I hail from a line of frustrated inventors.
Back in the late ‘40’s, my grandfather received a patent for what was basically a hollowed-out aluminum spike that one filled with spicy seasonings and hammered into a raw chicken. Judging from the 20 cases of unopened “Season-Awls” I discovered as a small boy in his barn, I don’t believe Grandpa’s genius was recognized as a commercial success. My brother spent 10 years perfecting a backpack that converted into a bedframe. It was truly ingenious. But a simple rolled-up foam mattress did the same job for pennies on the dollar. My grandmother came up with the world’s first and only Lima Bean and Prune casserole. The resulting trauma was such that my mother would never speak of it.
Despite these humble familial creative failures, I am twitching with excitement over what we are creating at Lowand B. Hold. Our clients are giving us the big thumbs up! They like that our work actually, well, works and because we are living our own purpose – “Helping businesses grow for good.” More on that in a minute.
The decision to establish my own consultancy two years ago was an evolutionary one. It started way back when I hit the career jackpot as the summer intern for Bob Thomas, an eponymous public relations agency in Redondo Beach, Calif. As a freshly-minted graduate of USC’s School of Journalism, I had the spectacular good fortune to learn the agency business from someone who would become a second father to me. Long before it became a “thing,” Bob’s authentic leadership built a wonderful business from it. His personal commitment to meaningful connection, to integrity and to indispensable value to clients set a standard for me that is still unmatched. Today, some 25 years later, Bob and his wife Claudia, along with our staff and several clients, remain the best of friends. How’s that for meaningful engagement?
When Bob sold the agency to Chiat/Day, the white-hottest of hot advertising agencies, I was immersed in the most creative laboratory environment imaginable. Being part of an unbending culture completely dedicated to unmatched creative excellence, and modelled by legendary trailblazers Jay Chiat and Lee Clow, my heart and mind were opened to the galvanizing power of a singular Purpose. How everything, literally everything, is in service to it. How the Why – a higher purpose – is the true catalyst for sustainable growth.
My Ketchum years were a Master Class in every aspect of creating, maintaining and protecting brand reputation. I worked with industry icons like Dave Drobis, Ray Kotcher, Bob Feldman, Rob Flaherty and with some of the world’s most intelligent brands – P&G, FedEx, Starbucks, Philips – quite literally all over the world. In London, a consuming passion for organizational growth was ignited when we created an engagement campaign aimed at improving our integrated service offer to clients. I called it “Mind the Gap.” Over time, its meaning evolved so that one was always mindful of the distance between reality and expectations.
I came to see Mind the Gap as my job, in three one-syllable words. Essentially, that was my role as CEO of Europe, and later as CEO International of all operations in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa. Acquiring businesses, integrating them, optimizing them for growth and coaching leaders became a source of tremendous personal enjoyment. Later, it became a full-fledged calling when I finally figured out that the leadership lessons from Bob, the higher creative purpose of Chiat/Day, the international brand and purposeful growth expertise from Ketchum – all rolled into one – could be a fun and rewarding invention.
“Helping businesses grow for good” is the Purpose that creates meaning for what we do at Lowand B. Hold. Sustainable, purpose-driven growth through meaningful engagement.
Jargon alert! Right. So let’s break that down with examples: The client who wants to double its revenue in two years or less. The client with an urgent need for crisis management. The client who needed an organizational assessment and strategic plan to reinvigorate the company. The client who was shrinking, hit Pause and, with LBH, reset the company for growth, aligning around an entirely new and inspiring purpose. We began that assignment by asking “Why?”
I’m not saying that Grandma’s Lima Bean and Prune casserole would be improved by someone asking “Why” but trauma could have been averted.