Bossing It: Josh Golden on Learning from Every Different Type of Leader
Josh Golden is president and chief creative officer for Yes&, an integrated marketing agency with offices in Alexandria, Philadelphia, Chicago, and satellite offices (read: living rooms, dens, attics, and more) around the country.
A writer, video producer, event director, and marketer, Josh leads Yes& to open new doors, explore fresh ideas, and overcome the thorniest of challenges. Josh has an insatiable intellectual curiosity, a love of facts, and a passion for language.
His work has served diverse clients such as insurance firms, universities, theatres, banks, hotel chains, TV studios, international sports, restaurants, non-profits, and the U.S. government. Before joining Yes&, Josh directed creative for two Major League Baseball teams, the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals.
LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?
Josh> It was something of a gauntlet, really. My first foray into leadership came as a theatre teacher at a performing arts centre on Long Island.
I taught and directed aspiring teenage actors. I learned a lot about how leaders must navigate raw emotion, interpersonal conflict, and aggressive ambition while focusing people’s passion and supporting their talent. I learned to lift them up while helping them stay grounded.
Yes, my first leadership gig was full of all sorts of drama. And I realised it doesn’t stop with teenagers; it just becomes more complex.
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?
Josh> I have been exposed to many different types of leaders over my career, good and bad: line-of-site managers, impulsive dictators, cheerleaders, narcissists, delegators, guides, and sages. I took something from each.
Some were non-examples, but even in them, there was some nugget worth holding onto. Overall, I now recognise that it’s not necessary for a leader to be liked. It’s more important to be valued—because that’s how you can create value with your team.
On my best days, I hope I inspire people. I try to empower them—to free them to do their most interesting work. On my best days, I work to create an environment for purposeful missteps and a lot of play. On all days, I hope to be useful to the team.
LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?
Josh> My theatre mentor, Geri Clark, once said, “Emotion is the result of interruption of expectation.” That stuck with me. I try to be an empathetic leader—to understand what people are going through and why they are reacting a certain way.
And that starts with recognising that many times people are moving in a particular direction, and then something unexpected happens, and it derails them. They react emotionally. That might be caused by strong feedback or a new project—anything that diverges from where they thought things were headed.
So, I begin by acknowledging that their world has been altered. If you meet them with that understanding, you can better help them overcome their challenges.
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?
Josh> I think leadership was a natural extension of trying to get stuff done. I noticed how often people got stuck to the point that they couldn’t move forward. And, by some sort of open mindedness—maybe my improv background—I was good at getting them unstuck. The more I helped people move forward, the more they started to look to me to find their momentum. That was very fulfilling. And that was the earliest form my leadership took.
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?
Josh> There are people who are drawn to leadership. There are people who others naturally follow—and that’s because they can own a room. But that doesn’t make them skilled leaders. It’s what they do when they have the room that matters. That’s where the skill comes in. And that’s very much something that can be taught and learned and honed. It’s something that gets refined through observation, failure, and success.
LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them?
Josh> I am a problem solver, so I tend to want to solve everyone’s problems. And I can’t—or shouldn’t. That was an important lesson to learn. The best way to solve someone’s problem is to guide them and empower them to solve their own challenges (“teach a person to fish” kind of thing).
You hear a lot about “accountability.” Accountability is something that’s foisted upon people—usually after they’ve dropped a ball. I think “agency” is more what we’re after. Agency is bestowed, and it allows people to solve problems themselves. When I can help people gain a sense of agency, I can do far less problem solving and focus more on where we might go as a team.
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?
Josh> I’m proud to say I fail all the time (with a nod to Thomas Edison and Michael Jordan). Success is in how you overcome your misadventures and missed shots. It’s in the pivot.
I’ve had to look clients in the eye and honestly say, “We’ve missed. We’re not doing a good job for you.” That’s no fun, but it’s okay if you also add, “And we will.” Because I’m also proud to say that when I’ve made that promise, we’ve backed it up with success—because as we discovered every way that didn’t work, we became more focused on one that will.
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?
Josh> Information is useless to people (and often derailing) if there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s like telling people there’s a train coming while they’re tied to the tracks. It creates a sense of urgency without a sense of agency—which results in panic. I always want to be transparent, so I try to make sure information is always paired with an ability to affect the outcome.
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?
Josh> I’ve had many mentors. My wife, who is an exceptional leader, is chief among them. And she’s always willing to point out how I can be better! I marvel at how she can empower team members to become leaders themselves.
I’ve learned business skills (I was a creative before I was a leader) from our chairman, Jeb Brown. I learned how to pursue both great work and business success and that these aren’t mutually exclusive—or even at odds.
I’ve never actively pursued being a mentor (I think mentorship is in the eye of the mentee), so I am always surprised when someone tells me they’ve learned something from me—or quote something I’ve said as having been meaningful. I try to be who I am, share what has worked (and not worked) for me, and hope that it is useful to others.
LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters?
Josh> The best thing we can do as leaders is accept that change is constant and build a culture that not only adapts to it but embraces it. We’re going to have the unexpected show up all the time—and some of it will be unpleasant—so we need to create resiliency through flexibility. At least that works today. Tomorrow, who knows?!
LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?
Josh> We’ve really leaned into inclusive design—a principle that scrutinises everything we do to ensure it’s depicting a broader humanity authentically, free of bias, and deeply considerate of cultural sensitivities. And to do that, we need more points of view from people of diverse backgrounds and experiences.
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?
Josh> Culture is essential. It’s the ballast to constant change. And it’s tough to maintain culture when we’re scattered across the country. So, we keep our values as a mantra—we celebrate shining examples of living our values. We look for opportunities to play; otherwise, every virtual meeting is pragmatic and transactional when, truth is, we get more accomplished when we can speak as people, not as functionaries.
LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?
Josh> I’m not really one for leadership books. My most useful resource has been observation—watching people interact, seeing where they get stuck, discovering how they get past it, and taking note. Sometimes the best resources are all around you.
