By Mona Sharif

What do all leaders have in common ? 

Week 3, day 3. Now I understand why everyone told us « Time flies, especially when you are at SCA ». I learnt so many things already but one of them caught my attention more than the others : What does all the leaders have in common ? GOALS. They know what they want, they know where they are going. We need to have a goal. 

You have to set goals for yourself. These goals must be big enough, because if they are too small you will be depriving yourself of passion, but if they are too big, they will be impossible to achieve. 

Before SCA, I used to tell myself that I shouldn’t project myself in a particular agency where I would like to work because I don’t know all the agencies yet so I can’t really make a choice. 

After Pete’s first masterclass, I learnt that I was completely wrong! In fact, it’s good to have a goal, a picture of where you want to be, where you want to work, and you can of course re-adjust your goal along your journey. 

Last week I had the opportunity to visit four great agencies, including 101, an independent advertising agency in Somerset House. 

One of the first things we have learnt at SCA is that « It’s not about the name on the door, it’s about the persons inside », this is a people’s business. I am quite ashamed to say it but I must admit I didn’t know 101 before the agency visit. I made research about their people and their work before going there and I really liked their work so I was looking forward to visiting it, and then I literally fell in love 101. The place, the people, the history of how the agency was built,… And that Tracey Emin poster in one of the rooms, which is the first thing I took a photo of when I came to visit London for the first time in 2013. (cf. photo) 

We got so many great advice and the people were all truly nice, we had the chance to see some of their amazing works. 

I want to find an agency that laughs at the same jokes that I laugh at. 

An agency that’s moved by the same things that I am. An agency with whom I can share the same values. And that’s how I felt about 101. 

Mark Elwood explained to us that he likes briefs where there is a business problem to solve. I loved his point of view, because when you can’t find a business problem, it just gets boring.

Business problems give you the power to change the perception of a brand, find THE difference of the brand/product, make magic happen. Mark showed us some of the work he made at Fallon like for example the great Skoda ad « Full of lovely stuff » , or the famous Sony Bravia ad with the colored balls in San Francisco. One of the things I loved the most in all the work he showed us is that you could feel the power of emotion creativity. 

One other quote I remembered from Mark was « You have to have principles and be humble to do great work » and this is the kind of thing that made me really picture myself working at 101 after SCA. I know that’s a big goal, but it made me starry-eyed, it gave me 101 stars in the eyes, and I think we need to have that much of ambition to push ourselves beyond what we think we are capable of.