need to fight the only good… to defeat the comfort of the merely good… to shake up our complacency around the simply good.
Align yourself with the best……and fight the good fight…..