We’ve all seen TED Talks. There’s a lot of them. But I recommend taking less than 18 minutes to watch the founder of Chobani Hamdi Ulukaya’s talk on leadership.
CEOs play an instrumental role in business. They set the tone for the ship. The term Anti-CEO is, in my opinion, is a little drastic but his story and points are compelling.
Grounded in the American dream, he created a billion dollar company by starting with an abandoned yogurt factory, and led by four key principles: Grattitude, Community, Responsibility & Accountability:
Grattitude:
Businesses should take care of their employees first. Not the balance sheet or shareholders.
Community:
Ask what you can do for your community rather than what your community can do for you.
Responsibility:
Businesses must take a side in politics. Touchy topic in today’s climate. But agree that businesses can have a huge impact on our world.
Accountability:
CEO reports to the community. Everyone is empowered to make change. And consumers should reward those businesses that are doing it right.
His recap is spot on:
Right with people.
Right with community.
Right with product.
You will be more profitable. More innovative. More passionate people and you will have a community that supports you.
Already a fan of the product, knowing who is at the wheel and their story, will remind me which yogurt I should grab next time at the store.
“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” – Lewis B. Ergen
The smallest words can have a huge impact on a team, both directly and indirectly. This includes using “we” as a replacement to the term “I” in your daily vocabulary. Harvard Business Journal published a great article about the power of “we”. It cites research from Journal of Language and Social Psychology and finds:
When people feel insecure, self-aware, or diminished, they are more likely to focus their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors inward.
By contrast, the researchers theorized that individuals using first-person plural and second-person (such as “we,” “us,” or “you”) ought to demonstrate an outward focus, considering the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of others.
Individuals with lower status overwhelmingly tended to use first-person singular pronouns (“I”).
Likewise, higher status individuals used significantly more first-person plural (“we”) pronouns.
While switching from singular “I” to the plural “we” it might help shift your perspective from self-focused to others-focused, make you more aware of the needs of others and, as you work to meet those needs, might just make you a better leader.
It’s hard to get used to doing because it sounds a little strange but has a lot of collective benefits:
Communicates that you understand that you’re a part of team
Gives credit to the broader team
Reinforces that you are not more important than the team
Shows that you are secure with your role in the team
For all leaders, I recommend the use of we in your daily vinocular. This is especially true for account team leads as you are tasked to be the voice of the collective team, both internally and with clients. Below are a few examples of singular-focused uses and suggestions for you to use moving forward:
“my client” vs. “our client”
“my POV” vs. “our POV”
“my account” vs. “our account”
“I did” vs. “we did”
“I need” vs. “we need”
“if you have questions, let me know” vs. “if you have questions, let us know”
“my opinion” vs. “our opinion”
Side note: you can never have enough good quotes in advertising, especially as you build presentations. Below are a few other teamwork quotes that I like:
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
“A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of others.” – Norman Shidle
“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” – Reid Hoffman
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry Truman
For more leadership advice or formal training for your team, feel free to reach out to: brianphelpsconsulting.com.
Interesting to observe clients bringing their advertising development in-house. Based on my experience, agree with Digiday’s analysis below regarding the pros/cons. But I believe there are three keys to success:
1. Passion: Being able to replicate the agency’s tenacity to deliver. Agencies bend over backwards to deliver on behalf of clients. The key is matching this passion to deliver when it’s done by co-workers rather than a partner.
2. Talent: ability to recruit diverse creative talent to work in-house and breakaway from agency background.
3. Management: having excellent oversight that helps inspire, prioritize and provides new and innovative opportunities to continuously stay driven.
New business is truly a roller coaster. The ups and downs. The uncertainty. With it comes competing against the best of the best. The need for game planning. The endless determination to be victorious. It’s the lifeblood of our business. Without it, your business will not thrive. Not much is sweeter than getting the call that the hard work you invested, paid off.
And then once you win, you have that moment of:
Oh crap, now we have to bring to life what we just pitched…and quickly.
I’ve been fortunate to be on the winning side of several pitches and had this moment, both large and small accounts. Two things are constant – they are a lot of work and each one is different. But they are so worth it as it helps growth and brings new opportunities to the organization.
Thorough, fast and smooth.
I define successful transitions as those that are thorough, fast, and relatively smooth. Clients are satisfied with the experience and it serves as helping build confidence in your ability to manage their business. Internally they don’t cause a ton of disruption to the organization. Based on my experience, here are the 10 keys to onboarding a new client:
1. “It’s not personal. It’s business.”
As they say in the movie You’ve Got Mail(20+ years old already, wow!…), it’s not personal. It’s business. But it’s really hard to put emotions to the side during transitions. Jobs are directly impacted. Questions abound wondering what the losing company could have done differently.
If you just lost the business, you are most likely frustrated, mad and fluctuating between the 7 stages of grief. Remember the decision was not personal.
If you just won the business, be empathetic and not judgmental. If you are in the business long enough like me, you’ll be on both sides. Not to mention you probably need some level of support from them to help ensure a smooth transition.
2. Onboarding foundation.
It’s key to have an overall approach to onboarding business. What is your organization’s overall onboarding process, who is involved, what agency templates are used? It should not be dependent on a specific type of business. It serves as the foundation and can be used in pitches and then needs to be customized to the specific pitch you are working on.
3. Strategize on how to win.
As you progress through the new business process and get closer to the decision, you should be thinking about what it’ll take to onboard the business. Carve out time to take in what you’ve learned through the new business journey and customize the plan to the client’s needs. What are the expectations on timing, on resources, on the process, to what stays constant from the previous agency? Start with the end in mind. And work backward on the steps to get there. I recommend collaborative whiteboard sessions to map it all out.
4. Establish a core team.
Establish a diverse team that will lead this account and reflective of the groups that will be on the client business such as account, creative, media, strategy leadership roles. This is a team that has experience doing transitions and have been in some way a part of the pitch. These team members need to be hardworking and dedicated. They need to be empowered to make broad decisions across the entire business and comfortable having transparent/direct conversations.
5. Establish a support team.
This is representative of who the core team will be regularly interfacing with to move the account forward. This includes Human Resources, Finance, Project Management, office logistics lead, etc. They are helpful, understand the urgency and importance and able to move quickly.
6. Prioritization.
Break down everything that needs to be done into digestible pieces. Attempting to tackle everything at once can feel extremely overwhelming. Identify what projects are immediate/must-haves, nice to have, and lastly a category of in a perfect world. Put your best and fastest resources on the immediate needs. Do the same for the new positions.
7. Talent is key.
The pressure to hire talent quickly is a given. It’s easy to give in and fill the holes. Don’t do it. I’ve hired a couple times due to pressure and it has never worked out. It’s better to explain the situation and why it is taking longer versus filling it with the wrong person. “Cross interviewing” is recommended where team members from other groups interview the candidate as well. For example, if it’s an account opening, have the creative and strategy team members represented in the interview. When hiring, don’t forget about the team members that helped you get there and see if they would be a good match for the new positions. It’s a great way to acknowledge existing internal resources.
8. Hot huddles.
No one wants more meetings but I recommend daily huddles with the core team and a couple times a week with the support team. They are 15 minutes max so you need to go fast and are in the morning to start the day. Document the discussion to include:
– Client understanding
– Timing
– Process
– Key Projects
– Resources
– Logistics
9. Progress tracker.
Keep an ongoing tracker that documents the progress being made on a daily/weekly basis. This will help show clients the hard work being implemented and what is remaining. It can also be used to communicate with the broader agency to help energize the collective team.
10. Have fun.
Remember that winning business is a good thing. It’s hard to see the forest through the trees but your hard work and dedication are positively impacting others. Carve out moments along the onboarding journey to thank team members and show appreciation.
If you or your business are going through a transition and need guidance or have questions, feel free to reach out to brianphelpsconsulting.com.
Brian Phelps Consulting (BPC) 