Advice to All: If You Don't Know, Ask!

One of the comments I received came from Jon Waite formerly of Dentsu Aegis and now at Havas Jon made the excellent point that if he doesn39t understand something he always in his words plays the village idiot and asks Others should thank him for askingA few years ago at an asi Conference Richard Marks asked Steve Wilcox what he meant by quotregression from the meanquot There must have been 300odd people in that room and by my estimate at least 290 of them offered a silent quotthank youquot to RichardIt39s not the easiest thing to speak up You may think you39re signposting your ignorance that you look stupid that you really should know the answer given your experience or seniorityAll these feelings are understandable but they need correcting We39re never going to get anywhere if those making the decisions genuinely don39t have at least some understanding of the basis on which the recommendation to do this or that have been madeOne of my earliest lessons from one Bernard Bennett there may be one or two readers who remember him at Southern TV was If you don39t know askI used to go along to friendly unthreatening gatherings like the MRG and make myself stand up and ask questions It wasn39t I admit easy but it got easierLater when I had accumulated some experience I used to welcome people asking me things It39s flattering to be asked I genuinely never thought quotWhat an idiot How on earth did he get there without knowing thatquotYou learn from others after allOne lesson is never to pontificate on something you don39t understandOnce I did a presentation to a client about some media measurement issue and to make it appear a lot more complicated than it really was quotin confusion lies marginquot I cut and pasted an impressive looking formula from a learned article on whatever the topic wasI remember my line well and this was 40odd years ago quotWe39ve looked into this and come up with this formula which I39m sure you39ll be pleased to know I don39t intend taking you through todayquotThe client39s response is also seared into my memory It was something like quotI did my PHD on something similar to this I would actually really like you to walk me through itquotOf course I couldn39t amp8230 and the humiliation lingersThis sense of embarrassment and shame seems to vanish when it comes to those who fill my timelines on social media It39s extraordinary how many a international trade experts b epidemiologists and c geopolitical strategists connected to meEven more impressive is these skills seem to reside in the same peopleI know nothing about these three topics so I read what I can from those who genuinely do I may having read up on the topic express an opinion but I don39t pretend it39s anything more than thatI do however know quite a lot about some things including advertising media and audience measurement So it is with confidence that I say that most people who post on these things know nothing about them probably because their brains are full given their expertise on trade deals epidemiology and geopoliticsIf you doubt me read the comments from those who love GBNews and who express their love by denigrating rival channels39 viewing figures Or those who confuse sales with readership Or how we can fund the BBC with advertising or amp8230 oh don39t get me startedThere are of course many people who do know a great deal about these things but that population although large makes up a very small proportion of the comments I seeWe39ve gotten used to valuing everyone39s thoughts equally however uninformed they may be But we39ve forgotten the value in learning and we39ve fallen back into believing that asking someone something is an indicator of weakness or stupidity to be mockedAnd so we avoid it Noone likes to be mocked Surely it39s better for the selfesteem to shout louder to stare down those who doubt you to intimidateTo cut and paste the formulaNo it isn39t It really isn39tAsk away curiosity is a sign of strength And bullshitters get caught out eventuallyClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Advice to All: If You Don't Know, Ask!

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Brian Jacobs

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