I Believe: Reflections on the IPA Excellence Diploma

Last week Amelia Torode and Sera Holland kicked off the 2022 edition of the IPA Excellence Diploma.

Torode and Holland currently co-chair the diploma, but it was originally the brainchild of Nick Kendall. He has often called the course ‘the MBA of brands’ as a shorthand to describe what delegates go through in completing the course.

I completed it back in 2013 and it remains one of the most valuable experiences of my career. The significant investment of time and energy that it asked of me was entirely proportionate given the return it has provided.

Whilst the format of the course is constantly evolving, my intake were asked to “read through the most comprehensive reading and viewing list ever compiled on brands, representing our ‘shared texts, learning and case histories’… our collective knowledge and intelligence as an industry” (Kendall, 2015, p. viii).

The module editors were a collection of some of the industry’s most respected figures, all of whom provided not just their time but their encouragement freely and generously. The faculty that the IPA and the course Chairs have built around this course is incredible. This is worth the price of admission alone.

Over the 12 months of the course, six essays were submitted as part of modules focussed on the subject of brands, consumers, creativity, leadership, media and effectiveness. At the conclusion of the course, we were required to submit a 6,000 word thesis on a topic of our choice.

Each essay started with the words “I believe…”.

Aside from a strict word limit, the only prerequisite was that each essay represent what you, the author, truly believed about the subject at hand. The Diploma is “designed to stiumulate, encourage, even force (you) to do that”(Kendall). Grades were disproportionately weighted toward originality of thought, rewarding those whose ideas were not just merely representative of the reading material set as part of each module, but rivalled it.

Whenever a new intake get started I always feel a pang of envy for the experiences that await them. Nine years on I still draw heavily on the knowledge and experience gained during my studies.

The coursework helped me develop my worldview on the way that brands and communication work.

More broadly though, the experience of completing the diploma helped instil in me a set of firm beliefs about how I do my job. These are a set of beliefs which live away from the application of brand building and instead inform the behaviours and attitudes I try to apply through the practice of my work.

Belief #1: The best strategists are constantly reconciling “what I believe” with “what do you think?”

I think Richard Huntingdon describes this best when he talks about 'strong opinions, lightly held’. The diploma gives people the ammunition and impotus to develop strong opinions on the way they see the world working. But, away from the classroom there always needs to be some latitude for change. The most effective strategists I have worked with are not necessarily ‘the smartest in the room’, but instead are master consensus builders. They navigate complex organisational and social structures and find ways to balance their own opinion about a problem with the opinions of others, all the while protecting coherence and simplicity of thought. In some instances, they will change their mind and alter their position when required. Far from being a sign of weakness, this is a sign of maturity, of confidence and of intellectual curiosity.

This is especially important when strategists become more senior and start to manage junior members of staff. In a position of relative seniority it is all too easy to suck the oxygen from the room rather than creating the conditions for others to thrive.

Belief #2: Asking for help is the most potent thing a person can do

Despite feeling confident enough in my abilities to take on the Diploma, the first thing I realised when exposed to the module editors, the other delegates and the required reading was just how little I actually knew. That was incredibly humbling, but also incredibly liberating. Until that point, I’d arrogantly considered myself self-sufficient. Faced with this new environment however, my opinion changed quickly. Realising my own ignorance allowed me to ask people for help in a way that I’d never considered before.

To ask for help takes bravery, courage and a willingness to demonstrate vulnerability. This is rare in an industry filled with some large egos, which can make that initial plee for help feel intimidating. You quickly learn that people rarely say no - it is human to want to assist when you can. Most folk are much more friendly than we give them credit for. Having adopted the behaviour myself, I now recognise this need in others more readily and have made a commitment to offering assistance freely whenever I am asked.

Belief #3: Ideas are living things

When judged against the marking criteria of the course, my essays were perhaps average at best (my marks placed me solidly in the a mid-table position vs. the other delegates) but I remain incredibly proud of the work and the opinions I put forth during my studies.

In a world that is overly-short term in it’s thinking, it can be tempting to ‘launch and leave’ your ideas, but when viewed over a long enough timeline you can begin to appreciate that ideas are living things, rather than tablets of stone. They need nurturing and feeding to help them grow. They need discipline when they get unruly and messy. They need time and space to mature. Committing them to paper is really only the first stage. The ideas that I developed during my studies continue to play a central role in how I think brands are built and managed to best effect. They inform nearly every conversation I have with my colleagues and clients and I continue to nurture and build them today.

Belief #4: Insight is nothing without execution

A whole module of the Diploma was dedicated to leadership. This module, led by Mark Lund (who had an incredible capacity for remembering everyone’s name), actually turned out to be my favourite. The various guest speakers each talked about their view of what leadership is, how they practice it and why it is important. Oddly, the phrase “you can’t blow an uncertain trumpet” was used several times across the day by a number of the contributors.

Whilst views on leadership differed, what was consistent was the idea that having ideas and having a vision is no good if you can’t execute it. You have to win people’s trust, you have to articulate a vision of the future that is clear and plausible, you have to convince people to come on the journey with you and ultimately you have to find ways of making your vision happen. This applies as much to communications strategy as it does a team or an entire agency.

Belief #5: Attitude eats ability for breakfast

Einstein allegedly said that “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world”. It is indeed a wonder, especially when applied to people and their skills. The diploma reignited in me a desire to continue to learning. A desire to continue asking questions of the world, to read further and further around the subjects that interested me. It got me back into the habit of writing prose again, not just the lazy staccato email and powerpoint that many agency planners rely on day-to-day.

As I’ve said, I was nowhere near the most talented or intelligent of the delegates in my cohort - and I’m not denying the importance of innate talent. What I am saying though is that the diploma gave me the systems and habits that have helped me maximise whatever talent I have. By reading - and writing - just a little each week, you’re soon in possession of something incredibly powerful - a perspective on the world, and the power to communicate it to others.

I believe….

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that I feel the IPA Excellence Diploma was the making of me. No other endeavour in my professional life has been of such significant value, shaping not only way I think about the work, but also the way I want to do the work. I would wholeheartedly advocate for it’s inclusion in agency training programmes and continue to actively promote it with the people I work with. The next year will be difficult for those just starting the course, but I genuinely believe that they too will be sat in years to come, filled with the same envy that I am now.

If anyone is interested, my essays can be found here and my thesis can be found here.

Bibliography

Kendall, N. (2015). What is a 21st Century Brand? London: Kogan Page.