“. . . But let me tell you when I might demand that you take my name off the door . . . That will be the day when you start trying to make money and less time making advertising . . . When you lose that restless feeling that nothing you do is ever good enough . . . when you are no longer what Thoreau called “a firm with a conscience” . . .
when you show the slightest signs of crudeness . . . when you disaprove of something, and start tearing the hell out of the individual who did it than the work itself . . .
when you start believing that, in the interest in efficiency, a creative spirit and the urge to create can be delegated and administered, and forget that they can only be nurtured, stimulated, and inspired.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is when I shall insist you take my name off the door.”
The above words are from a landmark speech, entitled When to take my name off the door that advertising icon Leo Burnett delivered at his firm’s (Leo Burnett Company) annual breakfast meeting in 1967.
Some of Burnett’s words echo those of John Wooden, legendary basketball coach: “Success is the inner peace that comes from the self-satisfaction in knowing that you made the effort to do the best your were capable of.”
Your CALL to action/How to apply for this post: Make a diary entry for a protected 20 minute block of time in the next 7 days and do one of the following things:
- Use that 20 minutes to re-ignite your itch to do the best you are capable of and re-sell yourself on the worth you offer in the marketplace. and the worth of your product or service, or
- Use that 2o minutes to re-visit a book, article, blog you’ve stored away etc. on business development, and read all or a portion of it, or
- Use that 20 minutes to contact a BDM in another industry, and offer to buy the person a coffee, breakfast or lunch and interview him/her on what has paid off for them in their career.
Check out this post on the value of putting more effort into your speaking