As our ECD, it’s my job to create and inspire powerful ideas for our clients, and help foster an environment at the agency that fuels our imaginations. Our culture’s a big part of that, which is anchored in our values.
Our values aren’t the watered-down, corporate ones written by committee and buried at the back of employee manuals. They’re bold. Ambitious. Life affirming. More personal and integrated into how we work. And the list is pretty cool: Be skeptical. Seek Balance. Don’t be an order taker. Actually have values. Make new mistakes. Listen. Practice the Golden Rule.
And one in particular that always gets me:
Be Amazed.
By people. Technology. Books. Art. Your pets. When you are amazed by life, and your place in it, being ordinary is no longer an option. Nor is complacency. Or boredom. We want a workplace, and team, that devours life, from the beautiful to the bizarre.
Even our positioning is rooted in this hunger for new experiences. At CTP, we believe a brand’s true potential is best viewed through the lens of personal experience. And unleashed by the power of the human spirit. A belief we don’t just talk about, we live.
There’s something about all we’ve endured these last few years, the fragility of life as well as the reshaping of how we work, that has pushed me to look for some new answers. A way to feed a growing hunger for something out of the ordinary. To answer a desire to get outside my comfort zones, teach my kids something memorable and explore more of what life has to offer.
So this summer, we packed up the minivan with our bikes, SUPs, sunscreen and plenty of cheese sticks. And we hit the road, exploring the most amazing places we could type into our Waze.
We hiked to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, in Maine’s Acadia National Park. Took in the spectacle of Niagara Falls. We biked around idyllic Mackinaw Island in Michigan. And learned how to stand up paddleboard in endless, clear, natural lakes. We went rappelling in Red RIver Gorge, Kentucky. Caught some rising stars at the Grand ‘Ol Opry in Nashville. Even rafted some Class 4 rapids in Asheville, N.C. We dined on lobster rolls, Nashville Hot Chicken, the original Buffalo wings and homemade blueberry pies baked by locals. And roasted endless marshmallows by campfire.
I stayed connected to work, Zooming and writing along the way, and was always searching for new ways to be amazed. By nature, local culture, unique perspectives and a sense of greater connectedness. It’s a big broad tapestry of humanity out there, not one we are always in touch with, so I stayed open to moments, places and people full of human spirit. New ways to influence my own work, practice what we preach as an agency and look at life just a little bit differently.
There was a note I noticed one morning, taped to the fridge in one of the many cabins we rented which read:
“You only live once. But if you work it out right, once is enough.”
And that’s a thought I find pretty amazing.
(The P in CTP)
