Essays on creative leadership,
culture, and the human side of work.

Asking questions deepens and enriches conversations, helping us build relationships with clients beyond the immediate project.

Many of the older men were missing one or more fingers. That was one of the first things I noticed at the farm. I asked and the word was, “People get relaxed around the machines over time, forgetting how dangerous they are and…” I was sixteen. It must have been the first time I realized…

A client told me this the other day (details changed to protect my client’s privacy). It struck me as classic. Sometimes, you gotta go with the flow. After ten years in Dallas, my wife applied and got accepted into the master’s program of her dreams at Washington State University. I’m in advertising. Spokane is the…

People chose to work with us first because they like us and second because we have the necessary skills. The DM lit my screen. It was a personal note responding to a very revealing piece I’d written about my childhood and posted on several platforms. It took me a moment to realize what I was…

I’ve been busier with client work than ever. Creative salaries are up, and more of my clients are negotiating new freelance opportunities and salaried positions than any time in memory. The following story is a composite of several of these ongoing negotiations. (Note: I’ve made changes in the following story, to keep identities private.) “They’re…

How to ask for and get the money. Or how I learned to dance with the fear in my lizard brain. Whenever someone I know, who runs a small creative firm, or is a writer or designer, tells me they struggle with asking for and getting the fees they need I always recommend the three-step…

I’ve made every one of these common mistakes… 1. I’ve waited for the “right time” to talk about money 2. I believed what was offered was non-negotiable 3. I settled for the first offer they made 4. I was so uncomfortable with silence that I lowered my ask 5. I was so happy to be…