There was a talk last week that really struck a chord. It wasn’t John Hegarty’s or the one by the Swedish poets. Instead, it was one from our very own resident mentor,  Pete Cain. He didn’t ask me to write this, but quite frankly, he wouldn’t care if I said that he did. And I guess that’s the point really.

Each week we are pretty lucky, there’s always at least 3 masterclasses by titans of the ad game. Each person speaks with gusto, and leave us all with a list littered with inspirational quotes. The tricky thing about SCA is knowing which ones to take onboard, and which ones to leave to the side. Not everyone can be right, and not everyone can ignite a spark in you.

And that brings me full circle back to the point. Pete talked about his (mis)adventures last week – his successes, failures and life beyond advertising. Throughout it all, he’d kept that wide-boy charisma that many of us at SCA have come to love. He really didn’t give a fuck, and that was refreshing. Whilst everyone was laying down rules, Pete was trying to push them. Not in a ‘picking the wrong tone of voice’ type of way,  but more like getting fired for speaking his mind.

After 10 weeks here, it’s easy to get your voice quashed through the mire of classes and techniques. After listening to Pete, I feel like I’m getting mine back a little but. So nice one for that.

Still, I wouldn’t tell him to his face.