Andy Rose

POST-MORTEM DAMN NEAR KILLED 'EM. Its something we often intend to do, but rarely get around to, right? A real retrospective on a project should provide value to everyone, but usually they only happen when something went really... and I do mean REALLY bad. Many years ago, young Andy had to bring 30 pages of printed out emails to a meeting after a project went disastrously bad. And guess what? That took things from bad to worse. Instead of looking at how we could improve, my having the 'receipts' was my way to prove I was right and someone else was wrong, and that just made everyone dig their heels in further. That meeting had no real resolution. And I was partially to blame. Hot Take: Rebrand a Post-Mortem as a Victory Lap.

SAYING 'NO' IS A SUPERPOWER. The world doesn't need any more 'yes men', and 'no' isn't always a bad thing (in context). If you are the type of person who's trying to climb a ladder or 'get ahead', you may be inclined to take on more than you can really handle, in hopes that it will help you get noticed. You know what usually gets noticed first about that approach? That you can take on a lot of stuff. So, they'll keep piling more on top, assuming you just have an amazing capacity. A short-term Superstar may also become a long-term burnout. Know your limits, the best contributors are the one's who can manage expectations (and workloads) with grace + clear communication. Know yourself to 'No' yourself.

NO RISK-IT, NO BISCUIT. Have you ever won something from putting in only half the effort? Yeah, me neither. Just stop for half a second, and think of your biggest 'win' as a professional creative. Can you think of any lessons you learned? We're waiting... Maybe you have one or two, and that's great. Now, try thinking of your biggest, most epic 'Fail' in your career. I'm willing to bet that you can quickly think of several lessons you learned from that one. What's the point? We learn more from defeat than we do in victory. If we celebrated some of the lessons we learned from each loss, we might realize how they directly contributed to our next win. Get your mind right, the rest will follow.

EMBRACE. NEW. TOOLS. They're here, they're only going to get more powerful. Harness them for good, like we've been doing for decades. Google Analytics, Chatbots, Heatmap / scroll depth trackers... EMAIL!! Tons of other stuff that has been 'scary' at launch that are now common tools in the modern marketing belt. Yesterday, OpenAI announced that all custom GPTs will be free to use going forward, no more paywalls. Build yourself a David Ogilvy copywriting bot thats cross-trained on your brand kit + AIDA frameworks, build a Seth Godin Strategy bot, or Neil Patel for SEO. Have an army of loyal, perfectly behaved Marketing AI Assistants at your fingertips and super-charge team of one. (Or I can build them for you, let me know.)

Yes, And... It's the #1 rule of improv. And often times, the improv you see is directly dictated by you, the audience. As a professional Improviser, I learned to read the room (some call it EQ) and realize that even the best laid plans (or presentations) may need a quick pivot on the fly. If you're sitting across from a client that seems distracted, impatient, or just disinterested, turning on the extra charm probably isn't going to cut it. Instead, use that as an opportunity to not just present, but to empathize. Break the tension, throw in a joke, or even just point-blank ask them what they're feeling/thinking instead of forcing everyone through 20 more slides. You may not earn their business, but you will earn their respect.

DON'T. STOP. BE-LEARNING. When I finished Film School in 2004, I was a certified editor + animator. If I'd rested my laurels on that, I wouldn't have a career now 20 years later. When I think of the rapidly changing pace of Tools/Tech in our industry, it doesn't scare me so much as it fuels me. Now that I'm focused more on strategy than editing, I often try new tools with deliberate outcomes in mind, but knowing full well it may not turn out how I'd hoped. Exploring these emergent tools will help you to not only stay open to new tactics + techniques, but it will also allow you to know how your competition might be growing/changing as well. You don't HAVE to use all the new tools, but ignoring them won't keep your competition at bay.