Two Years In
It’s time to reflect on my first 24(ish) months as the CEO of a Major Corporation™.
This is the first post in a series on the state of Struck and the ad/creative industry. Read the other installments:
Fire the Client
The End of Creativity As A Service
Not Great, Bob
My Five Favorite Days
To The Moon, To The Stars
Whenever I do/say something self-deprecating, there are a few people at Struck who like to remind me that I am the C. E. O. Of. A. Major. Corporation. It’s become a running joke—a play on the fact that I’m one of the more unlikely people to ever carry such a serious job title. My office is a room under the stairs. I often wear baseball caps and sneakers (prompting a new client to remark, I never would’ve guessed that you were the CEO…). I can’t remember the last time I wore a suit. I still have trouble saying, Hi. I’m Matt Anderson, the CEO at Struck. Usually, I end up shrugging and saying something like, I guess I’m in charge…
Last week, when I was at dinner with some friends/colleagues/co-Struckers, it surprised me to realize that this joke has been going strong for almost two years. Time flies, right?
To commemorate this mini-anniversary, I’ve written a series of posts about the current state of our agency. They’ll be published every few days for the next week or two. But first, I wanted to share some macro-thoughts about being a CEO and how things have changed for me and our agency over the last 24 months.
1. Moving Fast Is Harder Than It Looks
One of my frustrations with nearly every organization I’ve ever been a part of is that it doesn’t move quickly enough. Agility means a lot to me. And for an agency of our size, it seems like we should be lightning-quick. But that’s not always true. Sometimes, you need some time to think. Sometimes, it’s okay to wait and react. Sometimes, you realize you’ve been playing checkers while everyone else is playing chess. It doesn’t mean it’s okay to be a lumbering beast; I’ve just learned to accept that speed isn’t always the answer.
2. Good Partners Are Everything
You know that thing about how it’s lonely at the top? Well, that’s kind of true. Except that it’s totally not true. Not if you’re lucky to have incredible partners—and I do. It’s the thing I’m most grateful for in this position. Pauline Ploquin (our Chief Relationship Officer) and Ethan Heugly (Chief Financial Officer) provide the perfect balance of logic, planning and foresight. They’re also great therapists, coaches and cheerleaders. They cover up my flaws and give me way more credit than I deserve. I’m not being humble about this. They do all the grunt work, I usually take all the credit. Someday, they’re going to get sick of that arrangement. Until then, I’ll just keep saying thank you.
3. Survive And Advance
This is the title of a great 30for30 about Jim Valvano’s NC State team and their run to the NCAA Championship. It’s become an internal mantra for me. At the SoDA Member Meetings in Amsterdam this year, I spoke a little about survival—and how maybe we don’t give ourselves enough credit for surviving monumental changes in our industry (and within our agencies). We’ve radically overhauled our organizational structure. We’ve said goodbye to clients. We’ve lost important people. We’ve worked our way through economic twists and turns. We’ve managed to buy a chunk of our agency back from former shareholders. We’ve even fought off a few patent trolls and won a lawsuit. We survive. We advance.
4. Creativity Still Makes Me Happy
I raved about Ethan and Pauline, but I can’t exclude Brent Watts (and our entire creative team). Brent is our ECD, a boundless force of nature. He pushes our clients into unknown territory and shows them how beautiful that landscape can be. The rest of our creatives are some of the sharpest, most talented people in the world. They care about our craft and every detail matters to them. I was worried that, when I became CEO, I’d lose touch with that work and find myself buried in spreadsheets and EBITDA calculations. I might spend more time talking about revenue than I’d like… But that creative spark still blows my mind. I couldn’t be more proud of the work we’ve made this year. It’s the best.
5. It’s Okay To Go Away
Between July 22 and August 28, I was only in the office for seven days. Where was I? Mostly on vacation. I went to Amsterdam for the SoDA Member Meetings (with a stop in London for a few days prior). I went to summer camp with my son for a week. And then my family went on a rather epic, 3500-mile National Parks adventure that covered Craters of the Moon, Yellowstone, Devil’s Tower, Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and Grand Teton. The whole time, I was wracked with guilt. What was I doing? I was a deserter, a vagabond, a terrible leader who abandoned ship. But then I returned and realized I was none of those things. I was a person who took a little too much time off in too small of a window. We all survived. I don’t think anyone hates me for it. Or if they do, they’ve been nice enough not to say anything about it.
I’m still trying to figure this out. Every now and again, it feels like maybe I might be good at it. Then I change my mind and I’m terrible. I should take more walks, eat better, lose a few (more than a few) pounds, read more books, spend less time on airplanes, learn a new language. I’ll get there. We’ll get there. The next two years are going to be amazing.
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