Not Great, Bob

Another all-too-honest update on diversity at Struck.

This is part of a series on the state of Struck and the ad/creative industry. Read the other installments:
Two Years In
Fire The Client
The End of Creativity As A Service
My Five Favorite Days
To The Moon, To The Stars

Nearly six months have passed since the last update on our progress toward improved gender diversity at Struck. Six weird, difficult, happy, productive, scary months. All months are like that, aren’t they? Life is wild. The future comes quickly.

Last time we checked in, three things happened:

1. I made a spreadsheet (charting the exact gender diversity at Struck).
2. I made an offer (extending myself as a contact for any/all underrepresented groups in the advertising industry).
3. I made a promise (committing that we’d get better over the coming months).

How’s it going? Well, remember that wonderful Mad Men episode where Pete Campbell’s downward spiral hits peak Campbell-ness? His mother has died at sea (Manolo!). He’s about to lose the Chevy account. He runs out of Raisin Bran. In the midst of this decline, Pete bumps into Bob Benson in the elevator and Bob delivers an ever-earnest How are you?. Pete isn’t having it. He unleashes the perfect response (Not great, Bob!) and launches a million GIFs.

It’s a phrase that I use all the time with my friends. Sometimes as an understatement. Sometimes as an exaggeration. In this case, it’s probably somewhere in between. Because that’s about where we are right now. We’re Pete Campbell. Which is weird, because I love Pete Campbell, but I also hate Pete Campbell.

The Numbers

Let’s get to it:

As I mentioned last time, these numbers are really difficult when you’re a small agency. Because the sample size is so tiny, a few small changes can radically alter the percentages. So, please don’t look at the percentages (good or bad). They don’t tell the whole story.

I’ll be as open as I can about what you see above… We’ve had some people leave Struck. It happens. Some of those people have been women. In fact, more women than men have decided to pursue other opportunities in the last six months. Does that concern me? Absolutely. We’re actively hiring for a few positions (especially on the creative team) and we have a strong focus on finding women to fill those roles.

You can also see that we’ve changed some of our leadership structure. We have fewer true director roles and more roles that fall into a category we like to classify as mastercraftspeople (we need a better name).

Our overall numbers are down from six months ago. I’ve written about that and there’s not much else to say here… Other than to reiterate that our size (~40–50) means that %Change is a fairly unreliable statistic. Gross percentages, however, remain our goal. We’re still committed to achieving balance, especially in the areas where we currently fall behind (creative, board positions, etc.).

What We’re Doing

One of the questions I was most frequently asked following my last report (and, coincidentally, the guiding theme of this Fall’s 3% Conference in New York) was What are you going to do about it?. In no way does our effort outweigh our Campbellian results, but I want to point out some of the highlights of the last six months:

Photo via seshamaria.

1. Struck hosted a Ladies PDX event. There was a Wunder Womb.
2. We’ve updated the language in our job postings to directly address and encourage diverse audiences to apply.
3. A diversity task force has been established at Struck. I don’t know if I should be proud or a little hurt that I’m not part of it.
4. Pauline Ploquin (our Chief Relationship Officer) has established regular meetings—focused on mentoring and shared experience—for all female employees.
5. I’ll be speaking at the 3% Conference in New York during the first week of November (as part of the Manbassadors track). You should go!
6. Quite a few women have taken me up on the offer to be a connection (via LinkedIn, etc.). I’ve met some great people. I even had lunch with one or two of them.
7. We’re working on an education/training/awareness program about unconscious bias.
8. We hope to join the other great agencies at Pledge Parental Leave before the end of 2016.

So…?

Agencies fluctuate. I realize that sounds like a terrible excuse. I don’t believe it is, but I would understand if you thought this update wasn’t awesome. I don’t think it’s awesome. I’m not proud of where we are. Please know this, however: Our determination hasn’t changed. Beyond everything listed above, we’re also doing the hard work of making diversity a party of our culture. We talk openly about hiring people from diverse backgrounds. We participate in the community. We work to educate and inform our own people. We believe in micro-actions. If it weren’t for the Philadelphia 76ers, I’d say that we’re trusting the process. But they’ve ruined that phrase for all of us. So I’ll leave it at this: We’re evolving our agency and we hope to tell a different story six months from now. Don’t give up on us.

Matt Anderson is the CEO/ECD at Struck. He’s also a husband, a father, a San Francisco Giants fan, a vinyl collector and a book reader.

You can find him on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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