2021 has probably been the most intense year we've all experienced. That makes it even more important to rest over this holiday period. Hopefully you can also take some time to reflect and re-energise.
With risks of a new wave of the pandemic in the news, it's worth a reminder that entrepreneurial leaders — such as agency owners — need to master the art of having two brains running in parallel.
Agencies have key points of transformation in their lifecycle. When they reach these points they have to make big changes or they'll hit problems and fall back.
Where an agency owner is frustrated or frazzled, it's often that they're not 'stepping up' into the new level of their role — still trying to just be one of the team, or one of the leadership team.
Founding a creative agency is a bit like creating a sculpture. There are two phases: (1) mining a big lump of granite, and (2) chiseling a work of art from it. While artists get to show up just for the second stage, entrepreneurs have to do both.
I regularly talk about how agency leaders wear many hats — each hat representing
a different role they have in the business as owner, director, CEO, HR, finance,
sales, team lead, and maybe even
When I'm in London, my daily walk takes me around a boating lake.
There are often people in the boats who have never rowed before. They get handed
the oars, shown where to
