“No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going.” – Oliver Cromwell
If you don’t know where you’re going, God alone knows where you’ll end up.
Probably in the sh*t.
It’s incredibly important to have a sense of direction in your life.
I once asked Sir Martin Sorrell once asked what I wanted to do with my life.
I replied “I’ve no idea Martin, I just want to do something remarkable.”
To this day I don’t know what I could claim as remarkable, I just kept plowing along.
But where you end up will be governed to a vast extent by who you choose to work for.
Times are getting tricky and are about to get trickier so this may be more important now than for quite a few years.
You may find it tempting (or even think it necessary) to take the first job you’re offered.
This may make you happy in the short term, but could be disastrous in the long term.
Many of the people who may offer you a job are not worth working for, no matter how much they pay.
That’s a pretty sweeping statement, but I remember coming down to London in 1970 to seek my fortune.
Whether by chance or intention I turned down the first two jobs I was offered. I eventually settled for what I believed to be a good company – and luckily I turned out to be right because they were bought out by Leo Burnett shortly afterwards.
They also offered more money than the others, but that was not the deciding factor. They just had better clients and two very good people running things.
The thing is that when you’re young the chief benefits of a job are not just to get paid.
A good job should develop your skills, strengthen your abilities, challenge you, give you the chance to progress and learn new things and make you feel supported.
Throughout all industry most of the people running things are clueless, and in few areas more so than advertising and marketing.
Most are little more than chancers, lacking study, only bent on climbing to the top without thinking of others on their way up.
My advice to you is to only choose employers who measure everything.
Only measurable results matter.
Most employers are very poor at this.
If that were not the case, you would not see the majority of ads today.
They do very little – if anything – to get a response.
As Raymond Rubicam pointed out “The only purpose of advertising is to sell – it has no other function worth mentioning.”
When you’re starting out the only objective you should bear in mind is to go somewhere you can thrive and learn more.
As you may have noticed I usually make a point of trying to sell something at the end of my messages.
But it’s Christmas, so this is just some good advice.
It will make all the difference between happiness and misery in the long term.
And if you need any extra help this Christmas, here’s a little present for you.
A book I wrote called How to Get a Better Job.
I hope it helps for the coming year.
Good wishes to you and those you love.
Best,
Drayton
