Archive for 27 April, 2007
Horses for courses
Northern Planner has recently posted on why swimming competitively as a child has made him a better Planner. I’d like to offer my own thoughts on why spending a lot of time around horses has influenced my approach to Planning and agency life in general:
1) Highs and Lows
There’s nothing quite like cantering across the moors on a sunny day, or being licked by a small, hairy pony in search of polos, or taking home the first place rosette.
But its not fun to have to chuck yourself off a galloping horse because its bolting towards a main road, or to have to make the heart wrenching decision to have your elderly, arthritic pony put to sleep.
You learn a sense of proportion. Lows will inevitably follow highs, the darkest time is before the dawn etc. Especially important to remember when pitching for new business!
2) Preparation is key
The only way to get placed in a Tack and Turnout class at a horse show was to spend the entire day before cleaning tack, polishing boots, grooming, washing the pony, plaiting his mane and tail and so on. Poor preparation = no rosette. No shortcuts.
There are some things you just can’t skimp on. Like taking the time to research and write a decent creative brief.
3) Mindset, not age
Horses are a great leveller. One of my favourite riding companions is just 13. My other regular hacking buddy is in her 50s. We share a common interest in horses, have well matched mounts and enjoy the same kind of relaxed hack. So the age difference doesn’t matter, we are coming from the same place.
Agencies can be notoriously assumptive about target audience’s mindsets based on age, when we should really be concentrating on their opinions, interests and preconceptions.
This is Me, aged about 8 on Tommy. To put this into context, little Tommy was 11.2 hands high (or about four foot to the top of his saddle). Bless.
