Essays on creative leadership,
culture, and the human side of work.
Becoming
These are personal essays about growing up as a fostered, then adopted child — and about what that does to a person over the course of a life and career. The passivity you develop to survive. The shame that shows up uninvited in elevators and conference rooms decades later. The moment you finally recognize the bully pattern, in a boss, in a father, in yourself.
The most-read piece opens with a meat cleaver. My wife, coming down the hall. Me, curled under the covers at thirty years old, having just been fired and not yet told her. It’s not a comfortable essay. But by the end, it explains — more directly than anything else I’ve written — why I understand what happens to people when they’re made to feel small at work, and why that understanding is the foundation of everything I do professionally.
These essays aren’t separate from my advisory work. They are the source of it.
Advisory Notes
These are essays about the emotional realities of creative professional life — the anxiety of leadership, the psychology of negotiation, the particular ways creative people get in their own way, and the particular ways organizations let them down.
One of the most-read pieces, “Why Creative Firms Break Differently,” argues that creative firms don’t fail from bad strategy — they unravel from the inside, through fatigue, misalignment, and a gradual loss of trust no one can quite name. That piece captures what all of these essays are reaching toward.
I write from four decades of experience inside creative firms, but I write the way I talk: directly, without jargon, with stories. Each piece includes one of my own illustrations. If you work in a creative firm and ever feel like the game is rigged against you, this series is for you.
From the press release… DE ANZA III, BALLARD, 14-16 JUNE 2019 This year the acclaimed international writing program, Dark Angels, bring their unique three-day American Foundation Course to the Seattle waterways. We invite you to join us! THE COURSE Dark Angels is about how to bring energy, personality, imagination and, above all, powerful human connection…
Brie was working from home when… “Mom, Mom! There’s soldiers in the streets.” Looking out the window. Seeing nothing. “Honey, where did you see them?” “Just outside the school. They were unloading from those huge, slick white buses. The ones you see at Facebook and Amazon.” Jamal’s 13, and deeply into dystopian novels. I pushed…
Three shots. I think it was three. Then the man with the gun ran. The crowd panicked. Some hit the deck. The rest of us ran for it. It was supposed to be a peaceful rally. I wouldn’t have come if I’d thought otherwise. There had been CEO shootings elsewhere, but Seattle? I thought it…
Our official name is Overture Creative Cooperative. Our url is Overture.coop. We view ourselves as “shooting for the stars:” Creating a democratic organization owned by creatives dedicated to helping creatives achieve sustainable income by providing creative services to clients who are helping people have better lives and the planet have a sustainable future. We’re in…
Chapter 1: Outer “The first thing I noticed was the fork with five prongs.” Teams need to feel a sense of camaraderie before they are able to fully collaborate. As team leaders in the workplace we’re subtlety negotiating with our group to improve group cohesion, collaboration and work flow. Simply demanding more performance doesn’t work…
Marketing, advertising, design and public relations employment are going through dramatic, wrenching changes. Yet we are creatives, after all; we can reach down deep – when forced to – and become what we need to be to thrive. Walking down the hall, checking the numbers of the small conference rooms. E-223. E-223. Jane hadn’t spent…
I’ve always believed that compelling case studies are one of the keys to negotiation success. Great case studies give prospects a reason to consider working with you. And without consideration you’ll never get to the bargaining table. Thanks to Bryan Schaeffer for asking me to write a case study for him that dramatized his work. Thanks also…
New essays, every week.
With an illustration.
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Also available on Substack.
You never cease to amaze me with your willingness to make your life an open book — especially the more hurtful parts. And I'm amazed by the lessons you draw from all of it.
— Larry Coffman, PublisherYour writing has revealed some very intimate, powerful lessons. You are a source of inspiration both professionally and, increasingly, on a personal level.
— Rick GoreWe can discuss the ugly, uncomfortable truths while always circling back to what matters: the people, the underdogs, the work we get to do, and the magical existence we get to share as creatives.
— Sarah EskandarpourI loved your article about how clients' emotions affect briefs. It's a huge part of the creative industry and it's always good to see somebody so knowledgeable write about it.
— Vuk Bojovic, JKR Account Director, Singapore