I Followed My Heart From The Portobello Road To Wildest Dream
We’d been warned about Cathy, the fiery founder of TCC, and I can see why. She glances over us with her piercing blue eyes. Anna and I sit on hard wooden chairs across from Cathy on a plush velvet covered bench in a pub off Portobello Road, London. We aren’t drinking, it’s still the morning. Neither is Cathy, which is a surprise, maybe she wants to get out of here quickly.
We’ve been sent to talk to Cathy by her new private equity owners, and our masters. They recently bought her agency, and we are there to cut costs. “So, tell me about your business, Cathy.” Anna asks her in kind and high-pitched voice. “I have built this business from the ground up, and my photographers are like my family.” Her posh deep growl builds into a lioness’s roar. “My business works through growth! You cannot come in here and save money.”
I squirm in my seat, shoulders rounding forward, breathing through my chest, opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish, thankful that Anna is the manager and has to take the brunt of the heat. “Could we…” Anna starts before Cathy shouts, “there is nothing you can do here!” Cathy goes on and on. Anna and I nodding in complete agreement at the berating we are receiving on behalf of our masters.
It was a face I was very adept at making, smiling and nodding whilst I got shouted at.
‘Yes, you are right, we are assholes.’ I still don’t know how Cathy could get so much volume from her voice, so much depth of dislike in her eyes, and yet sit there so serenely. Truth be told, I didn’t just feel uncomfortable, I felt rotten and out of alignment with my values – my default option for growth is not to take away but to add, not to cut but to build.
“So, I think that is it then.” Cathy releases us from our torment, glancing at us again, signalling that we should leave. We get up from the hard wooden chairs, awkwardly say bye without hugs or handshakes, and step through the heavy door onto the street.
“That was crazy.” I have found my voice.
“Oh my god, I have never had anything like that before, we literally got shouted at for twenty minutes.” Anna replies.
We round the corner onto the Portobello Road, and we are laughing, doing our best impressions of the fiery posh growl that Cathy shouted at us in, looking over our shoulders in case she is stalking us.
We feel the pain of value misalignment in our heart
That day, I didn’t just feel uncomfortable, I felt misaligned. My heart knew I was going against something I believed in. That’s what values do, they round our shoulders and shorten our breath when we go against them. When something is right but hard, our values straighten our backs, helping us take a stand, like Cathy did.
As one of the founding fathers of the USA, Alexander Hamilton, famously said:
‘If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for?’
In the pub off Portobello Road I was doing something that didn’t feel right. At heart, I am someone who doesn’t believe that you can cut your way out of a problem. I would rather double down, take more risk and think of creative solutions to grow, as opposed to saving money to protect what we have.
Like me, I am sure you can recall times in the last week where your shoulders rounded, your breath became shallow, and your pulse quickened. There is a chance you were misaligned with your values. Were you?
That meeting with Cathy stayed with me because I hated how it made me feel, I was taking and not Giving.
A great public values misalignment
“Who’s heard of Nike?” The room raises their collective hands. “What does Nike stand for?” A pause from the room. They aren’t sure what I mean. “What does Nike stand for? What is their thing?” I ask them again. I start to make eye contact with a couple of the guys in the room who are wearing Nike trainers. I can see they know the answer. I directly ask James, “what does Nike stand for?” He looks at me, a bit confused but eventually says, “err, just do it.”
I then show the room the Winning Isn’t For Everyone campaign for Nike ahead of the Paris Olympics. It caused quite a storm, not for its undeniable cinematic quality, but for its, well, un-Nike-ness. I bet you haven’t seen the advert? On Nike’s YouTube channel, it only has 3.6m views, half of those are probably me showing them in corporate workshops.
Below is an excerpt from the Winning Isn’t For Everyone advert:
Am I a bad person? Tell me. Am I? I'm single minded. I'm deceptive. I'm obsessive. I'm selfish. … I have no empathy. I don't respect you. … I think I'm better than everyone else. I want to take what's yours and never give it back. What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine.
But why did it feel so un-Nike? To understand that we have to go back to 1988, and the creation of the Just Do It campaign. When we see Nike’s 1988 campaign for Just Do It, we know what they stand for. To the former Nike CMO, Davide Grasso, they stand for the “hardest hardcore athletes as well as those talking up a morning walk.” I encourage you to watch the original adverts – below I have left a couple of lines and the links from the campaign.
‘How do I stop my teeth from chattering? I leave them in my locker.’
Walt Stack – 80 years old – in original 1988 Nike: Just Do It campaign.
‘It doesn’t matter if you’re good or bad, you just skate.’
Kid in original 1988 Nike: Just Do It campaign.
Nike, the brand that was for everyone. The Paris Olympic campaign didn’t feel right – it was a blatant values misstep; it hurt our hearts because we have such a strong association with what Nike stands for.
Getting back on track
So, seven years on from that meeting in a pub off Portobello Road, I’m sat in a coffee shop in Doha, Qatar. I’ve just finished a workshop with a group of young leaders on becoming more powerful communicators. Tomorrow, we will continue by discussing how we can be more impactful in our presentations. How did I get to a place where I undoubtedly get to work closer to my values? I followed my heart, my values.
I took several leaps of faith, from consulting to a lower paid corporate job to sell food (something I am passionate about), to a job where I now get to travel the world working with leaders who care about making their world a better place. This sense of Adventure and my ability to Give are central to the world I now live in. I chose to be in a place where I grow with my values, rather than feeling a pain in my heart.
But, how do you know when it’s the right time to take a leap of faith, to follow your heart? I would offer two pieces of advice. Firstly, in your 20s and early 30s remember that movement builds momentum, so jump around, try things out and say ‘yes’ more than you say ‘no’. Secondly, find regular and prolonged times throughout the year to be seriously reflective on who you are and where you’re going, whether through coaching, mentorship, writing or learning.
So, how did Nike fare? Like me, they took stock and bounced back into the right direction. They didn’t allow a bad decision to define them. They learnt from it and moved on from it. A campaign they released last year is called What If You Can. It is all about a young Arab woman who dreams of one day becoming a sports star. It is far more heart-warming than heart-squirming, it feels like Nike. No surprises then – it has 37m views on YouTube.
Deepen Your Curiosity
Forbes commented ‘Nike Loses In The Winning Isn’t For Everyone Ad Campaign’ when discussing the Paris Olympic campaign.
Walt Stack – 80 years old and skating kid in original 1988 Nike: Just Do It campaign.
Compared to Winning Isn’t For Everyone, the year old campaign, What If You Can, has 33m more views on YouTube.
