Behind the cape and mask

A friend and colleague asked me the other day, "Which businesses do you like working with the most?"

If you'd asked me that 7 or 8 years ago, I would have replied "artists!" because, of course, my degree was in Fine Art and I adored (still do) working with artists and creatives. But I was naive back then. I am, perhaps, just a little wiser now.

You see, I thought that artists and writers and makers were the easiest to promote because their content and their story was so unique and interesting. This is true. But it's not only true of those labelled ‘artist’. I've learned how many incredible stories there are to tell, if only we take the time to get to know our colleagues and clients.

I didn't know back then about the accountant who taught disabled children to ride horses at the weekends. I didn't know about the solicitor who played electric guitar to his grandkids at bedtime (and got told off consistently). I didn't know about the IT department who ran in the London Marathon to raise money for a cause close to a team member's heart, and I didn't know about the insurance broker who learned to knit so he could donate handmade clothes to the neo-natal unit that his wife volunteered in.

We value all our clients and colleagues for their ‘work’ skills and acumen, however it’s not a separate part of our self that we take to work with us. Our prowess at the office is an integral part of a whole, a whole that includes the great personal achievements, family memories, extra-curricular talents and, yes, duvet day pyjamas.

Remote working and Zoom conferences while (so-called) home schooling has taught me that accepting each other in the workplace as complete people with complex lives is actually conducive to productive working relationships. The day I saw a director on the other side of a laptop camera in a hoodie, holding a toddler, was the day I started telling him everything, warts and all. That moment of humanity was the catalyst for a relationship that enabled us to find creative, effective, fast routes to supporting a team through a complex re-design process.

The more I sit quietly and watch the world we live in, the more I start to realise that it’s the people behind the cape and mask that are the true superheroes.

So my answer to my friend’s question is not quite what she was expecting, but it was simple:

I don't work with businesses; I work with people.