When the shit hits the fan.

I don't know shit, but here is the kicker. No one talking shit knows shit. 

Funny that as a natural bullshit artist I suddenly find myself surrounded by experts, specialists and academics;  con artists, car salesmen and wizards. An endless litany of useless bullshit.  All being packaged up into a shiny little rose-smelling package of "tasty" shit for client consumption.

Are you sitting down?  Most agencies don't know shit.  In fact, they go out of their way to hire the glitz and glamour.  Creative Directors with award winning campaigns.  Account Directors that look good in suits.  Designers with more bling than sense.  Planners with PhD's in areas of research no one can pronounce.  And lots of number crunchers to turn the luke-warm stats into glowing success metrics.

Surely the agency you work for or have hired is not one of these.  We all yearn to do good work, no?

In over 10 years in the digital agency business (President to Employee), there is one rule that has applied to every agency I've ever worked with:  they are all bullshitting at least half the time. Even the good ones. Most of us who are "in on the game" are just trying to figure out which half applies to any specific instance.

I'd love to solely blame the agencies, the consultants and even myself.  But I can't.  We are just delivering to expectations.  Expectations handed down by who?  The industry?  The government? 

Shit.  It's the clients.  Everyone knows it, but very few will stand up and say it.

Not all clients, mind you.  The majority, for sure.  It's the clients that select agencies they "don't have to brief" because they "just get it."  Clients that are afraid to run a black ops project.  Clients that live in an environment of control and fear.  Clients that talk about "innovation" and "engagement" but then want the agency to "go away and come back with something hot."

Well.  Enough is enough.  There is another way.  It involves engaging with people who are dedicated and enabled to solve problems for your organization.

There are a growing list of agencies that tear down the walls between their clients, themselves and the problem(s) at hand. They look their clients in the face and ask the difficult questions.  They don't espouse to have some secret weapon in the reserve.  They just roll up their sleeves and work to identify and solve the wicked problems together with their clients in the room.

No magic.  No walls.  No bullshit. 

Who is at your project table?  Thinkers?  Problem solvers?  Shit disturbers?  Because you need all three.  And you need to be there when the "shit hits the fan."

Image Source: bubbo-tubbo