As I’ve been building my agency VaynerMedia over the last four to six years, there is something I often hear from clients, which is this: “Well, you do social, not digital. So we are going to go with _____.”
Another thing we hear a lot? “You don’t make commercials, so we’re going to go ahead with ____.”
What’s even more interesting is when they say “You can’t” instead of “You don’t.”
That always makes me chuckle to myself.
Why?
Because I am flabbergasted that people don’t understand that there are no such things as companies.
I know, weird thing for me to say. Let me explain what I mean by that.
If the top seven people that make any company tick, any company in the world, picked themselves up and went to a new company, that new company would be on it’s way to becoming the place they all came from. If the top seven people at Apple left and went to Samsung, Samsung might start looking more and more Apple-esque in a couple years or so. And who knows what Apple would look like.
Think about it. What about sports teams? There is no “The Lakers are great.” It’s Kobe and Jack playing on a team, so the Lakers become good. It’s not the Knicks winning when the Knicks have Willis Reed and Clyde Frasier. It’s the people who make up the team.
Get where I am going with this?
If you’re a decision maker at a company, or running a company yourself, and you’re disappointed because you’re not as good as some other company, or you’re jealous that they are doing something you’re not…stop it. Stop being jealous and go out and hire for that. Find the people that are doing it and make them part of your team.
It’s a human issue, not a company issue.
Start to value people, not companies. People are what make up the work that companies produce. Not the other way around.
