'Workhorses' and 'Tugboats' - Business lessons from Rep. John Lewis

Like many across the country, The Marketing M.A.B. mourns the loss of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.
Lewis gained national prominence on the front lines of the bloody campaign to end Jim Crow laws in the 1960s. He spent the remainder of his life fighting for civil rights and serving as the ‘Conscience of Congress.’ In remembering his life,  The New York Times retold fascinating stories of his bravery and wit.
In a hotly contested 1986 campaign, Lewis defeated front-runner Julian Bond for a Georgia congressional seat. During one of their debates, Lewis delivered a powerful line that’s worth repeating.
“I want you to think about sending a workhorse to Washington, and not a show horse,” Lewis said during a debate. “I want you to think about sending a tugboat and not a showboat.”
This quote from Lewis accurately sums up our M.A.B. mindset. For most of our careers, we’ve been workers, doing the grunt work in the marketing and communications industry — the writing, editing, graphic design and project management.
Many other agencies will focus solely on marketing strategy. They’ll bill you for lengthy brainstorming sessions and create a marketing strategy for you to implement, regardless of whether you have the personnel to carry it out. Those agencies are bigger, flashier and often can charge clients more for their pomp and circumstance.
Instead, for us being a ‘workhorse’ and ‘tugboat’ means keeping our focus on the tactical execution of marketing. We specialize in marketing content. We partner with clients to implement their marketing plans through completion for a solid return on their investments.
Like Lewis, we can never lose sight of where we started. As the M.A.B. continues to grow, we’ll keep that workhorse-tugboat mentality. 

---