Balls... you need balls!!!

I know… it’s inappropriate to use the term balls. Specially today. But to be honest… I don’t know how to draw „guts“ so I used balls. But it’s really about guts. Having guts. Or even better: To dare. 

We’ve been approached by a major brand for their new hardware. It doesn’t matter what brand or hardware it was. Let’s just say a cool brand with a worldwide audience and a global established network. 

The goal of the campaign was to promote their latest hardware for their female customers. Women. Strong women. Empowered women. Women with a voice. Knowing what they want. Women who don’t take no for an answer.

Damn! What a cool project for us to develop! It’s right up our ally. In our company we have 60% women. They have a strong opinion and know how to use their voices to get what they want. So a really cool project to dig our heels into and go deep. 

So we came up with 3 ideas. 2 of them were so so. But the third one really has huge potential. Maybe even to go viral. But hey… every agency says that they know what will go viral and what doesn’t. 

Believe me: NOBODY knows. 

So we had a second meeting to clarify the direction. We didn’t pitch the idea. It was just to get a feel if the client likes it or not. 

6 people in the room. 4 women and 2 male. I was one of the males obviously. After we explained the 3 ideas the other male in the room said: I don’t think that we need storytelling for that product line. I don’t think that’s what the market wants. 

Jaw dropper. 

I mean this can happen. But how come that they weren’t on the same page internally. And why did we work on a storytelling campaign with a strong message? If instead the goal was to produce some nice images with sound and show the products in some fancy, glitter and bling bling way? Or was she just overruled by him? Just like that?

But all of this doesn’t matter. It’s just to give you a feel of the situation. I understood several important points right at that moment:

I’m a strong believer that in the end the market will decide what the market wants. Not him, not me… the market. In this example: Women.

4 women were in that room… they should have been asked what they want. And what they believe the market wants. And then go from there (That’s what we did internally @woop when we came up with our idea.) 

If you have a strong hierarchy in your company and your employees don’t dare to speak their mind, change won’t happen. You will be stuck in the same patterns. 

In the 50’s Japan was known for bad & cheap quality. But after adapting Williams E. Deming approach… everything changed. Deming was from the US. But nobody did listen to him or adapt his approach back home. His idea was simple: Every single worker in the production chain was able to stop and improve the process if he saw a way to improve it. Which resulted in higher quality in no time.

Demings findings were only adopted in the US after NBC screened a documentary in 1980 with the title: If Japan can… Why can’t we?

Let’s cut to the chase. I think it doesn’t matter where you’re from or who you are. Everybody can contribute. And questioning your boss should not be seen as an attack on the superior to steal his position. It’s just an additional thought to contribute to a better solution for a problem or a task. If in the end it helps to get the job done… everybody wins.

As you should dare to challenge your boss… the company should dare to make a statement. Specially today. It would be the perfect time and place to be bold and take a stand. 

But therefore you need… guts.