Identity is a complex adventure.
On one hand, when you build your identity from the outside in, from how people respond to you, the vision you have of yourself comes solely from the social mirror. You let the world tell you who you are. And it’s hard to grow into yourself when you’re smothered by expectations.                   On the other hand, when you build your identity from the inside out, from how you chose to see yourself, the vision you have comes solely from your own limited worldview. You lack the necessary perspective. And it’s hard to grow into yourself when you’re insulated from any kind of feedback.
The secret is balance. Listening from the outside in, then deciding for yourself.
Because while both sides of the are valuable, ultimately, identity is still an inside job.

Tronvig Group is a full service marketing agency in the business of helping museums, arts organizations, non-profits, service and retail businesses do better at doing good.
I sat down with James Heaton, Creative Director, and posed three crucial questions about belonging:

1. Good brands are bought, but great brands are joined. Why do you think your employees join yours?
Everyone has a voice. We always ask why, not just what and how. I think people crave responsibility when they are also given agency, when they can see the effect of their work on their destiny, and can see how their personal contribution plays a role in serving a larger vision that they help create and sustain. Years ago I fell in love with the ideas of Ricardo Semler. Taking some cues from him, we focus on values, honesty, openness and we add to this doing good in the world by helping our clients do better in their own efforts to do good. 

2.     The great workplaces of the world have soul. What do you do to humanize your culture?
We ask the questions: Why do we exist and why do we matter? We ask our clients this. We ask ourselves. I think everyone understands that we are each working to achieve personal mastery and collective excellence. We don’t have a gimmick for this. Working hard to achieve something greater than ourselves is motivating enough and this is intensely human.

3.     Belonging is a basic human craving. How do you remind employees that they’ve found a home?
In a healthy home anyone can say anything. Home is where your mind is free and failure is met with understanding. Good ideas are good regardless of who came up with them. Each member of the organization understands that it’s a place where one can intentionally expose the weaknesses or insecurities within your own ideas so that its strongest version can be brought out. And that’s incorporated with the ideas of others, all of whom share a vision and an ultimate goal: To make the world better.

Thanks James! Learn more about the Tronvig Group philosophy here.

I have extensive training in narrow thinking.
Assuming everybody thinks like me, making decisions from a limited perspective, refusing to let go of processes that have been good to me, throwing around the word forever like it’s a nerf ball, killing myself trying to accomplish outdated goals, backing away from perceived negatives, leaning my ladder against the wrong wall, believing that just because somebody kissed me once means that we’re in love forever, allowing my observations to bounce off a thin reservoir of experience, keeping consistent with silly ideas because they’re too convenient to be killed, and, worst of all, preserving the dangerous posture of terminal certainty.
And don’t get me wrong, it’s been great practice.
But that brand of thinking doesn’t serve me.
From now on, I’ve decided to bet on broad.

Big Duck is a Brooklyn agency that works exclusively with nonprofits to help raise money and increase visibility.
I sat down with principal Sarah Durham and posed three crucial questions about belonging: 

1. Good brands are bought, but great brands are joined. Why do you think your employees join yours?
Big Duck works exclusively with nonprofits, so the people who want to work here are usually do-gooders with a passion for mission-driven organizations and a love of good communications. Most of them never thought they could find a place where they could get paid to write, design, strategize, project manage (or whatever they do) for something they believe in and get paid to do it. Having a nice office space in an interesting neighborhood in Brooklyn helps too. We also find that sharing our values online (which we really use and live by) is also a big reason people get excited to come here. 

2. The great workplaces of the world have soul. What do you do to humanize your culture?
I want to feel good about the place I work and the people I work. And when I get up in the morning, I want my staff to feel that way too. We spend a ton of time together, and our relationships to each other and the space we share have a significant impact on our quality of life. I don’t usually push forced social events, but rather try to celebrate people’s individuality, and make room for it, so it happens fluidly and without hierarchy. We have Friday Snacks, after work drinks, push-ups at 5pm, Lunch Club and Pictionary. Humanizing the culture means making an environment where you care about people in dimensional ways. And if you really do care about them beyond the job, it’s easier to make decisions that help them thrive. 

3. Belonging is a basic human craving. How do you remind employees that they’ve found a home?   
If they need reminding, they probably aren’t really at home. The best employees have what your business needs to grow and thrive, but they also need something from it to grow and thrive personally. It should be a two-way street, a partnership, in which both parties benefit and know why they are there. When that’s the case, employees feel at home; they know they’re truly needed and what they’re getting personally, beyond a paycheck. When people stagnate, stop growing, or get complacent, it may be time to push them out of the nest. 

Thanks Sarah! Meet the Big Duck team here.

We can never take away someone’s joy.
If doing something fills somebody’s spirit, captures her imagination and makes her feel useful and important — and isn’t negatively affecting the world — than we have no right to stand in their way. We have no right to block their path of joy.
To do so insults their heart’s desire and robs them of their humanity.
If somebody wants to spend four days preparing an elaborate meal for the entire family, let them. If somebody wants to brag about you in front of their friends, let them. If somebody wants to parade you around the room just so everyone can see the glow you bring to the world, let them.
We all have to learn how to receive. To greet people’s gifts with a welcoming heart and a thankful posture, remembering how easy it is to make most people happy. And to accept people’s generosity with a humble spirit and a respectful stance, remembering how beautiful it is when they have joy in their lives.

Free Association is a boutique digital agency in Brooklyn that partners with brands to deliver world-class digital experiences. They’re human friendly and they’re in the business of delivering experiences, not things.
I sat down with Michael Piliero, Creative Director, and posed three crucial questions about belonging.
1. Good brands are bought, but great brands are joined. Why do you think your employees join yours?
It’s a confluence of factors. First, we’re intentionally small, progressive and focused on human centered design. We have really low turnover. Second, we’re are able to create great digital products that are easy to use. I’ve had exposure to large agencies with misalignment on point of view. And I remember the question that first disrupted my thinking: “What do you really, really want to do?” Most people don’t have an answer to that question. For us, it’s driven a lot of change in the organization.       
                                 

2. The great workplaces of the world have soul. What do you do to humanize your culture? 
We have very few top down processes, strict procedures or company outings with trust falls. We keep it pretty simple. We’ve assembled an intentionally small team of unique and talented people. We eschew the layers and politics you see at most agencies. And we inject a lot of green tea and turmeric juice. Instead of playing telephone with a bunch of managers, we just let the experts directly interface with clients and run the show. That’s what clients want, but don’t get very often.                                 
3. Belonging is a basic human craving. How do you remind employees that they’ve found a home?
Natural human relationships are huge. And we let that happen organically between owners and staff. We also put a lot of thinking into our collective point of view and mission. That’s how we create significant positive impact in the world. That’s how we wrangle complexity together. And while our core clients are global corporations, we also do a lot of non-profit and startup work too. The nature of the impact varies, but it’s always human centered. All those factors, combined with our passion, come together to ignite the tribe. That approach, the way it takes shape, sparks the feeling of belonging – more than any human resources review would.  
Thanks Michael!
Meet the Free Association team here.                      

Our species spends a lot of money trying to buy happiness.
And a lot of the time, it works. For a little while.
But if nothing is ever wrong – something is probably wrong.
Suffering is underrated. It’s a healthy, human reality. It’s an essential part of the life experience. And if we’re trying to scrub our world clean of it, we’ll never grow. We’ll never reach our full potential.
Sometimes, what we really need is a good low.
We need life to hand us a pile of shit.
Some situation, some feeling or some experience that calls upon our resiliency. Something that tests us. Something that reminds us that we’re alive and real and human and imperfect – and that with a little help from our friends – we’ll pull through with flying colors.
Are we vulnerable enough to open ourselves to the low? Are we thankful enough to give thanks when it comes? Are we buoyant enough to bounce back when it goes?
Hope so.
Because it’s certainly a lot cheaper than buying another pair of sandals.

We rarely get what we signed up for.
We tend to come for one thing and end up walking away with another.
But sometimes the best road to being reached is the one we don’t see signs for. Expectation doesn’t always work to our advantage. In order to find that tiny little thing that’s so big we can’t live without it, it’s helpful if our guard is down. Surprise creates anxiety in the air, and that’s best time to give someone new ideas.
So we stumble into the truth when we’re not looking. And if we’re smart, if we’re open and if we’re lucky, we let it change us forever.

Ready Set Rocket creates ideas, nurtures them, proves them and puts them into action. They never stop making good ideas better.
I sat down with Melissa Silvers, their creative director, and posed three crucial questions about belonging: 1. Good brands are bought, but great brands are joined. Why do you think employees join yours? Most people join a company for basic needs like salary and benefits – and we do offer generous benefits and paid time off. But as a boutique digital agency, we can also drive home more value than a benefits package. We work in a sunny, dog-friendly loft in SoHo. That environment really helps everyone knows each other intimately. So, we’re careful whom we bring in on a fit level. Technical expertise is invaluable, but personality is the key to someone not just joining our company but believing in it. We’re all geeks who love knowledge, and we’re not afraid to tell candidates they’re not the perfect fit. It’s the hardest part of hiring, but it makes for a stronger team. 2. The great workplaces of the world have soul. What do you do to humanize your culture? This isn’t a workplace where everyone has ear buds on, lost in their own worlds. To humanize the office, we have speakers that blast a shared room in Turntable.fm, so everyone gets to share their music with the team (and turns into sing-alongs). We have Tweet Battles with a point system. We have team snowboarding trips. We will glitter bomb your desk if you get engaged. And our culture page is an aggregated stream of employee Instagram feeds. Which is a risky disclosure, but it’s also a compiled sense of who the team is visually. And that offers insight to each individual person and their tastes. Ultimately, we value knowledge over ego. We believe in transparency. There’s no information-withholding hierarchy. Everyone is an expert on something. It doesn’t matter who’s at the table, a good idea is a good idea. People feel valued, which is really the key to humanizing any workplace. 3. Belonging is a basic human craving. How do you remind employees that they’ve found a home? New York is weird because few people here are natives. I think that’s why the word family comes up so often when we get together. At our organization, it’s closest thing some of us have to family in the city. And that sense of belonging is an ongoing effort. We have office dogs, who are just as much a part of the team as people. We have old employees and former interns, who stop by just to hang out. We don’t just like the people we work with – we love them. Our office isn’t the place you’re waiting to leave at the end of the day.

Thanks Melissa!

Meet the team at Ready, Set Rocket here.

You’ve chosen an uncertain path. You’ve adopted an inconvenient lifestyle. You’ve embarked upon an unconventional journey. You’ve felt the voice inside you growing more urgent. You’ve committed yourself enough so you can’t turn back.
IN SHORT: You’ve decided to play for keeps.
This is the critical crossroads – the emotional turning point – in the life of every young artist.
And I’ve been there myself.
From my latest book, Writing is the Basis of All Wealth, here’s a list of suggestions to help you along the way: 

1. Make your audience your accomplice. First comes acceptance. That masturbatory art can only matter so much. That it’s hard to be creative alone. And that a crowdsourced approach is usually worthwhile. Second comes surrender. Absolute artistic vulnerability. Letting the audience in on the joke. Giving them permission to become co-creators along with us. Third comes accessibility. Keeping the loop open. Making it easy for the audience to tap into their creative flair. Creating a forum for them to express themselves freely and fully. Fourth comes expansion. Of access, not information. Continually creating a playing field on which people can create, not a smorgasbord from which people can consume. When we do this, when we stop setting off art in a corner and start enlisting the world to help us create, everything changes. The work grows stronger, the experience grows richer and the audience grows more devoted. Everybody wins because everybody plays. Are you sitting in a room alone stroking yourself? 

2. The need for attention is not a low impulse. As a performer, I am not afraid to admit that I demand an audience. When it comes to my readers, viewers, listeners or attendees, the intention is clear: I want you to miss me in your past. I want you to regret not meeting me sooner in your life. And I want you to develop a crush on me that you can’t quite explain. I want you to believe you’re watching a brain working. I want you to see that I am possessed. And I want you to delegate certain chunks of you thinking to me. I want you to get used to me. I want to become a regular part of your daily world. And I want you to make time in your busy life to visit the world I’ve created. That way, for the rest of my career, you’ll give anything I do a shot. Are you at peace with your need for attention? 

3. It’s not a blank page, it’s not a mirror. That’s why we’re so afraid to sit down and write. It’s not the fear that our work will suck. Or that nobody will read it. Or that people will read it, and they won’t care. It’s the fear of confronting our own truth. The fear that, once we stop editing ourselves – even for a moment – we might catch a glimpse of how we really feel about something, and it might contradict what we thought we believed. Forget about writer’s block, cognitive dissonance is the real enemy. What are you afraid to confront? 

4. Creativity is about trying things. First, we listen to our heart. We sit at the feet of that thing that sticks inside of us and says now. And we put it out publicly so we can’t run away from it, and so the world will conspire to help us achieve it. Next, we give ourselves permission. We drop the illusions about what we can and can’t do. And we knock down the inhibitors that stop us from pursuing something dopey, different or whimsical. Then, we chase that idea down. We get experimental without spending money. We fiddle around with things. And we execute small steps that create the freedom to pause, test, reevaluate and adjust. Finally, we listen for what sticks. We watch for what makes us think, Oh my god – that counts? We ask ourselves: I wonder if I can take this further? And we become spawned by the childlike desire to see how far it goes. What are you ready to finally try in your art? 

5. The best artists make art every day. They make stuff and see what happens. They do the work and don’t think much about it. They show up, bare down and push something out into the world that matters to them, no matter what. And if they get heard, great. If they get paid, even greater. But if they get nothing, that’s fine too. As artists, they don’t do it for money or recognition, they do it because it’s their spiritual imperative. They can’t not create like a rock can’t not fall off a cliff. That’s why I publish a blog every day. That’s why I upload nametaglines every day. That’s why I post adventures in nametagging stories every day. They’re not just my daily gifts to the world, they’re contributions to my ongoing body of work. They’re additions to my artistic legacy, building my lifelong portfolio. And with every day that goes by, that reservoir grows bigger. That way, it’s not just art, it’s an asset. And like a forced savings account, when the time comes to make a withdrawal in the future, there will be enough of a surplus to tap into and convert into something highly profitable. But it all starts with the work I do today. What it becomes tomorrow isn’t my concern. Are you willing to let your art find its own legs?

6. We don’t have to work for strangers anymore. Whether we’re performers, publishers, writers, creators or entrepreneurs, there has never been a better time in history to go out and find the audience for what we love, or, better yet, create the audience ourselves. Now, instead of buying tickets for the lottery, instead of shooting for the masses and instead of trying to be all things to all people, we can be something important to a small group of people. We can do what we love, the way we love doing it, for the people we love, who love the way we do it. The hard part is giving ourselves permission to break free from the mediocrity of the masses and pursue the glory of the nooks and crannies. What tribe loves you?

REMEMBER: When you’re ready to play for keeps, your work will never be the same.
Make the decision today.
Show the world that your art isn’t just another expensive hobby.