The CEO title sure can squash challenges to an idea.  Employees don't want to disagree with me for fear of retribution.  Even though I'm not a scary guy (I don't think so, but what do I know?) those three letters on my business card can be.  That's why I have to lean on different groups to keep my head on straight; my direct reports, outside advisers, friends, and my wife.  For right now, I'll just focus on an outside adviser story. 

Yesterday, while at Power Creative in Louisville I was reminded how an outside perspective can bring a CEO humility.

The folks at Power are helping South Central Sound hammer out a brand identity so we don't wander on our marketing message.  So, they obviously wanted to hear some of the spots I helped write for South Central Sound over the last year.  I knew I was in trouble when one of their team flatly said, "we'll write those from now on".

And there's my dose of humility for the day. 

Sure, it doesn't feel good when this happens.  Still very necessary.  We all need people around us that can burst a balloon or three to keep our feet somewhere near the ground.  I just need to surround myself with more than the average person because my title insulates me.   


PS - No, they didn't pan all of the spots.  Some of them were pretty good.  (My writing partner gets the credit for those)  The problem with the spots was consistency and not a strong enough direction/theme.   Besides, it is really hard to write spots about your own company.  You can't read the label if you are inside the bottle.