Admen, Mad Men, and the Real World of Advertising by Dave Marinaccio

Author:Dave Marinaccio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: 2015-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

Mr. Humble

DURING NEW BUSINESS PITCHES I’ve run across a number of interesting characters, none more bizarre than the owner of a software company in Arlington, Virginia.

New business pitches are often chemistry checks, a chance to sit down and figure out if you like each other and if you would be comfortable working together. Sometimes you hit it off, sometimes you don’t.

One particular pitch started normally. Our team presented agency credentials, listened to the needs and wants of the company, asked and answered questions. It was all very cordial and nice.

About a half-hour into the session, the president of the firm, who had planted himself firmly at the head of the table, began to speak. He talked about the company philosophy and then launched into a long-winded description of himself and how he had built the company.

The thing he most desired in employees and business partners was humility. His company was built on humility. He made sure that everyone associated with his company was humble.

Then, he looked us in he eye and told us that no one was more humble than he.

“I can prove that I am the most humble person at this company,” he said. “I have told everyone here that anyone more humble than me can have my job, they can be the president. And it hasn’t happened yet. Because no one is more humble than me.”

He finished with a flourish and sat there wearing an extremely self-satisfied smile. We were quiet. Stunned, actually.

Bragging to prove your humility is like fornicating to prove your virginity.

At that point, I knew we didn’t want to work with this crazy little man. But ad agencies are terrific at rationalization. Perhaps, once the working relationship began, he wouldn’t be part of the picture. The potential clients in the room were pretty nice. They had probably heard this strange speech before, and it hadn’t seemed to harm them in any way.

We played out the rest of the meeting. We demonstrated our humbleness by remarking over and over how important it was to be humble. We thanked the president for his humbleness. We extolled his humbleness. We were humbled by his humbleness. We ended the meeting bowing and scraping and luxuriating in humility. We humbly exited.

About a week later, we received a phone call from the marketing director. They had chosen another advertising agency. We were humbled.

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