Search for The WHY: Errors of Omission vs. Commission
Legendary CBS Evening News Man, Dan Rather spoke to my Temple University graduating class.
He told us we’d probably only remember two stories from this speech.
He was right.
Wait.
Shit.
I’ve forgotten the other thing that stuck with me for a solid 7 years.
Well, his point was made.
We remember select bits of our life to carry on with us.
My Junior or Senior year I took Advertising Account Management class. It had a mix of project managment skills, public relations, business ethics, and the occasional life lesson. I’m pretty sure the professor’s name was Ned Kornblau — * searches Linkedin * — LEN. Len Kornblau.
I remember learning a lot and enjoying his class.
But as far as what I actually remember, like, specifics, two things.
1 — The sound of my oversized 18” Toshiba laptop’s fan fighting for its life and disrupting the whole class.
2 — The difference between an ERROR of OMISSION and an ERROR of COMISSION.
At the time of #2, I don’t think I have a moment of enlightenment. But it’s one of the few things that directly stay with me today from that class for ere these lessons that really stuck with me or was it what I wanted to hear at the time / interpret how I see fit.
The advertising lesson on omission vs. comission was presented in the form of situational analysis.
You’re a media buyer and you’re offered a short-notice, big-time opportunity to get your client’s brand in front of a national audience. But obviously the bigger the opportunity will be costlier and increase the risk / reward scale.
You can’t get ahold of the client in the 30 minutes you have to make the call.
Do you do it?
Ultimately, we settled on buying the placement.
There was a whole discussion on WHY you make that decision and underlying human nature of it being actually making the call and moving forward with what you’re supposed to be an expert on will be more respected and appreciated in the long run, rather than letting potential opportunities slip through the cracks.
What I heard …
Pull the trigger and ask for forgiveness later.
You can boil that nugget of humanity all the way down to fight or flight.
If an opportunity arises do you take it?
Fuck yeah you do.
And in regards to the “do’s” that require extra effort, a little bit of cringe, and external judgement…
Let us first address the eye-rollers, the invalidators, those who see no fault at all in a life without pursuit of something greater...
They will always give you a reason why you SHOULD NOT… so fuck em.
Simply a friendly reminder.
To take it even further into the prefrontal cortex…
If you’re searching for a reason to do something you can probably find one.
If you’re searching for a reason not to do something, you’ll definitely find one.
Easy.
Light work.
But what will you learn?
If you take the shot and it fails, you’ll still learn a million and one lessons. You might even learn that patience is a virtue.
But on the contrary, if you don’t go for it, that’s just about the only lesson you can learn. THAT, and next time you should go for it, idiot. But that’s it, nothing more to learn from a non-experience.
No one’s thankful they didn’t go for it on their deathbed.
So do that shit.
Ball out, mi amigo.
In failure, do your best to learn and apply those lessons going forward.
P.S. The Dan Rather story that I do remember was his retelling of a joke his wife made to him.
While driving through her hometown, they saw a former date of hers running a gas station. Tongue-in-cheek, Dan said something to the affect of:
“ See that, if you never met me, you’d be running that gas station. ”
And his lovely wife responded:
“ No Dan, he would be anchoring the CBS evening news. ”
I look bald.
Spidey tie and the bros.
(2014… yikes)
More Feel V5
