When all of this is over, we’re a pretty good size agency, and we’ve got plenty of growing ahead of us. Some of our biggest moments of growth have been when we’ve punched above our weight - when we’ve had an opportunity to pitch to a big client that’s expecting to appoint a big agency, and we’ve won.
I will return to the perennial topic of indoor rowing. I row on the standard machine for competition, the data is logged online, and so every time I work out I'm competing in rankings with people like me but also olympic athletes.
Now, owing to my doing more exercise than any point in my life before, I’ve been losing weight. And in the last couple of weeks, I've just tipped down weight classes, from heavyweight to lightweight.
It’s like being relegated. I’ve been desperately googling - I wanted to know, could I choose to keep competing in the heavyweight ranking, even though I don’t weigh enough?
But I couldn't find an answer, and it makes sense, why would anyone want to compete against people who are naturally taller and stronger than you?
It’s more obvious in boxing. If you were a featherweight and got into the ring with a heavyweight, you’d never win, you’d be asking for a pummelling. I know boxing is a dodgy sport but presumably it wouldn’t be allowed.
And you see it in the animal kingdom too. This year's Ig Nobel prize has been awarded to one Dr Reber and his team, who studied the bellows of alligators after they’d been breathing helium.
For context: male alligators use their bellows when they’re competing with other males for a mate. The pitch of the bellow signals the size of the alligator. When you’re picking a fight with another alligator, you’re risking lethal injury, and it’s not a good idea if the other guy’s massive. Plus big prizes aren't available to small alligators, so if you’ve got your eye on a female your size, you needn’t bother tussling with a smaller guy. Bellowing is like declaring what weight class you’re in.
The point of the helium though is unclear. I assumed the scientists would give a massive alligator helium, put him in the ring with a little alligator and watch that one get battered - but they haven’t published their findings on that.
If I have a point to make, it's this. Pitching might be no holds barred, but go for it, a new biz opportunity doesn’t normally involve risk of lethal injury. And - if we can get “the job” done - size doesn't matter.
Have a good weekend.