Meeting Room B

Having spaces that are well-designed to support creative and deep work is vital for an agency.

It's vital for the founder in particular — though founders often overlook their own needs.

Let me introduce you to our Meeting Room B.

It's the place where all the big ideas and decisions happened, which fundamentally shaped Convivio.

Deciding to focus on supporting agency founders? I was in meeting room B (my colleague Joe was on the phone, because of lockdown.)

Coming up with the idea to create the Agency Leaders Playbook? Yep. Meeting room B.

Getting the bolt of inspiration to do an email course on Agency Evolution to give a peek inside the Playbook? Yes, a few weeks ago I hatched that idea in meeting room B. By the end of the week it was reality.

So how did we design meeting room B to be our perfect place for thinking, inspiration and making better decisions?

Well, I'll be honest. We put absolutely no effort in to it.

No interior designers.

No cool bean bags, wall murals or fancy tech.

We just left it as it was when we found it. Didn't change a thing.

Yes, that does have its downsides. Somedays it's a bit too hot, others a bit too cold. Sometimes my feet get a bit wet.

Or a bit sandy.

Because the 'B' stands for beach.

I'm lucky enough (or have designed my business to support my life well enough, whichever way you choose to see it) to live on the Atlantic coast of France. I cycle past the beach on the way to an office I've rented nearby.

On days where I need to do some thinking, I pick up a jambon beurre and a coffee at the local boulangerie and take it to the beach for breakfast. I sit on the rocks, watching the waves.

And, relaxing into nature like this, the thinking comes. Like the tide it ebbs and flows, but given time the ideas come rolling to the shore.

Not everyone can (or wants to) live near the beach. But what is the equivalent for you? A forest? A park? A river? A canal? Your garden? The local swimming pool?

Find the elements. Find nature. Find your meeting room B.

Then let yourself become comfortable with spending regular time there.

Often founders kind of know where the place is that they think best — but don't let themselves spend enough time there, frequently enough. They feel guilty about spending time in such a nice place, rather than at a desk.

Being an effective founder demands thinking time. You are doing your job better if you find the time and place that enables you to think best.

That's why I jokingly refer to it as meeting room B, because it kind of helps me to remember it is a valid workplace, if it's where I do my best work.

Where is your meeting room B?

P.S. For the curious, here is meeting room B...

P.P.S. Tomorrow morning I'm running a new kind of event — a Playbook Zoom — in which we zoom into a specific topic in the Agency Leaders Playbook, on zoom.

I'll present initially on the key ideas in that bit of the playbook, then other founders will share what works for them, before we get into open discussion and questions to generate ideas for the best way. The first topic is the core leadership role of 'gather and radiate' — communication skills and tactics to use as the leader to ensure everyone is aligned, informed and energised in the right direction.

Members get in free, but other agency founders can book a place. But, as this is the first one, I'm doing a special offer just for the people who read the P.P.S.'s on my newsletter, and you can get a free place even if you're not yet a member! You can book a free 'convivio members' ticket (just make sure to use the same email address you get this newsletter at, so the system can match it up). Do join usBook your place now

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