Feb 2021
Not another bloody culture blog!
Not really. More the musings of a somewhat portly Creative Director who’s just reflecting on the last few months really.
When the ‘C’ word decided to sucker punch us pretty much about this time last year, who knew what was around the corner? Or the next one? Or even the one after that? And if you did know, a) why didn’t you tell us? and b) what are this week’s Euromillions numbers? Since then, the world has been shaken up like a biscuit tin full of Hobnobs and tipped upside down onto a shag pile carpet for everyone to try and clean up.
For those who’ve been adversely affected by this blindsided pandemic slap, it’s no joke and I sincerely hope that things get better for you as soon as they can. For those who haven’t it’s also hard to find the funny side of much really, but I truly believe (and these really are my own personal views) that there will be something positive that will come from it all. No matter how big or small. Because it’s what we do, right? We don’t just ignore a big pile of crumbs on a shag pile carpet. We get cleaning and try and come out of it stronger. (At the end of the day, it probably needed a bit of a clean anyway).
Churchill said, “Never waste a good crisis”. Someone also said to me a while back during the first lockdown “Well, maybe the world needed to be reset a bit”. And maybe he was right. And that’s how I feel about the whole culture thing.
“Anyone fancy a pint?” was commonly heard many a lunchtime or at the end of the day. “Who wants a brew?” was reluctantly mumbled under someone’s breath in the office in the hope that no-one actually heard. (Just me? OK). We all miss that now. We also miss the banter and practical jokes that came thick and fast. The stuff that made it fun. The constant dicking about that actually makes for a far more productive environment. It was our culture. The thing that defined us as a group. The thing that bonded us and created memories. For those who know me, you’ll know that the culture is a HUGE thing for me. Not as easy to do when you’re sat in your pants at home day-in-day-out. Well, actually, it is. You just need to come at it from a different angle. Some might say ‘think outside the box’. But what box? There is no box. The ‘box’ is just something that we’ve created ourselves and for absolutely no reason at all. There are plenty of opportunities to keep a culture alive or even create a new one. The answer won’t be in a box though. Because there is no box. Remember? There may be the confines of your study, bedroom, living room or wherever you currently lay your work hat, but there’s still a world of ways out there to keep a culture alive. So find it and don’t sit back wishing it was what it used to be. It isn’t. Moveon.com
Don’t take yourself too seriously is my best advice. I’ll also pinch one from Dada Vaswani if I may. “If you want to be happy, make others happy”. All good stuff, but at the end of the day, whichever way you keep the culture alive or reinvent a new one, JFDI. One day we’ll be back together and you’ll be glad you did.
Anyway, it’s time to get the Dyson out and apply a bit of Shake and Vac. Those crumbs won’t shift themselves.
In categories: Industry Insights
