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It was a pleasure to be entertained by Felix Dennis this morning. Felix was in conversation with Bruce Daisley as part of AdWeek Europe. For me it was a celebration of the power of the maverick to make a difference. It was also a continuation of my discovery about the importance of one of the core practices of improvisation (and leadership), “get out of the way and make your partner look good”.
 
Having read Felix’s biography, I was scared for Bruce. Whilst Bruce is one of the strongest debaters and wittiest men in media, Felix has a reputation for balking against anyone trying to ‘chair’ him. While my improv teachers may have been skeptical of Bruces preparation, they would have been proud of his attention and lack of ego. There was none of the clash I feared. Instead  the man famous for having spent £200 million on girls and drugs (in case Bruce’s partner Helen is reading, I’m referring to Felix), was allowed to shine and demonstrate his wisdom, courage and clarity of thought.
 
During this breakfast session at Ronnie Scots, three things stuck me:
 
First was Felix’s Leadership lessons: hire great people, back them all the way (“right up till you fire them”), and get out of their way. Being a man of extremes, he took this to extremes, disappearing without trace with his friends and strangers for trips on his barge. As he never embraced mobile phones or email, this meant his team learnt to prosper without him. If they didn’t, they were replaced with those that could. I’m sure if more leaders got out of their team’s way, success would follow. Even when you are witnessing a train crash, he said, you need to allow the derailment to enable learning and growth. 
 
The second great story was Felix turning up unannounced at the door of Mohammed Ali to declare he was there to write his biography. His charm and persistence got him through the door and into a remarkable 3 month’s shacked-up with the legend, and witnessing the ‘rumble in the jungle’. He demonstrated that ‘just doing it’ is sometimes more important that careful planning and preparation. Whilst he never claimed to invent the concept of the ‘lads mag’, he explained it was his  willingness to exploit it and transfer Maxim internationally within months of the concept launch, that made him one of this country’s most successful ever publishers. Hesitation belies no man.
 
Finally, Dennis juxtaposed the above two qualities by illustrating his humility and personal  quest to learn from others. He shared his biggest regret “forgetting to have children”, and told us that while refusing to own a mobile phone, he still personally learns the functions for each new handset so he understands the world his business inhabits. His understanding of the power of gaming, showed that while he may write 4 hours of poetry a day, he still commands a grasp of what is on the money in today’s world of media and business.
 
The event left me proud for a world where mavericks can still make a massive difference. Bringing AdWeek to Europe was a monumental act of bravery by Kathleen Saxton and her team at TLC. The willingness of the industry to work together to celebrate innovation and success was a shift from the rather partisan set piece industry events I tend to leave early. This reminded me of a new generation (or a reinvention of the old generation) who understand that collaboration, even amongst competitors, is the future for much of our industry.
 
This was one highlights of a great week for the advertising world. One that showed that the UK remains positive, collaborative and innovative……. and leads the way.
 

Yesterday I had to stop myself from throwing out frozen macaroni cheese from my freezer. You may be thinking where’s the horse meat in Macaroni Cheese….. however it wasn’t the hidden meat products that unnerved me but the Tesco Value packaging.

The association with contaminated food massively impacts an organisations brand, and branding touches an emotional nerve. Once the brand is damaged, the association sticks. Disaster for Findus this week and disaster for Tesco (although I’ve not much empathy since their new convenience store near my house has managed to put Mistry’s, my local corner shop, out of business).

The whole horse-meat scandal has made me think about advertising, branding, placement and supply chains. In recent years, the provenance of certain online advertising inventory has become unclear. If you go to the right places, you can target your ‘apparent’ market for a pound (or really cheap at least). In the same way, you can get a dozen burgers for 99p from ‘reputable’ food retailers that we thought was at least the left-over cuts of the meat, rather than a completely different animal!

So it is possible to spend marketing budgets, fill their schedules, tick off all the big channels, yet forget to ask whether we are really touching the audience we need or want. Whilst it appears on the face of it we are, if we don’t ask about the detail of how we are touching the audience (where it comes from), or we don’t care, we can feed our schedules with anything, and balance our overall budget, looking and tasting good in the process. However I suspect, like Findus Lasagne, we may find that the schedules end up being filled with more horse than cow.

The question should be: not will the product fill you up, but what will it do to your insides? How long will the empty marketing calories last? Will you end up rotting your insides, with associations with brands you would never associate with freely.

There has always been a murky side to advertising. Online promised us transparency and accountability, but like the EU, can sometimes, especially when chasing “value”, end up delivering dogs served up as cow. It’s good to see our friends in Out Of Home excited about the launch of Postar 3 this month. Another place where we will soon be able to read the labels more clearly in the future.

Brand owners beware. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. In fact arguably the only way to be sure to get where you want, is to know where you are going.

23 years after the most terrible tragedy at Hillsborough, where 96 fans were crushed to death due to poor crowd management by the police, a independent report has finally uncovered the truth. Now the families of the victims are seeking justice, they want to see ‘heads roll’ from the leaders of the police who spent so long covering up. What has sent Britain into shock is that another of our institutions has been revealed as favouring cowardice, cover-up and lies in their leadership.

The families are asking themselves “why did the police act in such a despicable way following the disaster”. The police response has been shown to have caused as many as 40 additional deaths. It’s becoming clear a lack of core leadership qualities propelled the police chiefs into a position that left them smearing the names of the dead in order to protect their own backs.

The Hillsborough report came out the same week I was reviewing the latest version of Marcum and Smiths (authors of Egonomics) work, Catalyst, and their ideas really resonated regarding the failure of leadership displayed during and following the disaster.

They noted that great leaders promote three qualities sorely lacking in the police in this affair: Confidence; Curiosity; and Candour.

Confidence:
Marcum and Smith do not see confidence as one’s innate belief in one’s own omnipotence. They refer to a pure confidence that allows leaders to accept they are fallible, and accept they can make mistakes and errors. These are the hallmarks of genuine confidence. The lack of pure confidence in the commanders on that day, and following the disaster, led the aftermath to be so deadly and painful.

In Catalyst, Marcum and Smith demonstrate that the Ego will give us early warning signs that it is negatively impacting our decision making. Defensiveness, showing off and competitiveness are all signs the ego may be at play. In this case defensiveness crept in early. Cover up, inaction and slur followed as the police became incapacitated by the fear of accepting errors. Instead the police worked hard to pass the blame to the fans who were dying on the pitch, as they blocked ambulances from helping them.

Curiosity:
Instead of seeking the truth through curiosity, defensiveness and ego took over the Police’s mind-set. From blatant lying to doctoring of evidence, those employed to protect us from harm conspired to protect us from truth. The police culture of defensiveness over curiosity may not have caused the tragedy, but may have contributed to many of the deaths on the day, and much of the pain that followed.

Candour:
Finally, candour compliments a leader’s confidence and curiosity. It is the lack of that candour that has blighted so many lives following the tragedy. It is hard to believe that 18 years has passed for many of the families of this disaster as the lack of candour has made it hard for them to move on, instead spending all this time and energy battling to find the truth.

What is needed in Police Force today is the same as we need throughout all areas of society – Real Leaders. Leaders not interested in protecting themselves or the status quo. Real leaders who have the confidence to admit they are human and the curiosity to discover what can be done to make a difference around them. Leaders honest enough to seek truth through candour, and with the ability to listen to the people around them.