‘It’s Not a Principle Until it Costs you Money’: Values Worth More Than their Weight in Gold

From my perspective, investing in a company as a partner should afford one the ability to do the right thing… otherwise, what’s the point, really? 

In previous leadership stints, I wasn't always able to exercise this privilege because I wasn't an owner. I led agencies within large holding companies that were publicly traded. And while we would talk openly about being values-driven and putting the team first, walking that talk was challenging when it affected our margin. The notion of ‘not pitching’ or ‘letting that client go’ was seldom discussed.

Recently, we had an experience at Funday where we made the difficult decision to resign a client. This particular client’s approach to doing business just wasn't a good cultural fit for us for a number of reasons. We all knew it was the right thing to do, but it wasn't easy - it cost us, but still, a short-term blip on the balance sheet in exchange for a long-term investment in putting our people first and doing the right thing is a trade-off we will always make. 

In the agency business, roughly two thirds of the costs are people-related. If we don't put them first and do right by them, then I'm not sure what we are doing. We no longer (and I no longer) have to make the same compromises we would have made in the past. We do right by our people because we are responsible for our culture, and culture is an investment. An investment of time, effort, and real dollars to ensure that our team members are seen, heard, and most importantly, put in a position to succeed by creating the best work product possible for our clients.

I can remember my first PA job: I was so excited, even though I had little actual knowledge of what the job meant. So there I was on a film set, ready to do whatever it took, and that’s when I asked the producer, ‘Is there anything I can help with?’. The producer proceeded to hand me a 2x4 with nails that stuck out and said, ‘Take this and make sure none of the actors and crew cars get broken into’. As I stood in a dark alley afraid, I thought to myself, ‘Is this OK?’. Those words would stick with me for the rest of my life. I said to myself, ‘I will never make anyone have to ask themself that question’. 

When you are a freelancer, which I was for a long time, you can feel like you have to do anything not to burn a bridge or to get hired again. But then there are moments that cross a line. When I was a DP, I overheard a showrunner being abusive toward a PA. I talked to everyone who heard the situation firsthand, and we staged a walkout until it was handled appropriately and respectfully. It was a risk worth taking, as well as a demonstration of solidarity, but it took those in positions of leadership to make it possible. 

From that moment with the 2x4, I have seen a great deal of things – crazy, difficult, wonderful things. That is probably why my desk is covered with books like ‘Radical Candor’, ‘Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect’, ‘The Ultimate Guide to Developing Leaders’, ‘The E Myth’, and many, MANY more; all with the purpose of trying to improve my own communication with my staff, my clients, and even my personal relationships. To paraphrase ‘Unreasonable Hospitality’, I aspire to be among those ‘who are curious about what they didn’t know, and generous with what they did’.

Today, as an owner of a production company, I am the one to make sure that everyone feels like they are protected in an industry where the title ‘human resources’ is often non-existent. Day to day, we bring people together for a common goal – and, as part of that, we must ensure that people are not put into a situation to go beyond the bounds of emotional or physical safety. One of the best phone calls you can get is someone thanking you because they felt protected in a vulnerable moment. 

 

I have a tonne to learn, and I make mistakes all the time. But I use common sense and empathy - along with the sage information gleaned from my bookstand - to actively listen, make big decisions, and have people’s wellbeing in mind. I believe you learn more from failure than you do from success as long as you are willing to admit that you did make a mistake. It takes approachability, open-mindedness, and the bravery to also examine when things are working creatively and systemically, and whether you can be contributing positively or not. 

 

To quote ‘Radical Candor’, “By viewing feedback as a gift, we can learn from it, make necessary changes, and ultimately become better versions of ourselves. Embracing feedback, even when it is tough, allows us to continuously evolve.”

Ultimately, building a company that is respected, and where people feel both inspired and taken care of, will always outweigh purely financial decisions. Not that they have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, I’d argue that leading with both compassion and creativity can also support growth. 

Most of the time, these compromises are the ones that most production companies try to avoid entirely. No one wants to compromise their morals for a project. It's not a great experience for anyone involved. 

Regarding compromising morals based on the work presented to us, I have been fortunate not to have had to make many choices based on that. Occasionally, questionable scripts come up, but those are easy to pass on early. Usually, the negative pressures come down to budget or overages that may occur on a project. 

However, I have had agencies conduct themselves poorly during production, and threaten to withhold payments suddenly. It's a very awkward position to be put in. I had to withhold footage until we received the agreed-upon payment to ensure all my contractors and talent were paid. The reason is that until they pay for the footage, it's all coming out of my company's pocket. But this was the kind of decision that cost me a client. It was unfortunate, as I felt the relationship was quite good, but they wouldn't write anything on paper - a serious red flag. I needed to take an extreme stance to make sure I could pay the people I had hired. This is the last thing I ever want to do: the nuclear option. It pained me to do it, as it went against the trust I like to engender with my clients, as well as my principles. However, it can become necessary when faced with a client acting unethically, and I don't regret it. I also hope never to have to do it again. 

Decisions like this can, unfortunately, cause you to lose work, either in a current project or projects that may come up in the future that you won't be considered for. You need to be comfortable with your ultimate decision regardless of what it is, or else you will never be able to live with yourself and what you stand for.

At the beginning of 2017, I started SLMBR PRTY with a group of twenty-something-year-old women in New York City. We didn’t have goals of becoming a company or making money. We were sad about the presidential election - this was before ‘Me Too’, but after the Women’s March - and wanted to create a meet-up community for ourselves that felt fun, inclusive, and safe. This was our collective aim at that moment.

So, what started as a cause to support women and female-identifying filmmakers turned into a business, and naturally, we opened our doors with a roster that reflected that. We also kept our events to only female and non-binary filmmakers. This felt splashy and special at the time since no one was doing it. We only screened women filmmakers' work, showcased panels with women who were industry pros, and touted around the industry that we were THE FIRST woman-identifying only roster. And I’ll admit it guys… it was really, really fun. 

What’s interesting is that sometime after 2020, what first felt like something super sacred and special started to feel gimmicky. Almost detrimentally ‘cute’. More so, what was designed to feel inclusive was starting to feel exclusive in a way that was limiting to both the roster and the community. As a company, we were at risk of becoming ‘niche’ because of our woman-forward positioning, when our talent and capabilities as a roster were intentionally curated to have distinctly varied voices. As a community, we felt like we had to exclude talent and filmmakers that we were really interested in getting to know and were a great contribution to our community. 

This is all exactly the opposite of what we set out to accomplish in the first place. I can’t tell you how many hours Kirstin VanSkiver and I have spent discussing the evolution of the company in this way. I was lamenting my internal moral debate with my friend and fellow business owner, Terry Rayment. His words of wisdom rarely disappoint: ‘Don’t try to be the thing, Sarah, just be the thing!’.

SLMBR PRTY’s origin story will always be embedded in our DNA. SLMBR PRTY will always be a 100% women-owned business. And Terry was right - I don’t have to shout it from the rooftops; it's just who we are. I read somewhere (it could have been the NYT or just as easily TikTok!) that the mind, like the body, needs flexibility. Because situations, environment, and other variables change, you should react, change, and/or modify your choices in ways that ultimately serve your goals and values. I like looking at things this way because it permits me to NOT die on my sword. Opening up our community, events, and director roster has actually given me the same feeling of freedom that SLMBR PRTY gave me back in 2017. I have the freedom to surround myself and fill my business with like-minded, collaborative, and talented people. 

SLMBR PRTY will always prioritise our founding values in our life as a company. We will always prioritise diversity and inclusion in all of our key hires and community programming. We will continue to be community-minded, whether it's continuing to host our events/panels for free or declining to cut crew rates for a client. My mind is flexible, and I remain open to shaping our company in a way that continues to uphold these goals and principles, in whatever form that takes.

At Build in Amsterdam, leadership isn’t just about what we do, it’s about how we do it; with a firm grip on our values, even when the going gets tough. But let’s be real, the waters of our industry can get choppy, and sticking to your values sometimes means not just riding the waves, but making them.

We’re in the business of building - be it brands, digital flagship stores, or a team that’s more family than staff. This means creating an environment where honesty is the norm, even when it's difficult. It’s not unusual for us to pass up profitable projects or big name clients if they don’t align with our values. Yes, this means losing out on short-term gains, but integrity is our long game. By not being financially driven, we allow ourselves to take on projects we believe in, even pro bono, as it’s the case with Klabu, an organisation that builds sports clubs in refugee camps and creates sportswear to raise funds.

We’re always looking ahead, ready to adapt and innovate, setting the pace and inspiring change. When we stumble - and everyone does - we see it as an opportunity to learn and grow, not as a setback. Caring for our team is key. We make sure everyone, from the newest intern to our seasoned professionals, has the support they need. These choices might mean short-term sacrifices, but they strengthen our team's long-term resilience and commitment.

We also believe there’s always room for improvement. Just when we think we’ve done our best, we find ways to do even better. To go from good to great, we play the infinite game. This principle keeps us sharp and ensures we’re always delivering top-notch work. Our successful partnership with iconic outdoor brand Mammut is the best example of continuous development and relentless iterating. 

In short, at Build in Amsterdam we stick to our values, make tough choices, and strive to be better every day. That’s how we lead, and that’s how we make a difference.

As a BIPOC-owned company with a roster of women and minority talent, we are inherently a value-based business. Those values are what help us stand apart and are our guiding light for why we are in this business for the long-term. We’re fortunate to work with some of the most-recognised agencies and clients who are excited by fresh perspectives and who support our drive to promote underrepresented talent. By virtue of our DNA, we don’t have the luxury of abandoning our values or our principles for money's sake. However, if a project that was incongruous with our values ever made it to our doorstep, we’d happily trade short-term (financial) loss for long-term success.

Some clients perceive us through a lens tinted by our values, and make presumptions about the kind of work we do. Being a BIPOC, purpose-driven company doesn’t preclude our adeptness at telling a ‘mainstream’ story (the greatest brands leverage diverse perspectives and cultural insights). Yet, some see it that way, and that means our business is affected before a client even reaches our door, and, from the jump, our values cost us opportunities.

As I came up through the industry, I often found myself feeling undervalued and treated as a commodity, embedded in toxic environments which I think we’ve come to expect as the norm within advertising. When I started my own business, I vowed to create a space that disrupted this at all costs, putting people over profit and proving that you can develop an effective and lucrative company, whilst honouring a culture of value and respect. 

At ByAssociation, we have developed a manifesto that outlines what a safe and inclusive environment means to us, and we ask all of our team members, crew and collaborators to sign it, as well as run through it on every safety briefing of a shoot. This not only makes people working with us feel safe and respected, but it holds us all accountable and means we have and will continue to stop working with clients if their behaviour towards our crew and production team doesn’t align with the manifesto.

We have also implemented a policy of giving (as well as receiving) open and honest feedback to our clients. We once took part in a pitch with an uncommunicative client who made the process incredibly hard, so I reached out to the head of production and was transparent about our experience. She appreciated our feedback immensely, and facilitated a session with the aforementioned client wherein we were both able to share our experiences and it was really well received on both sides. That’s how you create change - the micro affects the macro. This also helped our team feel supported and uplifted instead of demoralised at the end of the process. 

It’s no secret that it’s been a tough couple of years for our industry, and I believe we’re on the cusp of a profound need to change in order for the industry to evolve and succeed. As we navigate rough waters, I truly believe that the companies who have demonstrated the ability to look after their team over clients will be the ones to come out on top.

As someone who opened a business based on purpose and principles, I know this all too well. It’s easy to tout principles when they don’t cost you anything. But when they do… it’s a test to see how much you believe it. 

A story that comes to mind was from a number of years ago, when Public Inc. was a much smaller agency. A client broker acquaintance emailed me with a juicy opportunity. He was keen to get on the phone because he thought we were the right fit for the project. He spent five minutes telling me about the company, needs, challenges, and how this could be a 1-2 million in fees assignment. When he finished talking, he excitedly asked me what I thought. 

I had one question for him: ‘Where’s the impact opportunity in the work?’.

He replied that there wasn’t any, but that this account would give us the stability to pursue lots of those opportunities that generally don’t pay as well. For context, two million in fees would have doubled our revenues at the time. When I kindly said ‘No thanks’, he was stunned. He sent me an email a while afterward saying how impressed he was that I would turn down that kind of money, but to me, he clearly didn’t understand what we were all about. If I chased the money, I wouldn’t be living our agency’s purpose. And then what would be the point? You either live your principles or you don’t. 

The incident has stayed with me for years, but it wasn't the only one. Over the fifteen years, we have turned down several opportunities that lacked true impact. Each time I've turned something down, it deepens my resolve for the work we love to do. It’s not easy being a niche player – especially when I see the scale other agencies have been able to achieve over a similar lifespan. But the good news is that we at Public Inc. are succeeding in living our values, every day. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The interesting thing about agencies is that in many ways, they are an extension of the clients they serve. When we work with a client, we are connecting their product, service, point of view, culture and values quite often with a very large audience; we are their amplifiers. 

This requires pause for thought, and a clear sense of what you believe in as an organisation yourselves. It’s very easy to get subsumed and find the business representing brands and business models that potentially do not align with the values of the agency you have founded, or with those of your colleagues. 

So, on one side, you have to get ahead of the landscape and create a values and purpose driven approach that acts as a ‘true north’ for your organisation. If you are already a business that has a strong culture and sense of identity it helps – we are called Maverick, so this is an invitation to create our own point of view and direction. 

On the other side, you need to create expertise, develop knowledge, and be able to demonstrate measurable impact around the areas that will add value to your client’s business – so that you can prospect for projects, campaigns and programmes that automatically draw you towards the clients that you aspire to and want to work with. Sustainability, social impact, employee culture and organisational change are the challenges that most executives have on their agenda today in the boardroom, and are the areas with the greatest investment and commercial opportunities for our business, alongside positive impact for our clients. 

Yes, we have turned down clients in some specific industries – gambling, pay-day loans and some consumer products, such as vaping and cigarettes, to name a few areas - where we are careful to align the opportunity with our values and beliefs at Maverick. It’s really about understanding the client’s point of view and the direction they want to take. They may be an organisation that wants to evolve and improve their reputation, brand or product, and if we don’t support that they are never going to step forward… but their outlook is important and it’s something you can gauge pretty quickly. 

Myself, as CEO, and our chairwoman, Carron Edmonds, do believe that the industry needs to lead more decisively when it comes to not acting as enablers for products and services that can potentially impact consumers or the planet very adversely. It's incumbent on us, as agencies tasked with changing the minds and the buying habits of millions of employees and consumers, to take leadership. I’ve seen other industries turn a blind eye and when problems have subsequently emerged, it’s seriously impacted their reputation. 

To enable this, we believe that it’s important to act as advisors not just executors; as seasoned professionals in arguably one of the top cities in the world for our industry, we all have the ability to build relationships and influence clients and their decisions in a positive way. The role of marketing within an organisation is pivotal when it comes to a product or service going to market, so working to broaden our influence and making a case for a positive outcome is something we need to strive for. 

For us, it’s a step beyond the three ‘Fs’ of fun, fame and fortune, and it’s about the pursuit of the three ‘Rs’. Is it responsible? Will it drive results? And does it enhance your (and your client’s) reputation?