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I was flying at five hundred and forty-seven
miles an hour when, from the corner of eye,
I caught a glimpse of a delicate cloud whose
forefinger beckoned me to tumble into its subtly
perfumed bosom. I wondered what it would feel
like to nestle my head in such a bed of sultry
promises. Then hard reality kicked in. I kept
my eyes on my objective: to get across the Atlantic
as a passenger on the 747.
To divert my hankering, I
switched on my iPod and listened to Rufus Wainwright.
His latest album 'Want Two' massaged my imagination,
making me feel even more elated. He whispered:
"You travel the world and find all the
answers; everything operates on the unobtainable".
Rufus was right. Especially
when it came to marketing. Take the very ripe
old chestnut about 'Maslow's Pyramid of Needs'.
This relates to a series of steps to help consumers
fulfil their ambitions. Yet, the methodology,
taught by rote by jaded lecturers to generations
of Proctor & Gambol wannabes, doesn't lead
to a perfect stairway to material heaven. In
fact, it goes nowhere. Maslow explained that
consumers could never be totally fulfilled.
So like watching a lap dancer promising more
and more strokes of a silk scarf for greater
and greater swipes of a credit card, the market
is left craving more yet feeling less satisfied.
Turning the iPod over in my
hand, I re-considered Rufus' lyrics. How many
of us go through life accepting that what once
as children we dreamt was a possibility ends
up little more than an unobtainable pipedream?
We get older. We stop taking risks. (Probably
forgetting how to take risks appropriately,
leaving us feeling even older and further strained
by our Don Quixotic dreams than when we started).
We take on responsibilities so stop taking risks.
We earn a company car and pension, so stop taking
risks. We stop trusting people and instincts
instead, cosset against any whiff of a possible
risk by taking, prudent even legal precautions
'just in case'.
I'll sue you in court
Last year I advised one of
the biggest law firms from New York on how to
deal with awkward clients. "It's so easy
back home", they said. "In the States,
we just sue 'em or encourage others to sue someone
else. Every risk is covered and, if people play
their cards right, there's a big fat payout
at the end. We hope to bring the philosophy
over 'the pond' to the UK."
So this is where we are; somewhere adrift in the mid-Atlantic
global community, where despite the rhetoric, every brand, every company and every
person strives to be homogeneous. Forget risk; embrace certainty. If it is working,
don't change it. Just maintain the pace before someone leaps in from nowhere and
takes over.
This is fine in a cosy 'warm
milk and antidepressant at bedtime' society
(last year over 23 million antidepressants were
prescribed in the UK). However, in my experience,
taking no risks at all often leads to complacency,
accepting anything from bombs in high streets
to injustice at work, as simply the way things
are (the "whatever" generation). It
heads to the depressing realisation that too
many inflexible rules or regulations serve few,
except lawyers or administrators and their minions
of accidental paper-pushers who spend their
wretched lives at offices alternating between
'getting the coffee for the department', printing
documents on the laser printer, and surreptitiously
surfing exotic holiday websites in the vain
hope that one day somebody will take them away
from it all.
I want it all: I want it
now
Occasionally I come across
exceptionally unimaginative people demanding
'the rules' and nothing but the rules - all
in an instant. One such person recently insisted
on 'twenty rules to become a great copywriter'.
The client is always right, so I delivered.
Which was futile: if you know the rules, unless
you are prepared to adapt or occasionally even
break rules, especially those of the 'best practice'
variety, you'll end up a scrivener rather than
creative writer.
In our risk-adverse world,
where everyone is encouraged to call a lawyer
offering a no-win no-fee service, the possibility
to turn virtually any event into a case of culpable
negligence means forsaking child-like dreaming
and adventure. Few, even venture as far as to
question convention or circumstance at all,
in case it should affect those fragile self-inflated
bubbles that we call 'reality'. Psychologists
refer to this as 'perceptual defence' you and
I know it better as 'sticking heads in the sand'.
In the wake of life's hurricanes
of torment we often either act too late; allow
our 'inspiring' leaders to get away with doing
too little or too much in the interests of the
few rather than the benefit of the many. Risk
takers become an endangered species.
The Talmud - probably the
world's original guide to law and doctrine -
(Menachos 103b) explains that if you buy a year's
supply of grain in advance every year, you'll
waste your time worrying about risks that may
or not occur in a year's time. (Who even knows
what tomorrow is going to bring, let alone 12
months!)
Surely, if you have enough
food for today, it's worth more than putting
yourself through the anguish of destroying your
quality of life by focusing on all that may
or may not go wrong by this time next year.
(The original source for Nike's "Just do
it campaign maybe?)
A better day is coming
Back on the 747, Rufus sung
another track: 'Gay Messiah'. Initially, I felt
the lyrics were blasphemous, explicitly contradicting
the Old Testament. But then, if only to ratify
the meaning of the original text I thought 'what
if…'
Who better than a gay person
to embody the Second (or 'First', depending
on your religious view) Coming?
For simply having the courage
to realise their feelings or fall in love, they
may have been alienated at home and work. Or
tragically for some, could have paid the ultimate
price for love. With this in mind, who better
than such a person to relate to mankind's seething
landfill of unspoken universal neuroses and
torments?
My decision as to who the
messiah turns out to be isn't as important as
having given thought as to who that person may
be. (Assuming I believe in a messiah in the
first place). If the new train of thought shakes
my original conviction, all well and good. On
the other hand, if having considered the alternative,
it is not all well and good, that too is fine.
Either way, by risking 'a leap of faith' based
on material knowledge and non-interventionist
conjecture; I freely explore the meaning of
truth rather than being forced to feel guilty
of having subversive thoughts against socially
acceptable dictate and traditions.
Think and do
Risk's embryo is the mind. It either flourishes
or dies in the nursery of imagination. In turn
that can mature and kindle fresh sparks of imagination
in others. It all depends on the foundations
or your belief, your sincere faith in its potential
good and your commitment to see it through.
For most, disillusion, credit
card bills, relationships and mouths to feed,
compel settling for a 'steady as she goes' life
of risk-free, double opt in, 14-day money back
guarantees.
"Hey that's life"
(even if in reality, it doesn't come with any
money-back guarantees).
However, what if today was
the start of your personal messianic era? Perhaps
encouraging people not just to follow rules
and regulations by rote, but develop them. You
could be the one who encourages others to stretch
their horizons by welcoming questions and exploring
uncharted prospects. You might even disover
a few for yourself. Sure you might go against
convention. You'll definitely scare a lawyer
all the way to writing a new clause in the 'just
in case' contract of all eventualities. (Be
prepared to pay 'big money' for those extra
thirty words.) Yet, even if your journey doesn't
lead to where you first hoped, if you really
believe in your cause you'll arrive at your
rightly deserved destiny, which, at least in
part, would have been your own making rather
than being dependent on 'theirs'.
Or perhaps in the rush of
it all, you'll let that 'unobtainable' cloud
drift on by…
A healthy and happy new year to everyone in
the Jewish community.
About the author
Jonathan Gabay leads several highly popular
courses at CIM. Be sure to check out his website
at www.gabaynet.com
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