don draper: the art of being needed
you don’t become don draper overnight. you don’t get asked to come in to put out fires on the first day. you become don draper. you make them remember you in an emergency by always being there and always being calm.
no one has to worry about don draper getting the job done. no one asks you about deadlines and coming in on time and taking two hour lunches when you are don draper. because you spent a decade never slacking. if you needed a day off, you said so standing tall. you got the job done because unlike others, you know that if you slack only once, you are forever the slacker.
you never stood down from a challenge. you can be difficult. but never the one that gives up. you know you can do what it takes to fight a challenge. everyone knows that now. you never have to prove anything to anyone because they just know. maybe you face less challenge than everyone else on the job. but everyone thinks you fight the bravest battles because you did it just once and it worked.
you won’t idolize and worship authority because you have to. you can stand up to roger sterling and smoke in front of bertram cooper and tell it like it is to their faces. you are not a kiss ass and you never have to be.
you never have to remind anyone of your value. no new employee needs to hear it from don draper. they find out from everyone else or from just being there for a whole morning. no one can really tell what you do or did to get to this point. neither can you. you just are don draper and you are invaluable.