With great responsibility comes great power
By Karen Ferry, Creative Director
From flux it rises.
1863, Gettysburg. Man quickly discovers that expanding bullets can rip a limb inside out, leaving the attached person alive but not for long. Man also soon discovers how to perfect a successful amputation.
In states of chaos, the responsibility to do better emerges.
And right now, as Pluto coasts through Capricorn, we too are gliding through the turmoil of change. Where terrorism falls into a recession into a war that rolls into another. Where growing underemployment and the rising cost of living buttresses the crumbling of society’s pillars of sport, religion, politics and culture, drowning out the headlines which remind us there’s 11 years until we too will be drowning by liquefied icecaps.
Even in our small bubble of an industry, developments in social awareness and business fragmentation has chipped at the holding groups, and driven the long lunch into nostalgic quiet.
When everyone is scared by the discomfort that this change brings, it’s the unknown of the future that creates space for responsibility to bloom. Not the responsibility that exists in a job description – functional, uninspired, burdened with culpability, and expected of you. But the responsibility to cultivate something that gives to the world, in the way that 30 seconds of intentionally-awkward banter can’t.
Some call it purpose. And it can exist in any form.
Like checking in on someone in at work who you’re aware is struggling with mental illness. Or creating a masterclass program that equips diverse creatives to climb the hurdles society puts up for them. To inventing a non-disposable coffee cup that triggers millions of people to rethink waste.
Maybe it’s your responsibility to only post nice comments on Campaign Brief, under your real name.
Yes, there’s the small chance your company might pressure you to only dedicate your responsibility for things that pay for the agency’s drinks budget, like Facebook link ad copy or a hype film for a pitch. Because finding your responsibility - without needing your employer - means finding your power as an individual. And it’s something that the fearful few who rely on maintaining the status quo and keeping you in your place don’t want you to have.
In times of change and fear and times like now, bravery can be a rare thing.
But finding it offers the opportunity for you to define the person you want to be, and define the future you want to create. Free of briefs, clients, and timelines. Instead, open to the pursuit of the unknown and the eternal hunt for ideas that will change the world.
It’s the best campaign you’ll ever make. The campaign of your life.
In the maelstrom, who will you become? And how will you arrive?
What will you be responsible for?
