Do you care? Should you care?

This is an interesting one. I was talking the other day with an extremely successful music producer. He said the secret to his success is that he doesn't care. That is to say he cares and he actively doesn't care at the same time (cognitive dissonance, anyone?).

This reminds me of another piece of wisdom which has helped me - that is "Never fall in love with a deal. Your time is valuable, and if you are working with one client, that's less time you can work with someone else; so also consider the cost to you of working with each client."

Of course all this goes against all our instincts and training. Creative people care desperately. Especially since success or failure is always a reflection of us - of our personal brilliance or uselessness.

But the idea is a very helpful one and is worth reflecting on. We try so hard to please our client or investor. Often we try just too hard. Who we should really be pleasing is ourselves and our own high standards. If we are doing it because we like doing it, and perfecting it because we will get massive pleasure from its excellence, then that is what will work for us in the long run. Smart clients will have chosen to work with us because of our taste and our smarts and our experience. Then we just have to deliver on that. We don't have to lose sleep over it - we just have to do a great job. The way we see it.

And you know how much better you are creatively and how much stronger your work is if you don't care about anything - except the work itself.

All is not lost! Some good words from clients

Dear reader: you are not alone in your current concerns. I have been hearing the word "scary" from more new clients than ever before.

But all is not lost! No really. Here are some recent comments from my clients that may make you go aahh:

"We accomplished everything I set out to do - this was to put my skills and experience into an interesting and unique resume that sets me apart from other so I can get the interview. It's already working and I'm getting a few calls - and it's because of my new re-vamped and unique resume. Everyone I have sent my resume to has said it's different, quirky easy to read and really interesting."

"You deal with creative people and we're all a little "out of the box" so to speak. This is a great start to a new beginning."

"Whenever I have spoken to my friend (a former client of Pollock Spark), in the past months the conversation always arrived at you and your talents for helping one see the forest for the trees. (My friend) is a testament to that. I have seen his many moods from rage to euphoria at any given peak or trough of his career. Yet it is the past year that I can truly say he has a sense of clarity and purpose - at peace with his talent and his drive. Because of that he seems unstoppable."

See - I told you - there is hope for us all. Keep up the good work.

Exec Producer recommends Workshop

Click the image to read the original - here is what the letter says:

March 12, 2009


Dear Michael,

Many thanks once again for the recent team building seminar you and April Jaffe led at our offices here at Schofield Films. Even after all these weeks, many of the mental exercises from that evening still resonate. I am consciously referring back to things I learned. For example, the way in which we began to frame a conversation in a more positive way has had a lasting effect on me. And I have tried to purge the word “but” from daily conversation and emails. I further find myself actually thinking about where I want a conversation to go and the words I want to use on the journey. In spite of myself, I actually felt stimulated by the evening’s activities. I recommend it for anyone with a brain or anyone who hopes to acquire one.


Regards,



Robert Berman
Executive Producer
Schofield Films

Get in touch and we can tailor a workshop for your team or company. Click here to learn more.

Be honest with your staff

We all need to cut our expenses: Conde Nast staffers are staying with friends instead of in hotels (Gasp), our cash flow is already miserable and GM and GroupM and the rest are going to make us lend them large amounts of money for 60-120 days if we want to work for them, and what did you decide to do about your corporate jet anyway?

So what are you going to tell your staff? Well on the whole you should tell them the truth. Not just because your mum told you that is good practice, but because if you don't they will make up something much worse, or else they will continue to buy very expensive meals on your credit card.

So sit them down all together, because then they will all know that everyone was told the same thing. Tell them what is going on - they read the newspapers so they kinda know. And tell them if you can that their jobs are secure for at least 3 months or that they need to take a pay cut in order for you to stay in business or that they need to help you win new business or that they need to bring their own candles because the electricity will be turned off next week, but won't we have fun all in it together.

Whatever you need to tell them, get them engaged in helping you to mitigate the problem. They want to work. They want some sense of certainty. If they feel like you care and you are trying your best they will respond positively. And the chances of them getting hired anywhere else just now are pretty darn slim.

Is this what you really want to be doing?

A lot of people seem to be taking this current disruption (delicately put, no?) to figure out whether they are really doing what they want to be doing.

One client is wondering whether his creative business is actually providing him with the creative satisfaction he craves. Well, truth be told, several clients are working on that one. Another client is finally getting going on the movie he's always wanted to make. Another friend is talking about abandoning his Hollywood career and going to build houses in Thailand.

This seems like the right time for asking the questions and making the choices. Should I drop what I have been doing and jump headfirst into a new adventure or is there a way to do both? A lot of times in my work with clients we find a really satisfying way to reframe their day job so that it leads organically towards that dream job. Very often the course is there, it was just hard to chart from inside the trenches.

I encourage these dreams - so many of them make a huge amount of sense. Let's all make some bold choices about what pipe we are laying for our futures. This will turn out to be the time of opportunity - let us enjoy it and use it well.

The Great God Positioning

The obsessive search for the Perfect Positioning can often cloud your ability to see what it is you really need to do. Searching for the perfect Positioning become the grail, whereas it is only one tool for achieving your real goal.

So what is that real goal? Is it a revenue target? Is it a "quality of client" target? Is it about profit margins? Presumably these are what is really important to you. But those goals are often being sidelined to spend time worshiping the Great God Positioning.

Here is another way to think about it. Start by visualizing what you want to achieve (revenue, better clients) and work back from that. Ask yourself who can help you achieve it. Figure out what you need them to do to help you. Put yourself in their place and make a smart guess at what they might be wanting. Now you have a way to imagine what you have to tell them, to get them to do what you want them to do.
Work backwards from these questions and answers and you will find the Positioning much easier to nail, and meanwhile you will be clearly aiming at the real goal.

Recession Depression? Try Hypnosis!

Rachmaninov was in such a funk after his first symphony was savaged by the critics (he was 24 yrs old - and no, that is not him in our picture) that he couldn’t compose for two years.

Then, according to Linda Mack of Andrews University, friends connected him with a psychologist called Dr Nikolai Dahl who tried to restore his self-confidence through hypnosis.

In a dark room, the doctor would repeat over and over such phrases as “You will begin your concerto…you will work with great facility…the concerto will be of excellent quality.”

The treatment was a success and the resulting 2nd Piano Concerto was a resounding triumph, and is still one of his most popular pieces. It is dedicated to the good Dr Dahl.

Coaching: "I laughed, I cried."

When I start working with a new coaching client I send them a questionnaire to answer before our first session. It gets the juices flowing and helps us to hit the ground running.

The questions are pretty challenging - designed to make you think. A new client this week sent me this along with his answers: "I laughed and I cried answering your questions. Thank you."

Wow - that is a wonderful response. I love my work!

Our clients tell us...

"I don’t know what Pollock said to (my Exec. Creative Director and my Head of Production) but now they’re managing their work a whole lot better. I thought I was going to have to let them go – but thanks to this we are picking up business again."


"Michael (Pollock) has a very strong ability to focus deeply on a company and draw out important, often overlooked, issues. Michael has been instrumental in helping us clearly define goals and working towards achieving them."


"This (coaching) was a terrific experience ... Thank you for your creativity, honesty, and insightfulness. You're easy to open up to. I never felt judged. You were always prepared and able to quote things I had said 2 sessions before. It's invaluable as a human being to be listened to on that level, and incredibly empowering as a businessman."


"I said good things about you to your face and I'll say them behind your back as well. I thought you navigated a potentially difficult internal political situation at our company very well (difficult because of the self-perception differences between the partners), advertised your services accurately and delivered an analysis that is relevant, clear and integral to creating forward movement."

"Your support and wisdom have already improved our business, and we're looking forward to continuing the collaboration."

Executive Coaching for your Firm's Creative Professionals

Experienced and Effective
Michael Pollock, President of Pollock Spark, has helped many talented creatives in advertising, film, and design firms to deal more effectively with clients, become more strategic, reduce derailing behaviors and build stronger teams. He has built departments at TBWA, JWT and Digitas, so he has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by people in creative businesses.


Specializing in Creative Professionals
Pollock Spark only works with creative businesses. Creative professionals are hungry for what coaching can do, but they say: “The coaches I’ve had didn’t understand me. They may be good for bankers, but they don’t work for me.”

To coach creative people successfully takes someone who really “gets them”. Relationships are particularly fragile, due largely to the lack of absolute success metrics. Success is often based on the taste or opinions of a supervisor or client. This leads to high levels of insecurity, often fostered by similarly insecure managers. Coaching can be invaluable in helping manage these challenges so they can focus on the creative work they are so good at.


Executive Coaching Leads to Sustainable Growth and Change
o “Studies show business coaching and executive coaching to be the most effective means for achieving sustainable growth, change and development in the individual, group and organization.” HR Monthly

o A survey of Fortune 1000 clients found the return on investment for coaching services over a 6-12 month period:
• Monetary return was 6 times the coaching investment
• 71% improved relationships with their bosses
• 77% reported improved relationships with their direct reports