Dancing the tango

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Dancing the tango

It takes two to tango, the saying goes. It's a dance of partners that becomes astounding when both are accomplished in their roles.

Selling up, or selling out?

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Selling up, or selling out?

If selling your agency comes to your mind be very careful to not slip into selling out. If you want to exit, the route should be through selling up.

What should we do?

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What should we do?

So many leaders struggle to define a clear strategy. This week we'll look at how to formulate a strategy you can actually use.

Why have you gathered?

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Why have you gathered?

In the agency world, people are fortunate enough not to be working only for money to pay the bills. So it means there's a broad range of reasons for why people have gathered in your agency, and why people should want to come and work with you.

Doing things on purpose

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Doing things on purpose

If you feel like you or your agency has lost your inner fire a little, or even if you just see there's an opportunity to be a bit more fired up, then revisiting and clarifying your purpose is the first place to start.

Relight your fire

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Relight your fire

All the potential to prosper in the next year is there in your business right now, but perhaps your spark could be burning brighter to make it happen.

Seeing in the dark

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Seeing in the dark

What is your view of the future like? How could you establish a regular practice of researching ahead and developing insights into your perspective on what's coming?

The true hope of optimistic pessimism

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The true hope of optimistic pessimism

I wanted to write about the weird optimism I feel, behind the pessimism about the global outlook.

The fast lane

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The fast lane

Part of attracting people to join is showing the benefits to their whole career of spending part of the prime of their working life in an agency.

High-altitude thinking

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High-altitude thinking

The agencies that get ahead are the ones who can see ahead.

From the heart, from the hip

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From the heart, from the hip

Coach yourself to take a few more steps out of crisis mode to be a more mindful, wise leader of a healthy agency.

Shock absorber

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Shock absorber

Agencies who have matured as they grow take a different approach. Their leaders mindfully design the agency to ensure continuous evolution is baked in.

On-ramps and off-ramps

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On-ramps and off-ramps

If you think of your agency as a smooth-running motorway, then there are on-ramps to bring talent into your agency, and off-ramps that talent takes to leave.

Ping

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Ping

It's too easy to get hooked on the dopamine hits from the 'pings' of new messages or people stopping by our desks, seeming to need our input urgently.

Look for the helpers

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Look for the helpers

There's a timely reminder in Mr Rogers' wisdom for us as agency leaders.

Punching yourself in the face

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Punching yourself in the face

What things in your agency are causing you pain? If you stop and think about them a moment, are any of them down to you doing or not doing something?

A learning machine

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A learning machine

The best agencies become learning machines. They consciously embed this constant learning into the way the business works.

You're the centre of a circle, not the top of a triangle

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You're the centre of a circle, not the top of a triangle

In a knowledge-based people-powered business like an agency, command-and-control type structures soon grind to a halt as the agency grows, or encounters volatility.