An interview with Executive Creative Director Brandon Faris for his podcast A Quick Read. I discuss key projects and leadership experiences from my career, tying them into my favorite framework for creative leadership: Todd Henry's book Herding Tigers.

Workflow Development

The problem was scattered footage across many places, causing issues in finding and using it efficiently. This disorganization led to wasted time and money on unnecessary projects. There were also no proper processes to make sure the footage followed brand rules and was released correctly. To fix this, a team worked together to get a new system called Media Asset Management (MAM). They installed it and made sure it worked well. I was part of this team and helped create a plan for organizing information and making things automatic. I also did extra work as a system admin and helped hire a specialist for the new system. After this, people in North America could easily access over 100 TB of footage. This made production faster, projects cheaper, and the quality better. They also set up a backup system to protect the important footage and linked information about talent and brand rules to the right footage. This whole process showed that organized systems and technology can make managing media assets much better.

Process Improvement

MRI Online faced a challenge as user subscriptions dropped due to a lack of engaging content. The CEO set a mission to 10X content production within a year. Investigating, I found a bottleneck: one stretched editor handling multiple roles. Constant disruptions prevented catching up on the backlog. Proposing a plan, I interviewed the editor, cleared the backlog, and created training materials for new editors. With my deep editing experience, I accelerated video releases, ending the content drought. The produced documents and tutorials helped onboard junior editors, reducing the turnaround time from weeks to days. The result was a cleared backlog, faster content creation, and a drop in customer churn. The success demonstrated the importance of understanding and addressing production bottlenecks.

Survey Design and Implementation

The challenge faced was the inadequate understanding of the audience due to limited feedback received once a year through traditional surveys. To tackle this, a new survey method was implemented using call-to-action graphics and a shortcode, with responses collected in real-time through SurveyMonkey. Junior staff were trained to monitor daily survey results, swiftly addressing issues and accommodating guest requests.

This proactive approach significantly improved operations, as content and hardware issues were resolved promptly, instilling confidence in viewers. Hundreds of daily responses, including positive feedback, allowed the team to stay on the right track. The results were evident in better operations, refreshing music content weekly instead of biannually, and a more attuned content selection process. By incorporating suggestions from young viewers, the platform stayed ahead of mainstream music trends. The success was a testament to reacting promptly to feedback, fostering better content and overall operational efficiency.

Production Management

After securing a partnership with Apple, Ten Percent Happier faced the challenge of creating custom content for Apple's Employee Wellness Team and cross-promoting with the popular show Ted Lasso, all within a tight six-figure budget. The biggest hurdle was delivering 45 days of meditation content, a project more ambitious than any before, with a constrained timeline and budget. To overcome this, I introduced improved processes for budgeting and project management, ensuring clear communication among cross-functional teams in content, marketing, design, and operations. I also handled resource acquisition, including freelance crew, equipment, and locations. The result was a project delivered on time, under budget, and with impressive content quality. New efficiencies were discovered, and enhanced budgeting practices provided executives with better project profitability visibility. The success showcased the effectiveness of improved processes and resource management in handling major partnerships.