Leading the Team…Lessons Learned from Valley Forge, or How do we Get the Best out of our People on Behalf of our Clients?

Let me begin by sharing a story.

When I was an elementary school boy, I very clearly remember a class trip on the traditional big, yellow school bus to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where we spent the day touring the battlefield and the historical markers there as a class.  First, the tour guides showed us some small, wooden huts.  There were lots of these huts on the top of a hillside.  Clearly they had been created with some haste with the limitations of the time, built with simple wooden planks that were rough and unevenly spaced, allowing for slivers of the outside elements…cold driving rain, winter snow…to come whipping into the small huts with the earthen floor.  The guides explained, this is where the soldiers of the Continental Army slept.  This was, as we know, the launching point for that famous, brave trip across the Delaware River on Christmas Eve.

Then, we boarded the bus, and we drove a couple of miles away, to another location inside Valley Forge Park.  This time, the bus came to a stop and all of us third graders got out and walked down a path to a two-story colonial home, nestled among some tall trees and beside a small stream.  As we toured this home, we learned that this was where George Washington and his key staff slept that winter at Valley Forge. 

To this day, when asked to describe my own personal leadership style, I never fail to tell that simple story.  And I tell it with all due respect to General Washington, our Founding Father.  That said, my message when I tell the story: I would have preferred to sleep in the same conditions as the men.

OK, so what does this take on the Valley Forge housing crisis have to do with running a successful advertising agency on Madison Avenue?  I will argue, quite a lot.

An advertising agency, small or large, in any city in the world, has as its most precious asset the people who work there.  The old saying, “the assets go up and down the elevator bank each night” is true.  Clients hire agencies for the people and the ideas, expressed both via copy and art; via print and television or digitally on the Web; nonetheless clients hire agencies for people and ideas. 

Some other businesses are built on traditional command and control principles, implementing a systemized process and then ensuring that managers follow up to ensure the workers follow the process to produce the end products.  Not so in advertising, or frankly, most knowledge service businesses.

In an agency, a good idea can, and should, come from anywhere.  The best concept for the new launch ad can come from the most senior creative director – or from the newly hired junior copywriter.  And, once a good idea or concept is articulated, the talents and voices of many will collaborate to make it even better before the client even sees it for the first time.  Therefore, creating a culture of an ideas meritocracy rather than a hierarchy is mission critical.  The core values of collaboration, respect for ideas (not titles), and listening – really listening – to all are utmost.

I have found it is important to take great pains to ensure that a culture that respects these diverse ideas and talents is nourished so it can thrive.  Part of that is about tearing down the old-fashioned silo thinking that prevents junior staffers from suggesting a solution; or alternatively from critiquing and thus making improvements in an idea suggested by a higher-ranking staffer.  

Yes, we do have titles in our agency. And, yes, they have a place.  A junior copywriter does need a supervisor who on a day-to-day basis provides input and feedback, coaches, and counsels. But, when it comes time to talk ideas, that junior copywriter must feel empowered and respected for his/her voice and ideas first and foremost.

Let me share some examples.

It starts with a mission statement.  I have worked in agencies both with and without a mission statement.  And, to be clear, a good mission statement is not just for the senior executives to look at once a year as part of annual planning.  A good mission statement is a virtual compass that everyone in the agency sees, understands, and then can see senior management live out.  In our mission statement, we talk very explicitly about the core values of collaboration; about putting our people first. 

It’s not hard to see, then, that when it is crunch time on a new business pitch, where do we allow ideas to come from?  (Hint…see collaboration, above.) If the team is in the office working all day on a Saturday, should management be there?  You get the idea.

It also means sharing credit.  We have all seen those résumés where an individual claims he/she launched a new product or a new campaign or he/she developed a breakthrough creative campaign.  It is the bane of the résumé game.  But it’s patently not true 99.9% of the time.  In our business, collaboration is the name of the game; it’s what makes an idea better; it’s the team that collaborates and launches a product or a new campaign.  If we want our people to feel comfortable sharing credit and kudos, then we must show that example. We must speak publicly in our agency-wide communication about TEAMS that accomplish things; we must find reward systems that acknowledge that truth about collaboration.

It also means living the mission statement, putting the troops first, even when it is hard.  A couple of specific thoughts:  It’s a sacrifice to give up a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the conference room while new business pitch themes are discussed.  It’s an even greater sacrifice to pass up hiring or to remove an existing employee who cannot live up to the stated cultural value of collaboration and teamwork.  I remember shortly after joining the agency, we were in need of a very senior account person. A recruiter brought forth a candidate with a “bullet-proof” résumé…Ivy League MBA; strong track record in the industry at several major blue chip agencies; and I was assured this candidate would walk through the door looking the part, presenting herself well. The one footnote, almost a whisper from the recruiter, was “she can be sort of tough on people…but she gets great results.”  My answer was, and in that situation will always be, NO.  Because we value people and collaboration as a stated value; because it is important to me to live out the values and mission statement of the agency, it was a no-brainer to say no to the candidate…despite the obvious need at the time and despite the obvious superficial match with the candidate’s qualifications. No, no, no.  Leadership consistency, putting the needs of the whole organization first, was more important.

Creating a culture where people feel that they and their ideas are valued is not only a way to get to great ideas – and I believe it is – it is also a way to strengthen the agency for the long term.  Here’s why: employee retention.  In an agency culture retaining people – the right people – is critical.  Typical agency turnover rates in the industry run anywhere from 20 to 25%.  What that means to me is that on any given day, on any particular assignment, if you walk into a conference room where a team of, say ten folks, is collaborating/concepting ideas, then at least two, maybe three of them may not be engaged fully with both their head and their hearts.  Imagine a soccer team, where two or even three of the starting eleven were either not on the field at all, or on the field in body only, but were actively working to get a job with the other team.

Leading the team in an active, engaged way makes all the difference, culturally. And, if the top agency leader instills this ethos in his/her managers, the result is a multiplier force for good.

A single leader does not entirely make or un-make an organization. True enough. But, especially in an agency, or any service company, the actions of a leader that demonstrate a commitment to the people over time do set the tone and the culture and contribute very directly to the health and the success of the organization.