Page 51 - Free the Idea Monkey

I know now that what happened is a classic example of what
occurs when a company becomes out of balance. In Chapter 12 we’ll
talk about the absolutely critical partnerships that create a yin for
the Monkey’s yang. For now, let’s just say that the Monkey was run-
ning the ship by himself and the ship was sinking. (How’s that for an
odd pairing of images?)

Looking back, I know that
Marc’s call probably saved our
business. I had reached my
breaking point and, not surpris-
ingly, so had our company. The
very evening of Marc’s call, I sat
surrounded by Marc and eight
of my closest business friends. Thankfully, they recognized both the
symptoms and the cause of our challenges. During our four-hour
meeting, they were able to reactivate the ideator and refocus my ener-
gies on strategies that would get me and our company back in balance.

Man does six months make a difference! First, on the advice of
my advisors, I took four weeks off to get rested, regain perspective
and refocus. When I came back we:

• started a completely new, separate com-
pany led by three MD employees who
wanted to keep doing what our “old
agency” did. (This firm, McGuffin Creative
Group, is thriving today.)

• (those who remained) fully embraced a
new positioning as an innovation agency and helped me out-
line the processes and staff needed to get us there.

• found a new president, Raphael Louis Vitón, a passionate
master of operations, and a leader who was a complete yin for
my yang.

• set in place a strategy that has led us to quadruple the size of
our firm in six years.

36 M E E T T H E I D E A M O N K E Y