4 Reasons Why the Old Way of Doing Things Doesn’t Work Anymore

Back when I started in advertising you were expected to wear a suit and tie (I hate ties). In my second job at Backer Spielvogel Bates in 1989, I confessed to the media director at the time—a brilliant man of impeccable taste and refinement—that the dress code was crazy. After all, this is advertising?! He told me, as media people, we are the “bankers of the industry,” and we wear suits and ties. So I wore a suit every day and learned to keep a tie in my top drawer.

No one in advertising has these kinds of conversations with their bosses anymore. No one adheres to a suit and tie dress code. That way of thinking is a relic to another time, but other norms and codes have held on … a bit too long.

When I started in this business, I was also told to arrive before my boss, always look busy and make sure I was the last one to leave. Working hard was measured by time in the office, rather than output. Status was indicated where you sat in the office, which has evolved into where you sit on a plane during business travel.

I played by many of these rules and so did a lot of my peers. But then Covid happened. Our worlds and hierarchies were upended. The old rules were crushed.

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A new era of quality over quantity

I witnessed this abrupt shift firsthand when we first started planning our return to the office. The people making the decisions were those same people who spent their careers arriving early, staying late and trying to look busy.

The deciders were the ones who measure quantity, not quality. I think that’s why so many of us in the industry initially got it wrong.

But now’s the time to get it right—especially as Covid bears down on us again. Here’s how ad industry leadership can change:

Listen to your team. Today’s talent is questioning leadership about why a strict hybrid model needs to be followed. Leadership could respond with the old relic “because I said so.”

Instead, hold listening sessions to give employees a voice. The staff could argue that they’ve done excellent work from home for 18 months, so why the strict mandate? You’d better have a good answer. These sessions are sometimes painful to hear, but they’re a wake-up call.

Recalibrate old learnings. Listening to staff brings a cold hard dose of reality to leadership: The way things have always been done—even if they’re based on 30+ years of experience—simply won’t work anymore.

These tough times require some radical and some small changes, so do your best to embrace them. It’s a no-brainer to make sure you’re adjusting WFH and back-to-the-office edicts in conjunction with CDC recommendations. But go beyond that.

Commit to working toward pay equity. Make paid time off an equitable system for all. Adjust your parental leave policy if needed.

Build trust through transparency. No more back-room executive decisions. Staff can see right through this.

Instead, share information with them through regular communication. This builds trust and lifts morale, which is critical at a time when employee retention is an issue.

Empower for success. Take yourself down a notch and raise your employees up.

Rethink your employee review process to give them more self-reflection and offer training or coaching that will propel them to greater heights. Invest in DEI programs that will make everyone feel comfortable in the workplace.

The bottom line: The old way of managing doesn’t work anymore. It hasn’t worked for a long time, but it really doesn’t work now.

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