'Be brave enough to try' - London Braver Conference 2018

Having been “Brave” last year, this year’s marketing society conference set out to be “Braver”. An unorthodox agenda, bringing together an eclectic mix of people from inside and outside the marketing world, tied together by a common theme of courage.  

At first, ironically, this seemed a bit tough on the marketers. How to demonstrate real bravery when speaking alongside people whose challenges were so much greater and whose courage had to be so extreme? Dr. Caroline Casey talked movingly about her (now successful) quest to get disability on the Davos stage in 2019, and only well into her speech did we learn that she herself is legally blind. 

Eric E Murangwa MBE, living through the terrible period of genocide in Rwanda, survived only because the people who came to his apartment to kill him recognised him as the goalkeeper of a high-profile football team. 

And then there was Jaz Ampaw-Farr, ex-Apprentice contestant, teacher and comedian who was energetic, funny, optimistic – someone you’d love to have a drink with.  And yet, as she described her own story, the entire room fell deathly silent as we heard about the terrible events that she’d overcome in her childhood.

In this sort of company the problems of marketers seem pretty trivial. Yes, of course it matters if a new venture fails, or if we find ourselves in the firing line, or if we go through the trials of self-doubt. But it’s not in quite the same league. 

And yet.

As more than one speaker pointed out, bravery is relative. It can be stoked by fear, and context is key. In extraordinary situations we can see extraordinary bravery; but there’s every day bravery too. The stuff that Steve Langan, CEO of Hiscox USA described as a million small moments of bravery that can together help define the culture of an organisation. Or the things that cause marketers to move right out of their comfort zone – like Sophi Tranchell MBE, who left a high-profile job with a film distributor to become CEO of Divine chocolate, a social enterprise 44% owned by cocoa farmers. Or even Martin Glenn standing up to the British press pack after Euro 2016 and admitting to not knowing much about football. We can smile – but who on earth would want to do that?

So these things aren’t trivial. And – more than that - as marketers we can influence some of the really big, life-changing things too. Hence my two key takeaways from the event:

• We’re not all in situations that demand massive, life-changing bravery; but those million little moments still count….
• …. and we all have some capacity to impact the bigger issues that the very bravest people at the conference represented.

Let’s hope we’re brave enough to try.

Written by Heather Andrew, CEO of Neuro-Insight UK