There’s a shift inside the walls of Meridian Group. Our mantra has always been to “Question everything” and to “Do whatever it takes”. For a few years shy of a decade, I’ve heard, believed it, but never actually felt the floor move. But now more than ever you can feel it. We’ve rearranged our desks, purged stacks of collected junk and vacuumed away years of carpet bunnies.

Some groupies are in smaller offices, some are trapped in cubicles, while others gained large offices. But regardless of our chairs and desks, we are all equal in this change. For some the adjustment is harder than others.

But the real change is not coming from the top branches of our agency tree, it’s deep in the roots of our industry. If you don’t believe it this time, you might rethink your career. Both of our Meridian mantras should now be anyone’s living in advertising. Do with it what you will.

Every Monday brings a new batch of news, projects and agency culture posted to an internal agency forum. It’s like our own Facebook but no one hangs out all day posting useless diatribes of their lives or tagging drunk photos of their friends…okay maybe some of that. This is a snippet from a few months ago:

“COMPLACENCY
We are all becoming a little complacent in our actions, thoughts and work. We need to take actions that move things forward with growth for our clients and the agency….Someone else will take care of it we all said to ourselves. If you do not do take action no one else will. Take action.”

It struck a deep chord within me. Complacency is a VERY dangerous especially when you start ignoring the alarm systems, dangers and deficiencies just to get through the day. The complacent always front their disease with the thought of “that’s not my job”. And for those living in the land of complacency, beware that Sasquatch (aka the truth) WILL find you daydreaming in your cubicle.

Although I’m not immune to my own bouts of complacency, on most days I’m 97.99% dedicated to moving the ship through the muck. And I’m pretty certain that taking some sort of stand is really a matter of survival these days. This is my attempt at doing just that.

Meridian approaches all projects through a process of research, questioning and discovery. We call it the WHY PROCESS. So in my movement to fight complacency, I’ve rewritten it with more of a step by step plan of survival during the changing times of “why me”. (If you are reading this, this slipped by Joe Takach and you’ll find me in the principals office later.)

INSIGHT HINDSIGHT

Hindsight usually occurs after the fact. It’s big picture reality of what was done. We spend majority of our energy seeing a project through completion, but we rarely reflect on it once it’s crossed off the list. We move it through the motions but rarely reflect on the process of pushing it through the gate. It’s that ability to analyze ourselves that brings insight and helps us understand where the tracks need moving. I say bring back the gut instincts.

INNOVATION INCLINATION

In definition, inclination is natural tendency in character, but also means angle between a plane or axis of direction. I’m not expert in geometry, but I know that pushing the right angle does usually mean that you’re at least expending energy in making things move. We all need to take it upon ourselves to take responsibility. None of us are as dumb as all of us. The days of silo hat wearing are over. I will in fact implode if I hear someone ramble the words “That’s not in my job title” because actually – it is!

INTERACTION INTERCONNECTION

Small world happens in big ways. Every interaction you have with people can and will be threaded to you later in life. I’m not talking about the six degrees of separation. I’m talking that interconnection of emotion that you may not have be aware that you even left behind. Now more than ever we have to make meaningful connections with our colleagues, coworkers and clients. It should come natural – or we should make it seem that way. Yes, I know, I’m getting emotional here, but that’s what people remember the most.

There you have it. Rewritten steps to survive this industry in a world where there’s less and less control over the message, the media and your job. Get used to it. No one really knows what the hell the right formula is. Embrace the shifting foundation beneath you and learn to deal with change.