Suck it up: why criticism and debate are the best way to advance the industry
In this guest post, Tristan Tobin from Bold Media, argues that constructive criticism shouldn’t be withheld due to the thin skins of agency folk if we want to remain challenged and creative.
There’s a line in the 2014 film Whiplash that sums the situation up nicely: “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job’.”
We’re good at backslapping in the media industry. A quick look through the Comments section on Mumbrella will show you just how unwelcome a critical opinion can be.
In this circle jerk echo chamber where big commercial imperative and personal ego govern the industry discourse, it’s often the most innovative and honest voices that get drowned out.
Thanks Tristan. Groupthink and backslapping are the enemy of innovation. Mumbrella too often reports on some disastrous campaign – advertising or PR – and the obvious questions every time are: How did this happen? Why didn’t someone say “are you joking”? As you say, Big guys don’t like to be contradicted.
Good points well made, Tristan. But how can I agree with your article without fundamentally rejecting its core message?
This is seriously perplexing.
I’m feeling like I want to spend more time with my family
Excellent. This type of article is an example of calling out the liberal bias that infected the USA election. Thank you Tristan for defending the right for people to pull down institutions and all the people that work for them. Thank God Mumbrella exists to give balance to a tough shitty world out there. Now that I have read this article, I feel like I am better able to balance out my general decency values. Once you are in power as the big boy you will no doubt be, you can tell those princesses to suck it up. I suggest you use that line as part of your management motivation day and when you are called upon to ask people to move on. Everytime we as an industry talk like this, we let the burning platform narrative live. I for one need my job, I like my job, and the only thing I want a robot to do is fill in my timesheet.
I don’t really understand this article. The big guys piece.
I tend to think the trade and the industry spend far too much time criticising each other and talking down the industry. It is odd.