The Myth Of Big

A lot of companies right now are dealing with the issue of rapid downsizing. This particularly affects marketing communications companies. Maclaren McCann let 53 people go. A lot of talented people gone from Cossette. Even Taxi had a purge.

But did these companies have to be that big to begin with? Several years ago, I was touring the offices of ChumCity Television with John Gunn, one of the executive producers. He showed me the studios, the post production area and “Over there,” he said “That’s Space Television, the sci-fi station.”

It was 2 desks. Just a Creative Director and an Executive Producer.

I suspect that if CBC or Bellglobemedia were to start a scifi station, there would have been 30 employees within a week. But do they really need them?

I create campaigns for national clients. I work with a hand-picked, incredibly talented team of art directors, graphic designers, producers, media planners, web strategists, interactive designers, photographers, PR people, event producers, music composers and dozens more. I know them all personally and they come through with amazing work again and again.

And not one of them is employed by my company.

How big do you need to be to create the best product possible? It’s probably smaller than you think.

Ford Motor used to hire shepherds to tend Ford sheep on Ford land to create Ford cotton to weave into Ford seats on Ford Cars. That, of course, seems insane today.

What’s keeping you the size you are right now? Do you really need the scale or is it tradition?

Hurry up, you'll be dead soon.

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
Albert Einstein said that. I carry around a little blue sticky note in my wallet with that written in faded pencil. I may not be the greatest spirit. I may not have the greatest ideas. And the opposition may not be the most mediocre minds. But there's always opposition.
The point is, you've got to try. New business, new career. Whatever you're going to start, start now. Think it through but don't weigh every consequence. You have to be at least a little willfully naive to try something big.
What would you do if there was no possibility of failure? Try that idea on for size. It takes fear out of the equation and puts the focus on the positive.
I just had a young art director call me. He wants to start an ad agency and wants my advice on how to do that. Sure it may be the worst time in the history of advertising if you're big an entrenched. But it may be the absolute best time for the small, creative and nimble. There's no guarantee. But it is fun (along with unnerving and sleep depriving).
I often ask people who are unhappy at they're job why they don't try something new. The reasons they give are usually pretty lame. "We are born free and live in cages" to paraphrase someone way smarter than me.
So give it a shot. They can't kill you. The worst you can do is fail. You will never lose as much money as Bernie Madoff or General Motors or MC Hammer.
There is only now. So get on with it.