I have to admit, I was a little skeptical when I got a book by Suzanne Bates entitled, Motivate Like A CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act! Because I’ve seen and heard way to many ad agency CEOs who simply have no motivational or leadership skills. They rule by fear, politics and the deep-seated reality that they can’t handle hiring people smarter than them.
So what’s to learn in Bates’ book?
Well, you may not be a CEO, but if you work in advertising, you have to persuade. You have to sell–your work, and yourself. And to have any success at all, you have to learn how to manage a team. And Bates uses examples from folks working in much less inspiring professions than advertising.
So the lessons here work nicely: Discovering a purpose and making sure the organization meets that purpose in everything it does. And learning how and when to communicate that message–which is extremely critical. How many agency leaders have you seen who can give a really, really good speech? Nothing lets the air out of an agency more than a bad pep talk by management.
In this economy, ad people need all the advantages they can get. And that means making the work better, but also making ourselves better. “Motivate Like A CEO” has some good lessons to help you do that.
Special thanks to FSB Associates who provided me a copy for review.