By Kaitlin Doherty

Earlier this month, one of the industry’s biggest holding companies issued an eye-catching memo to its staff. And, unsurprisingly, it swiftly leaked. 

The era of fully remote work, according to this memo, was coming to an end. And there would be consequences for those who didn’t agree. “Failure to meet the three day/week in-office expectation post Labor Day may impact performance outcomes, including salary increases, bonus payouts and/or promotion opportunities,” it read. 

You’ve probably seen the memo in question. Maybe you think that going back to the office is a great thing, or maybe you don’t. But what struck me most about this leaked memo wasn’t its message, but its tone. It dripped with a hard-assed, “we-know-what’s-good-for-you” brand of corporate disdain which has become all too common. And it’s hardly exclusive to this particular company. 

Regardless of where you stand on the remote/hybrid conversation (and as an agency owner, I totally appreciate that it is a nuanced question), the deeper problem here is what diktats like this tell us about our industry’s attitude. This memo, and the negative response it’s garnered on LinkedIn and beyond, unfortunately doesn’t surprise me at all. We so often talk down to ourselves with the condescension of a teacher reprimanding misbehaving children. 

And that comes from a much more profound place. It’s something that, I believe, is deeply embedded into our industry’s psychology and self-image. And it’s time we start to address it. 

The heart of the issue is that our industry has embraced the idea that our work will always be of less value than the brands we make it for, and our clients. 

This fundamental defeatism has paved the way for us to talk ourselves down, invite criticism and create needlessly toxic working conditions. The most insidious aspect of this is that we so often valorise this negativity. How many times, for example, have you heard that a “thick skin” is needed in order to achieve creative success? 

You don’t need to look far or hard to see the damage this attitude is doing to our industry. Glassdoor is swarming with comments calling out the tendency of companies to undervalue their creative people, to make intense and overwhelming demands of them, or simply to speak to them in an unkind way. 

So, let’s be clear about something. This issue, in my opinion, has nothing to do with bad clients. Or a bad marketplace. It’s about what we do to ourselves. It’s about a lack of self-care that is undermining our people and, as a result, our own businesses. 

Great ideas – the things we actually sell – don’t come from a culture in which everyone is looking over their backs. And they don’t flourish when people feel the need to pick fights internally or put down the work of others to get ahead. They come from confidence, liberty, and, yes, some healthy creative tension. 

We demand innovation from our people. But, all too often, we do everything we can to stifle it. If you want ideas that break ground with their intelligence and strategy, you need to respect the people who generate them. And that memo didn’t look like respect to me. 

So it’s time to make a fundamental change. The work we do is hard. It takes an expert to do it well. And our clients know that – why else would they come to us in the first place? This undercurrent of defeatism and micro-management certainly doesn’t lead to healthy relationships with them. It’s the kind of thing which leads to reduced fees year-over-year, and a lopsided collaboration that results in insipid work. 

But it’s not bad clients who cause these problems. It’s us. If you act like your work is worth less, don’t be surprised when a client behaves like it’s worthless. 

Our industry thrives when it is confident, creative, and innovative. But these qualities are so poorly served by a culture which glorifies negativity. It’s time we learned just how valuable we are.

Kaitlin Doherty is co-founder and president of The Local Collective