Jun 17, 2020
What Peggy Olson gave me
Netflix took Mad Men off the air on 10 June. It disappeared, but some things remain. For example, what Peggy Olson taught us.
Performance is the key word in Peggy’s case. But it’s not actually about all the media hype, modern notion of performance about successful startups launching apps for million users (with all due respect), it’s about something more. Just think about it that Peggy started her career as a secretary and we finish watching Mad Men, remembering Peggy as a Copy Chief. I guess I don’t have to remind those who know the series that it’s the 1960s. Just think how hard it was for a shy (!) woman (!) out of nowhere to prove her worth in those days. Moreover, in an agency like Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce where the creatives are only men and every touch of ego is quickly drank down with a glass of something strong. But she did it.
1. Don’t sell yourself short, don’t give away your power, don’t defer to others when you’ve got this just fine. One of my favourite scenes is when Peggy was assigned to handle a new account and to oversee Don and the other copywriter. Her first instinct was to go straight to Don’s office, but then she decided to call a meeting and have them come to her office. What a brave stepping up into a new role.
2. Perseverance and being so comfortable in your skin that it allows you to get through anything. Peggy’s determination, dedication and her need to stand out from the crowd, at the risk of mockery and judgment. Even when people didn’t understand her, she was happy with it.
3. Mind they be trying to crush you down. No matter what I do, how much I know, learn, change, evolve, no matter how hard I work, no matter how creative I am, sensible I am, people around will probably always be in a position of power over my career and earning potential, but… save your tears for the bathroom. And following Peggy — know your worth. That goes for when you have very little to offer all the way to when you are valuable. Ms. Olson wasn’t going to settle for anything less than what she deserves.
4. Family is the family that you choose and make. If motherhood isn’t for you, it’s fine. You don’t have to live according to the standards of others, and it’s all about standards. There’s no such thing, really, even in the 1960s.
5. It will sound like banality, but this banality often makes life difficult. When you want something, get it. When you don’t, speak up. Most likely, you won’t if you don’t. This means to always be prepared to ask for a raise on a regular basis and remind management why. Never settle for the status quo in a professional environment. Ask for your own office, as Peggy did. And don’t let a change in title to something loftier suffice without a commensurate raise in pay. Unacceptable.
6. I think the main message I got from her character was if you really want something in your life you may have to sacrifice other things to get it, but you can do it. Peggy definitely didn’t let her mistakes hold her down. This above all: to thine own self be true. Then, sometimes you have to move on. Her years under SCDP changed her life. And she was ready to spread her advertising wings and take over the world or just bet on herself.
When I worked in PR agencies, I liked to imagine that I was Peggy Olson when I walked down the street to work, wearing low-heel shoes and a long dark-green, vintage, second-hand coat. I thought that a typewriter would be waiting for me in the office, and then all these copy successes. I’ve even learned to lift the chin in a specific way as she did. By the way, how surprised I was when I realized that none of the staff had a whiskey and gin bar in their room. Or I was just lucky enough to work in places there was no need to drink.
A few years after watching Mad Men to the present day when I’m in trouble or go through difficult moments and don’t know what to do, I have a habit of speaking to myself:
Just think about it. What would Peggy do?
