Praise
05th January 2011
Praise doesn't always have to come from a client to make you feel like you've done some good in your work.
While on my morning bus into the office an email pinged into the inbox on my phone. It was from a name that was familiar but one that I couldn't put a face to. It turned out to be from a young guy who was on placement at Cuba back in 2005.
He was still at school back then and was about to take his A-levels. While he was with us he trailed around with me, worked on numerous jobs and met a whole host of people in and around the ad industry.
He had an idea that the communications industry was his thing, so we exposed him to as many different sides of it so that he could create a clearer picture of the industry in his mind.
It obviously worked. In his email to me he wrote:
"I've been pretty busy myself... finished my A-Levels (beer and girls), did a bit of travelling (flip-flops and beads) and now I'm in my second year at Bournemouth Uni studying PR (more beer and Cash in the Attic). "
However, it was the praise he gave me for something which was a simple throw away comment I’d made back when he was on placement with us, that appears to have stuck with him which made my bus journey and the work I do feel as though it does have some positive benefit. And yes, for a brief moment an over inflated sense of worth too.
And this is what did it:
"I always remember you asking me how my coursework was going at school and I thought 'well I do it the night before or borrow someone else’s but I said 'yeh, going OK Phill, I usually do it as soon as I get it, I'm pretty organised like that'. Then what do you say? 'Oh that's cool, I just used to do mine the night before or nick someone else’s. Honesty Phill, you taught me it's alright to be honest."
That for me is as good as any praise I've received for creating a campaign that's been a huge success shifting X number of units and making the clients’ share price rise (for example).
I guess it's not the size of the praise that's important but rather the quality.
