Interviews

My biggest fuck up was growing up thinking that being older or being in senior management meant that you knew what you were talking about.

I was lucky to have a client who was both forgiving, and receptive. I learned from this experience to never ever badmouth or underestimate a client.

I dream of a world in which people doing creative work are able to suffer only their own internal pain and not be pushed through bureaucracy that causes them additional pain.

If you tell someone you run your own business, the next question they ask is, ‘How big is it?’. This creates a lot of social pressure to make the business as big as possible (regardless of whether that’s the right thing to do). 

I would like to see more media owners taking a stronger stand on whom they’re affiliated with through their advertisers.

My biggest mistake would be not speaking up enough earlier on in my career. It’s taken a while and I wish I’d learnt to do it sooner with confidence and conviction.

I was literally getting calls from the Group FD who was now running the business, as my wife went into labour.

I remember his opening line, “what makes you think you can get away with that with me?” I had become the person I wanted to destroy.

Everyone is a futurist and keynote speaker. If you all were truly futurists, you would have invested in Bitcoin back in 2011.

I had little to no clue what I wanted to do with myself when I left school. My biggest fuck up is the time it took me to decide on a career.

We live in a cut-throat world so when at work, the primary focus should be delivering amazing work. I'm not sure the younger generation has worked that out.

Apart from the classic wiping a memory card by accident, I’ve made loads of mistakes. The one I’m about to lay out though is a pivotal moment in my career.

Lessons learned: don’t be an arrogant prick, never show off, engage brain before mouth, and ALWAYS have empathy and respect for others.

I had massive anxiety that everything else I was doing at work was shit. The biggest thing I learned was to make a decision early and stick to it.

I forgave him and learned my lesson long ago. I don’t know if he ever did. We haven’t spoken in twenty years.

This supposed imposter syndrome isn’t a result of your fragile brain, it’s the structural toxicity of many managers and work environments.

Don’t cram your to-do list! Half of it is lower priority crap anyway. Do fewer things well rather than loads of tasks half-arsed.

When it comes to truly changing your life, I think most people should avoid "prescriptions" in books, podcasts, and even articles like these!

I didn't seek out feedback early in my career and certainly didn't welcome it if it was given freely. I thought I knew everything and couldn’t see that you never really do.

THE self-appointed, uninspirational, backwards thinking "leader" currently influencing thousands of below-average people