Senior Digital Designer Neil Quinn joined us in February. He’s brought a wealth of expertise and a superb eye for design to our studio – and we’re so excited to have him on board.
“It’s not often you see digital designers with that quality of crafted, beautiful design that can be translated into the digital space without losing something.” – Alex Shallish, Creative Director
Neil’s strong understanding of brand and his technical ability are the perfect addition to our Brand Culture Studio offering. He brings not only talent, but an entrepreneurial and proactive attitude – the perfect fit for Six.
Neil joins us from Polleni, an agency he co-founded. His career began with freelance work and progressed to smaller agencies, and he picks out the size and ambition of Six as a major factor in his decision to join us. Plus, he says he just liked it when he first arrived:
“Coming to Six, I got a feeling I didn’t expect to have when I came to the interview. It just felt like a really nice place. The camaraderie, a big team of colleagues all talking to each other.” – Neil Quinn
He’s a self-taught designer who studied product and furniture design at university – so he always has a keen sense of how things can look in 3D! He’s learnt on the job, and a natural confidence in his own designs and a disinclination to follow trends has honed his beautiful, straightforward design style that translates so well to digital.
This eye for digital design was particularly apparent in the former Polleni website. Designing their previous site and seeing it come to fruition, a project they kept entirely with the agency, is something that Neil picks out as a career highlight.
We are delighted to have his skills and experience on the team – and we know our clients are already benefitting from it too.
“Neil’s digital knowledge, mixed with his eye for great design, will help maintain the creativity we bring to our clients, at the same time as being able to influence projects as he works with various members of the team.” – Alex Shallish
Trying to maintain healthy relationships in our personal lives has been a key focus in the last year. Some have been tested and some have flourished. And the same can be said for professional relationships too.
But what has the power to make or break a relationship when it comes to you and your clients?
It’s all a question of commitment. To maintain and grow client revenues, agencies should match what they expect to gain with what they are prepared to give. Authentic, mutual commitment is the glue that bonds agencies with their clients.
As in our personal lives, having relationships doesn’t guarantee successful ones. They take work and now more than ever. Good times in the past won’t mean business in the future. Clients may have played it safe during 2020, with little switching, but they’ve now seen new agencies and ideas, found better ways of getting things done and changed the standards they expect.
So, when it comes to your business, ask yourself how committed you really are. And what real commitment means for your business and how you work with your clients.
Real commitment starts with transparency, which underpins all good relationships. Being real, showing who you really are across your proposition, personality, people, processes, pricing. It demands a genuine willingness to actually invest in your clients; always going above and beyond and choosing or even recruiting a team better matched to the needs of your clients. Finally, taking a long-term view and setting the foundations so that your relationships grow in line with the growth of your business and theirs. Create a joint vision of where you and your client want to be in three years’ time. It may be hard to do, but don’t fall into the trap of only focusing on a few months ahead.
You can read about overcoming commitment issues and more in our Future Positive Clients guide.
After many years of faithful service my beloved Bell & Ross BR 03 – 92 timepiece has gone wrong. It’s decided to choose random moments of the day to display meaningless times, which for someone as punctual as me is a nuisance. I guess I’ll have to buy a new one or just succumb to the Fitbit Ace 3 active tracker thingy-majig that everyone wears now, to tell them you’re not a bit fit.
Part of me wants to get it mended, but the last time this was done it was traumatic to say the least. Not having the provenance and receipts from twenty years ago, I was questioned, interrogated and challenged by the smug jewellery shop owner to prove it was genuine. Only after pleading ‘one owner from new’ did he begrudgingly accept, with a warning that if it arrived at the Bell & Ross Service Department in Paris and was fake, there would be severe repercussions and they’d retain it. Thankfully it was the real deal and for the privilege of getting it going again, I received a bill for £500, holy moly!
The month my faithful watch was enjoying the wonders of Paris, was frightful, for punctual old me. I only had the moon to tell the time and this was like going out with no trousers.
Of course I did have a backup. A rather charming vintage Longines as it happens that I received for my eighteenth birthday. But sadly my eyes are so old and weary that I can’t read the face properly. Fashions have also changed and it sadly looks very small and feminine in-situ. You know that old man watch look, with a tiny slim dial, fat wrist and blood clot inducing strap, tighter than the Scottish. This ultimately led to me turning up late to meet friends and that for me is worse than vomiting in a taxi.
This also brings me on to the biggest problem in my quest to find a new timepiece. There’s a world of choice out there but everything is unbelievably expensive and fitted with a whole host of features no one could possibly ever need.
I’ve flown all over the world but at no point did I think ‘Damn, I wish my watch had an altimeter because then I could see how far off the ground I am’ particularly as the inflight TV system displays this from take-off to landing. Similarly, when I was diving off the Great Barrier Reef I didn’t at any time think: ‘Ooh I must check how far below the surface I’ve gone’. Thoughtfully God fitted my head with sinuses that do the job very well and quite honestly remind us of why we should never be under the water in the first place!
I JUST WANT SOMETHING THAT TELLS THE TIME.
You might think then, my demands are simpler. I don’t want my watch to open bottles, diagnose my car or track my body and I don’t want it to double up as a laser, Bond style. I just want something that tells the time, not in Bangkok or Los Angeles, but, here, now, clearly and robustly with no fuss. The end.
But it isn’t the end, you see someone in Adland (that’s me guiltily) has decided that the watch says something about the man. Having the right timepiece is just as important as having the right hair, car, or the right names for your children. I remember at a dinner party once, an acquaintance leaning over to a perfect stranger on the other side of the table and proclaiming ‘Ooh is that a Monte Carlo?’ It was, apparently, and soon enough everyone was cooing and nodding appreciatively. Except me, I had no idea what a Monte Carlo was and I’ve even been there too, huh?
Where does one start to buy a new watch with so much societal pressure it seems to get it right at dinner parties? Do I want to be Breitling Bentley Bend it Like Beckham or Buff Brad Pitt Tag Heuer ‘what are you made of?’ – talk about purchase intent insecurities.
INTERESTING FACT (To use at dinner parties if your timepiece doesn’t measure up).
Did you know that nearly all watch advertising has the hands at ten past ten and has done for years? This apparently is the optimum position to showcase the analogue aesthetics and any of those gadgets you really don’t need. Grab a magazine and check it out, if you don’t believe me, and David below is no exception.
YES A COLLECTION, CAN YOU BELIEVE?
A colleague of mine also had a large collection of watches he coveted too. So large in fact it needed a dressing table contraption to keep them all wound up and ticking, analogue agitation I guess its called. But despite all this he still had the need to spend thousands of pounds on just one more, a new Bremont. Now I know roughly what he earns and therefore I know what percentage of his income he’s just blown on this watch and medically speaking he must be completely potty. It is however rather nice and comfortingly hand assembled, just up the road from me and again is a brand enriched with the legacy of Biggles and vintage aviation.
It turns out though his Bremont, in the big scheme of things, is actually quite cheap. There are watches out there that cost tens of thousands of pounds. And I just can’t see why?
Except of course, I can. Timex can sell you a reliable watch that has a backlight for the visually impaired, a compass, a stopwatch and a tool for restarting stricken nuclear submarines, all for an Argos best of £39.99. And that’s because the badge says Timex, which is another way of saying you have no cool, no style and you probably drive a Kia Sportage.
To justify the exorbitant prices watchmakers charge today they all have to carry absurd names like Audemars Piguet or Girard Perregaux and they all claim to make timepieces for fighter pilots and space-shuttle commanders and people who parachute from outer space into waiting power boats for a living. What’s more, all of them claim to have been doing this, in sheds in remote Swiss villages, for the last six thousand years. I don’t know about you but I also find the more you pay for a watch the harder it is to even just read the time on the face.
How many craftsman in the Swiss mountains are there, millions perhaps? This is why the trains all run exactly to time and let’s be honest the Moser-Baer railway clock face designed in 1944 by Hans Hilfiker, a worker on the Swiss railways is a masterpiece in design and to date never been beaten. Breitling even bangs on about how it made the instruments for historically important old planes. So what? The Swiss also stored a lot of historically important gold teeth and famous artworks. It means nothing when I’m lying in bed trying to work out if it’s the middle of the night or time to get up.
Shameless Adland and watch companies still serve up all this active lifestyle guff and show you pictures of Swiss pensioners in brown ‘Open All Hours’ store coats, painstakingly assembling the inner workings with tweezers and then try to flog you something that is more complicated than the engine management system of a Bugatti Veyron. Or which is bigger and heavier than Fort Knox and would even look stupid on the wrist of Puff Diddly. It’s ironic really that every watchmaker it seems, is also visually impaired, as they always have WW2 style focal contraptions strapped to their eyes.
TIME HAS A WONDERFUL WAY OF SHOWING US WHAT REALLY MATTERS.
Perhaps I should follow the path of a dear friend who went to find his inner self in Bali for six months. He returned so humbled and liberated, he kicked the can of conspicuous consumption so far down the road, he wrote a wonderful book on compassion and empathy in life and business. He was happy now to just to wear a hipster rubber wristband thingy. From that day on he relied on his garden sundial to keep him in sync with meetings for the day. His collection of expensive watches never saw the light again.
On reflection then, I think I’ll just get the Bell & Ross repaired, with a feel good eco-warrier hint of repair, refurbish, and reuse, assuming I can convince them its genuine. The bright and breezy blurb that goes with my watch claims it’s made in Switzerland by pensioners (craftsman) using German parts, by a company that supplies the American military. It also shamelessly alludes (just like Breitling mentioned above) to the innovation and inspiration in and around Spitfire cockpit dials. Who cares if it doesn’t get any worthy recognition at dinner parties, the Battle of Britain sure does. My watch is analogue all the way (just like me), it’s very simple, has big numbers, and looks like it belongs on the hairy arms of someone in the mining industry, who blows up mountainsides (not Swiss) with dynamite.
Anything that’s linked to the Spitfire, the best fighter plane ever made, is more than enough for humble old me. Now where did I put my trousers, it’s time to scramble, chocks away and for once be on time again.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is launching a new business support programme for businesses and individuals working in the creative industries, as part of its Regional Recovery Plan.
The programme is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) working in the creative industries, including creative freelancers, that require support as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The sector specific business support programme is designed to build resilience and support change in response to Covid-19. It will offer support for individuals and management teams to reformulate operating and financial models and business plans through mentoring, peer networks and training and workshops.
There will also be grants for creative projects that support recovery and resilience. A grant fund for creative freelancers will give self-employed people the opportunity to become more resilient by developing their own creative product, practice or service, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. A grant fund for creative businesses will fund creative projects that support recovery and resilience, employ freelance creatives, engage local communities and advance diversity and inclusion.
Grants will range from £1,000 to £3,000 for freelancers and £5,000 to £10,000 for businesses.
Regional Mayor Tim Bowles said: “Our cultural and creative industries really are the soul of the West of England and are an important contributor to our wider economy. As we secure our recovery from the impact of Covid-19, this much-needed support will help ensure that our creative businesses can continue to provide exciting and engaging jobs, attract new commercial opportunities and help ensure the West of England remains an exciting and vibrant place to live and work.”
The business support programme has been designed in consultation with members of the creative and cultural sector, with a focus on recovery from the pandemic and the priorities of inclusivity, diversity and community engagement.
The programme also fits with WECA’s ambitions to establish a West of England Cultural Compact, an initiative jointly funded with Arts Council England. This will involve the creation of a new strategic cultural partnership which will lead on the development of a Cultural Strategy and new activities to help increase investment across the creative and cultural sectors in region.
Professor Sue Rigby, Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University, West of England LEP board member and interim chair of the Cultural Compact, said: “Culture is part of our DNA in the West of England, and so many of us value it and earn our livings from it. The pandemic has highlighted our need for culture as a key part of our recovery, and the Cultural Compact will help us to bring this about as a region.
WECA will also be running the fourth cohort of its successful Creative Scale Up programme, which is already providing almost 60 creative businesses with online peer and mentoring support to help them respond to the impact of Covid-19.
Since joining the programme in January 2020, Bristol-based independent development studio and games consultancy Auroch Digital has secured a new publishing deal and taken on 15 new members of staff.
Dr Tomas Rawlings (pictured), Chief Executive of Auroch Digital, said: “The Creative Scale Up programme, particularly the mentoring process, was great – we were able to pick mentors targeting specific needs we have. We got direct support with business questions as they arose and that helped us deal with them and move forward.
“As a result, we’ve been able to advance some key areas of the company. We’ve landed one big publishing deal for a new IP game and are circling a second big project, and that mentoring advice has been part of the mix of positives getting us there. Information provided by the Creative Scale Up team also led us to a UWE Digital Innovation Fund grant.”
Creative businesses wanting to find out more about the new business support programme, grant funds and the Creative Scale Up scheme should visit WECA’s Growth Hub page.
The Culture and Creative Industry Business Support Programme and grant funds are a key part of the West of England Recovery Taskforce’s regional action plan to protect and secure jobs, creating opportunities for all residents to share in the recovery. As part of this, WECA’s Together West of England campaign is connecting businesses with the support and guidance they need to adapt, build resilience and prepare for the future, as well as helping residents to access new skills, training and employment opportunities.
Through the West of England Growth Hub businesses of any size in the West of England can access free information and guidance on a variety of issues including workforce planning, HR advice and guidance, employability support, training and skills development and coaching.
Almost without exception, agencies are embracing a more flexible attitude and approach to work and an overwhelming majority of employees would like to see this continue. But as you get to grips with what the future of work might look like, some aspects of agency life should become less flexible and even non-negotiable. And this is actually a good thing.
Flying in the face of constraints, the winning agencies will be the ones with an uncompromising focus on their culture, focusing on how they can support their people to be their best selves and do era-defining work. An awakening for some perhaps, but really just smart business as the battle for talent ramps up. The quality of agency culture is topping the list of reasons for the top talent to stay or go.
So where does an uncompromising approach pay when it comes to the codes you set, the teams you build and the way you work together?
We know from recent research and extensive work with our clients that a new cultural contract is emerging. Operating with a clear purpose, solid values and an unwavering commitment to wellbeing, diversity and open communication is non-negotiable. Structuring and supporting teams to play to their strengths, build healthy habits and be impact-driven is non-negotiable. Creating a connected working experience that makes the most of time and space wherever you might physically be, is non-negotiable.
We explore this new cultural contract and more in the Future Positive Talent guide, which you can download today. Find out more about what a new era of work demands and gain some critical advice on how to master it.
You know the world has changed significantly and that agencies need to change too. Agencies have to meet the new standards that will impact more and more as we move into 2021. We’re sure that you’ll have made some changes to your business – but will they be enough to drive the success you’re looking for?
When it comes to your own business, identifying and implementing the changes that will really make a difference isn’t easy. There’s a need to know what’s really going on, to rethink your approach and be brave about it. And that’s much easier to achieve when armed with new insights and prompted to look at things differently. Our Future Positive guide will provide an understanding of what it takes to achieve agency success when there are new standards at play. It covers all the fundamentals relating to clients, talent and how to create value – and provides critical advice on many different actions you should consider.
We know that clients’ structures, knowledge and expectations are changing significantly, so agencies can no longer rely on historical relationships. Nor on their past approaches to winning new business. We know that top talent is also demanding more choice, flexibility and meaning, making it more challenging than ever to attract and retain good people. We know that high profitability is now an obligation not an option, and that value depends on many factors beyond the simple financials. So there’s a lot to think about and a lot to be positive about too, so take a look.
The Future Positive guide will encourage you to think bigger or do better in different ways in whatever areas are most critical for you. For example, how to sharpen your strategy, improve profitability, strengthen client relationships, win more business, optimise your team’s performance, create a winning culture. And we’re always here to talk so get in touch. We’ll share what we know and explain how other agencies have turned these current challenges into new opportunities.
Want to grow your agency but don’t know how? Has growth plateaued? Are you struggling to find more of the right type of client? Are you trying to build an awesome team and are finding it tough to find the right people? Or perhaps your agency is growing but you’d like a refresher, tips and advice on how to accelerate your growth?
If any of these questions resonate then why not join a bunch of highly motivated agency owners and Janusz Stabik, a coach and mentor to agencies across the globe and lead coach for Google across numerous agency growth programs to help find the answer.
Audience: Agency owner/founders
What’s holding you back from running the agency you want to run? What do the high performers do differently from the rest? How good is your agency?
Janusz will take you through the strategy, benchmarks, tips and templates you’ll need to run an efficient and effective agency to accelerate your growth in 2021. You’ll meet other agency owners and gain fresh perspectives, you’ll feel the weight lift from your shoulders, you’ll be energised and excited about the future and you’ll have gained clarity on how to get there.
By the end of the workshop you will:
Audience: Owner founder + Directors
Running and growing agency depends entirely on recruiting and retaining good people who do great work. You work hard to attract great employees, you want the best! But what does the “best” really mean? Good cultural fit? Good at their job? Experienced? Passionate about their work? All of this?
If any of the following rings true, this workshop is for you:
At the end of this workshop you will:
Audience: Agency owner founders, sales/marketing teams, account managers/client service execs
The average agency loses 20% of its revenue every single year through client churn. The sobering fact is, this is the average and it’s not uncommon for churn to be closer to 45% (a HUGE hole to fill). This results in unhappy teams, unhappy clients, lost marketing spend, lost time, lost effort, lost money – no wonder growth is so difficult?
What if:
Sound like a pipe dream? It’s not and it’s eminently achievable.
At the end of this workshop you will:
Join this workshop to find out how to kick-start your growth by focusing on your most important asset – your existing customers.
You can book for each individual session via the links above or, for the most value, book all three sessions as a package by emailing [email protected].
Individual sessions are £45+VAT per session for BCI members or £70+VAT for non-members.
Book all 4 sessions for £100+VAT (BCI Members) or £160+VAT (non-members).
Janusz is a coach and mentor to agency leaders across the globe through his coaching practice and consultancy, Digital Agency Coach, where he helps helping agency owners to run better businesses, lead better teams, make more money and have fun doing so. He’s an ex-agency owner, a trusted speaker for Forbes, head coach at the GYDA Initiative and a lead coach for Google across multiple agency growth programmes throughout EMEA.
Access Creative College (ACC) has begun work on Phase Two of its campus in Bristol City Centre, which will see it occupy the former site of legendary music venue, Bierkeller. The development represents an investment of £4.5m by the college, as it looks to give the space a new lease of life with a host of cutting-edge sound facilities and classrooms for ACC’s range of creative courses.
The Bierkeller site has remained unused since it closed its doors to music fans back in 2018. Over the years, the venue welcomed some of the biggest names in music to its stage, including Nirvana, The Stone Roses and Arctic Monkeys, to name just a few. At over 13,000 sq. feet, ACC’s Phase Two development will more than double the floor space of its Bristol Campus, as the college looks to develop the talent and skills that are so vital to the future growth of the creative industries in the city and beyond.
Mark Smithers, Access Creative College Bristol Centre Manager commented, “Bristol has a rich heritage of creativity and it is an exciting place to be teaching the next generation of digital and arts professionals. As we break through into the former Bierkeller site next door, it will soon be home to some of UK’s leading creatives of tomorrow as we bring it back to life as an education and state-of-the-art events space.”
ACC’s Phase Two facilities will include an events space and stage, a music studio and production pods, where students will be able to mix music, create podcasts and record video and sound. There will also be a range of classrooms equipped with all the latest tech, as well as a number of breakout spaces and student collaboration areas.
Smithers continues, “As an organisation we have been in Bristol for the best part of two decades now. The opening of the first phase of our city centre campus meant we could expand our offering to students, providing a broader range of courses with cutting edge facilities for the very best learning experience. We couldn’t be happier to now take that to the next stage with this new development.”
Following an initial investment of £5m, Access Creative College launched Phase One of its new digital and games campus back in March 2019 and has since rolled out a range of courses including Esports Management, Creative Computing, Software Development, Games Art, Games Technology, Film, Video & Photography and Graphic & Digital Design.
Jason Beaumont, Chief Executive at Access Creative College, added, “As we approach our 30th academic year, this Phase Two development is proof if our intentions for further growth. We understand that by listening to the needs of our students and the wider industry, we’ll be in the best position to provide meaningful education and continue our track record of high student achievement and progression.’
“We are continuing to adapt our curriculum to support the increasingly digital market and of course working closely with industry and employers to best prepare our learners for careers remains a core focus of ACC’s approach to Further Education.”
Having previously operated out of its campus in Hengrove for over 18 years, ACC was Bristol’s first college with a sole focus on the creative industries. Artist Development, Music Technology & Production and Vocal Artist courses, which were previously run from the South Bristol site, will now be brought into the main campus in the city centre, where ACC’s Phase Two facilities will play a pivotal role in skills development.
This announcement follows a significant year for Armstrong Learning group, the owners of the College, during which it secured investment from Apiary Capital and welcomed the National College for the Creative Industries (NCCI) to its portfolio. ACC has also recently announced a number of new senior appointments, including former Minister of State for Universities Jo Johnson, as the college’s new chair, and former Ofsted inspector and Adult Learning Inspectorate Steve Stanley as Director of Evaluation and Impact.
For more information on the development, please visit http://www.accesscreative.ac.uk/bristol
As joint leader of an independent agency, 2020 has meant sleepless nights. But it has also provided opportunities to inspire others and galvanise our team.
There never has been and there still won’t be perfect leaders in 2021. Throughout 2020, leaders have been pushed and tested in completely new ways. Moving forward it’s important to focus on our strengths as leaders, rather than our weaknesses. Reach out and work alongside other leaders to delegate some of your leadership tasks and remember that in areas you struggle, someone else will excel. It is a positive thing to learn from this. We as leaders are always learning. In an effort to continue our development and competence in this area, with my fellow Director, Chris Thurling, we recently took part in a two-day course run by the Institute of Directors entitled Leadership for Directors. Be open to new information and to adapting your preferred methods and means as necessary.
As a leader you are also a follower, likely following other leadership team members within the business. Demonstrate what it means to be a good follower through asking the right questions and having the right attitude towards a mutual goal. Praise and reward good following within the business and cultivate an atmosphere of support and trust. This will be crucial in tackling the upcoming year.
Staff will need to know what level of risk is acceptable within the business, especially coming out of the complex year that was 2020. It’s important that as a leader you communicate if risk and innovations are rewarded or if in the current period the aim is to avoid risk within the business.
We’re all motivated by different means: money, autonomy, flexibility etc. These motivations also change throughout a person’s life. Many of our motivations have changed in 2020 in particular as our lives have shifted emphasis. It’s vital that moving forward you have empathy with your team and ask individuals what it is that motivates them. Don’t waste your time offering flexibility to an individual who is focused on financial gain for example.
Sir Alex Ferguson got it spot on when he said this. Good leaders can inspire people simply by being around them, and often have an energy that people want to follow. This has increased in difficulty this year as a leader’s presence is significantly diluted on screen. The minute I as a leader press that ‘leave meeting’ button online, my presence has gone. This is an obstacle that needs to be overcome and one of the reasons I believe that, to misquote Mark Twain, the death of the office has been greatly exaggerated.
Understand, share and coach people through the change management process, and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ change curve, so they appreciate the emotional journey they are likely to go through when faced with change, especially big or unexpected sudden change. We might go through stages of shock, denial, then anger and frustration, through to uncertainty or depression, before starting to feel more positive with acceptance, problem solving and finally commitment. Following the difficult year that has been 2020 it is vital that as we move forward, we are able to do so together.
It’s important to see connections and relationships develop across different levels and skill sets within the business. This is why, in normal times, colleagues enjoyed lunches and trips to the pub together. These obviously haven’t happened in 2020 and businesses will need to figure out how to maintain social connections whilst the virus still rages and how to rebuild them post lockdown.
With communication, people want to understand WHY something has been decided – as much as possible, if you can share the raw or primary data that has influenced decisions, people will find it easier to contextualise and understand the reasons for decision-making. We’ve learned this year, when we haven’t felt the support of our team in a direction we propose, it might have been because we haven’t been transparent enough with what we were seeing, and why we thought the proposal was the best solution. Clear language is vital moving forward as the conversations that usually happen between staff in the office to provide clarity aren’t always happening remotely. Leadership styles are also contextual so bear in mind that what worked in the office may not work online. Perhaps a more direct approach will be needed. A greater emphasis on clarity will be necessary no matter what your chosen leadership style.
In 2020, we have seen more than ever before the truth in the saying “Repeat yourself so often, you get sick of hearing yourself. Only then will people begin to internalise what you’re saying”. With so many changes, and also real or perceived threats, people want to know what that means for them. Even if there is no-change, communicating that gives reassurance. This remains crucial as we move into the uncharted territory that is 2021.
Leadership principles go back centuries in history and remain relevant today. Moving forward, leaders will continue to build on these principles alongside an ever-evolving culture.
A lot has changed in 2020 but good leadership principles have not. Leaders have simply had to adapt.
This article was written by Andy Brown, Chief Financial Officer at Armadillo, and first appeared on Business Chief.
At this time of year, our marketing team asks people around the business for their predictions for the following 12 months. Whilst we can usually have a good stab at what the next year will hold, 2020 has thrown everything up in the air.
This time last year, very few people would have predicted a global pandemic, or the impact it might have.
So, who knows what next year will bring. But as I look ahead to 2021, I hope we will value bravery, of ourselves and those around us, and appreciate those who encourage us to be brave. A character trait that doesn’t always get the limelight, I think there are at least three specific areas where it will be valued even more than it has been in years gone by.
Marketeers across the board, from senior decision makers at brands to the agencies they employ, need confidence to follow the courage of their convictions. To be brave embracing new technology and risky creative ideas for their message to resonate in a crowded landscape.
Many of us have heard the adage “we’re in the same storm, but not in the same boat” this year. With friends and colleagues working from home, and at times physically isolated or in quarantine, we need to be brave for our friends’ sake. Brave by dialling down our own fear of rejection or being excluded and reach out to them. Demonstrating compassion for others, and making an effort to listen with empathy may for some be like rays of sunshine in their day.
And we need to be brave in believing in ourselves. To have increased confidence that we can do something which may feel challenging. Bravery in the hope and faith that tomorrow will be brighter, and we’ll get through this if we look out for each other and stick together.
If this thought resonates with you, and you want to wear your heart on your sleeve more than just figuratively, Relabelled Clothing is a local independent ethical business with some apt ‘Brave’ apparel for adults and kids.
This article was written by Andy Brown, Chief Financial Officer at Armadillo.