Strands of Genius: 4 Day Work Week, Concepts of Management Styles, A Journey into the Real World of an Entrepreneur

Guest curated by Dominic Tremblay, Co-Founder and CEO TUX Creative House

Jun 13, 2024

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, DOMINIC TREMBLAY ::

LOCATION: Los Angeles, California

I had the pleasure of meeting Rosie and Faris in Greece while attending my first SODA global meetings. I still remember the feeling of their talk, so much energy and such amazing dynamism, we all loved it. I guess I am a strange animal because I am a CPG executive (10 years at L'Oréal), turned into a creative entrepreneur in 2010. When I was younger my dad, who was also a late entrepreneur, told me to use my time in a large corporation to learn as much as possible and invest in my abilities before making it on my own. I guess this lesson got into me and I did just that. So many times I feel lucky to have experienced the realities of managing a consumer product business, living through budget cycles, product launches, brand launches, and product and brand kills! L'Oréal was an intense work culture in the early 2000s, but it was also a great management school. I think this helps me greatly today. Nothing truly prepares you for launching a business and living through the ups and downs. I guess it's like having kids. You can read as much as you want, it all goes away when you come back home with a baby ( or two in our case) in your arms. That moment you close the door behind you is when your new life starts. So, back in 2010, my partner and I decided to jump in the ring, and we never looked back. Fast-forward 14 years, and we are blessed to be surrounded by so many talented people in Montreal and LA.

Editor’s Note (Genius Steals): We always love connecting with like-minded people at conferences and events, and it’s even better when the connection extends outside the conference rooms to the dinner table! The SoDA conference in Athens was one of the best when it came to connecting with people outside of the designated sessions, and we especially enjoyed getting to know Dom and his partner Ludwig!

:: THE LINKS ::

4 DAY WORK WEEK

My journey in the 4-day work week started with the discovery of Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. I read his book shorter and was truly inspired. A few months before reading this work, my partner Ludwig and I were discussing the opportunity to rethink our workweek format and find a way to leave more room for us to recharge our minds. The several years of creative entrepreneurship ( when we used to work on pitches on weekends...!) consumed us a lot and now as new parents of twins, we felt we had to make some changes for us and for all our employees now and in the future. How amazing would it be if we were able to break the ice and help our industry move forward? Victim of the “always hustling” syndrome our industry, is known for the “work hard play hard” mantra. I guess this was fine when the play hard part of the deal was disconnected from work. But now with our constant digital connection is there such a thing as work hours? People work in the bathroom, in transportation, waiting for kids' soccer classes, and obviously during those sleepless nights.

In his book, Alex presents many use cases of 4-day workweek projects. As a “doer” type of person, I found each case interesting and it helped me frame my thoughts. I went back to my teams and challenged them with a mission to rethink our industrial age-old workweek model and see if we could do better. To be honest, I would have been ok with a simple: let's run our summer hours year long". But I was happy to see that my teams were even more ambitious than me and felt we could move to a 4-day work week.

Fast forward 2 years, we run an 80 person agency, in two countries, and 2 time zones in a successful 4-day work week. It is very satisfying to hear all the great stories from our employees about all the benefits to their lives. It's not perfect of course, there are bumps on the road but we all feel proud of the achievement and inspired to find solutions for any challenges ahead of us. (4 Day Work Week)

CONCEPTS OF MANAGEMENT STYLE

One of my classics is Peter Drucker. I recently reconnected with some of his teachings and it truly attests to his timeless concepts. One of my recent rediscoveries is his work on the importance of evolving our management style in a knowledge-worker economy. Of course, this is not new but I think the speed at which our industry is moving forward reinforces this concept greatly. Most of our team members know more than ourselves. The fact is that I can't do most of the work of any of my team members today. I am totally dependent on them for many tasks. So how can we improve our management style so that we inspire and support more than direct? One of his approaches draws a line between knowledge worker management and volunteer worker management in non-profit organizations. We all know that most of our management textbooks come from industrial and army organisations in the early 1900's. The hierarchy, the directing, the organization charts, performance reviews, you get it. How do we rethink all of these concepts if we put ourselves in this non-profit organization mindset, that is when a volunteer can walk away at any minute with no strings attached? This concept is even more relevant post covid as switching jobs takes literally 4 hours and you get a new laptop at home shipped the next day. (Forbes)

A JOURNEY INTO THE REAL WORLD OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

Ok, I wasn't going to do a book promotion but Shoe Dog. I can't. Somehow I was living under a rock for the last few years ( I was starting a business remember) so I missed the release of Bill Knights' memoir. I loved every page of this book and for me, it was a fun and beautiful journey into the “real” world of an entrepreneur. It has many amazing lessons but I will highlight 2. First, many people when they look at a growth curve they see this beautiful curve evolution, smooth and exponential. The reality is that if you zoom in, it is not smooth at all. It is made of a succession of hard bumps and walls. Before you get to the next level you have to get through the brick wall that is facing you at this very moment. As you climb it you discover a new plateau and, if you're lucky, you get to enjoy it for a little period. Then another wall appears and you need to again find new energy to climb it and face your fears. The second concept that I love for this book is that as soon as Bill went through the IPO and became this crazy rich person, he could see how much the hustle and the learnings were actually what was the best part. It's natural to work toward an objective and focus on achieving it but we need to keep in mind that the hustle is the exciting part. The big check at the end is nice but its effect quickly disappears. I can relate to this. Often I remember the old days when we could all have lunch with an extra large pizza. It all goes very fast and most of it can never be. (Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike)

Looking for more from Dominic? Coming Friday, look for an interview from him in your inbox!

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: I don't really care about the game itself but I really enjoy the energy and the laughs around the table when we play family games like UNO ;-). sorry our twins are 7 years old!

:: City :: Los Angeles. It's our new home. Few cities in the world are so socially forward thinking, provide significant business opportunities and offer this great lifestyle.

:: Book :: Shoe Dog

:: Podcast :: Pivot

:: Song :: A Million Dreams

:: LOVE AND FAMILY ::

This image of my family at our office in Montreal is an important reminder that although in our case everything is intertwined, business is a part of it. Love and family are also a big part of the journey.

This picture is us again but this time in Yosemite in California, our new home.

I will leave you with a last thought from our friend Simon Sinek and his book Infinite Game. It is easy to focus on winning and “competing” in our world and especially in our industry ( when we pitch against each other for work all the time). However, the finite mindset is wrong and damageable. Our business relationships are not transactional. They will live on. It is therefore essential to play the infinite game. It is about moving forward. There are no winners and no losers.

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius