It's Easy to Fall in Love with Your Ideas

It's important to love what you do—it's hard to be good at your job if you don't—but do you have to love everything you do?

Recently I was pitching a new concept that I was really proud of. It was one of those ideas that made me look smart just to have come up with it. The client liked it, he even agreed that it was clever, but he didn't want it. He didn't even want to show it to his boss. He liked the second concept—the "safe" concept. I was incensed and I started to ramble on about the 32 reasons why he was wrong and then I stopped myself. I was selling an idea because of what it represented to me rather than what it would do for my customer, or for his customers. And you know what? He was right.

I hope I have the courage to always believe in my ideas and the strength to sell them. But I also hope I have the ability to stay open minded and welcome different perspectives. Sometimes the cleverest, most portfolio-worthy solution is wrong. Sometimes the best idea is not the right idea. But then again, sometimes it is.