The Pudding Factory

I’ve always felt it was bonkers that ad agencies don’t create more part time and fractional opportunities. It feels even more crazy in the current climate. There are so many uncertainties, so many business pressures, don’t you want access to the absolute best talent?

Well, the best talent is ready to jump on board, if you’re willing to work within the reality they are living in. One where portfolio careers are the norm. Where one source of income isn’t just unrealistic it’s irresponsible. Where we’re told daily to not put all our eggs in one basket because who knows if baskets will even be a thing 6 months from now?

Meet people where they are. Bring them on board in ways that work for everyone. Do great work together.

Everybody wins. It’s a simple formula.

I’ve got an upcoming podcast with Rishad Tobaccowala where we explore this topic more in depth. Should be out in a few weeks. Mark you calendars!

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On a completely unrelated note, I am currently available for fractional creative leadership opportunities.

If you run a company, work culture isn’t a part of your job. It is your job.

Everything else, performance, profit, innovation, ex*****on, is downstream from the culture you intentionally create every day.

It’s a hard job. But it’s the one you signed up for. What grade would you give yourself? What do you think your team would say?

I spoke with Kyle Johnston, Jacky Northgrave and Kianna Estenson MILLER from Gigasavvy—an ad agency based in Orange County, CA—to see what this dynamic looks like in reality.

They are a remote-first agency. Kyle runs things from Idaho. Jacky is a Sr. Art Director in Memphis. And Kianna is a Sr. Account Supervisor in SoCal. They get along well. Even finish each other’s sentences at times. Not easy to do across time zones.

The culture has clearly evolved over the years. From scrappy beginnings in 2008 to a big office in Irvine with a built-in bowling lane to a work your butt off but work from anywhere vibe.

But the most interesting thing I noticed was how they navigate the inherent cultural tensions in any agency.

🐱 Most agency folks have a workaholic bent. We do this work because we’re obsessed with it. And, we don’t want that obsession taken advantage of.

🐱 Most agency folks are relentlessly curious. Leaders need to feed that with transparency and over-communication. And, not burden the team with the weight of every last detail.

🐱 Most agency folks are very opinionated. You’ve gotta let people speak their mind and make their points. And, you better create a baseline of humility and respect or things can turn toxic fast.

Gigasavvy seems to manage all of this pretty well. Kyle prioritizes culture. Jacky and Kianna clearly see their role in bringing that culture to life.

They smile a lot. Genuine full-faced smiles.

That says something. What would the faces say if I interviewed your company?

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(Link to podcast in bio)

Humans are a messy species.

And that’s awesome. Every drop of joy, meaning, purpose, love, hope and creativity comes from that (messiness).

AI creates slop. We’re sloppy, which leads to works of genius.

So what kind of work do we want to be doing? That’s the question Steve Chavez and I dig into during this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast.

Steve is the Chief Creative Officer at Buntin, an ad agency in Nashville. He’s been doing this kind of work for years. And he’s also my former boss.

Here’s what he thinks about the way we should be working. 

More human imperfectness
More real conversations in person
More magical collaboration

I have a hard time arguing with any of these, even as someone who advocates for remote work. Humans need to bump up against each other sometimes. See what spills out.

So, who wants to make a mess together?

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(Link to podcast in bio)

Can we talk?

I feel like we can’t, actually. At least not at work. We can make word noises out of our faces but most of it is overly polite, passive aggressive, aggressive/aggressive, or corporate gobbledegook.

It’s ridiculous, really. Yet another way our workplaces are distinctly not human.

That’s why I brought Michael Lee onto this week’s DesuckifyWork® podcast. He’s all about making work more pro-human. By helping people have useful conversations, especially ones where we embrace conflict.

Conflict helps us learn, solve problems, make ideas better.

But we spend so much energy avoiding it because our caveman brains fear we’ll get thrown to the Woolly Mammoths if we don’t keep the peace.

Also, most of us suck at conflict. Michael has spent years researching how we can get better at it. And he shares a bunch of those ideas during this episode. My favorite? Arguing for someone else’s POV, especially one we don’t agree with.

That practice alone would probably take about 80% of the suck out of workplace communication. It might have an even great effect on weighty conversations outside of work like politics, religion or your favorite Beyonce song.

My favorite is the one that’s playing out of earshot. But I’d be happy to argue in favor of whatever you like.

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(Link to podcast in bio)

Work sucks less when trust is more than just a word on a company website.

Trust is at an all time low—from corporations to government to media—our faith in our foundational institutions is flimsier than ever. Add AI to the mix and it’s a wonder we believe anything, ever.

We expect people to just show up at work and functional normally in the face of all this? It’s
crazy. And if you look around and most workplaces today, “normal” is clearly not happening.

Courage is the way out, according to this week’s guest on the DesuckifyWork® podcast. Maryam Mertash is a marketing exec and author who has demonstrated courage since she was barely able to speak, as a refugee from Iran, along with her family.

Today, she writes about courage every week on her Substack—This is Not a Memo. She views courage as a skill. Something we can build over time with “reps.” Start small with something as simple as saying what you actually want for dinner instead of “whatever is fine.” Tell your friend, “I’d love a second glass of wine” instead of politely declining.

Before you know it, you’ll be the weirdo at work who never flinches when the hard thing needs to be said. You may even inspire other weirdoes to join you.

That’s how we build trust at work, by saying and doing hard things. By living out the values we too casually post on corporate websites. By being reliable even in the face of external madness. Especially then.

So, who’s ready to get weird?

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(Link to podcast in bio)

Work sucks less when talking about mental health becomes as boring as talking about going to the dentist.

When it’s just another thing. Like that show everyone’s watching. The game last night. Or that new laundry detergent that really does make your whites 20 percent whiter.

When it’s fully normalized and casualized.

That’s what Paul MacFarlane wants. A return guest on the DesuckifyWork® Podcast, Paul is a creative soul who believes our work should bring out the best in humanity.

And our humanity is crying out for some help right now. AI, layoffs, wars, polarization. It’s the soup we swim in every day. Why the hell can’t we talk about how we’re coping with all of it without making it weird?

We all have emotions. And we’re all bringing ‘em to work despite 100 plus years of effort to keep them out.

Let’s talk about them. Let’s help each other deal with them. Let’s realize that our capacity to feel things is the greatest gift in the universe and is the thing that will guide us through every possible uncertainly that comes our way.

Let’s be boringly, beautifully, unabashedly, human.

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(Podcast link in bio)

If you’re a CEO and want more from your team, you need to make work better for them. Which is almost impossible if you haven’t made work great for yourself. So start there.

What would bring more joy, meaning, fulfillment, laughter, love to your days?

Quick, picture an org chart. Blocks filled with names and lines drawn from the top execs all the way down to the most junior team members.
 
Now imagine flipping that chart on its head. CEO at the bottom, supporting everyone above them.
 
Feels a lot better, right?

This is the world Joe Palm and Mike Moss would like to create. And they’ve written a book to help make it happen—Practical Servant Leadership: People-First Strategies to Create Value in a Profit-Obsessed World.
 
This is not a feel good book. It’s a do good book, with tips and strategies to help leaders become servant leaders.
 
It’s a direct challenge to the ethos of shareholder primacy, made popular by former GE CEO Jack Welch and normalized by pretty much every damn CEO since.
 
The reason Wall Street goes gaga when companies announce layoffs and why so many of us feel helpless in the face of insane corporate work policies.
 
It doesn’t have to be this way.
 
Servant leadership has been proven to improve profits, productivity and performance. And Joe and Mike have come up with ways to make it work no matter where you sit within an organization.
 
But let’s be clear—big and lasting change will only happen when top leaders commits to it.
 
Who will lead the way? I’ve had a number of guests on this podcast who are already doing it. Mark DiMassimo, Mike Wofsohn, Andrew Goodwin, Taylor Scott, Everett Reiss, Veronique James, Jēnna Reese, Michelle Edelman, Jason Fried, Ryan Berman.
 
Some of the best desuckifiers I know. If you’re ready to join them, let’s talk. I’d love to have you on the show.

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Welcome to the DesuckifyWork® podcast. The show where we cut through the BS and find ways to make work more fun, more human and less ridiculous. All of which makes your business more profitable, by the way.

(link in bio)
 
practicalservantleadership