When it comes to advertising and marketing, one of my favorite quotes is “Just when you think you know something about this business, someone comes along to prove you wrong.”  Sure, as we move forward through our careers we accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience, but there are always questions that come up in meetings, that defy answers.  CEOs of advertising and marketing shops, dudettes and dude paid the big bucks, admit things cone up all the time for which they don’t have answers.  That’s what keeps us on our toes.

The best we can do as decision-makers is to rely on our instincts, on our body of work and make an informed decision. One of my mentors always had an answer in meetings. And he believed it. The switch was always on or off. His opinions flowed, with grace, logic and conviction.  Was he always right? No. And he rode that wave to great career heights. Until a decision or two, while with billion dollar companies, were deemed wrong.  Hiccups.

So long as we surround ourselves with smart people, so long as we understand that we do not know everything, so long as we have humor and don’t believe ourselves the smartest person in the room, logical, informed marketing decisions will be good ones.  Add a little poetry and they can be great ones.  Decisions beat inaction and hand wringing every time. Peace.