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I MISS OBAMA.
Every client, ever.

“Can you show me an example of great teamwork?”
Me:

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Best practice for Post Mortems?
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Politics.
$5 says the supervisor doesn't have the political capital to get their direct report a promo.
Someone writes the job description... take it up with them. Oh, and yes, politics.
Can you give an example?
In my agency, manager level in AM and PM routinely has people with only a few years experience. Manager level in creative or strategy has people with more than twice that who have to wait forever for promotion.
Promotions in creative aren't all about seniority. That's just the facts. Same with strategy. I can't train you to develop great creative. I can coach you, but I can't train you. Some creatives are really great at doing Day to day stuff and making things, but others are amazing at coming up with the idea, see what the client needs, knowing what is happening and fixing things. They have an eye. So, promotions aren't on a schedule and seniority is just one factor. Does that help?
Yes thanks. But in this case it's more than just seniority. This person's manager is holding them to an unfair standard that isn't reflected elsewhere. As if this persons manager needs perfection before feeling sure enough.
I had an art partner once (we were CDs of a group) who wouldn't promote anyone. Worked with him for 4 years. No promotions for anyone on his team, which made it really awkward for my team. Took me years to figure out his leadership style was paternalistic, fear driven. No idea why his people put up with it, except that he had convinced them that he was all knowing and they weren't worthy. His two main art leads were way, way, way better creatives than him, and better at photoshop, etc too. In truth, he was an idiot, but man he could get people to rally around his cult of personality.
CD and director, thank you both. This was very insightful and helpful.