"its a small, round and messed up world"

A true story: In 2011 putting in 48 work hour day's to start up, struggling to get a window with a “MNC” (lets call them MNC as I do not want to name thisOrganization) who would not shell out a brief, pick up the phone or have the courtesy to just clearly say no or why. Once they did send in a brief this great company would not even clarify what they had written in the 2 slides. “Present what you understand” was we are busy”. When there was the rare window to present and we made the cut it was always the same “ we like what you presented but we want to go with a bigger company” Right down the ladder the attitude was the same. We eventually stopped making the calls and focused our efforts towards those who appreciated good work or even the effort.It stung at times how common professional courtesy had died it would have been perfectly ok had the organization just said, “We are not open to working with new agencies at this time”. It takes all kinds and having buried the episodes life goes on. All we got in a text or a 1 line email. It was hopeless but not being one to give up with out serious effort we still worked over night on pitches preparing concepts, pulling together samples and creating designs,only to be told “mail it” ther is no time to meet as “

A lifetime later things have changed, the agency has shown its metal and is firmly on a path it carved for itself, I got a call from a young technology organization that were anxious for a window to meet. As a policy we always meet startups and prefer to work with them if there is proof of concept. Years of P&L and list of clients don’t matter as long as the team is solid, sincere and there is synergy with their offering. They got their meeting. A fledgling organization with a team of two obviously stressed but bright individuals. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of them from the MNC. Not letting on the connect and without a mention the presentation started, in the 1^st 15 minutes I knew that they were in a nascent stage, they had neither grasped the humbleness of entrepreneurship nor appropriately grasped the market challenges of their offering. I wont deny thatI was tempted to stomp out and give them a taste of their own medicine but Idid not. I sat through the 30 minutes and discussed the product answered their questions and went through multiple rounds of coffee.

The presentation soon turned into an interview, what is the market like? Who are the big players? What is the best product in the category we have seen before?How do you approach clients? What are the payment terms in the market? When did you decide you needed a big office? It went on. 3 hours I sat through a string of questions, sharing experiences and giving pointers. The gentlemen from thatMNC sheepishly said “I am ex - --- company” waiting for a reaction, we let it slide as they joined us in evening snack time.

As we finally drew to the end of the session with the agreement to work together if they could revert with a proof of concept and a plan, the gentleman said“thank you for everything but most of all for the time. We rarely get the window to present ourselves, you may not remember me from a few years back…” I told him I remembered and also that “someone gave me the time when I was looking from that window and even if that someone was not you I am returning the favor”. 

I do not know if the gentleman got any of the answers he was looking for, if he learnt any thing or when he is on the giving end will he show better courtesy to fellow professionals. I do not know about him but I learnt that it is far better to move on and forget the tiny people who lack basic courtesy, because the world is round and they will have the chance to remember me without me remembering them.