The Founder’s Effect

This is a bittersweet article for me to write. At the end of this month, Six-Point’s “founding father,” David Wicks, will be retiring. We have been preparing for this moment for years, but it still somehow feels like walking off a precipice. 

Since we began transition discussions, one of the main questions in my mind wasn’t “how will we replace David” (impossible!). Instead, it has been “how will we keep David’s influence intact?”

Before becoming Six-Point’s chief creative officer, David’s background was as an art director and creative director. He has worked for large retail grocery store brands, technical manufacturing brands, as well as international consumer product brands like Guinness. He learned how to design “the hard way” — in the time before desktop publishing — painstakingly pasting-up layouts and hand-illustrating concepts to present to clients. The skill, patience, and creativity that went into his work over his career have made him into the multi-faceted, multi-talented creative thinker he is today.

Marsha Montori (who retired in 2019), David, and I started Six-Point back in 2007, and while Marsha strongly influenced the brand and its personality, David was the one who was most emphatic about what we would be… and what we wouldn’t. 

We would be irreverent. If there is one thing that David can’t stand, it’s people who take themselves too seriously. For David, the work was important. We weren’t. Any time any of us started getting heated, or cocky, or focused on peripheral issues, David is there with a quiet but pointed remark to bring things back into perspective. 

We would be communicators, not artists. A lot of creative folks think of themselves as artists. The beauty of the work is paramount. For David, all writing and design for an agency should be in service to the message and the strategy. Is this element moving us forward toward our goal? Or is it making things less clear? Or worse, is it doing nothing at all? “Because it looks cool” is never a justification at Six-Point.

We would make the work interesting. Never tell David that a client is boring, or that a project isn’t meaningful. As far as he is concerned, we are the only ones who can make something boring or exciting. Our passion, our curiosity, our creativity... That is what makes great work. 

For all enduring brands, there comes a time when a founder needs to step back. It’s always a precarious time in a brand’s lifecycle. Founders are the creators of the vision and the culture of their company. The brand is often very much in their image. The question of how to keep the success of a brand intact without this driving, central force is one that makes transition fraught with both opportunity and danger.

Six-Point Creative is no different. We have had to be intentional to build these founding principles into the daily rhythm of life at the agency. We infuse them in our onboarding. We tell stories to reinforce them. They also affect our selection of employees, partners, and clients. When you are clear on your values and your promises, you have the opportunity to attract like-minded people and create a virtuous cycle.

Preparing for this transition has allowed us to practice what we preach. Our work is all about making brands less dependent on individuals, clearer, more consistent, and more scalable. We are with companies during once-in-a-lifetime transition points when they need to orchestrate the careful balance between honoring the value of “what got us here” and also step bravely out into unchartered territory without dependence on any single person to bring about the future vision.

And now we are at a transition point ourselves. As we move into a new year, I am confident that David will still be with us in everything we do, just as I am confident that we will take that foundation to new heights.

I think David would agree that Mott the Hoople said it best:

Rejoice for the king ain't lost his throne, oh no. He's still here, you are not alone.