LATEST INTERVIEWS
The utterly unemployable entrepreneur
I was very honest with my buyers. I told them I was unstable. Including that, if I was up at 5 am, I was still partying with mates, clients, politicians, and celebrities.
A permanent choice to a temporary problem
I truly believe that decision has led to years of stunted career growth, and I pay that penance every single day.
AI couldn’t match Don Draper
AI would be useless back in the “Mad Men” era. It couldn’t do what Don Draper did. No AI could pull off “It’s toasted.”
A single client
It’s always great to have a steady supply of work when you’re freelance. If you have someone offering you 20-30 hours of steady work, you’re obviously going to take it.
Start where you are
It’s normal to look at an ambitious goal and feel daunted by the journey ahead. It’s also human to look at people around you and compare how you’re doing.
Good ads wear in, not out
There’s this fallacy among marketers that, even if it’s working, an ad should only be run for a couple of months before audiences will get sick of it.
Best of NWB
The mother of all mistakes
There’s no other single thing that’s had as significant and negative an impact on my career as having children.
CEOs called Elizabeth, risky strategies, and how to get lucky
Luck plays such a significant role in so many successes, yet it seems somehow disingenuous or deceitful, so we look for rational reasons instead.
A death-threat-inducing fuck up, and adlands obsession with ‘why’
Biggest fuck up?
Over the last 15 years, there’s been...
Brave advertising and where being a creative goofball can take you
Someone along the line becomes afraid of making a statement; afraid of being too ‘out there’; afraid of upsetting their boss.
Poisoned partnerships, being the wrong age, and how you can have it all
Slow down, you're going to have a very long life, and you will work till you are at least 70. You don't have to work full pelt for nearly fifty years.
Echo chambers and LinkedIn police
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.
How not to be an arrogant prick
Lessons learned: don’t be an arrogant prick, never show off, engage brain before mouth, and ALWAYS have empathy and respect for others.
You say it best when you say nothing at all
I forgave him and learned my lesson long ago. I don’t know if he ever did. We haven’t spoken in twenty years.
Giving zero fucks
Amy Kean -
This supposed imposter syndrome isn’t a result of your fragile brain, it’s the structural toxicity of many managers and work environments.
Change Your Life by Understanding Yourself
When it comes to truly changing your life, I think most people should avoid "prescriptions" in books, podcasts, and even articles like these!
The Contrepreneur
THE self-appointed, uninspirational, backwards thinking "leader" currently influencing thousands of below-average people
Confessions of a HR Professional
I spent too long ensuring that the captains of the industry got free rein, encouraging toxic cultures.
Mental illness and new beginnings
At the age of 39 after developing severe depression, I realised I had been aiming for the wrong career goal.
Learning about self worth in Weston-Super-Mare
He wanted me to be in the office every day because of his apparent insecurity and need to be overly controlling.
Losing your corporate innocence
That moment marked the end of my innocence in the corporate world. It marked the end of loyalty, the end of trust, and the end of my youth.
I’m a materialistic, ambitious, status-craving idiot
We don’t think about this stuff because it’s bloody scary. It’s hard. It’s embarrassing. It’s a bit hippy, it makes us feel vulnerable.
Taking business lessons from Sylvester Stallone
Being punched in the face repeatedly by a man twice your size is great motivation to get your act together.
Hot right now
It took me 10 years to recover my confidence
That job, getting fired, and eighteen months of failing to overcome mediocre work set me and my career back.
Please don’t reach out
I understand the need to talk the same language as your audience but does it really have to come at the cost of our beautiful language?
Fuck milk
John Lyons - 3
This was our first project for a huge household brand. I saw our hard work closing the deal, and my financial projections disappear in front of my eyes.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
We need to learn how to respond, rather than react to other people online.
The reality of a terrible job move
The business values were a world away from mine. A quick chat with a recruiter would have warned me off.
Reducing your reliance on devices and social media
Will Stone - 2
I was summoned to London to see the sales director. I knew I hadn’t royally screwed up, but when you’re dealing with a hairdryer of a human, you never know.
Lazy phrasing can hurt others
Seeking to be inclusive and politically correct is a good thing in business and shouldn't be seen as a weakness
All the names above the door were creatives
Before long, we were having secret chats about what a creative agency for the new millennium might look like.
Agency life
True change requires a long hard look in the mirror
People pay lip service to diversity, equity, and inclusion without thinking about intersectionality, anti-racism, anti-casteism, or decolonisation.
The pressure to grow, cherry-picking zealots and proving yourself wrong
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).
Brave advertising and where being a creative goofball can take you
Someone along the line becomes afraid of making a statement; afraid of being too ‘out there’; afraid of upsetting their boss.
Unbuckle your seatbelt
A little fuck-up on an empty plane that made me question myself led to a startup that’s still going strong nearly 20 years later.
CEOs called Elizabeth, risky strategies, and how to get lucky
Luck plays such a significant role in so many successes, yet it seems somehow disingenuous or deceitful, so we look for rational reasons instead.
Losing respect, unethical advertising and the wisdom of age
I would like to see more media owners taking a stronger stand on whom they’re affiliated with through their advertisers.
Opinions are like arseholes, everybody’s got one
If you work in marketing or advertising, you're surrounded by opinions. Some people don't like green in their logo. Some people don't like sentences beginning with "And" or "But."
All the names above the door were creatives
Before long, we were having secret chats about what a creative agency for the new millennium might look like.
Dave Dye -
Saatchi Kate and Addict Kate
By all conventional measures, I was highly successful..but by 2004, I was struggling with addiction to alcohol.