Art & Creativity Quote by Mike Davidson

Merit gets you noticed; social gravity gets you hired. Mike Davidson’s quote strips career mythology down to its most uncomfortable truth: work is rarely evaluated in a vacuum, and “talent” isn’t the only currency in the room. The line “Your book is going to impress” nods to craft and output, then pivots hard to the real gatekeeping mechanism: humans making risk-calculus decisions about other humans. Hiring is trust dressed up as objectivity.

The specific intent is pragmatic, almost parental: stop treating professional life like a pure meritocracy and start acting like someone who understands how opportunity actually moves. “Networking” here isn’t the slick business-card stereotype; it’s relational maintenance. The insistence on “being nice” and “not burning any bridges” is less about etiquette than about reputation as infrastructure. In industries where teams are small and timelines brutal, people don’t just hire skill; they hire predictability, temperament, and the likelihood you won’t make their lives harder.

The subtext is mildly cynical but not nihilistic: your portfolio may open the door, but your past behavior decides whether you’re invited in. “Bridges” signals a world where paths cross again, where yesterday’s peer becomes tomorrow’s editor, client, or reference. Coming from a writer, it also hints at a common creative trap: believing the work should speak so loudly you don’t have to. Davidson argues the opposite. The work speaks; people translate it into outcomes.