I'm not much for singing my own praises, but I will lead an ovation for the teams I work with. Tuesday night, we took first place in our category at the DMAD Target Awards for our work on USAA . No single person can take full credit. This body of work is an amalgam. Looking at the ads, one writer can take credit for the headline. Someone else may have written the copy. And the red with the reverse type may seem simple, but several art directors put in hours of exploration to get us there.


I've been to award ceremonies, where individuals feel the need to have the spotlight on them. Egos run wild in this business. And when people create wildly successful campaigns, the accolades can be pretty seductive. Maybe you came up with the "big idea," but before it came to life, it was tweaked and re-tweaked by decision-makers at the agency and by the client. And unless you are a one-person-miracle-working-shop, a whole body of folks helped bring this idea together. Personally, I recognize and rely on the expertise those individuals bring to the table.


When we surround ourselves with good people, we make each other look good, as well as our clients. There are people who develop the attitude that they are the creative center of the universe. They forget that your priority is to create good work that gets good results. You can go ahead and create work that only strokes your ego. But if clients don't get the results they want, they'll find someone who can deliver. Hopefully, those cool samples with help you land a job somewhere when you lose the account. And let's hope your arrogance doesn't keep people from wanting to work with you.