NORTHERN PLANNER

I may have mentioned I can be clumsy. In most cases cases, this isn't very endearing. Not to the date I managed to throw wine over, not to my shins crying out at the bruises gained from walking into things.

I'm the proverbial accident waiting to happen.However, it does have it's plus sides.

There was one of THOSE workshops a while back, on social media stuff, with a group of corporate stakeholders who would rather have been anywhere else. No one was playing ball and it felt like this was going to be three hours of long, slow, tortuous death.

Until I had my first sip of coffee.

Coffee that never went anywhere near my mouth, thanks to a loose lid.  The searing liquid poured all over my clothes, the table, the floor, everywhere.

Obviously it was funny, thankfully everyone helped clean up. 

When we started again, everything changed. The group was engaged, laughing (at my expense) and ready to do work.

What happened? The Pratfall effect.

I didn't do it on purpose, however the evidence is pretty conclusive that making little gaffes makes you more likeable. 

Imperfection wins people over.

Yet scroll through Instagram, put up pictures of most advertising if you can stand it, and you'll see a towering wall of glistening perfection.

It's bollocks. 

Perfection erases humanity, it's boring, it's no fun and it's exhausting.

Now look at this video of what Jennifer Lawrence said, after falling on the way to picking up her Oscar.

 

Watch Casey Neistat dealing with getting a ticket for not riding in a bike lane. Human, funny, real.

 

Look at Jessamyn Stanley

 

Look at my favourite ad ever. Not because it makes you feel something, not because it celebrates the suffering behind true greatness. Enjoy it because it shows that great success if born out of failure. It speaks the truth that not even the best can be the best all the time.

 

On a personal level, it's really liberating to realise that you are enough. I like being 46 and too old to care what people think anymore. That doesn't mean I'm stopping working on myself, in fact, I'm going through lots of changes right now so 'myself' hasn't felt so open in years. Still, nowadays you can take me as you find me. 

When it comes to the day job, for a few years, people have claimed to want less perfection from brands. I don't always buy the 'brand as person' metaphor to be frank, but if you're going to use it, might as well use it properly and admit no one is perfect. I do think real life is far more interesting than the fake one in brand world, because it's messy and full of tension. 

I've written elsewhere how 'brand story' stuff (I know yawn, yawn) is far more than the usual 7 plots. Get into what REALLY works in story telling and you nearly always have flawed characters who can't reconcile their view of themselves/the world, with how things really are. 

Buzz Lightyear doesn't know he's a toy.

Alan Partridge doesn't know he's tragic, he thinks he's a massive talent.

Han Solo can't accept he's really a nice guy.

In my own work, I learned to write bad propositions in creative briefs and litter the rest of the brief with gold. When the creative gangsters write a better one for you, they've thought of it themselves and are on board. You avoid that first review when they show how they've fought tooth and nail to work to their own strategy.

I make little mistakes in presentations, leave out gaps, so when people correct me they're part of it, not being talked at. I put myself into the narrative, imperfect, real me.

I'm not saying throw coffee over yourself, or throw wine at women or men (hot coffee burns). I am saying rejecting perfection is a lot less knackering and leads to better work.

This is, of course, why this blog is littered with typos. I'm actually a pedantic detail freak, I just want you to like me. Honest.