Creative Skirts

Shelly Lazarus 'exclusive'

Smart lady.
Love her take on new business.
She's also gung-ho for media planning taking place alongside creative from the start--which is no new strategy, but quite a task for a huge and compartmentalized global agency to actually see through. Think Ogilvy can succeed? The Chicago office has already made moves along these lines, hiring VCU's one and only Ms. Kerry O'Connell as Strategic Contact Planner... and while she's been there for several months, the office is definitely still adjusting and trying to figure out who the heck she is. For a business that tries so hard to stay hip with the times, people can get really stuck in their ways.

From AdAge:
In a rare and exclusive interview, Ms. Lazarus told Advertising Age's Matthew Creamer that the media-planning function pulled out of creative agencies in late 1990s needs to go back to its original home, a statement, coming from the head of an agency owned by one of the most aggressive and successful unbundlers of media services, sure to resonate throughout the business. She also touched on her future, the role of marketing in the business world and Ogilvy's involvement in the recent Wal-Mart pitch.

Shelly Lazarus Wants Media Back at the Table 

A Refreshing Take on Ad Attitude

Linda Kaplan Thaler and her partner, Robin Koval, are my heroines of the week.

I caught an article by Thaler in this month's O Magazine (check it out, it's worth stashing in your sketchbook), and one in Newsweek. The premise? You can indeed create a successful ad agency and/or career by being a NICE person, as opposed to a total buzzkill (and we all know a few of those). As Kaplan Thaler puts it, "We want to dispel the myth that only those who eat their young get raises."

How wonderful is that? No one ever tells you you'll get far by being nice. Except maybe for Mom and the clergy.

The ladies are coming out soon with a book, "The Power of Nice," and are also working with a psychologist to develop a "Nice Q test" to measure social intelligence.

"It's really sad that being nice seems counterintuitive," says Kaplan Thaler. "I think people are embarrassed to say they're nice."

Advice for those with open ears

From the archives of AWNY's annual Women to Watch event: 25 "tips for success" from female pros.

1. Determine what you are most passionate about. Do what you love, not what you think you should be doing.
2. Be true to yourself. Don’t be someone you are not; recognize and build upon your own special talents and skills.
3. Follow your heart. That little voice called instinct may lead you to a smarter place than your intellect: heed it.
4. Do what you love and the rest will follow. Nothing fuels results better than passion, and you can’t have passion if you aren’t excited about your work. Choose accordingly.
5. Don’t be too eager to fit into the good old boy’s club. Be true to what you believe in… it’s from that place of truth that fresh thinking and unique ideas emerge.
6. Study the industry you’ll be part of. Knowledge is power and don’t forget it… you need to be invested.
7. Do your homework. Learn everything you can about your brand or your business… it’s a continuous, never ending need.
8. Be open to new information. Stay fluid and responsive to shifts in the marketplace: Just because it ain’t broke isn’t a reason to not fix it.
9. Be prepared. Those who “wing it” are eventually discovered. Being prepared shows you care and that goes a long way.
10. Keep a bright attitude. Don’t worry, be happy. Or if you can’t, stay positive; it’s infectious.
11. Listen. You can’t learn much if you’re always talking, so listen, both to those above you and to those below you… brilliance is everywhere.
12. Ask questions. Don’t assume you always know what’s best. Check in with staff and clients on a regular basis.
13. Attack each day with gusto. Be fearless and be proactive—you have to be in the game to win.
14. Work with people who will challenge you. Reach beyond your comfort zone.
15. Take risks. Don’t be afraid of failing. You cannot learn anything new if you’re not willing to fall now and then.
16. Don’t try to do it all alone. Teamwork enables many things.
17. Network with everyone. If someone wants to speak with you, there must be a reason, so do it, you never knows where it might lead.
18. Surround yourself with great people. Up, down and all around; it really is about who you know.
19. Listen to your boss. Who is, of course, your customer; also your best source of inspiration and ideas.
20. Build a reputation based on performance. Words are nice but actions matter most. Deliver what you say you will, every time.
21. Lead by example. Remember as you move up the ladder that others are watching, so don’t say one thing and do another.
22. Invest in talent. Your staff is an extension of yourself so choose accordingly.
23. Be a mentor. The ability to give back, pass on learning and provide support to the next generation is a vital part of success.
24. Find someone who cooks. Get your priorities straight and seek help where you need it.
25. Face the hard reality that you will never again be perfect. If you ever labored under this illusion, give it up—fast. Juggling and perfection just don’t mix.

I wonder how these would be different from men's advice.
(I can't see any man in my office telling me to "attack each day with gusto," although I'd totally high-five him if he did).

Evaluate your career, the fun way

If you hate your job or simply have some time to kill... the admirable Sally Hogshead is doing her best to make evaluating your career path a fun experience.
On radicalcareering.com, she's working on about 20 well-designed microsites that focus on different aspects of you and your job journey. Some of them are weaker than others... but most of them get to important self-examinations in an interesting way.
This one caught my eye--it's not done yet, but it's a spoof divorce lawyer site for people whose marriages are going downhill because they're devoting too much time to working. Makes me laugh knowing the ad industry's reputation for tearing marriages apart.

Click here for divorce-lawyers-r-us.com, which also has links to Sally's other "Radical Sites."

Hit the nail on the head.

Yvonne DiVita brought this quote to our attention, and I didn't want it buried in a comment. Of course one of the America's greatest writers would sum up the issue best :

"But the problem is that when I go around and speak on campuses, I still don't get young men standing up and saying, 'How can I combine career and family?'"

Gertrude Stein