Chaos

What do you do when the world has seemingly spun off its axis?

I’ve been in Los Angeles for the last few days trying to keep the chaos at bay.

I’m here at the TBWA Wright Academy. Wright Academy was the dream of a TBWA icon named, Rod Wright. Rod had a vision to take the collective wisdom and skill of this highly creative company and organize it and teach it to subsequent generations of agency talent.

His dream has come true thanks to the grit, wit and genius of the TBWA\GLP (Group Learning Programs).

For this particular program here in LA, we have about 35 rising talents from all over the world, representing different disciplines, split into “mini-agencies” and working on an actual client brief.

The pitch is Monday. I write this on Sunday. It’s been quite a journey.

You see, as much as we structure things, it’s chaos. These people have never worked together before. They are jet-lagged. The brief is demanding. They are ambitious. And, well, coming up with great ideas is hard. Oh, and the clock is always ticking.

On top of that there’s the chaos of the world.

The chaos of an assassination attempt.

The chaos of politics and war.

The chaos of the demands of family, friends and clients.

The chaos of our minds and all the things we can’t stop thinking about.

Chaos.

But there’s an antidote.

The antidote to chaos is focus.

Pick a thing and focus.

In 1992, I was a junior copywriter working for an agency out here in Marina del Rey.

On the wall of a producer’s office was a sentence printed out on a piece of paper in bold type that has stuck with me all these years later.

It said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”

What more can I say?