Let me read it to you. Or listen direct on Spotify
The shareholders want human sacrifice
Greg Hahn had a safe long-term job until he didn’t. Then came COVID and he got fired right away. He opened his own business less than three months later. Barely three years on, it’s widely regarded as the best in the world.
How he made that decision is interesting and instructive for all of us, even if you’re not aiming for global fame.
Hahn had a stellar track record as creative boss of giant multinational ad agencies. He’d spent thirteen years at one of those, BBDO New York, when COVID hit. A shareholder meeting demanded sweeping human sacrifice, and Hahn was one of those.
It’s the downside of high salaries. They make you a juicier target for cost cuts when conditions turn bad.
Unemployed and locked up at home, Hahn launched into an immediate, disciplined job hunt.
Greg Hahn
“You’re going to do that Canadian thing”
Hahn got offers from big agency groups in what he calls “hood ornament roles”. The big name that shows up to the major meetings, but doesn’t have much involvement after that.
He had ideas on how it could be done better, and thought setting up his own agency would be cool. He also knew he didn’t have the back-end business skills to pull that off. He ended up speaking to some Canadians who had just started their own indy agency, No Fixed Address. They had business skills.
Among all the other job hunt calls, he kept speaking to No Fixed Address, “ten minute calls here and there, more as a whim.”
Then Hahn’s wife said, “You’re going to do that Canadian thing.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because whenever you get off the calls to them you’re happy, and I don’t feel that after you talk to the others,” she replied.
And she was right. Hahn and the Canadians founded Mischief. Within a year it was Ad Age’s Global Agency of the Year. It’s the only ad agency on GQ’s Top 20 Creative Companies in the World and endless similar accolades. Not just a world leader in creativity but also in verifiable commercial results.
I do like their 10 Things We Believe To Be True list. “Kindness is not weakness” is a great philosophy. And “What we say “yes” to, shapes us. What we say “no” to, defines us.”
The happiest man alive
The Mischief story is in this episode of Jon Evans’ marketing podcast. It’s one of those pods that I’ve listened to about five or six times because it’s an inspiring reminder of how good business can be if you think a bit differently. It’s full of ideas that will bring gratifying dollar returns to our business in the future.
Even if you’re not in marketing or advertising, it’s essential listening if you want valuable stories of starting your own place.
And damn Greg Hahn sounds like the happiest man alive, having taken the punt and seen his vision come to life in spectacular form. I first listened to it on a flight to Adelaide for a project we’re working on there with our business partner Nick.
Back at the hotel late that night, I called my wife and spoke of the day’s events. She said:
“You should visit the interstate offices more often.”
It does sound like she’d like me out of the house, but it’s in a positive way.
I don’t work directly in any of the businesses. We don’t have a head office because we realised we don’t need one. I don’t love working at home all the time so I have an office elsewhere with just me in it. My co-founder Peter and I visit all the offices every couple of months, spending a day or so there catching up on things.
She said: “When you’re on those trips, I can tell how happy you are from your voice. It’s on a completely different level to your normal work voice.”
And she is right. Nick is a natural-born commerce machine, pulsating with energy and ideas on making our business better. He is inspirational to be near. His team are all Nick-worthy: super-likeable, competent, reassuring. I see the physical reality of what the businesses have become and I could not love it more.
“Well that’s a spooky coincidence,” I told her. “I was just listening to this podcast …”
The answer is right there and you can’t see it yet
It’s an interesting thing to consider. You’ll be deep in some potentially life-changing decision, agonising over which way to go, weighing up a confusing matrix of factors.
And the right answer may be abundantly clear to the people close to you.
Don’t discount that.
The option that makes you put out external rays of happiness is probably the best. It doesn’t mean you’ll be happy every minute of the whole journey. You should not expect that. There will be stress, conflict, doubt and flat spells. But underneath, the things that make you happy will still be there, fuelling you to push through and make it to the good times.
If you’re not feeling it, if you just made the decision because you want to make lots of money, it’s going to be so much harder. The people you hire won’t be excited for the journey. You’ll draw no energy from them. You’ll be just another cranky, cynical business drone.
Ironically, you’ll make more money if your joy comes from the non-money elements.
Listen to the people you love and who love you. They’re probably a step ahead of you. So much success inspo comes from lone-wolf psychopaths who don’t have time to meet a partner and have no friends, only work associates they think are friends.
If you have people around you who you trust to help you make these choices, rejoice in that.
And that’s it from me for 2024. I’m about to live in airports and hotels for the rest of December, finishing a few projects and enjoying catching up with our people around the country. Thanks for reading this year, see you in ‘25.
Spotify Wrapped Revelations
If you have a podcast, you get Spotify For Creators Wrapped with data about your show and listeners.
Gotta say I’m got external rays of happiness from the “What Other Podcasts Your Listeners Listen To.”
#1 was Steven Bartlett’s Diary Of A CEO – predictable. #2 Sword and Scale, which I’ve not heard of.
But coming in at #3 and #4 – yessssssss!
Cannot express how much I love this. Thanks listeners! I have no explanation whatsoever.
Anyway this was my #1 show of the year, about 600% more listeners than the next best. So if you haven’t heard it, what are you waiting for? It’ll roll straight into Thomas I guess. All aboard!
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Have you read my book Undisruptable?
Zoë Foster Blake said: “Ian is a cheeky, funny, disruptive (and proven: important) business rascal and thank goodness for that.”
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