Mad Men Biz Lesson Monday: Take Risks and be the Brand
Mad Men is back and this season, we're going to try to find some morning after business lessons to share. This week, we had two
characters learning a few things.
Peggy Olson
- Take risks. When Peggy and her colleagues staged a PR stunt (having two actresses fight over a ham in a grocery store), it was a huge risk. But as a small and scrappy firm, they had to take it or some of them weren’t going to get paid (i.e. the young guy who was getting cut back to 2 days per week). While it had its downsides (could’ve been bad exposure for the firm and in fact did cost them some hush money), the payoff was worth it. Now, I’m not endorsing staged PR stunts, especially when they put the firm at risk, I was thrilled to see Peggy shed her nice girl persona and take the risk along with the boys.
- Act first, ask for forgiveness later. See above. Sometimes you have to do it. Although you need to be prepared to shoulder the consequences if things go awry.
- Stand up for yourself. Peggy took her dressing down by Don very stoically and while she apologized for going behind his back, she didn’t let him belittle her. In fact she had one of the best lines of the night (ok, other than anything that comes out of Roger Sterling’s mouth). "Nobody knows about the ham stunt," counters Peggy, "so our image remains pretty much where you left it," an allusion to the failed interview opportunity by Don.
Don Draper
- When your name is on that wall, you are the brand. Don tried to remain his reclusive self during a major interview opportunity – which made him look like a jerk and did nothing to promote the firm. A classic narcissist, he had to have practically everyone in the entire firm tell him that he let them down before he took steps to fix it. However, if he is a true narcissist, he didn’t do it for the others, he did it because he wanted to show up his ex-wife and her new husband.
Your thoughts on last night’s episode? Good? Bad? Any other business lessons?
*Photo from AMC
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