I grew up in both network and independent agencies before running my own business, Gravity Thinking, for a decade. The agency was later acquired by a New York-based brand consulting firm. My background is in client services and senior leadership, with a consistent focus on creating the best possible environment for teams to do the best work of their careers.
Early in our careers, we often feel the need to prove ourselves. We throw ourselves into tasks with energy and enthusiasm, but in doing so can easily overstretch and occasionally come unstuck.
Later in our careers, the risk shifts. We can start to overestimate our own capabilities and underestimate the capabilities of others. We rely on experience and instinct to make decisions, even when the pace of change around us is fast and we may no longer be the best person to do so.
At both stages, the trap is similar: taking on too much responsibility in the belief that it is in everyone’s best interests, when often it is not. Ambition and good intentions can still get in the way of the best outcome.
One of the biggest lessons I learned is that being honest with yourself about your capabilities is a superpower. You need to know where your strengths lie and where your limits begin. Overstretching rarely ends well, and usually you are the one who pays the price.
That is why my biggest lesson has been this: you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with.
With a background in client services, and having grown up in some great communications agencies, I’d like to think that people I’ve worked with would describe me as strategic, creative and organised. But I am also very clear that those things are not, in themselves, my true expertise or superpower.
I’m happy to offer an informed and, hopefully, respected point of view. But I am not the expert in the room. And that is something great client service people understand well. Their role is to bring together talented teams to create work clients love, so they continue to want more of it.
As an ambitious account handler early in my career, I quickly realised that surrounding myself with the best talent in the room produced the best outcomes for everyone. It was never really about me. It was about how I could connect the right people and get the best out of the talented strategists, creatives and producers around me.
I was fortunate to work in strong agencies, during periods of rapid growth, alongside brilliant people on leading brands. But as businesses get bigger, they also tend to get more fragmented. Fiefdoms emerge. Politics appear. Getting the right people onto the right projects becomes harder.
To counter that, I started creating more informal gatherings with key talent from different parts of the agency. A planner, a creative, a developer, a producer. Usually helped along by food or a drink, these sessions created a way to bring some of the best minds together around briefs in a more open and informal setting.
When I moved into management and leadership, the lesson evolved. At that stage, surrounding yourself with reliable, dependable lieutenants becomes critical. You cannot do it all yourself, and you should not try. Finding people who can be your rock and genuinely have your back matters enormously.
I was always drawn to people with complementary skills, and often to those who I felt were better than me in their area of expertise. In essence, people who push you, stretch you and, if I’m honest, scare you just a little.
During a particularly strong period at Gravity Thinking, we had an exceptionally talented team producing the best work of my career to date for brands including Glenfiddich, Hyundai, Hendrick’s, Vitality and Disney. The secret was not complicated. We had talented people who knew their roles, had the autonomy to deliver, and were trusted to do so. Building that trust, and then getting out of their way, was a huge part of our success.
More recently, this lesson has extended beyond the business itself and into my wider network. Now it is about regularly connecting with people I like, respect and would happily share a beer with. The imposter in all of us fears rejection, but in my experience that fear is rarely justified.
I genuinely wish I had started networking earlier in my career. It now provides me with huge amounts of inspiration, perspective and enjoyment.
The more diverse that network is, the better. Your thinking only really gets challenged when you spend time with people from different backgrounds, generations, disciplines and types of business. Never underestimate the wisdom of younger professionals, and do not limit yourself to meeting people whose worlds look like your own.
And one final point: listen more than you speak. That, too, is a superpower. Of course you want to contribute and add value, but you only really learn when you truly listen.
You also have to make the effort to keep up. It is easy to put networking and relationship-building off, but not having enough time is not a good excuse. Block time in the diary every week. Meet for an early coffee, grab lunch, or end the day with a beer. Just plan ahead, because most good people are busy and short notice rarely works.
Wherever you are in your career, and whatever role you are in, make the effort to surround yourself with people who inspire you, challenge you and build you up.
I saw a quote the other day from Joshua Fields Millburn: “You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you.” It resonated deeply with me in the context of this lesson.
There are always ways to ensure you are surrounding yourself with great people. And in the end, that can be one of the biggest determinants of how good you become yourself.