The importance of being
sharp and blunt

I have a set of pencils designed by David Shrigley. Each has one of his signature off-kilter lines printed on it.

They range from the inane – ‘I misspelled my own name’ to the weirdly deep ‘all your marks will be erased’…

But my favourite one says ‘Both sharp and blunt’.

At first glance ‘Both sharp and blunt’ feels like an oxymoron or contradiction, but I think there’s more to it than that.

I’m not sure they are opposites as much as they are requirements. Particularly in the world of marketing and business.

(I promise this isn’t one of those, why watching paint dry is a lot like developing a proposition… type posts!)

I think being sharp AND blunt is vital in all sorts of ways.

Sharp is precise.

Blunt is broad.

Sharp is clever.

Blunt is honest.

Sharp cuts through.

Blunt is direct.

Sharp creates clarity.

Blunt creates accountability.

Sharp gets to the ideas.

Blunt makes them happen.

Now that all sounds good, and certainly makes for a good quote on a pencil, but what difference does it actually make?

Well, I’m a big believer in working in close partnership with clients.

It was a principle instilled in me from the start of my career; the need to walk the corridors, understand the client’s real needs and ambitions on a level beyond the brief. In my experience, that understanding can only be built by being sharp – especially if you’re a planner.

And in strategic conversations those relationships create an even more important edge – they enable a level of relational security and trust that form a safe space in which you’re allowed to be candid, honest, and essentially, blunt.

A level of trust that is never about being negative or dismissive, but knowing that being truthful is a better way to get better results faster.

An emotional safe space where you can, effectively, have an argument without worrying about falling out, or worse, losing the account.

After all it takes a certain level of confidence in a relationship where you can openly disagree, challenge, or ask the stupid questions (without feeling completely stupid).

But bluntness only ever works if you can be sharp with it. So that you aren’t being difficult but being constructive. Brilliant not (just) belligerent. 

Avoiding the eggshells and being able to say what you think, push, pull, challenge and ask why creates confidence that the right questions have been asked.

Of course, arguing with clients and colleagues (or anyone really) clearly isn’t a great MO. However, knowing that you can is empowering.

Like the Netflix internal value of ‘Radical Candour’ – being truthful and honest without making it any sort of personal attack. If something needs saying, then say it.

Or as Amazon put it ‘leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable or exhausting’.

It’s why we built the agency value ‘hard on the work, easy on the people’. Challenge the thinking, but know it’s never personal.

It’s why we have engineered Guy & Co to put so much focus on having confidence to challenge. 

And it’s why some of the best work out there comes from real partnership and real honesty.

So whilst we all know it’s important to be sharp, maybe we should be a bit blunter sometimes.