Strands of Genius: Philosopher Faces His Death, HyperNormalization, Impostor Syndrome
Guest curated by Mark Pollard
This year we’re aiming to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us, by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. Rosie had the pleasure of working with Mark at Saatchi NY. These days he runs a global community of strategists called Sweathead.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, MARK POLLARD ::
LOCATION: NYC
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Sweathead
Dear genius thieves,
You might have come here today for the links but I’ve come here to tell you a secret:
Your industry doesn’t know how to get the most out of you.
Your industry will give you a livelihood while holding in suspicion the very things it tells clients it exists for–independent thinking, creativity, and expression.
It will teach you that only a small group of people are allowed to have ideas and express them–everybody else is there to support those people, and perhaps to deal with abuse from those people.
It will demand your extraversion. It will fill your calendars with busyness because that’s how extraverts with power can know other people are working. Besides, introverts are easy to defeat because they don’t like talking back.
It will hypnotize you with youth. With many agencies’ average age in the mid-twenties, why bother training anyone? They’ll be old soon.
And why bring in people who look different or sound different? It’s easier to sell ideas that look like the ideas we did last year. And few clients want ideas any more. Besides, all the new people will be old soon.
It will do this while weening you onto annual reviews and job titles that make no sense but, because there are a lot of them and they’re shiny, they’ll blind you until you have them. Then you’ll talk about them all the time. And, if you’re not careful, they’ll become you–all of you.
No, your industry doesn’t know how to get the most out of you.
But who said it had to?
The industry sells time. It needs busyness and obedience to sell the most of it. It needs a mostly under-valued workforce to compensate for the number of highly paid people in management and administrative roles, and to still be able to make a profit.
What is it to get the most out of you anyway? Why do we expect a job to do that?
No, that is your work and it’s the most exciting work that will ever exist outside of a timesheet.
Even if you’re in a creative department, you could spend a decade or two repressing yourself to please the annual reviews.
And, as you age, you’ll see your dreams as more distant and you’ll realize that the industry didn’t do this to you–you did this to you.
This is where things get exciting. This is where you realize you can’t outsource all of you to a career–or to one job. Instead, you need to hire yourself to work on yourself, to work on what matters to you and to put it into the world. This is your own hero’s journey.
I’ve felt that repression in a strategy job that wasn’t allowed to be creative because there was a department called the “Creative Department”. I’ve seen agency leaders’ eyes as we’ve talked about how to turn an agency into a more exciting place to be–they’ll sit there and listen but it sounds like trouble and change and someone managing something doesn’t want trouble and change.
Over time, you realize you want the agency to go through some trouble and change because it’s easier to want that than to do it to yourself.
Then you lose a job. And another. You enter a new decade. You see friends and colleagues disappear, marriages fall apart, and addiction taking people from you. And, if you choose to, you see these as signs and think it’s time to go through some trouble and change because not doing so wasn’t working.
With this epiphany comes the epiphany that it’s on you to get the most out of you–not the advertising industry. And this is why art is important.
So, if you’re going to steal one thing from me today, may it be all the trouble and change you need to put something true to you into the world.
Peace and love
Mark
P.S. I made a book. It’s called “Strategy Is Your Words” and it’s available on the Sweathead website.
Editor’s Note (Rosie): I knew from the moment I met Mark that I liked him. To be fair, it was the accent that was so alluring initially ;) But it was more than the accent that kept me around (obvi.) All too often people have tried to tell us that we’re competitors to/with Mark. Which is funny, because I consider him both a mentor and a friend — not a competitor. He’s the kind of person that pushes you, personally and professionally, to places where maybe you aren’t quite comfortable (yet), but equally someone who is there with a thoughtful response no matter what you text him about. Yes, he knows his strategy shit. But he is human-first*, and to me, that’s where his magic comes from. If you aren’t a member of Sweathead, skedaddle on over there and check it out. He doesn’t love large groups — and has said this on stage, so I don’t think I’m betraying any confidences here — so he still turns down our invitations to come to the TN Mountains, but I’m patient, and overly enthusiastic, which means I know it’s only a matter of time. (Rubs hands together with a scheming look on her face.) Until then, he’s a joy to follow over on the socials. Thanks for your thoughts, Mark!
(*Aren’t we all human-first? I mean, sure. But the more established people get in their professions, the more they tend to be profession-first. It’s a shame. Don’t be profession-first. Be human-first, especially if you’re a strategist.)
:: THE LINKS ::
A 97-YEAR-OLD PHILOSOPHER FACES HIS OWN DEATH
HYPERNORMALIZATION BY ADAM CURTIS
IMPOSTOR SYNDROME - DO YOU REALLY HAVE IT?
If you feel it, here are three pages about that feeling from “Strategy Is Your Words”. (Strategy is Your Words)
Looking for more from Mark Pollard? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Chess
:: City :: Amsterdam
:: Book :: "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl
:: Podcast :: "Son Of A Pitch" by Max Learmont and Vince Usher
:: Album :: Always a mix tape
:: STRATEGY IS YOUR WORDS ::
Editor’s Note: Being nomadic means that our copy of this book is hundreds of miles away from our current location right now, but we’ll take pride in being one of the first 5 backers. Can we be cheesy for a second and just say: We’re SO proud of you, Mark! She’s a beauty, and we can’t wait to make our heads sweat when she’s in our hands. (The book is a she, right??) ;)
Peace and love,
Mark Pollard
mark.pollard@mightyjungle.co
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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