We are partnering with the AIGA to make this year’s Designspeaks the best yet. We look forward to bringing you the outstanding content, speakers and brew that you have come to expect from 52 and Designspeaks. Please join us this Thursday, September 17th as we kick off the series with, ‘An Evening with Jelly Helm’.

Designspeaks with Jelly Helm
What’s happening with the business of advertising? What will the post-consumer economy look like? What’s happening with sustainability? Jelly Helm is the first to admit that he doesn’t know. But that’s not going to stop him from speculating about it in public, to anyone willing to pay for it.

In the spirit of Designspeaks, Jelly’s presentation will be full of cockamamie theories, wishful thinking and poetry. He may also give us a sneak peek of the new work he’s done with the Oregon Council for the Humanities, and get all frothy about his newest client, Wikipedia. You’ll be anything but disappointed.
So be sure to join us, to engage with Jelly and others, and consider what has passed and what may come. Seating is limited, so please reserve your spot now.

Thursday September 17th 7p - 9p
The Cleaners at Ace Hotel Portland
403 SW 10th Ave and Stark
Register Now: http://portland.aiga.org/events

Laugh. Cry. Ask questions, please. But whatever you do, we hope you’ll join us!

Fall is in the air. Signs of a fragile recovery are appearing. Activity in the creative services sector is returning, even if ever so incrementally.

Life is feeling a little closer to “normal.” And, lately, we at 52 Limited are buoyed.

Marketers cautiously are considering budgets for new projects. Clients and potential clients interested in our services are reaching out to us daily—something that fell off dramatically in the first half of the year.

In recent months, we’ve had more inquiries than we had much of early 2009. We’re hearing from all types of client-side marketers and they are working in diverse business categories.

We’re finding, incidentally, that small agencies tend to be busy. Especially those focused on sustaining the reputations of brands online.

We’re not suggesting that the economy is on the verge of an uptick or even that the recession has ended, mind you.

An economic report from University of Oregon suggests the downturn in the state could be near to running its course.

The report, released early September from UO’s Oregon Economic Forum, indicates that Oregon will “exit” the recession in the second half of 2009.
The path however, is likely to be a bit bumpy: The UO Index of Economic IndicatorsTM, fell in July by .4 of a percentage point to 84.0.

Job losses, according to UO, crept up after a bit of a lull in previous months. In July, 700 jobs were lost from nonfarm payrolls.

Further afield, the situation bears a few similarities to Oregon, according to Brooks Gilley, 52 Limited President. Brooks traveled on a business junket to NYC.

The city has lost upwards of 73,000 jobs since August 2008, according to www.crainsnewyork.com. Many of those have been in the financial services sector and with traditional print media outlets.

Brooks, however, noted one interesting difference. In spite of those losses, that the business climate in some circles there is less dour than in Portland, he says. For instance, creative practitioners repeatedly told Brooks that the workload for interactive content and design outstrips available talent at some shops.

Brooks talked to someone with a motion graphics shop that recently completed a project that in and of itself is encouraging: A marketing piece for none other than Nasdaq.

Nationally, the news is all over the charts. But the frequency of good news is increasing. And it is becoming increasingly better news.

For instance, a firm that is expert in forecasting advertising demand has said that the worst part of the worst advertising slump since the Great Depression is over.

As press time neared, we had more bright spots. The major indices are up since they bottomed out six months ago. The Dow Jones Industrial average is up 45 percent; Standard & Poor’s 500 is up 51 percent and Nasdaq is up 61 percent. Not to mention that the first week of the month the Fed announced it is seeing signs of a fragile recovery, citing improvements in manufacturing and residential real estate.

Which brings us back to 52 Limited’s reason for being: We can help, especially during times of day-to-day uncertainty.

Consider the ways 52 Ltd. can deliver flexibility to your organization:
- Avoid staff burn out. 52 Ltd. delivers freelancers who ease some of the extra burden placed on staff during times like these;
- Tap into world-class talent. We have at our fingertips world-class freelancers in Portland and places beyond who can take your brand not only to the next level but who also can work at the highest levels of your organization to make it work better.
- Delegate risk. We serve as the employer and mitigate all risk associated with employment. We take care of resume verification and the rest of the hiring process, in addition to providing worker’s compensation, premium benefits (including health insurance, 401k and supplemental disability) and more.

One thing is certain. Economic vitality will return.

Meantime, we’re happy to show how we can help clients, to tout the staggering level of Portland’s creative talent and to look forward to the few days of summer that still lie ahead.

52 Limited has created two new “Account Manager” positions, adding Sara Davey-Schmidt to fill one and promoting Ashley Findley Diehl to fill the other.

Sara comes to 52 Ltd. from UTStarcom, a $3 billion international IP telecom firm where she held the title of Corporate Recruiter. In that capacity, Sara led development of hiring strategy and recruiting processes for the company’s Global HR teams. She also served as sole recruiter for UTStarcom’s hiring in the United States and Canada.

In addition, Sara has a decade of experience working for two of San Francisco’s top boutique staffing firms.

“Staffing is all about finding the right fit, which amounts to much more than matching a job description with a resume. A desire to understand both the culture and business needs within the hiring organization and the true qualities and abilities of a candidate must be paramount,” Sara says.
“I am able to assess a candidate in a way that allows me to determine whether they wholly meet the needs of a client,” she says.

Sara holds a Master of Arts in Dramatic Theory and Criticism. She volunteers on the publicity committee for Portland Open Studios, an annual two-weekend event during which a diverse group of 100 artists open their studios.

Sara also is an accomplished public speaker, presenting to clients and user groups on hiring, interviewing, job hunting, and networking.

Ashley received the promotion to Account Manager after working since 2007 for 52 Ltd., which has given her a 360 degree view of the business and ideally prepared her for this promotion.

She joined 52 as a temp and has performed almost every position in the company, including marketing coordinator, office manager and talent coordinator. Most recently, Ashley held the title of Talent Operations Manager.

That breadth of experience also has provided Ashley a high understanding of service.

“I’ve learned the ropes in staffing for creative services and I’ve also come to know many of the people who constitute our bank of talent,” she says.

Ashley is able to connect with talent and clients. She has the rare ability to make both parties see their common needs—an essential skill in staffing, where ultimately two clients are served.

Ashley is a graduate of Oklahoma State University, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.

by Michael Bierut

This article originally appeared in Design Observer, 1-04-09

It actually doesn’t seem that long ago that the only problem was getting all the work done and finding people places to sit. Back in the middle of that seemingly endless string of 60-hour-work-weeks, not one, not two, but (um) several clients called to ask if I wouldn’t mind billing them in full, in advance, for work we hadn’t yet begun, just so they could commit their budgets and get the money off their books. And then at least one of them just seemed to forget about the project altogether.

I mentioned to this at the time to a friend who’s been a hedge fund manager from before the time when anyone had ever heard of hedge funds. “Yeah, that’s the kind of shit that happens just before everything goes horribly wrong,” he said, looking pained. “That’s why I’m getting out.”

Even if you don’t know much about the economy, you’ve probably noticed that something went horribly wrong in 2008. And 2009 doesn’t look much better. I’ve been working as a designer for over 28 years, and depending on how you count, this is either my fourth or fifth recession. Here’s what happens, and a few things you can do about it.

What happens in a recession

1 Everything slows down.
On October 19, 1987, I was talking on the phone to a client about a potential project. Suddenly she went silent and then said, “Wow. The stock market just went down 700 points. Let me get back to you.” It was a long time before she got back to me. In a recession, it takes forever to get things off the ground. Clients take their time gathering (lots of brutally competitive) proposals, interviewing (lots of hungrier-than-usual) prospective design firms, calling back and forth with minute (and trivial) revisions to the proposals, and finally selecting the (perhaps-not-so-lucky) design firm to get the assignment. Then they go back and renegotiate all the terms of the proposal. Then they delay the start of work several times, put the project on hold several more times once it’s underway, and generally take lots of time to brood over every decision every step of the way. Once the project is delivered, they wait longer to launch, print, or build it. And then when you submit the invoice…well, you get the idea.

2 Everyone acts busy.
Yet, in the midst of all this molasses-like slow motion, everyone acts busier than ever. One reason is is because of layoffs, fewer people are around, and those left behind have to do the work of their fallen colleagues. But another reason is that everyone knows that it’s idle people who get laid off, so looking busy is the best defense. Things that used to be settled with an email need a phone call, what used to be a phone call is now a meeting, a 30-minute meeting now takes four hours, and so forth. If you’re afraid of losing your job, asking your design firm to visit with three dozen iterations of a brochure cover to spread out on a conference room table certainly seems like a way to signal to the powers-that-be that you’ve got way too much on your plate to be axed.

3 Nothing is certain.
Even if you’ve just presented three dozen iterations, your client can still get fired, and your project can still be put on hold. This makes planning anything completely maddening. I remember back in the 1991 recession going to a meeting in suburban Washington DC with one of my partners for a new business presentation to a senior marketing person at a client company with a name you’d recognize today. We presented ourselves all bright and cheerful to the receptionist and said, “We’re here for our 10 o’clock meeting with Ms. Magillicutty [not her real name].” The receptionist looked blankly at us for a minute, then looked vaguely terrified, then asked to to sit down in the lobby, then moved us to a small conference room. After a long time, a young fellow came in and said, “Hello, I’m Joe Blow [not his real name]. Ms. Magillicutty can’t be here, and she asked me to help you.” We showed this polite but baffled guy our wares and left. What everyone knew, and no one wanted to say, was that Ms. Magillicutty had been fired sometime between making the appointment and our arrival. Needless to say, we didn’t get the assignment, which had probably been eliminated along with Ms. Magillicutty. Joe, however, was quite skillful in the situation, and, if he’s still there, is probably busier than ever.

What you can do

1 Be frugal.
Whether you’re a freelancer at a kitchen table or a principal in a big consultancy, you’ve got overhead, not the work you do, but the other stuff you need (or think you need) to do the work: the printer paper, the rent, the $120,000-a-year business development consultant. This is a chance to get back to basics. Ask yourself: what do I really need to do my work? Then get rid of everything else.

2 Be careful.
In your desperation to compete for work, you’ll be tempted to do things that you might not do when times are good: take on work for a shady client, start a project without a contract, ship a finished job to someone who’s fallen behind on an agreed payment schedule. Do not do these things. Not only will they not help, they will almost certainly end in tears, probably your own.

3 Be creative.
The modern design studio can’t help but subscribe to the cult of asap. But while working at full speed is great for profit margins, it’s not so good for quality control. A design solution almost always benefits from a second, third or fourth look. Take advantage of the slower pace of a recession by remembering what it was like in design school to spend a full semester on a single project. What seemed then like torture may now feel like a luxury, and your work will benefit. And don’t forget that recessions are a great time for the kind of research and development that manifests itself in self-initiated projects, work that takes a longer view than the next deadline. As Michael Cannell writes in today’s New York Times, “However dark the economic picture, it will most likely cause designers to shift their attention from consumer products to the more pressing needs of infrastructure, housing, city planning, transit and energy. Designers are good at coming up with new ways of looking at complex problems.” In the same article,Cranbrook’s Reed Kroloff agrees, saying we could be “standing on the brink of one of the most productive periods of design ever.”

4 Be sociable.
In boom times, no one has time to talk. “Let’s have lunch” can be an empty pleasantry, and even if you make a date with a friend, it will be rescheduled three times before you both silently agree to forget about it altogether. Congratulations! You now have time for lunch. (Somewherecheap, of course.) Use the gift of time to reconnect with others. But don’t, if you can help it, think of this as merely something as deliberate and goal-oriented as networking. This takes the fun out of it for both you and your date. If you make time for people you like with no agenda except the simple joys of human companionship, trust me, something good will come of it.

5 Be patient.
My friend the ex-hedge fund guy (he did get out in time) told me recently, “In the middle of every boom, people say, ‘This one is different, it’s never going to come down.’ But it always does.” This was true with dot-coms, and it was true with real estate. “In recessions, they fear the same thing: this one is different. But it will eventually turn around after all the crap gets worked out.” And it will, eventually. Just hold on tight.

You may have noticed something interesting: all of these tips for what to do in a recession will work just as well in good times. Or even better. So the final lesson is to use this downturn as a learning experience. If you’ve got this discipline to survive, or even thrive, in the next year or so, you’ll be mastering skills that will serve you well forever. Good luck.

by Rick Albano

As I watched the inaugural address a few weeks ago, I was stoked, but equally freaked-out by the constant warning of tougher economic times ahead. I was inspired by Obama’s words, but when he paraphrased the bible, saying we must “do away with childish things,” I got a little fidgety. No doubt, he was referring to the last eight years of shenanigans by the cartoon character sitting sheepishly to his left, but the quote hit home for a guy who makes a living doing “childish things.” I mean, the artist in me says that children draw pretty pictures, and the writer in me knows that kids love flowery prose. As a creative looking for work, it made me think of worst-case-scenarios and reflect on other times in my life when I had to cinch my belt up a few notches, dial back my artistic integrity and swallow my pride.

At the beginning of this exciting path I’ve chosen as a creative professional, when I was just out of university, it took me a while to get my bearings. Was I a fine artist? A budding music director? A copywriter? Fresh-faced and willing to do anything for a paycheck, I explored my options. Along the way, I worked the swing-shift at a factory painting Harley Davidson belt buckles (artiste), moved crowds with the “Crazy Chicken” as a wedding turntablist (music impresario), attempted to execute an illustrated novel of David and Goliath for a religious organization for a few hundred dollars and some drawing supplies (indie comic illustrator), and penned a series of “wacky” scripts for a fake disc jockey in a nationwide department store (music journalist/advertising whiz). During the same year, one job I took that helped me fine-tune my goals and set some boundaries as to what I could live with every day-I was a deejay for one night at a nudie bar in Medford, Oregon called “Le Dolls.”

I half-heartedly interviewed for the gig on my way to pick up an application for seasonal work at a fruit basket company (art director/merchandiser). Inside the club, the work environment-from the dark, carcinogenic ambience to the surreal stage shows to the bald, seven-foot-tall owner-was one that appealed to the Charles Bukowski-lover in me. I looked at it as an opportunity to add to the “life experiences” I’d draw from later in my writing and considered it a chance to finally finish a series of paintings I’d started on the subject. Plus, I’d be spinning records for pretty girls (vibe selecta!). But I never thought I’d actually get the job, so I was shocked when I got a call later the same afternoon asking if I was free to work that night. The Boss called it a “baptism by fire” and told me to show up in a few hours.

From the moment I walked in the door I realized that the baptismal waters would at a boiling point all night. I stepped behind the elevated podium that served as the DJ booth and assessed the situation: There were the shaded eyes of the clientele, peering up at this fantasy-crashing stranger, the old computer filled with MP3’s like “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Don’t Want No Short Dick Man,” the microphone aimed at my face like a gun (if you think your voice sounds funny on an answering machine, try saying “Get out your money and give it to Bunny” over a hissing PA), and of course there were the dancers. With names like Savannah, Cheyenne, Crystal and Amber I was having a hard time keeping my precious metals/southern cities straight. The culmination of my stress came when I couldn’t find the dancer who was “on deck” and had to run into the dressing room to search for her (The first notes of “Cherry Pie” were already playing!). A girl who was changing inside shrieked and told me to get out, then went to find The Big Man. I guess she didn’t want me to see her naked.

I didn’t get in trouble, but at the end of my shift I knew I was done. I couldn’t sleep that night and the next day, when The Boss called me in for my second night in a row, telling me I did great, I declined, explaining that I was considering taking a high school tutoring job and that there were obvious conflicts of interest.

A few weeks later, I decided to move to San Francisco and within a year I was surfing the dotcom wave, writing about music. In another two years, I’d be unemployed again-then Bush would happen and 9/11 would happen-but I’d find another job, with renewed focus and a healthy respect for the impermanence of “the good life,” and most importantly a willingness to try anything in the name of “art,” even if only for one night.

What’s the wildest thing you done for a buck? Join the dialogue at the 52 LTD blog…

by Shelly Strom + Daniel Pink

We already know cities such as Seattle and Portland boast a treasure trove of creatives. We’re still learning, however, about the ways in which creatives are, and will continue to be, economic drivers.

Daniel H. Pink, who served from 1995 to 1997 as chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore, sheds light on this subject in his best-selling book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.” 

“A Whole New Mind” synthesizes big picture trends to explain how a new epoch of our post-industrial society is rising and how right-brain types are the sort of entrepreneurs and workers who will succeed.

Pink suggests that we are evolving away from the Information Age, during which the left-brain dominant knowledge worker reined supreme and are moving into the Conceptual Age, a stage where creatives and other types of right-brain people take center stage.

The main characters in the Conceptual Age, Pink says, “are the creator and the empathizer, whose distinctive ability is mastery of R-Directed [right-brain] Thinking.”

We at 52 Ltd. enthusiastically recommend “A Whole New Mind,” which is a quick, uplifting read.

It brings clarity at a time during which the global situation seems increasingly complicated.

It tells us that we in the creative community are doing is the right thing-cultivation of creative types over the long-term will make us economically healthier.

Pink points to downward pressures on U.S. jobs, forces that he labels Abundance, Asia, and Automation.

Abundance, he says, has satisfied the material desires of many in the developed world. In turn, significance of beauty and emotion are heightened, as is desire for meaning.

Asia, Pink says, is fulfilling demand for white-collar left-brain knowledge workers, not to mention reduced labor costs. The dynamic is forcing knowledge workers in advanced parts of the world to “master abilities that can’t be shipped overseas,” he says.

Automation is impacting today’s desk workers the way it did for yesterday’s factory workers, thereby forcing workers to bring value in ways that computers never can, he says.

These forces, Pink said in an email to me, are likely to intensify during the current downturn.

“When consumers are strapped for cash and credit, they’re unlikely to open their wallets for modest, incremental advances in goods and services. They’ll do that only for huge, bold, conceptual leaps. As a result, for both individuals and organizations, right-brain thinking might be even more important, not less important, in a downturn,” Pink wrote via email.

In these economically challenging times, “A Whole New Mind” is a welcomed bit of encouragement, especially for those of us already honing these right-brain abilities.

“L-Directed [left-brain] Thinking remains necessary but no longer sufficient, we must become proficient in R-Directed Thinking and master aptitudes that are high concept and high touch,” Pink says in “A Whole New Mind.”

“We must perform work that overseas knowledge workers can’t do cheaper, that computers can’t do faster and that satisfies the aesthetic, emotional and spiritual demands of a prosperous time,” he says.

 “A Whole New Mind,” published in the thick of a booming economy in 2005, gives us vision and points us in the direction of a yet untapped wellspring of potential, something for which many of us are looking right now.

Succeeding in this paradigm, Pink says, amounts to understanding and mastering six specific high-concept and high-touch aptitudes. He calls these aptitudes “six senses”-design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.

“These six senses increasingly will guide our lives and shape our world. But to many of you, this vision might seem dreadful-a hostile takeover of normal life by a band of poseurs in black unitards who will leave behind the insufficiently arty and emotive. Fear not. The high-concept, high-touch abilities that now matter most are fundamentally human attributes. After all, back on the savannah, our cave-person ancestors weren’t taking SATs or plugging numbers into spreadsheets. But they were telling stories, demonstrating empathy, and designing innovations. These abilities have always comprised part of what it means to be human. But after a few generations in the Information Age, these muscles have atrophied. The challenge is to put them back into shape,” Pink asserts.

Roughly three-quarters of “A Whole New Mind” is devoted to explaining these six senses in order that the reader can begin to master them. At the end of each section on the senses, Pink presents what he calls a “portfolio” of specific exercises applicable to mastering each aptitude.

For the left-brain skeptic, these exercises likely yield valuable insight into Pink’s thesis. For the right-brain creative, these exercises are a worthwhile reminder of the various facets of creativity.

Regardless of your thinking, the portfolios offer what seem to be good suggestions for cultivating creative aptitudes. Not to mention that the 50,000-foot view Pink provides via “A Whole New Mind” is important and illuminating.

by Linda Zerba of Deputy Consulting

Working in the planning capacity in the marketing industry for more than 10 years, I and other account planners run into the similar challenges.

One of the biggest is clients and creatives who don’t believe in research. Usually the aversion has to do with an experience(s) involving bad research or a lack of knowledge on what to do with information once it is presented.

Research-averse people need to know that gathered information is a launching point. From there, you grow, create and excel.

On rare, and very lucky occasions, clients say out loud and directly that they don’t believe in research. However, the usual and unfortunate situation (and a source of ongoing contention) is that most clients will not admit this. Instead, they will hem and haw over the budget, methodology, your background, the timeline, the recruit and/or anything else they can use to pick apart the project. In so doing, they are avoiding the real issue—that they truly don’t believe in research.

Experience has shown me this amounts to a lack of understanding.

At the same time, creatives will fight tooth and nail to avoid doing research. When a creative, hears “research,” they equate it with “creative testing,” which to them signals the death of creativity.

Resistance to the concept of research puts planning is the role of the ugly stepsister: Abused and misunderstood.

It is seen as the last step to validate and confirm opinions, soothe egos or kill campaigns. We’ve all been there and it isn’t pretty.

The process that is “planning” is at least helpful and hopefully inspiring. Done correctly, research (creative testing) can yield insights regarding the target audience that can be used to help hone messages.

It can be a great tool for selling the work to the client, for creating effective resonance with the audience and giving vision and voice to the brand.

After all, brands live in the hearts and minds of consumers, and you are nowhere if you don’t know how to speak their language. Research provides understanding and interpretation!

But, I digress. Let’s get back to the root of this problem. When it comes to resistance to research, it is most likely because people have conjured in their minds a notion that research is some blue-haired lady at the library, using the Dewey Decimal system to look up a book written in 1967 by Professor So-and-So.

Or, worse yet, there may be a sense that research is the net result of one of those annoying phone surveys where you are called just as you are sitting down to dinner and are asked to rate the likelihood of whether you would buy whitening toothpaste over tartar control paste. In that moment, who cares what kind of toothpaste you use—all you are thinking about is your meal getting cold, your screaming kids and getting off the phone.

That’s not research. That’s simply the dinner-hour at one middle-American household.

This can all be boiled down to two points to keep in mind when dealing with clients and creatives. Those who, a) don’t believe in research or b) have never experienced good research.

How can this battle be overcome? Education.

performed by talented people who know what methodologies to use, how to get from consumers information of depth, how to interpret resulting insights and how to take action. Creatives need to know that the planner is here to support them, to help inspire the process and help ensure the work is the best it can be.

Not to kill it.

Good research brings clarity and leaves everyone with a deep understanding of the target, the playing field, the brand as it is, what it can become and what it will take to get there.

It is simple: the right research + a good planner = successful project!

We just need to overcome the stereotypes of research as it has been known. There is a better way, one less concerned with quantifying and more aware of understanding.

After all, is that not the foundation for all things great?

by Shelly Strom

As veterans in the competition for talent, we at 52 Ltd. have learned a thing or two about what it takes to attract and retain the best in creative services. And one thing that is crystal clear: Organizational culture plays a huge role. Companies that want to be successful in retaining employees—which really means being appealing from the inside out—are realizing they better get a strategy. Even places like Portland and Seattle need to adapt. And even at a time when the jobless rate is on the rise. It might be nice if the “cool” work that attracts people also would sustain and retain them as workers. But it doesn’t. Newness wears off of cool. And if it was the only thing that made a job attractive—if the organization hasn’t cultivated a culture of retention—talent is going to be looking for the next great thing.Up and comers are more likely to stick with a workplace that reflects their own personal values. A lot of them expect it to actually enhance their quality of life. When it doesn’t, they aren’t afraid to move on. These attitudes cannot be ignored. Not at a time when the country is seeing a sea change in the demographics of its labor pool. No longer are they the demographics that propelled a 30-year expansion in the labor pool. The 500 largest companies in the U.S. will lose half their senior managers in the next several years or so, according to a report by The Economist magazine. The losses largely are due to retirement. And it’s more than just retiring baby boomers draining the labor pool. Two other important trends have played out: Neither the entrance of women into the workplace nor the increase in college-educated workers is bringing the marked increases to the labor pool that they did for so many years.At the same time, an increasing number of people are choosing not to affiliate as an employee with any one organization: The number of independent contractors annually is growing at 4 to 5 percent. The culture has to be all about retention, retention, retention. Practices that are more functional than “that’s just the way we’ve always done it. ”It means not just talking about work-life balance but actually putting the concept into play. “Companies are finding out that when they demonstrate values that mirror our quality of life—perhaps by offering flexible schedules and embracing social issues—they find employees want to stay,” says Ann Mangan, spokeswoman at Portland Development Commission.Another way to devise successful organizational culture, according to The Corporate Executive Board, is to focus on “employment value proposition.” An EVP is what a person gets out of becoming an employee for a particular organization. A company with a well-managed EVP—one where culture is congenial and there is room for professional development—can get away with paying 10 percent less in compensation, The Economist reports. Having an unvarnished view of workplace culture helps, especially when it comes to hiring. That way, cultivation of a functional organizational culture can be supplemented with seeding.“In hiring, we put as much, or more, emphasis on someone’s personality and thought process as their resume or skill set. Good, collaborative work starts by appreciating and fitting into the unique creative energy of our shop,” says David Karstad, creative director at Frank Creative Workgroup. “Besides, good ideas can come from any person at any position. Even ADs can think of great headlines,” Karstad says. Finding that awareness of your organizational culture and figuring out how it needs to mesh with workers is what 52 Ltd. is here for.Our approach to hiring is all about retention.We build relationships. With our clients. With the people in our bank of talent. It lets us make matches between the two. We do it because it raises the bar on quality of work. And we save our clients time and money.

by Steve Potestio - Managing Partner, 52Ltd.

If you build it they will come. When trying to hire staff for your company, this is the mantra to have. If you build a positive work culture, and focus your efforts in maintaining a healthy environment for people to grow and develop their careers you will have an easier time hiring top talent. It also helps to do good work and serve your clients. Paying people well is part of what makes a positive work culture, but it’s not the only thing. Resist the temptation to throw money at people to get them to join your firm. Don’t make it about money. If you have other positive factors in place, paying competitively will get people over the hump and wanting to work for you. Securing the top talent is more about your overall package, which includes your company’s culture and environment.

When searching for a new opportunity, a vice-president of marketing states,

“As a job seeker I pay close attention to a company’s culture and how it’s sustained. This is key to how well I’ll be able to thrive in the company and how my contributions will be received. A significant amount of my waking hours will be spent in a workplace; a good culture will provide me a healthy, challenging and enjoyable experience. While a good salary is an important consideration it’s not my first priority or even second. If the culture is right, I know the salary negotiation process will be a positive one.”

When salary becomes the focus of an employment equation it is generally a bad sign. Of course, people want to be paid what they are worth, but job offers should be approached by looking at the big picture. If the focus is more on salary, chances are employees will leave again when someone else throws more money at them.

According to Rich Connor, senior vice president at Portland marketing firm, PMSI, “we encourage new candidates to think long term. What type of company do you want to be working for in five years? If someone is interested in stopping to build their resume or to get their salary increased, we are clearly the wrong fit and we have a pretty good nose for that. We like to see where candidates take the conversation…. Money, Culture, Responsibilities, Future Goals. We want to know their motivations for wanting to join our team. For existing employees, we find this issue to be a red warning light. When a valued team member wants more money to stay happy or leverages another offer, that it is a bad sign for us. We hate to lose any employee for any reason but, if their base level of satisfaction has fallen to money, the important parts have fallen away.”

Salary discussions are often an employer/candidate game of cat and mouse. What are your salary requirements? How much are you looking for? What does the position pay? Questions like these are used to strategize the employment offers being extended (and those accepted or declined). I advise employers and candidates to discuss salary history but to also factor in other criteria (culture, opportunity for growth, doing good work) when determining a fair salary. Removing the cat and mouse dialogue and opening an honest discussion for both employer and candidate is the best way to start a rewarding and healthy employer/employee relationship.

Hiring top talent should be more about attraction than about enticement. You can entice someone with more money, but you want to attract them with competitive pay and back it up with the larger package of what your firm has to offer. If you consistently hire in this manner you attract talent that is looking to further their career and make an impact in a positive environment, rather than the job shoppers who are looking for the next great offer to come along. You will also build loyalty and make it more difficult for others to entice your talent away.

Build the culture. Provide opportunity for growth. Support and mentor your employees. Provide competitive compensation and benefits. Do good work. Respect your staff and clients. And you will attract and retain talent. If it’s built, they will come.

by Rick Albano - Sissyfish.blogspot.com

Wasting time. It’s something we all do pretty well, but invariably feel pretty guilty about, especially when bills are piling up, work’s bearing down, and-frankly-we’re not getting any younger. What’s your diversion? Craigslist? Cupcakes? Yacht Rock? Fantasy football? Pinot Noir? Roller derby?  There’s always something we’d rather be doing than sitting in a cubicle, staring at a screen.

As a freelance music writer in LA a few years ago, I scored a job interviewing bands for a living. For a lifelong music fanatic, this seemed like a dream scenario, but my enthusiasm eventually sagged when I realized was just another Hollywood hack, writing fluff copy to sell widgets in the form of MP3s.  One day in particular sums up my experience: I was sitting at a desk (after sitting in traffic for hours), being reprimanded over the phone by Liz Phair for not writing good interview questions. It broke my heart, because I loved Liz Phair, but at the same time, I thought she’d become a complete sellout. The problem was, I couldn’t ask her why she’d sold out, because I would have gotten fired. But wait-They couldn’t really fire me, because I was never even “hired” in the first place… But I’d been sitting at the same desk for two years!

So I finally split town, moved to Portland, and took up the most unlikely hobby I could imagine: surfing. It was a head-clearing, mind-opening, finger-numbing, humbling, exhausting, thrilling waste of time that was the exact opposite of work. After my first ride, in a smelly wetsuit on a lopsided old board, I was completely hooked.

At home I read everything I could about surfing. I discovered a surf blog based out of California http://novicesurf.blogspot.com/ (the only one I could find) and devoured it religiously with coffee. Then, I decided to start a weblog of my own called Sissyfish, as a way to record my weekly adventures through journal entries, sketches, photographs and even some half-assed poetry.

The blog became an obsession and a distraction, giving structure to my scattered creativity. As a frustrated illustrator, I now had an endless amount of exciting subject matter to draw from. Miraculously, Sissyfish also reenergized my writing, giving me a bullshit-free zone to express myself in. It loosened me up.  And people started visiting. The readership grew from my mom and a few friends to ten strangers, to hundreds of visitors a day. The other night I was at a restaurant and the waiter asked me if I was “that guy with the surf blog.”

Around that time, I met with the guys at 52 Ltd. and showed them a portfolio that was the result of a newfound awareness of my creative potential. It was a box crammed full of writing samples, illustrations and photographs. Brooks rubbed his chin and wondered out loud where I’d fit in. Then, we spent the rest of our meeting chatting about our shared love of surfing.

A week later, Brooks called and told me about a new Portland outdoor apparel startup called Nau. It turned out that the first web presence that the company wanted was a blog.  Called The Thought Kitchen, it would cater to the brand’s emerging community of artists, athletes and activists. I showed the creative director-who also happened to be a surfer-my own blog and offered a few insights I’d learned in my two-year experience as a blogger: Always use good images. Keep entries short and sweet. Invite dialogue from readers. I was hired.

My current gig as curator of Nau’s blog is the best thing I’ve ever been paid to do.  My responsibilities include facilitating online conversations about the outdoors, art, sustainability, design and sports like surfing. I’m encouraged to include drawings and photos and to write like I do on my own blog-honestly and with personality.

Call it “micro-marketing,” “niche branding,” the actualization of Web 2.0 in e-commerce, or whatever. I think my mom described it best when she’d insist, “Do what you love.” Those sentiments are echoed in a campaign by New Belgium Brewery: “Follow Your Folly.” Theirs is beer. For some, it’s porn. Mine is surfing. It was a waste of time that unlocked my creative spirit and made me a more complete and satisfied professional.