Everybody Needs Passion

I read a story once of an adman who kept a card in his breast pocket that read: "They may be right." He would pull out that card before going into a client meeting. I once thought that was a poor way to start a meeting in regards to self-confidence and belief in your own ideas. However, I've altered my opinion somewhat. (Although I would never look at the card before a client meeting, still.)

I was reading comments from one of my clients on a creative brief. They were bristling, sometimes blistering comments. I read it once and put it away, moving on to the next project. Then a day later I picked up the brief again, shut my door, and read the comments with more empathy for the client. I tried to imagine the client's mindset as he wrote these comments. What was he REALLY trying to say to me?

And it dawned on me ... they may be right. In fact ... the client was right on several points.

I realized that the client had put more passion into their comments than I put into the brief. And that's the real lesson here for me: never let your client have more passion for a brief than you. Never be "one-up'd" by a client's passion for a communication piece. They can bring more facts and realities to the table all day. But never ... never ... let them be more passionate about key insights and ideas for the communication. If you try to keep this pace - work towards this goal - you will write better briefs.