The pleaser
Pleasers reflect the pre-feminist culturally-conditioned behavior of women, who make up the vast majority of professionals in every advertising agency. Nobody really knows why they have an insatiable need to be "good" girls by earning the praise and approval of any nearby authority figure. But they do. By manically internalizing the notion of customer satisfaction, pleasers provide the daily energy, attitude, and lubrication that make ad agencies work.
Everyone loves pleasers. They are always friendly, polite, and on-call. They will drop everything and fly across the country in the middle of the night to attend a frivolous meeting. They will put aside their own plans to listen to a client talk endlessly about every real or imagined relationship in their life. They will re-do copy or art nine times and make their teammates nuts to satisfy a client's whim. They will write decks, formulate reports, format spreadsheets, predict internal politics, and tell clients what to think as they laugh at your jokes. They have your back. And they never say "no." Pleasers are the imaginary best friend you dreamt about and hoped for brought to life.
Pleasers live to please. They take orders easily. They rarely push back. They believe in the system -- no questions asked. They find security and validation in the routine of agency life and with every moment of pleasing delivered.
Many also live to complain. The "yin" of their never-say-die attitude is offset by the "yang" of their whining. It's a unique pathology with its own origins, history, and psychological benefits. Pleasers inherited the mantle of Sisyphus. And yet without pleasers, there is only chaos and conflict.
Pleasers provide the "give" in client-agency relationships. They deliver on the fiction that clients know their own business and have clearly defined marketing needs that can be distinctly communicated to agency partners. Pleasers finesse prickly personalities, tense situations, business crises, and tactical conundrums with the hope that a friendly face and sweet temperament can sort it all it. Ironically much of the day-to-day ad business rests on this sexist premise.
Daniel Flamberg is managing partner at Booster Rocket.
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