Mike Sharman talks being the best at the last Business Book Club get-together of 2017

According to author and businessman Mike Sharman, there are a lot of dicks in the business world, so you can never be the biggest one.

He said instead you should try and be the best one, hence the name of his recently published book The Best Dick.

That is what he told members of the Business Book Club at Skoobs Theatre of Books in Montecasino on 5 December, during his address at the club’s last meeting of the year.

Sharman took the audience on a high-energy, fast-paced journey as he discussed his book, telling stories of his road into the business world, founding his highly successful company Retroviral Digital Communications in 2010 and the challenges he then faced as an upstart entrepreneur. Much like the title of his work and the narrative itself, Sharman’s presentation was littered with colourful language and may not be suitable for all ages.

“I’ve always had the instinct to follow my own direction, not to listen to people who wanted me to do something else,” he said. “Every year [Retroviral Digital Communications] changed the game in some way.”

Under his leadership, his company worked on some amazing campaigns including Nando’s ‘Last Dictator Standing’ advert, which was banned in some places, and more recently, last year’s Rocomamas campaign which took on the American elections.

“I love making things go viral. Which is definitely what happened with Rocomamas – the ads were seen globally and even featured on BBC Africa.”

Sharman is renowned for his work and in 2013 the Mail and Guardian named him one of the Top Young South Africans of the year. He attributes much of his success to his ability to engage with people from widely varied backgrounds, a skill he says he learned as a young man when he tried his hand at stand-up comedy.

“Marketing and stand-up comedy are cousins in the sense that both are only successful with authenticity – when you’re upfront with clients, even a bit brash, that goes a long way to helping people like your brand.”

Sharman also believes that it’s time for a change in advertising in South Africa.

“One problem with South Africa is that [advertising and business] want to work with old-school demographics, they want to put people into boxes. There is a lot of opportunities and amazing stuff here in South Africa, but the problem comes in when we’re too scared to get to know each other.”

The Business Book Club meets on the first Tuesday of every month at Skoobs Theatre of Books, Montecasino. Keep an eye on their Facebook page to find out what next year will bring.

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