Cowgirl Power

by Gay Gaddis

  Revisit this exercise over and over again. Or, as the phrase goes, “lather, rinse, repeat!”

  I love my family and believe I have done right by them. But I love my career as well. The perfect life balance does not exist, and would probably not be healthy if it did. I wanted both and it was never perfect, but I would not trade anything for it. I look at our children today with an incredible sense of pride.

  Mabel Strickland portrait

  (Accession Number 2005.232.1 © Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

  Chapter 8

  Cowgirls Build a Kick-Ass Culture

  Mabel Strickland’s father introduced her to horses when she was three. She took to them immediately and had a lifelong love affair with them. She started training with a trick rider at an early age and in 1913, at her first rodeo, won the trick riding competition. Talk about a shot of confidence! She was soon invited to join Drumhellers Wild West Productions to hit the road with her trick riding stunts. Word is that she was quite beautiful so her parents said she had to have a chaperone, and then off she went.15

  She was always lovely and dressed to the nines, so she attracted the attention of rodeo champion Hugh Strickland, and the two were married in 1918. (I guess this is why my mother didn’t want me to run off as a barrel racer. I would have probably ended up with a rodeo guy. Funny…I ended up with an old cowboy anyway. He just disguised himself as an ad man for a number of years.)

  Mabel is a beacon for us all because not only was she highly honored and awarded in her own right, but she created a culture and atmosphere for others to succeed. However, she did advise her daughter not to follow in her footsteps, because she realized that at some point there might not be any contests left for women to compete in.

  She was right. By the Depression years of the 1930s, rodeo opportunities for women had all but disappeared, until 1948 when the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association was organized. However, this was just competition among women, unlike in Mabel’s day where she competed with men and women.16

  Mabel Strickland will forever be remembered as the First Lady of Rodeo.

  Cowgirls have an amazingly strong sense of culture. They understand the powerful forces that bind people together and tear them apart. Tradition, heritage, faith, a common purpose, pride in work, and love bind us all together. But it is more than just embracing a culture, it is lifting it up like a precious jewel and then making it truly better than just one person could imagine. It builds upon common truths. A kick-ass culture sets you apart from the rest and others cannot help but notice the sparkle.

  A Culture That Is an Unfair Competitive Advantage

  Building an entire company around the family clan team concept is a big idea that not only works, it creates a powerful advantage for businesses who are bold enough to do so. At T3, we firmly believe our culture sets us apart. We laugh and call it our terribly unfair competitive advantage.

  A company’s culture is a mystical thing, especially in a creative-driven business like mine. Culture is a moving, breathing organism that is in constant motion and can change on a dime. The good parts must be supported and embraced on a daily basis. Ours is quirky, funny, highly collaborative, tough when we need to be, and has a low tolerance for jerks among many other things. Our teams are smart, fast, strategic, and creative. It is so fun to walk into a meeting where people are laughing, being silly, holding babies on their hips. They don’t take themselves too seriously. But they produce awesome results-oriented work and knock the ball out of the park every day. We know our culture is different because clients, employees, analysts, and our partners give us real-time, real-world feedback. We ask them to contrast and compare.

  Today, you walk into T3’s Austin office and you know you are in a unique, special environment. Our lobby is actually our café. There is a huge video screen that welcomes clients, celebrates new work, and displays profiles of our staff. Big model airplanes hang from the ceiling. There is a basketball scoreboard on the back wall. One big long window ledge is covered with large fossils from West Texas. You’ll see an impressive variety of dogs running around, and you’ll probably see people carrying babies. People work on big, open floors—everyone visible to everyone. It simply has a wonderful vibe.

  In our culture, people visit with each other all the time. There is never a concern that someone might be wasting time by just chatting or harmless gossiping. They are sharing ideas, learning about each other’s families, telling funny stories, or sharing interesting insights they have just learned. They build bonds, trust, respect, and friendships all day, every day.

  Who owns the culture? The truth is we all do. You know you have been successful when you see your staff take ownership of the culture. They defend it. They tweak it. They do not have to ask permission because it has become theirs just as much as it is mine. And that is just the point. The moments I see that happening are some of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

  Our T3 & Under program has become our cultural icon. Almost everything we do originates from the bonds formed by this program. For years, we have celebrated our employees, clients, and partners who have new babies by sending them a little pair of bright red leather baby boots, along with a poem about starting your journey as a little cowboy or cowgirl. Those boots usually stay on the dresser in the baby’s room until they are old enough to wear them.

  We have a disciplined, thoughtful approach to hiring. We go through all of the normal due diligence and first round of interviews that focus on skills and experience, but then we almost always include team members that the candidate will be working with or managing. This is a critical cultural fit filter that gets it right most of the time.

  We make a point of recognizing individual effort so that people do not disappear into their teams. Every monthly staff meeting recognizes individual team members who are having an anniversary. And every month we present one team member with the “White Hat” award, which is a big white felt Texas cowboy hat, in recognition for performance that goes above and beyond.

  Round-Up is our senior leadership team that focuses on strategic planning issues on a two-year horizon. They meet once a month, review our financial performance, current clients and new business opportunities, and address any other issues. This team is our North Star and operates as a highly effective team. Everyone talks. Questions and new ideas are welcome. Each member has earned respect and genuine regard from everyone else. Some have been with T3 for twenty-five years; some are relative newcomers.

  Our Events Define Us

  We recently received a call from a potential client who we had been talking to for a long time. He said, “I want to bring my management team up to meet you. Let’s do it this Thursday or next Thursday, because I want to be there for the Cool Shit Thursday presentation.” Now that is a great phone call. Cool Shit Thursday is a weekly T3 celebration that he had read about on our website. Each Thursday someone volunteers to show off a new technology or a new capability. It has to be inspiring and it has to be fun. Then, if we have a new employee or two, we ask them to be the bartender and serve their favorite cocktail to the entire staff. It is an amazing icebreaker, because they get a fun introduction to everyone.

  By the way, the guy who called is now a client! A few of our regular events:

  Breakfast taco Friday mornings, an Austin tradition with an ongoing competition around which restaurant makes the best tacos

  Candy Fridays at 10 a.m. sharp

  Whiskey Friday afternoons, which is an unauthorized tasting of flights of whiskey and a ritual that I have only heard about

  Halloween parties for the kids

  Thanksgiving potluck with way too much food

  Food truck staff lunches in front of our building. The staff eats lunch on the front steps and waves at all the cars driving by

  Holiday Cookie Exchange

  Our annual Winter party, which we always have in late January after everyone has recovered from
the holidays

  Our Internal Development department has concierge services that will wrap Christmas presents for staff and see that their dry cleaning and laundry are picked up and delivered.

  At the end of our fiscal year, which is September 30, we do something we call Creative Ranch. We fly all of our staff from the other offices to Austin and we have three days of lectures, seminars, and team meetings that are so inspiring. We always do a five-minute video that shows the body of work we did during the year. It is a major undertaking. And the most awesome thing is that it is not in anyone’s job description. It is totally voluntary. We end with an all-staff celebration marking the end of another successful year in business and look to the upcoming year with a combination of hope and energy.

  We have a huge rivalry with the other advertising agencies in Austin over Ping-Pong. There is a big event each year, and our team is always in the top two or three. We have been known to fly in a Ping-Pong ringer from our New York office from time to time, but don’t tell anyone.

  When the weather permits, my favorite thing to do for the staff and our clients is to host them at our ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Families come out and the kids swim in the pool, take hayrides, ride horses, pet the goats, shoot skeet (highly supervised), and hang out with our three dogs. Many of our visitors have never been on a ranch, never shot a gun. Sometimes a small group will spend the night and see the Milky Way for the first time. Many have never told tall tales while drinking a glass of wine by the campfire.

  We Are Built to Keep

  Our culture comes from a different business strategy. We built our company because we loved the work and the people, and it has been financially rewarding to our family. But we built it to keep as a long-term family asset. So many of our competitors have built their businesses with a single purpose—to sell them. That creates a huge cultural divide that everyone feels in their hearts. Many of our competitors are now owned by global holding companies where decisions are often made halfway around the world by people the staff has never met and never will. Employees know that while they may respect their managers and love their teammates, they are subject to arbitrary decisions from on high. Now we are seeing agencies that have been acquired multiple times, and that just hollows out a culture. That is not just my opinion, because I know it to be true from talking with our employees. Our company has become a refuge for many talented people who saw their companies’ cultures sold out from under them. I cannot tell you how many people have told me that they were simply fed up with the shit show of corporate mergers and acquisitions.

  Our teams know that at the end of the day I make the decisions at T3, and they are welcome to come pull up a chair and talk to me about any of them. Our independence has made us a talent magnet. We were doing some planning recently, and one very senior guy who had recently joined T3 after experiencing multiple takeovers at his former employer was asked how he felt about being at T3. His response was “I’m thankful.”

  Think about how you can pull people together with your own unique culture. It does not have to be expensive or time-consuming. But it does have to have heart and humanity and cowgirl spirit.

  Cowgirls Embrace Ambiguity

  When you own your own company or you are in a major role in a big corporate culture, there is no one telling you what to do. That is why it is so important to be “all in.” You have to be in tune with the big issues because it is up to you to sort through them and set the course.

  Sometimes there is not a clear direction or answer. A customer needs to do something, but is not sure how to frame the ask. A team member is not clicking well on a project and needs to try a new direction, but is not sure what to do. Many people struggle with these situations. They can be very skillful in planning what to do once a direction is clearly defined. But choosing a direction goes to the core of strategy.

  As a leader, embrace ambiguity. This is a powerful tool. Learn to climb the trees and see the forest and the mountains and the ocean. And then, climb back down and lead your team in the right direction.

  I have had more than one college professor tell me that during school years and even college, there are assignments—tangible, defined projects—for which specific feedback and grades are given. Students have a more prescriptive environment and they get feedback quickly. When you get out in the business world, sometimes feedback is few and far between, assignments can be ambiguous, and the guardrails fall off.

  Use a Lot of Straw Dogs

  At T3, our approach to ambiguity is to put up what we call a “straw dog.” What that means is that it is a safe way to float an idea, because if it gets shot down, it is only straw. You learn to start to work through ambiguity by standing up straw dogs, which incite debate and ideation. When you have something to react to, whether it is right or wrong, you can begin to move the needle. You find things to build upon and things to discard. But no blood is let.

  Often our best work comes out of ambiguity because it is not a prescriptive ask. Our clients are asking us for the best way to solve a problem or exploit an opportunity without any preconceived ideas about what that solution might be. General George Patton said, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”

  We teach everyone about straw dogs. They help people sort through ambiguity. A blank wall can be very intimidating and scary for people who are not used to facing one. The world is full of ambiguity. Learn to manage it, shape it, and use it to build your personal power. Go find a colleague and talk it out until the right path is clear. My dad always said, “Sometimes you feel like a frog in a hailstorm. Keep your eyes wide open and pretty soon you will see some light.”

  Be Absolutely Honest with Your Boss

  A cowgirl always remains responsible for herself. She instinctively puts herself in good situations and navigates away from bad ones. She approaches her first job exactly that way. She is all in. She is candid about what she wants to accomplish. She is assertive and positive. If she has goals, she shares them with her boss. If she has things she really wants to learn, she says so and volunteers to work some extra time to improve her skills. When she is ready for more responsibility, she proudly raises her hand. If something needs to be done, she does it without being asked. She focuses on building rock-solid skills and competence.

  Take a real interest in your manager. Learn her leadership style and look for strengths and weaknesses. Find ways to support her and inspire her. Tell her about what makes you tick. Be complementary, a contributor. Always present a problem with a thought-through solution. Share an article that is interesting with your boss and your team. Show a real interest in what is going on. If new positions open up in the company, ask whether you might be qualified for one of them. Or why not? Be positive, upbeat, and consistent about what you want to accomplish in your role.

  In return for an all-in approach to your job, proactively discuss with your boss what the guidelines are about work schedule flexibility. Focus the conversation on the quality of your work. Ask for flexibility to go to a school play or get your hair cut without asking for permission. If you commit to not letting any balls drop, why should she care when you leave for lunch? Do this successfully, and you will remove a lot of guilt women feel when they need to deal with family or personal issues. But for it to work, you have to be all in. When you can do more, ask for more. When you don’t have other responsibilities, be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. If you are having a slow day, ask if you can help someone or volunteer to research something.

  If your boss is not a good manager, the cowgirl tries to help her improve. Politely. Very few people are really candid and transparent with their boss, and that creates massive barriers. Cowgirls are clear, straightforward, and stand their ground.

  Have conversations about promotions and your compensation. But do your homework first. Ask the tough questions about pay equality and benefits. Your biggest leverage is the combination of your personal power an
d your knowledge about the position. I remember what a Dell client told me years ago: “No one is more interested in your career than you.” You have to take ownership of your life and actively manage it.

  A Culture of Fearlessness

  More than one college professor has told me that her students do not understand how good they are. They do not have the confidence they deserve. The only way for them to understand how good they really are is to dive into their careers and learn from experience.

  Build a culture of fearlessness. Create a safe but stimulating environment for people to dive in and learn how competent they really are. A fearless culture encourages everyone to stretch and confront their individual fears and learn to deal with them. Many people don’t have clear awareness of their own fears and what triggers them, so they hold back without understanding why. In a fearless culture, people are encouraged to confront those fears and talk about them.

  When those fears are laid bare and people come to understand that everyone has their back and will fight to not allow them to fail, you see confidence and assertiveness soar. If you put your heart into something and fall flat on your face, you win respect for trying. That respect brings coaching and a helping hand that moves individuals forward. But, more importantly, it teaches the cultural value of pursuit of excellence. That is where the power is. It is just like the relationship between a cowgirl and her horse: It gets better and stronger over time.