Following up on a recent post, I decided to take a closer look at introverts in the ad industry:
Advertising is a subjective business that’s prone to groupthink. Do quiet people react to certain types of advertising the same way as extroverts? I wonder how many bad ads, or how many brand problems, could’ve been avoided had the quiet people had the courage or the internalized permission to speak up and say, “You know, that might not be such a great idea.” Instead, the group defers to the loud people who react instantly and positively.
More and more, our business is focused on collaboration. And today’s ad agencies reflect a mandate to be “on” all the time: Open-space office plans. Conference calls where only a few do the talking and the sound quality is so poor it only works if you yell. Brainstorming meetings with more storminess than braininess. It’s not enough to be a lone copywriter or designer doing great work while sitting in solitude, if it ever was.
It’s the subject of my new column on Talent Zoo.
