New Years Voice

Benjamin Franklin once said "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

This time of year for me is a period of reflection and recharge and time to become a better man.

A cessation where everyone regroups for a new year of creativity, challenges and the unknown.

The holiday slash New Years cusp is a great time to recommit to previous goals and to commit to new ones, based on last years successes.

It is a time for looking back and taking stock of the years growth and then using that growth to take things to the next level.

Recognizing growth is one of life's most rewarding levels of pleasure.

The onset of every new year is an opportunity for new and more advanced approaches to work. A time to not only instill a new confidence in yourself but to share a reinvigorated outlook with your team.

We subsist in a very team oriented industry where tight deadlines and even tighter budgets force groups of people even closer together to beat the clock with outstanding creative and air tight execution.

This is a great time of year to reevaluate each of our individual contributions and to strategize about how we can be even better contributors in our respective roles.

“For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice.”

-T.S. Elliot

As Producers specifically, we should come back in January with a plan.

It doesn't have to be some elaborate ruse or some eclat that is going to change the industry, it can be a simple small thing that improves just one thing that you do.

Every Producer needs a plan, its our bling, our swagger, the proverbial coin we thumb while we go through all the emotional ups and downs during the year or even a single project.

A discerning plan, a good Producer doesn't just go through the motions of a project, we should be executing the project based on an approach that is conjured up for the best interests of the project and the people working on it.

As lofty as a "plan" sounds, its actually a practical and rational approach that will not only immerse you in your work but it will add more meaning and deliver more satisfaction when your project is launched.

A plan is a great way to establish accountability and genuine care for what we do.

Taking that plan seriously and sharing it with your team will encourage others to follow suit.

Ownership is the attitude that best defines success. A plan establishes ownership.

Happy New Year and I look forward to not only sharing my own plan but to hearing what other people have in store for 09.

Stay tuned.