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I miss working with you guys. sigh

if i were only to judge you by your blogs, i’d say you’re a contrived, insecure, depressed individual. there’s much negativity in you. look at your blog history, how many of them are merely rantings of somesort?

again, only from your online presence, rl personality may vary.

JY — Thanks for adding your thoughts (and I say that with no sarcasm). I am disappointed you thought this post was negative; if that’s your take, then I obviously failed in my attempt to communicate what I feel is a positive learning experience.

While I appreciate your opinion, you only got one out of three right. I can be contrived at times. I am not, however, depressed or insecure. I know exactly where I measure in all areas of my life, and I have no ego or insecurity related to any of them. The reason I rant about stuff is because someone has to. And don’t think I hide behind the internet; I am just as vocal in real life.

This post was an attempt to share a learning and growing opportunity I have had as a manager. Sometimes admitting you have been making some serious mistakes is not easy; finding the brio and energy to correct them is harder.

Just stumbled upon this blog, great articles, thanks for sharing.

To be honest, I find it pretty humble in it’s tone, I don’t get where JY is coming from.

Kevin,

My comment wasn’t directed at this particular article. It was more directed at your post history. Again, as I said before, I’m only drawing my judgement from what I see on your site. It’s very possible that you’re a much laid back person irl.

In my experience of reading other’s writings(over a long period of time), it’s fairly easy to tell the author’s personality, and statement of mind. Believe or not, I like your writings. However, when i see most of your writings are merely rants, i almost sense an inbalance. Everyone rants, but not everyone rants majority of the time, or rant for the sake of ranting.

Even you yourself admit:

<blockquote>I am contrarian by nature. Some people like to play soccer or chess; I like to sit in a conference room and pick apart arguments and ideas. Being agreeable is disagreeable. When someone pitches me a ball, I don’t aim for the back fence, I aim for the pitcher</blockquote>

Do you argue for the sake of arugment? Looking back, how many times did you argue with people to WIN, instead of on the issue? How often do you put yourself in the other person’s pov? That’s how I drew the conclusion that you may be insecure, since the vibe i get from your writing is, you’re trying to approve yourself, or rant about otherwise trivial things(although some topic are worth ranting about, however you take it way too seriously). Think about that for a minute before you dismiss it.

Just to be clear, This is my favorite post of yours as a long time reader. I’m in no way suggesting you should change your style(obviously it’s working, since I still come here). I’d just like to remind you that, there are a lot worse things out there to rant about, and far more wonderful things we take for granted, to put things in perspective.

I haven’t read Kevin’s other posts, but from reading this one he comes across as a very passionate guy, someone I’d love to have on my team.

your human, you make mistakes, you learn, you grow from those mistakes. the key is to not keep making them over and over as time goes on. plus your in an environment where day to day agency life is like tug of war. our industry is very opinionated and egotistical. what is the most perfect answer to what we do for our clients? what will the client go head over heals over? how can you project your ideas into narrow minded non-creative’s? we never know what the outcome will be exactly. its a game. some master this game, some don’t. and if it was easy, everyone and their mother would be a creative director. the title holds a very specific challenge.

how does one direct creative? one has to become the creative. walk in its shoes, get beaten up in the boardroom, take criticism (well), remaining confident yet not too cocky… if i start dissecting the ego, i can be hear all night.

plus, customer service is not all the same. your not a telemarketer or some shmoe trying to sell car insurance. your an idea guru that strives to achieve magic for your client. they came to you in need of something magnificent, no matter what your selling for them. the customer needs to be aware that they might not always be right at all times. the only way they will see that is through trial and error. treating them like special-ed students isn’t the trick. stroking their ego’s will get you nowhere. i wish to be treated the way i treat others. is that gonna always happen… no. but i still try to understand what it will take to get through to people and that’s respect. respecting other people’s opinions. that doesn’t mean you need to buckle and fold for everyone. hold on to what you believe will work and try your best to sell it.

it comes down to this. you do your job and you try to do it well. always watch your back at all times. everything else is just fluff as they say.