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.
“250 million died.” Jessica turned and asked Sara what she was talking about. “Sorry. The last outbreak of COVID. I got a call from Rosa, our Circle City LA director, early this morning. They had three deaths last night. Testing this morning showed it was a new form of COVID.” Jessica, Tommy and Sara were…
The campaign was on… Corporate coffers to be filled An election to be won And Sleepy Joe without a clue. The White House told us so. -Anonymous It was over now. It seemed running was the only choice. Just then, the clouds let go. They were getting wet fast. The Overture group started walking. Brie…
This serial is a fantasy about the Overture Creative Cooperative, set in the near future. However, Overture is a real organization that provides creative services. You can learn more about the real Overture at Overture.coop. Looked through the paper Makes you want to cry Nobody cares if the people Live or die -Leonard Cohen “You’ve…
We’ve never experienced trauma like what we’re experiencing now. When you’re negotiating, and you’re in some level of panic, it can feel like it would be so easy to tell a little lie to advance your position, or to avoid an uncomfortable confrontation. Maybe your work has dried up. Or you’ve been let go and…
The concern for the economy over people is deeply disturbing. The profiteering from the virus is horrible. The misleading advice for political gain is disgusting. Depriving healthcare and other workers from the gear they need to stay alive. To stay healthy is appalling. I don’t know how to contribute other than helping my community adjust…
A free Overture Creative Cooperative Zoom workshop Join us Tuesday April 7th 10-11:30 AM Pacific for help with… 1 What to do to get new work 2 How to hang on to existing work and 3 How to build relationships virtually The workshop includes: -A presentation on the survival questions above -A Q&A session that…
A small creative service firm with four working partners as owners. Their conversation… “We own the building! Well, we own part of it with the bank. We can use the equity to pay our staff – or at least partially pay our staff – through this pandemic…” “But, That’s our retirement plan. The building’s our…
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