Writing in Ad Age’s Small Agency Diary, Derek Walker tells a great story about a CEO tirade.
“What is this crap?!” (He used another four-lettered word.) He continued looking down at the work on the pool table. “Everyone get out here. Now.”
Everyone hurried around the table, including our creative director. We stood there silently as he glared down at the pool table covered in work. No one said a word — we had never heard or seen him this angry. A big man, a former college football player, he was imposing.
“Someone explain this crap to me! What in the world am I looking at?! All the money and time we’ve spent and you… you dare to do this! Get this off my pool table, and never use it for this again! Now, pick up a damn pool cue and use this table for what it is meant for! And someone better drink that damn beer in the cooler too!”
Read the entire story. Derek tells it very well, even if he’s making a simple point we’ve all heard before. Sometimes the best ideas come to you when you’re not trying to force them out by laboring in front of a computer.
