Before Bowie left us, when there were still adults in the Whitehouse, when ‘Corona’ was only a summer beer, the most you heard about A.I. was that Spielberg movie and I was a lot less grey, FortyTwo was born.

We’ll be 10 years old this coming Christmas and boy is that a weird thing to say. We still feel like the young upstarts - the lean agency with heavy expertise as we used to argue. But what a 10 years it’s been!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share some of the milestones and standout moments that have defined the past 10 years for me - with a special focus on where I’ve changed and developed in my role. It’s been a brilliant 10 years, there is no doubt - highs, lows, expensive buildings and amazing people.

And in that spirit, here’s my first reflection:

Decide the type of leader you are going to be and put the steps in to be it or, in other words, know what you are good at and build a team for the rest:

10 years ago, I came to this as a lead creative - someone who for 20 years was always knee-deep in creative output regardless of any other responsibilities I had. This was who I was until late 2015 but this was not going to be easy to sustain in the future as a new business owner. I had to accept that a change was needed if I wanted to grow FortyTwo Studio into a decent agency, that was never going to happen if I was the lead creative. That was a tough thing to accept but a change I knew needed to happen.

Not that I was ever to going to fully step-away from the creative or strategic thinking required of course - I still have (some) value there, but it was clear that I could no longer be on the tools, dictating directions and developing concepts to the end. The team would do that and have proved to do that exceptionally well year on year. My new job as founder MD was to build the business, empower the team and look after cash flow - with a smidge of creative brand strategy along the way.

This is not for everyone of course. Many of my respected peers have created a different shape that works for them. This is what worked for me and my team-mates - and (I hope) they agree. It was not an overnight thing of course, it took time but as we grew and developed, we took a step closer. I’m pretty much there now - still involved at a creative and strategic level with our clients but primarily running the business, leading sales & BD alongside all those other hats founder MDs have within a small business.

10 years on, I’m lucky to play my part in a team who, together, have built something pretty cool. A very loyal team who have grown together (all own which will get some spotlight int he coming weeks). Special kudos to Sam Longmire and Gina Urquhart for being there from the start, being abolsutely core to any success and sticking with me!

Watch out for more reflections, highlights and milestones of our first decade - some of which will be more interesting that this first one, I promise.

The slideshow is from some initial snaps of those early months at our beloved previous studio on Crown Street.

Look how young we all look!

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— Mark

mark@fortytwo.studio.

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