What I've done - My Experience
When I did Strengths Quest it was uncannily right with one exception. It said that I am good at managing my own life. That is not true. I believe in the
quote from John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”. I’m also a big believer in what Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech to Stanford. (If you haven’t seen it, watch it now).
He described how after he dropped out of school he dropped in classes he liked. One was Calligraphy. He loved it. It was not relevant to what he was aiming to do but he loved it. But when he got to designing the Mac computer he insisted on interesting typefaces. As he puts it, “If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. …. you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
I completely agree. It has never let me down either.
I started off wanting to be an engineer. My dad was an engineer and I wanted to be like him. Or at least I did until I was about 17, when teenage rebellion set in. I even applied to Cambridge to do Natural Sciences which would provide me with a way in. Then I had doubts. Fortunately Cambridge agreed and didn’t accept me. So I was forced to rethink. I decided I liked the sound of psychology. I loved it and eventually, once I was accepted by Oxford to do a Ph.D., even my dad agreed.
Towards the completion of my Ph.D., I decided research wasn’t for me. I liked the real world too much. At that point I saw my Ph.D. as a great period in my life where I could follow my instincts and ideas. But I also thought it was over and no longer relevant to me.
I stumbled across an ad in the personal columns of the Times newspaper. Yes the same place Antarctic explorers sought recruits 100 years ago. I saw an ad for a job in advertising. I applied. That didn’t work out but I did soon get a job in advertising. It was the tail and of the Mad Men era and I loved it. My first day at work had a party with people hooking up in offices. And the reason I got an interview was because I had a Ph.D. They wanted to know why anyone as qualified as me would possibly want a job in advertising.
The job I got was doing the strategy behind the ads. My psychology came in really useful, but often the things that were footnotes in courses I’d done.
Fast forward 20 years and I was getting bored. A headhunter asked if I would be interested in a job in Canada. I said “Why not?” An interview in Claridges over tea and I was offered the job. I just needed a work permit. The useless Ph.D. again came to the rescue giving me the points needed to get landed immigrant status.
And 12 years later it turns out that Ph.Ds. are just what is needed to teach degree programs at Humber.
I would never have connected those dots back at Oxford.
Of course over those 32 years I’ve learned a thing or two about advertising. I’ve worked in some of the best agencies in the world – Saatchi and Saatchi with Charles and Maurice, CDP, probably the best agency in the world in the late 70s and 80s, BBDO here in Canada. And I’ve worked on almost every sort of client – Ford, RBC, Unilever, Nestle, the Government, Charities, Air Canada, Campbell’s Soup, Gillette, Carlsberg, George Brown etc.
I’ve been involved in some great award winning campaigns – Taster’s Choice (known as Gold Blend in the UK), Campbell’s Soup, RBC, Dodge Cars, and Le Creuset.(also here)
And I’ve run my own company Toolkit, specializing in strategic services to clients like Rogers and Abbott Pharmaceutical and advertising agencies like Y&R, Grey, BBDO and wurstlingroup. Check out my website and my blog.
But now I’m back in the academic world and this I’m loving it.
quote from John Lennon: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”. I’m also a big believer in what Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech to Stanford. (If you haven’t seen it, watch it now).
He described how after he dropped out of school he dropped in classes he liked. One was Calligraphy. He loved it. It was not relevant to what he was aiming to do but he loved it. But when he got to designing the Mac computer he insisted on interesting typefaces. As he puts it, “If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. …. you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
I completely agree. It has never let me down either.
I started off wanting to be an engineer. My dad was an engineer and I wanted to be like him. Or at least I did until I was about 17, when teenage rebellion set in. I even applied to Cambridge to do Natural Sciences which would provide me with a way in. Then I had doubts. Fortunately Cambridge agreed and didn’t accept me. So I was forced to rethink. I decided I liked the sound of psychology. I loved it and eventually, once I was accepted by Oxford to do a Ph.D., even my dad agreed.
Towards the completion of my Ph.D., I decided research wasn’t for me. I liked the real world too much. At that point I saw my Ph.D. as a great period in my life where I could follow my instincts and ideas. But I also thought it was over and no longer relevant to me.
I stumbled across an ad in the personal columns of the Times newspaper. Yes the same place Antarctic explorers sought recruits 100 years ago. I saw an ad for a job in advertising. I applied. That didn’t work out but I did soon get a job in advertising. It was the tail and of the Mad Men era and I loved it. My first day at work had a party with people hooking up in offices. And the reason I got an interview was because I had a Ph.D. They wanted to know why anyone as qualified as me would possibly want a job in advertising.
The job I got was doing the strategy behind the ads. My psychology came in really useful, but often the things that were footnotes in courses I’d done.
Fast forward 20 years and I was getting bored. A headhunter asked if I would be interested in a job in Canada. I said “Why not?” An interview in Claridges over tea and I was offered the job. I just needed a work permit. The useless Ph.D. again came to the rescue giving me the points needed to get landed immigrant status.
And 12 years later it turns out that Ph.Ds. are just what is needed to teach degree programs at Humber.
I would never have connected those dots back at Oxford.
Of course over those 32 years I’ve learned a thing or two about advertising. I’ve worked in some of the best agencies in the world – Saatchi and Saatchi with Charles and Maurice, CDP, probably the best agency in the world in the late 70s and 80s, BBDO here in Canada. And I’ve worked on almost every sort of client – Ford, RBC, Unilever, Nestle, the Government, Charities, Air Canada, Campbell’s Soup, Gillette, Carlsberg, George Brown etc.
I’ve been involved in some great award winning campaigns – Taster’s Choice (known as Gold Blend in the UK), Campbell’s Soup, RBC, Dodge Cars, and Le Creuset.(also here)
And I’ve run my own company Toolkit, specializing in strategic services to clients like Rogers and Abbott Pharmaceutical and advertising agencies like Y&R, Grey, BBDO and wurstlingroup. Check out my website and my blog.
But now I’m back in the academic world and this I’m loving it.