Outshine, every time.

"Management is nothing more than motivating other people." – Lee Iacocca

Early in my career, I was fortunate to work with (not under) a creative director who gave everything 100%. Inspired by his display of commitment, I vowed to approach every day the same way. At the time I was responsible for the production room (back in the days of paste-up when my flats actually got stuck to the floor) and could have easily just gone to work each day knowing that I would cut and paste and piece together whatever work would come my way. It didn't take me long to realize that I wasn't going to learn anything by working alone with a can of Super 77. In typical type A fashion, I went looking for more.

Within a week, I made everyone on the 14th floor aware of my skills (skills that far exceeded production and paste-up) and was included in concept and design meetings. Now of course I could not dump my production responsibilities on anyone else so I needed to do it all.

One night I was working late in the production room to get a jump on the next day and in walked my creative director. With a series of good jokes, he flipped his tie over his shoulder and began helping me cut and paste tiny Coca-Cola logos. I carry that moment with me today as it continues to serve as my management mantra; motivate others by working harder and smarter while sharing a few laughs.