I've seen, all too often in my career, people coming in to lead agencies and organizations and trying to impose change from the top down. Never works. You never have enough time.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I finally got a management position, I found out how hard it is to lead and manage people.
During my career several people have tried to push me out the door... Nobody has succeeded yet.
In my career quite a few people have tried to force me out, but so far no one has succeeded.
There's a lot of books out there about how you lead change in business, but I've certainly not seen any... on how you do that in public institutions.
There's a time that may come in an organization where leading by influence is not enough. When things are not going the way they need to go, there's a time when one has to step up... to set the organization back on the right direction.
I've had to change careers several times. Sometimes because my interests changed. Sometimes because all bridges have been burned beyond recognition, sometimes because I desperately needed money. And sometimes just because I hated everyone in my old career or they hated me.
There was a point in time when I was in dire need of changing the way the model agency was working.
But especially if you have the wrong people within your circle. Truthfully, at the end of the day, no one cares about you in this business whether they are your agent or your manager or your publicist.
The single hardest part of leading any organization is knowing what is going on. There's too much noise in the system, too much complexity: you absolutely depend on people speaking up and raising concerns.
For me, leadership is making a difference. It's using your agency to bring about change.