Friday Field Notes: 1/3/2025
Welcome to the first edition of my Friday Field Notes.
I wanted a way to capture all the things I’m seeing and learning.
I’m good at working with agencies. But it’s only because I’m learning from EVERYONE I can.
I’m under no delusion that I have all the answers.
These notes will serve as a way for you to join me in the learning journey.
Lessons Learned This Week:
1. Don't assign a process to someone outside the feedback loop.
I see this often when an ops team gets assigned the task of reworking processes.
If they can see the details in action because they’re not the ones doing the work, they’re out of the loop. Find someone else to work on the process.
Have your ops team orchestrate the process updates, but assign tasks to those doing the job.
2. Anonymously asking your team, “What would you do to make the business better,” can solve a lot of your problems.
Your team is in the weeds every day. Just as you can’t count on yourself having all the answers, you can’t count on yourself knowing all the problems.
Get your team involved. It’ll show you care while simultaneously fixing issues in your agency.
3. Hire the best talent and treat them well.
Ok, I didn’t learn it this week, but I was re-reading Ogilvy on Advertising and there's one important thread amongst the great leaders of agencies.
They over-spent on great talent and then did everything they could to keep them.
Separately, I’m reading Scott Adams’ book Reframe Your Brain and he explains that the goal of the employee is to continuously find a better job.
If you take care of your team and give them opportunities for career growth, your retention will increase.
Content I Enjoyed:
He gets into how businesses (really people) are getting lazy and using AI. He then highlights how it can’t replace the thinking of a founder and why:
“…AI can amplify your vision, but it can’t create it.
That’s your job as a founder.
The Superpower of Pattern Recognition
In a noisy world, the greatest leaders are pattern seekers. They connect dots others miss and find opportunities hidden in the chaos…”
There’s an awesome video to go with it. Check it out.
Quote That Slaps:
“Hard problems often have hard solutions.” - Anon
Look, if your hardest problems were easy to solve, you wouldn’t have them.
Don’t look for easy solutions. Prepare do to the hard work and get after it.
Content Roll Up:
Have a great weekend!
Comment and share any of your learnings this week!
