40 Lessons Learned In 40 Years

40 Lessons Learned In 40 Years:
Best Practices for Navigating Your Career and Running a Successful Agency

Ad agency veteran Pat Doody has been in advertising for what he describes as ”forty breathless years”. He has worked for agencies in New York, Los Angeles and Seattle – from big to small, from stodgy to innovative. He’s been an assistant account executive, a Senior VP Group Director and even an owner/founder. He claims to have had his share of bad ideas, bad hires, bad bosses and bad clients. All have taught him something which you will learn.

Fortunately, Pat kept very good notes. He realized early on that he was learning from others and along the way perhaps teaching others. The lessons apparently paid off. At the end of his career, Pat’s agency, WONGDOODY was named Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year in both 2013 and 2014. And Pat has retired undefeated.

What You Can Expect:
This web clinic will cover 40 insights – think of them as “finger food” for career development – on such topics as agency management, creativity, leadership, personal growth, the agency-client relationship, culture, and quirks. Forty bite-sized takeaways delivered in a machine-gun-like-pace—lots of successes and some mistakes. Lots to think about. Lots to learn from, whether you agree or not.

Key takeaways:
• Micromanaging is a growth inhibitor
• We in the ad biz are basically poor-to-middlin’ communicators. We communicate poorly every day in at least eight different ways
• Client relationships are what produce truly great work
• Planning is more important than the plan
• Negative energy is real and it shows up daily to impede productivity
• Behavior is a better predictor of performance than talent
• Hard work, while often necessary, is not a virtue; it is not a valid measure of performance or success.

Who should attend:
• C-Suite and anybody with a pulse who also knows they still have stuff to learn
• Anyone with a pulse who thinks they don’t need to learn anything more
• Anyone who needs a zap to re-charge their career.

About Pat Doody:
Pat and his partner Tracy Wong founded WONGDOODY 24 years ago. They started with no clients, no employees, no office space and no visible means of support. Today, WONGDOODY has 140 employees in their Seattle and LA offices with annual revenues of $25MM and a client portfolio that includes: Amazon, T-Mobile, Alaska Airlines, ESPN, Scion, Papa Murphy’s Pizza and Cedar Sinai Hospital.

WONGDOODY has won every major award, several times over, including the Gold Lion at Cannes four times.