Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
There’s a healthy debate among leaders and workplace experts about the “bring your whole self to work” movement—in other words, showing up in professional settings in a more unvarnished, and presumably more authentic, way. Detractors feel compartmentalization between the personal and professional is healthy, while others question whether companies really mean it when they ask people to be their unadulterated selves in the workplace. Many CEOs feel they are ill-equipped to manage political conflict at work, which is a real risk when people feel empowered to be themselves fully.
Proponents of the “whole self” workplace point to increased levels of employee engagement and creativity. Then there’s Wieden+Kennedy, where unguarded individuality helps the ad agency better serve its clients. “Wieden’s culture is all about trying to create an environment where people can speak their truth,” says Neal Arthur, Wieden+Kennedy’s CEO. “That’s actually pretty magical, because our industry is oftentimes built on creating a veneer or an artifice rather than kind of portraying a reality.”
Indeed, Wieden+Kennedy’s ethos translates into client work that’s less idealized and more relatable. Arthur points to the agency’s Famous Orders campaign for McDonald’s, in which celebrities such as Travis Scott, J Balvin, and others shared their favorite meals from the fast food giant. “We were going through a pitch exercise with McDonald’s, and we talked a lot about idealized versions of the brand. But what we really kept coming back to is that everybody has a relationship to this brand and this product, whether that’s Travis Scott or Kim Kardashian or myself. It changed the conversation from, ‘Who’s the spokesperson?’ to, ‘These are just people who love this brand,’” Arthur says.
Wieden+Kennedy’s culture of truth was on full display when I went to see Arthur at the firm’s New York office. The team is relatively young, attired in everything from business casual to streetwear. Employees convened in conference rooms for more formal meetings, but there were impromptu gatherings on a giant staircase that’s the centerpiece of the loftlike space. Arthur, who became CEO in 2021 after stints as managing director and head of strategic planning, says leading a company with “thousands of strong, independent voices” requires him to “listen and make sure that you’re representing what the collective voice wants to say and do.”
Wieden+Kennedy’s truth-telling approach—both in its own culture and with its clients—seems to be working. The company recently added an office in Mexico City, and it has increased its business with clients such as Ford and McDonald’s. Wieden+Kennedy’s independent streak could also hold the company in good stead as the world of advertising continues to change and consumers have many more places to get information. “Now it’s like, forget about the ad, what can the brand provide that’s valuable to people? Let’s ask ourselves: What would the customer want?” Arthur says.
Does your company encourage employees to bring their whole selves to work, or do you favor compartmentalizing the professional and personal? Can “authenticity” at work be a competitive advantage as it is at Wieden+Kennedy, or is it a buzzword at most organizations? Send your thoughts on culture to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Your insights could form the basis of a future newsletter.
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