May 06 2015 May 6, 2015 May 6, 2015 7Comments by ben

What are your weaknesses?

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Here’s an interesting memo from David Ogilvy.

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I’m guilty of all of those except 1, 3, 5 and 12 (and I was never Creative Head in New York).

I’m not sure why he’d say intolerance of mediocrity is a weakness. Sounds a bit like saying ‘I’m a perfectionist’ is a weakness: for lots of reasons it’s a massive strength. It becomes a weakness when you’re not prepared to see past mediocrity to the person behind it and try to turn mediocrity into excellence. After all, we all go through a period of mediocrity before we come geniuses. If no one’s there to help us on the journey then no improvements will be made.

Then again, I like to think I’m intolerant of mediocre movies, food, music etc. But I express that intolerance by avoiding a repetition of the experience (if possible). When it comes to mediocre staff… well, you hired them (usually), so it’s your responsibility to make them better. Most people have potential in them.

I never enjoyed firing anyone, but realised it was part of the job. I tend to look at my job as doing the nice bits for free and being paid to do the less nice bits.

I’m very happy to fly. Good to get some peace and quiet.

And my boredom threshold is quite high because I find the vast majority of what happens on Earth to be absolutely fascinating.

My other weaknesses include my left knee and the more-occasional-than-I’d-like Reese’s Nutrageous.

What are yours?