Talent Talk: Kerry McKibbin on Why Talent Is Not a Commodity

Between global pandemics, a remote working revolution and global movements calling for greater diversity, equality and accessibility in the creative industries, there has never been such a focus on talent in our business as there is right now. This series dedicated to the future of creative teams is supported by Partners in Crime (PiC). Founder of PiC, Stephen ‘Goldie’ Goldblatt, is throwing open a discussion on what’s next for talent. Hearing from some of the industry’s most forging agency leaders, heads of talent, culture and diversity, we will explore what leaders think we really need to do to retain and attract the best creative minds in the business AND deliver what clients need, in one fell swoop. 

Kerry McKibbin, Mischief USA’s partner and president chats to LBB for the latest edition of Talent Talk. Here, she reflects on why a drive towards the positive - and not a fear of the negative - is driving talent towards the agency’s hiring door. Plus, why ‘angel advocates’ are key to helping people create the best work of their lives and how fair financial terms lay the groundwork for the strongest possible creative culture. Ultimately, Kerry’s insight invites us to consider how to build the most equitable, motivational, and productive creative culture possible. 

LBB> What would you say is the most outdated belief system affecting the way agencies hire and retain talent?

Kerry> The most outdated belief system is treating talent like a commodity. Just FTEs, numbers on a page. This approach leads to taking talent for granted and not addressing them 1-1 as human beings. Agencies talk a lot about how people get 'stolen' but they don’t get stolen, they leave. And if they do leave, you need to look inward rather than point fingers outward.

LBB> What is “The Mischief Way” of retaining and attracting the best creative minds in the business? 

Kerry> First it’s about creating a real relationship with talent - less parental “do this because I said so” and more older sibling: bringing talent into your decision making as an executive team so they know what the agency is working towards and why. Investing in your talent -  beyond financial investment things like mentorship and opportunities - is key. Turning career progression into a two-way conversation vs handing over reviews. Giving people the credit they deserve by, for example, quoting the team that worked on the work day-to-day rather than always the CCO. Finally, removing barriers and getting rid of assholes. The work is hard, we shouldn't make it harder with unnecessary processes, paperwork, or politics.

LBB> How does Mischief empower creative teams to achieve their best work? 

Kerry> You’d have to ask Greg, Kevin and Bianca. Ha, kidding. From day one we've intended to build a home for people to come and do the best work of their lives, free from the fear that plagues most agencies - fear of pushing too hard for the right idea, or presenting something deemed 'too risky.' We’ve built a culture where unexpected ideas are encouraged. Everyone from Creative to Strategy to Account to Production is tasked with being the Angel’s Advocate. Across all disciplines, we also try to clear the runway for teams to focus purely on great ideas. No pointless meetings, no internal spin. We see great ideas and we move on them.

LBB> Which current trends are affecting Mischief’s hiring process right now? 

Kerry>  There is one big trend: people want better. Period. Now more than ever, people are seeking work environments which offer greater freedom to be who they are, more opportunity to make an impact, more transparency with leadership, increased flexibility, and a real chance to come and do the best work of their lives. They’re also far more motivated by the positive, exciting things than by the punitive, by fear of loss, or by discipline. People just aren't as happy to settle for mediocre anymore. Talent is looking to Mischief as a home for these things and it's creating a high volume of knocks at our hiring door.

LBB> Egoless collaboration is embedded within the tenets of Mischief – how do you ensure this is permeated across the company? 

Kerry> It’s about leading by example. Every day, talent at every level is exposed to how our leadership team collaborates with one another. They witness our CSO saying to our ECDs “yeah you’re right about that”, or our CCO saying to a managing director “yeah I like that build” and so on. We help each other while still respecting that we are each experts in our own disciplines. Everyone has the same crystal clear objective: to make the work better. So you have to be in service of that goal and not of your ego or personal agenda.

LBB> How do you merge the invaluable experiences of the company with new talent and technologies in order to develop innovative new ways to design and deliver extraordinary experiences? 

Kerry> Mischief has blended talent with decades and decades of industry experience, as well as fresh out of school talent who come with entirely new and different perspectives. We have talent from above the line-first backgrounds, social-first backgrounds, media-first backgrounds and even non-industry backgrounds. This is a huge asset because an agency full of people who all think the same isn't at all helpful. 

Regarding technology, Mischief’s stance on emerging tech is very strong: embrace new platforms and technology early and often, but technology should always be used as the vehicle for an idea - not the idea itself. For example, leading up to the 2020 election we did a campaign for a non-partisan anti-government corruption organisation called RepresentUS. The issue was, at that time, everything felt partisan no matter what you said. So what unites two sides better than a common enemy? The resultant idea was to do deep fakes of dictators Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un issuing a chilling warning about the fragility of democracy to Americans. Because, despite what people believe, foreign villains like these aren’t democracy’s biggest threat—Americans who don’t take part in democracy are. The deep fake wasn’t the idea, it was just the best way to deliver on the communications challenge. 

LBB> Last month you spoke on the high “churn and burn rate” of today's agency talent and “how a revamped agency-client relationship can lead to the best version of our people and work.” For those who missed it, what were the key takeaways from your talk? 

Kerry> The first is that choosing right-fit partnerships is key. Does a client want what you do, or are you going to have to pretend to be something you’re not? If the latter, your team will be stuck pretending for months, creating a massive drain on talent. If they’re not a right fit, you should be saying no more frequently; what you say yes to shapes you, what you say no to defines you. 

The second thing is ensuring fair financial terms, because terms trickle down. Trying to win with the lowest rate card leads to over-indexing on junior talent. Or it leads to jacking up hours in order to make up for poor hourly rates leading to false client expectations for time investment. Both of which lead to frustrated clients, and either frustrated or over-indexed agency talent. Fairer models like deliverables-based pricing can help ensure talent is fairly paid, accounts are properly staffed, expectations are aligned, and in turn talent and clients are both likely to be happier. You should be arguing about how to make the work better, not about burn rate. 

The third is helping your talent avoid what we call 'The Sisyphus Effect'. Long drawn-out pitches, playing agencies off against one another, re-briefs, killing work midstream due to lack of exec alignment all results in crazy hours, work that never gets made, and burnout. Conversely, clients that treat their agencies with respect can lead to talent clamouring to work on their business, better work, more proactive ideas – meaning greater ROI for the client.

The fourth thing is to avoid toxicity. People often forget the second part of the bad apple adage—that one spoils the barrel. Politics aren't great for relationships or business. Both clients and agencies should put everything on the table. A culture is defined by the biggest asshole in the building, so both clients and agencies need to cut that shit off if and when they see it. 

The final thing is that mutual client-agency trust is key to talent retention. Do you want the same things as your client? Do you have a common language for effectiveness? Or does the client constantly think you’re trying to “sell” them something vs working in service of a shared goal. When clients trust their agency as an advisor, and agencies trust that their clients know their business best and will protect the work, the magic really happens. Clients and agencies should not feel like adversaries - your mutual adversary should be the brand’s competition. 

LBB> What was the biggest lesson you learnt from your time in Cannes? How do you plan on implementing this lesson in your role as partner and president of Mischief USA?

Kerry> A big theme at Cannes this year was partnership – between agencies and clients, as well as between agencies. I feel like this has been a long time coming and, over the past few years, there has been a move away from the old school, bro-y, “art of war” industry culture to a less ego-driven, much more collaborative industry. We’re all about that at Mischief so I’m glad to see this transition happening more broadly.

LBB> In addition to Mischief’s recent Cannes Lion wins, the company was named US #1 Most Effective Independent Agency by the Effie Awards earlier this year. How do these kinds of wins impact company culture? And why do you think this is?

Kerry> Firstly, recognition is lovely. It feels satisfying for talent to get a collective 'attagirl' for their efforts. But beyond that, I think the Effies win in particular is good for culture because it proves what we’ve known all along: that we’re not just crafting creativity for creativity's sake, it’s all in service of client business results.  

LBB> Finally, what do you believe is the secret to forging long-lasting cultural impact?

Kerry> The secret to doing work with long-lasting cultural impact is pretty simple, yet hard to master. Marry human truths with cultural insights, and then express the idea in an unignorable way. 

The secret to forging a long-lasting agency culture is a bit more nuanced. Today, the word 'culture' as it relates to agencies/companies is almost poisoned. It has negative connotations, because most think of it as a place where a culture is already cemented and talent must assimilate to that. But, at Mischief, we try to make the opposite true. Sure, there are a collection of things we believe to be true and one overarching mission, but our “culture” is metamorphic - it shifts and evolves and gets better every time someone joins and adds their unique flavour to it. A company's culture should always be changing as new talent joins. In this sense, the secret to long-lasting agency culture is flexibility.