EDITOR’S NOTE:

George Tannenbaum spent over half his life in advertising. 

He worked at Ogilvy, writing copy for IBM. And before that, he worked as the executive creative director at R/GA, writing copy for Ameriprise. And before that, he worked for the great Hal Riney. 

Today, he freelances and keeps up his blog, Ad Aged. 

When I asked him to do this Micro-Interview, I explained there was no hard word limit. “Just needs to be concise,” I said.

“Sure,” he said. 

Minutes later, George returned the most micro Micro-Interview yet: 24 words. Two-four.

Man sure can follow a brief. 

In just 24 words, George shares: 

• A lesson from his biggest professional failure…

• The book that helped him most over his career…

• The #1 thing that helped shorten his craft’s learning curve…

Enjoy!

Thank you, George.

Let’s get started. 

1) “What’s your work routine?”

I get up early and I work.

2) “What do you know about your work now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”

Deep-self appreciation.

3) “What did your biggest professional failure teach you?”

It's not me.

4) “What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your craft’s learning curve?”

Hard work.

5) “What book has helped you the most over your career?”

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. 

6) “And your parting piece of advice?”

Work hard.