Strands of Genius: Andy Wright + Dove AI Beauty Prompt Book
featuring: an interview with our guest editor and a research report
Welcome to the Bonus edition of Strands of Genius! On Fridays, we’ll be publishing interviews from our guest editors, and sharing a research report. Thanks for being along for the ride. Oh and by the way, you look great today :)
:: STEAL THIS THINKING | RESEARCH REPORT ::
To help set new digital standards of representation, Dove has worked together with AI experts to create the Real Beauty Prompt Playbook, sharing easy-to-use guidance on how to create images that are representative of Real Beauty on the most popular generative-AI (GenAI) tools.
:: DIVE IN | THE INTERVIEW ::
ANDY WRIGHT , FOUNDER OF NEVER NOT CREATIVE & CEO OF STREAMTIME
>> Andy Wright guest curated Strands on May 16th 2024. Read it here.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what keeps you busy. How did you end up doing what you’re doing today?
I run a software company that helps manage creative businesses through the day and a non-profit focused on mental wellbeing in the creative industry in the gaps. I've been in or around creative agencies most of my life between managing brands on the client side and running / starting businesses on the agency side. It was starting the last agency (with 2 colleagues) that became the final step to where I am today. For The People (agency) designed the new Streamtime (project management software) back in 2016. After working together for a few years, the founder approached me to run his business and I've now been here for 7 years.
I started Never Not Creative back in 2018. I'd become more and more aware of the prevalence of poor mental health around me in the industry as a result of my own diagnosis of anxiety and depression. I decided to turn it into a project, quantifying the issue and found that over half of our industry showed signs of mental ill-health.
Since then it's snowballed into more research, initiatives, collaborations and writing minimum standards for our industry, support groups, mentoring, a free legal support line and much more. The research and insights also inform a lot of product development in the day job at Streamtime where we're focused on building a tool that can help create healthy profits with happy people.
What excites you most about what you do?
I'm lucky (in fact let's be honest, privileged) to have been able to create a mix of roles and variety of work that allows me to collaborate with lots of smart and inspirational people. From the team at Streamtime to the partnerships I've formed through Never Not Creative. Already this year I've worked with academics, doctors, psychologists and even recently gender, equity and inclusion and men's behaviour experts. It brings with it a very large dose of impostor syndrome, but it's also inspiring to get time with people who are experts in their field.
What beliefs define your approach to work? How would you define your leadership style?
I'll be honest, those beliefs have changed a lot in the last 7 years. I used to have a very unforgiving, relentless attitude to work. Late nights, not accepting good enough as good enough, new people joining the team? sink or swim time.
I don't believe that anymore and I've seen the results and experiences to show that - sure that's one way to get results, but it's not the only way and not sustainable. One of the biggest lessons is trust and accountability. Put your trust in people and then take accountability for what they do with it. I enjoy seeing what happens in our business when I'm not there. But if things go wrong, rather than search for blame, I'll look at what I did or didn't do that meant that happened. I think it's the most valuable thing you can do as a leader. Of course you need to be inspiring and supportive, but providing a safe and respectful place to work where people can try things and make mistakes can allow people to feel the work that their doing is meaningful and rewarding.
What has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on and why?
The reason I'm CEO of Streamtime (which is project management software for creative businesses) is that the agency I co-founded, For The People, designed the product and brand. It's probably the most rewarding because I've not only been able to work on something that was transformational, but because I've been able to now see-it-through and continue to evolve it and see it grow.
Going from running an agency to running a software company is a big change. But it completes the picture of all the gaps why past brand and design projects may or may not have worked. The practicalities of internal priorities, reacting to customer demands or competitor moves and ultimately, the financial model that allows you to do all the cool shit you sat round and came up with in an agency brainstorm or quickly come back to reality and reprioritising.
We are big believers in diversity -- Not only because we believe in equality, but because we also think it’s better for business. How do you frame these kinds of conversations, both internally and with clients? Is there an emphasis on action, or are the conversations really more about communication?
There's a good understanding from everyone in the team of creating a culture that allows everyone to be themselves. It's never perfect and always needs working at, but when we can utilise and focus on everyone's different strengths and perspectives we're always better off.
However, you have to create the conditions for diversity to thrive if you really want to benefit from it. You have to realise how everyone is different. Has different needs, different beliefs, different outlooks and ways of communicating. It means that you have to look beyond what you might personally see as negative behaviours, and into where those behaviours are coming from. Not speaking up, might not be the inability to create new ideas, it might be a cultural upbringing about respecting hierarchy or people who are your seniors.
If you want diversity to thrive you need to put the effort into understanding each other and not get frustrated when people want to do something different. Ultimately, culture will be derived by the sum of its people - it's very hard to create it in an image and ask people to follow it.
Switching gears a bit, how do you find time to balance personal interests with your career? Do you believe work/life balance is possible? Anything you’ve implemented that you recommend that others try?
It's all about boundaries and values. There can be an expectation in some companies (and especially creative departments) that you have to give everything to the business and the work (and even your clients).
This can only ever be a short-term philosophy.
Giving all of yourself to work can result in your identity being your work. Which is precarious. What happens when you no longer work there? Get made redundant? You don't just lose your job, but your identity and your sense of self.
I used to think that it was a privilege to work at some amazing places. The advantages were so stacked on the side of the employer that I'd put them on a pedestal. But it should never be a privilege to get to work for a company. It should at best be a privilege for the company to get access to your time, commitment and expertise and at worst be a 50:50 win-win. Just this week I was talking to an agency owner who was sick of prospective employees asking so many questions in interviews about career opportunities and work-life balance, "they should be lucky they've got a chance of getting a job." This is outdated thinking and even if the person gets the job, it will almost guarantee that the business won't see their best work with that attitude.
For me, I work very hard. But I fit my work in around my life. I volunteer at reading groups in my youngest's school on Thursdays (the only Dad in the class to do so. That isn't a brag it's just to show that it's an option, we don't have to stick to stereotypes). School events, kids off sick, I'll drop work and everyone in our team is encouraged to do the same. Another member of our team has volunteered to teach ethics at her daughters school a morning a week. She didn't ask, she didn't need to - and that's what I love about the culture we've created.
If I can share my boundaries it gives others permission to do the same. However, if you're constantly breaking your own rules you quickly recede that permission to put life first.
What’s your media diet? Where do you find inspiration?
I make the very most of my Audible subscription. I get to read (listen) a lot when walking the dog, going to the gym or just to switch off. Just recently, I finished The Wake Up by Michelle MiJung Kim. It was equal parts confronting and inspiring and has led to a lot of self-reflection and adaptation to some of the programs we run at Never Not Creative – especially our Allies program aimed at supporting men in the creative industry to improve their understanding of their privilege and how they can better support women and other gender identities to succeed in the creative, media and marketing industries.
The Ready, are my favourite consultancy and so whenever they publish something I'll be straight on it. Their podcast is great, but also the book by Aaron Dignan, Brave New Work is my go-to for how businesses should run now and into the future.
Apart from that, I'm a crime novel fanatic - and in particular Nordic crime. I've just finished the Jonna Linna series by a husband and wife team that writes under the name Lars Kepler. It's the best series I've read for a long, long time.
What’s the best piece of advice/knowledge you’ve stolen, and who/where’d you steal it from?
"Find the truth." Our world is full of assumptions and second-guessing. From "why didn't I get as many likes on that last post" to "no-one thinks I'm good enough to be in this room" to "I'll never get a promotion, my boss hates me." Just examples of the insecurities and impostor syndrome that we may experience on any given day.
Once a month I run an event online called "Asking For A Friend." It brings a creative leader and a psychologist together to answer anonymous questions from anyone anywhere about their career or mental wellbeing. A common theme is impostor syndrome. One of our guests, the wonderful Katie Feder will often refer to the concept of "Find the truth." When someone shares a question like one of the above, she'll ask them to find what evidence they have of that being true. Were you told it specifically? Did you receive feedback directly or did you read between the lines? More often than not, you're feeding the negative rather than the positive because we're just pre-dispositioned to that in today's society.
You can keep in touch with Andy on LinkedIn.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)