Bossing It: Disrupting The Status Quo with Alex Bennet Grant

Alex Bennett Grant is a UK born CEO who founded award-winning Amsterdam based creative innovation company We Are Pi in 2011. He has created groundbreaking international work for brands like Heineken, Lego, Nike, TED Conferences and entertainment for Channel 4, Guardian, and the BBC.

As a leading voice for diversity, Alex works with Cannes Lions, Plus Plus One and OUTO to champion cultural innovation. We Are Pi has been named Small Agency of the Year three years in a row and Alex is an Ad Age 40 Under 40 honouree.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Alex> Being promoted from the stock cupboard to working the tills at Primark in Brighton aged 14. I felt a true sense of pride knowing that stock roomers, hanger spacer-outers, and item-price-checkers would all look up to me as a leader. I think I was demoted back to the stock room within a week when they realised I was underaged. It was a short taste of glory. 

LBB> How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?

Alex> Some leaders are mini dictators. The best are kind sages. Some are both. 

I once had a bar job where the manager would sit in the basement office and do coke with the security guard for hours. I became the de facto leader of the bar in her absence. To be fair, she always left me a detailed guide of what to do and why, so that I wouldn't disturb them. I learned that good leaders are not always present, but should always be clear and decisive. 

This manager made it clear that I should only ask for help if I had tried all other options first. I learned to get a lot done to avoid knocking on the basement door. She eventually got fired and ran off with the security guard. I was promoted and a new leader was born. 

LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?

Alex> I think you learn the most in moments of hardship and under the most pressure. You also learn who you have around you and who is noticeably absent when the shit hits the fan. 

Letting people go is one of those moments. 

In the 14 years we’ve run Pi, there have been a few moments when we realised we needed to downsize the team due to client budget changes. Nobody is ever ready for that. Not the people doing it or those being told. It’s hard. But it’s part of business - you learn empathy, clarity and the hard truth that in the end it’s a job. 

LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?

Alex> I knew I wanted to be in amongst it with teams - part of a creative crew, team, agency. And I knew I wanted (and couldn’t help) speaking up (often too soon and for too long). I also knew I couldn’t stand the status quo and would do everything to disrupt it, challenge it, drive towards something different. Then, as a result of all that, one day we founded We Are Pi. 

As a company founder, however, leadership was a by-product and I took longer to learn that part of the founder job. 

LBB> When it comes to leadership as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?

Alex> The difference between leadership and management is vision and a dose of pied piper-ness for people to follow. Both can be taught but management is definitely the simpler skill to learn. 

Leadership is really about standing in the dirt at the end of losing a battle, a pitch, an election or a investment round and saying “Fuck it, let’s try again. I believe in x, we’re just getting started”. 

I learned leadership the hard way. I’m still learning it everyday, because sometimes I don’t want to get up again to fight another day - but I always do. 

LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?

Alex> I’m an open book once you start asking me questions. I often walk away from conversations thinking “Fuck, I said too much”. I’m always trying to learn how to say less. 

LBB> Have you ever felt like you've failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?

Alex> I’ve felt this 100% so many times. 

In 2021, all signs suggested we needed to hire a LOT of people to meet client demand post-Covid. But it turned out we didn’t need to grow much at all. It was a rough rollercoaster between the dream of the ‘roaring 20s’ and the reality of a sluggish market. A few years earlier, we had exactly the opposite problem - too small a team and people getting overworked. 

Leadership is often decision-making that others can’t or won’t make. We all mess up. It happens. You learn and move on in the constant pursuit of the right balance. 

LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?

Alex> Like I said, I’m too open if you ask. Not about everything, though. Like many people, I bought into the idea of radical transparency for a while. Netflix made it seem so easy. But in the end, I realised that information overload is also a burden you put on teams that just want to do good work and have a simple work/life balance. 

Do they want things to be clear? Yes. Do they want you to tell them everything about the P&L? Most often, no. 

LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship?

Alex> My life-long professional mentor reference point is Hazelle (Griffin) Klonhammer - an absolute legend and my boss at W+K in Amsterdam. She taught me the joy of this industry and how to live a full life while doing it. I get thrilled just thinking about everything she taught me and all the fun we had. 

LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?

Alex> Sometimes I don’t. It’s brutal out there in the past few years. But, overall, I love it. 

Coping is just remembering that we get to work with amazing creative people who - unlike many people - know how to GET GREAT CREATIVE SHIT DONE. I’ll work for them as much as they work for me. It’s a reciprocal relationship - give and take. Same goes with clients. 

LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?

Alex> By throwing myself into almost every DEI initiative possible. By setting up initiatives if there weren’t any. By trying to learn about my blind spots constantly. And by remembering: it’s a fight. Ultimately, I believe DEI is the cultural innovation that will save our industry. It’s not a purpose initiative, it’s a life saver for human creativity to thrive. 

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns?

Alex> Culture is everything. 

LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?

Alex> A bad leadership experience to teach you what you don’t want to be. 

A leadership coach.