Too Much About Brent Lightner

I know this is where I’m supposed to post my resume so that recruiters can find me and show me where the grass is greener. But since I’m happy with my gig right now, I thought I’d take this opportunity to address the few of you who are not a recruiter…

I run a creative agency in DC. If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re thinking about hiring my firm or maybe applying for a job here. (Or you’re my mom on a never-ending search for typos and grammatical offenses in anything I put on the internet.) 

First, kudos on doing your homework, because regardless of which of those two categories you may fall into (sorry mom… into which you may fall…), you should know what you’re getting when you sign up with Taoti.  Unlike other agencies, my firm, Taoti Creative, isn’t owned by a holding company or part of a larger group. For better or worse, we’re an independent, boutique operation, and as its founder and CEO, it’s fair to assume that my own personal philosophies and opinions are at the root of our corporate fabric. If you like the way I think and believe in what I do, we could be a great fit. If you don’t, then probably not, and you should spend your time looking for an agency that better aligns with your values. This isn’t about being right or wrong or better or worse. But like people, corporations have values and characteristics and personalities, and like people, some will resonate with you more than others. Of course you should vet things like competency, body of work, viability, and all that stuff. But the reality is that there are a lot of great shops that could technically meet your needs or give you a good job with the right culture. So go beyond the hard requirements, listen to your gut, and hire or work for a group that just gives you a good vibe in terms of what it stands for beyond just the business end of things.

So, with that said, here’s a bit about me and what I stand for. And while Taoti is bigger than just me and takes on a personality that is a melding of our entire team, I still play an active role in every hire, from intern to C-suite, and I do indeed look past the skill sets and try to hire people that I feel align with what Taoti is about. 

Without further ado…

Let’s start at the foundation: the mission. “Taoti is a full-service creative agency. We use creativity, innovation, and technology to move the needle for our clients. Why? Because moving needles means we’re making a meaningful and measurable impact. And that’s interesting, fulfilling, and lucrative.”

The most important part about that is the ‘move the needle’ thing. A bit cliché? Sure. But I’m committed to it because it’s about accomplishing something meaningful. That’s what drives me, and I have built a team that is also intrinsically motivated by doing work that is meaningful and gets measurable results. We’re not trying to save the planet. We’re not political. We’re not all about improving social justice. Don’t get me wrong: those are all great things to be about. If you’re intrinsically motivated by more altruistic or social causes, there are a lot of great places you can work. Obviously, we love it when the work we do aligns with feel-good causes (which happens about 60% of the time, if you’re curious.) Who wouldn’t? But that’s the icing on the cake. The cake itself is about moving the needle and getting results. I know that’s not always not the most popular position to take, but I’m just trying to be real here. (Which is also why we are candid about our other motivations: the desire to do interesting work and to make a good living doing so. Some companies have a mission statement that no one knows. Every single person at Taoti knows very well that we’re about moving needles and what that means for our clients and ultimately ourselves.

Next, let’s talk about some corporate philosophies. Again, I don’t purport my opinions to be good/bad/better/worse. These are just things that I hold dear and use as a guiding light as I set the course for Taoti. 

1. Great work trumps all. 

For all the issues and growing pains we have as a firm, putting out work that is better than everyone else’s is ultimately our primary corporate strategy. When the work is good enough (and by that I mean it’s needle moving,) it can buy forgiveness for whatever other issues may have been created to get there. It’s always about the work.

2. Best practices, established processes, group buy-in, data-based decisions, etc., aren’t always the answer.  

Those things are great, and yes, Taoti certainly follows best practices and looks at data, etc. But we always need to make room for instinct, inspiration, innovation, and creativity. Sometimes those things get lost in the shuffle of a highly articulated process.

3. We can always do better.

Be it a sales target, a website we launched, a marketing campaign—whatever it is we’re trying to, no matter how well we did it—can always be improved. It’s okay to stop for a minute and appreciate an accomplishment. But just for a minute. Then it’s time to set our sights on the next level.

4. Change is good.

I like change. I like risk. I like the potential opportunity that comes with the unknown, and I’m willing to pay the price of consistency and/or failure to get it. Because if I had something right, and I screw it up with change, I can always go back to what was working. But if I don’t try the unknown, I’ll never know what I might be missing out on. (Yes, Mother, I know I ended on a preposition there. But doing it the right way would have sounded obnoxious and elitist. And I’m trying to sound like a man of the people here. Cut me some slack.) Do you know of any companies that have thrived over the years by insisting that they never change? Didn’t think so.

5. “Custom” is overrated.

My sales team isn’t going to be happy about this one because we spend a lot of time touting our highly custom solutions. Obviously, there is a place for custom work. But why do so many people automatically associate ‘custom’ with ‘good’ and ‘standard’ with ‘bad?’ Standardizing stuff makes it more reliable, more featureful, more maintainable, more affordable, etc. “Template” seems to be a four letter word in my industry, but buying work that at least starts with a template means that you’re getting WAY more work product than you’d get if you paid us for every hour we’d need to build that same thing from scratch. Plus, it would work better, be constantly improved over time, and cost a fraction of what the from-scratch effort would take. So why do so many people get turned off by the idea of recycling work??? Over the years, I’ve come to find that for the majority of our clients, 70% of what they need is common to most of our other clients. And 30% warrants more custom effort to really focus on the parts of the work that differentiate the client or make for the needle-moving parts of the project. So despite some raised eyebrows around the shop, I’m pushing a new agenda of leveraging standards and reusable work where it makes sense so that we can spend the bulk of our client budgets on the much smaller part of the project that really deserves our custom attention. This is a sticking point for some in my industry, so if you can’t feel good about being involved in work where we’re recycling past work, Taoti may not be a great fit. (Food for thought: If you like open source stuff like Drupal and WordPress, but believe that any agency worth its salt should be doing all custom work, you’re a bit of a hypocrite, I’m afraid.)

6. Solutions over activities.

Why do so many RFPS ask for how much time and money it will take to accomplish a set of tasks?? You should be focused on the outcomes—not the process and deliverables that we use to get there. Taoti has over 800 projects under its belt, and if you ask us how to accomplish something (as opposed to asking us to build you something), chances are we’ve been down that road and can be so much more useful in coming up with a real solution instead of a list of deliverables that may or may not work. This is why Taoti has evolved from a web dev shop into a full service creative agency. When all we did was build websites, we were limited in the parts of an operation we could touch to effect real progress. A website is just one tool in our toolbox. But by getting involved in everything from branding to marcom to the technical build, we have a more holistic perspective with our clients and can suggest new ideas that transcend both teams and deliverables in a way that doesn’t just meet the requirements, but actually moves the needle.

7. All companies should be a “lifestyle business.”

In the world of M&A, some independent operations like Taoti are considered a ‘lifestyle’ business because our corporate goals are as much about accommodating the owner’s lifestyle as they are about growth or profit or other more obvious business metrics. But I think every company should be a lifestyle business—not just for me, the business owner, but for you, the employees as well! We spend more of our waking lives together than we do with our families. That needs to be fun and meaningful and part of our daily lifestyle. I can’t imagine hating my job or the people I work with. To the contrary, I can’t even imagine not really enjoying my team and the work. I like mixing business and pleasure. I like socializing with clients and employees. I like the fact that there’s not a hard line between work and play and homelife. You should too. It makes your job feel a lot less like a job.

...

I could go on, but this is already ridiculously long for a LinkedIn intro. If you made it this far, congratulations! Even my mom has probably tuned out by now. As a reward—particularly if you’re seeking employment with Taoti—mention that you read this note to me. It will win you big points in the application process, as I really appreciate people who do the homework to make sure it’s a good fit before signing on. It’s one of those tell-tale signs of the kind of person I want on my team. Not enough people do, so you’ll stand out. 

On one final note, I penned an article a while ago in response to a general questioning of “What do I look for in an employee?” If employment is your endgame here, you may want to check it out: https://www.taoti.com/blog/cafeclutch/the-seven-habits-of-highly-effective-taotians/.

Thanks for taking the time. Even by my standards, this was rather long in the tooth. Hope it was helpful. And of course, if I can be useful in your search for an agency or employment at an agency, don’t hesitate to connect and drop me a line. 

-brent (founder/ceo)

For the spiders: https://www.taoti.com/our-team/#brent-lightner