Agency Culture Conversations

Agency Workplaces
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What is the secret sauce behind the world’s most successful agencies? It's not just a high-ticket offer or a flawless sales script, it's an exceptional culture that attracts top-tier talent and keeps them for years. Welcome to Agency Culture Conversations, the podcast dedicated to the human side of high-performance scaling. Hosted by the CEO and COO of Agency Workplaces, this show pulls back the curtain on the internal engines of 7 and 8-figure agencies that aren't just winning on the balance sheet, but winning in the hearts of their teams. Each episode, we sit down with founders and leaders who have cracked the code on workplace excellence. These aren't just "feel-good" stories, our guests lead agencies with verified, exceptional culture scores. We dive deep into the tangible strategies they use to build trust, foster innovation, and maintain a competitive edge in a remote, hybrid, or onsite world. In every episode, we explore: Scaling Without Burnout: How elite agencies maintain their "soul" while crossing the 7 and 8-figure marks.The ROI of Culture: Data-driven insights on how a high culture score directly impacts retention, client satisfaction, and profitability.Leadership at the Top: Candid conversations with founders on the hard decisions required to protect a team's environment.Operational Excellence: How leaders align day-to-day workflows with core values to create a "workplace of choice." Whether you’re a founder looking to bridge the gap from "busy shop" to "award-winning workplace" or a leader tasked with protecting your team’s momentum, this is your weekly masterclass in agency leadership. Build a better team. Get recognized. Scale with soul. Learn more about getting your agency recognized at AgencyWorkplaces.com.

  1. Jul 31

    Kevin Delano: How To Scale An Agency Without Scaling Headcount | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 13

    Kevin Delano has been building agencies since 1988. He's had three successful exits, including one that grew to over 400 staff and 100 million in revenue. His current agency, Karma Casting, is his fourth. This time, he chose to build lean, using a tech platform to serve 110,000-plus gig workers across Canada and the U.S. with a team of just 28 people. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ Why Kevin built lean and tech-driven this time after running a 400-person, 100 million agency ▸ Two hiring philosophies: culture fit for management, skill and AI for gig talent ▸ How Karma has maintained 99% delivery compliance across 1.3 million field hours ▸ The Tasmanian devil star seller who broke every process ▸ How AI is driving 4x code efficiency for their platform ▸ How they survived two years of complete pandemic shutdown ▸ Why "start with the end in mind" changes every decision today ▸ The two mistakes he would refuse to repeat: rushing into partnerships and trying to build an all-A-player team 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guest: Kevin Delano, Founder and CEO of Karma Casting Host: Wesley Hoang, COO of Agency Workplaces

  2. Jul 24

    Kelsey Iverson: How To Recognize Your Team On A Budget | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 12

    Kelsey Iverson didn't start in HR. She started as a hostess at 15, worked her way up through hospitality management, and now runs HR at Midwest Direct, a 43-year-old family-owned company with over 200 employees. Along the way, a philosophy-teaching bar manager named Alex saw the leadership in her before she saw it herself. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ How a philosophy-teaching mentor shaped her leadership approach ▸ What actually keeps people at a company for 20 or 30 years ▸ Why she rejects the "keep work and personal life separate" discourse ▸ How to build a Spirit Team recognition program on essentially no budget ▸ The vendor freebie trick that turns supply orders into employee prizes ▸ Why her company hires from immigrant community organizations and provides bus passes to employees who need them ▸ How caring for employees translates directly into how employees care for customers ▸ The mistake she would refuse to repeat: getting cocky and thinking she was irreplaceable 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guest: Kelsey Iverson, HR Coordinator at Midwest Direct Host: Wesley Hoang, COO at Agency Workplaces

  3. Jul 17

    Julia Cunha: Why AI Cannot Replace Human In Advertising | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 11

    Julia Cunha is the operational engine behind Agência Lebbe, a 40-person creative agency spread across Brazil. She has spent nearly 30 years moving between advertising agencies and film production, and today her job is to translate a visionary founder's ideas into something the entire team can actually execute. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ The story behind the name Lebbe and the "less but better" essentialism philosophy ▸ Why hiring for energy and connection beats hiring for pure skill ▸ Why she relocates people inside the agency instead of firing them ▸ How to translate a founder's vision into clear execution for the team ▸ Why CEOs should stay simple in their communication ▸ How older and younger generations use AI completely differently ▸ Why AI cannot replace the human empathy that makes advertising work ▸ The mistake she would refuse to repeat: doing everything by herself 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guest: Julia Cunha, Operational Director at Agência Lebbe Host: Wesley Hoang, COO at Agency Workplaces

  4. Jul 3

    Emma & Courtney: From Account Managers To CEO And COO | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 10

    Emma and Courtney both joined Working Planet as account managers, one in 2014 and the other in 2017. Ten years later, the agency's original founders retired and handed them the keys. Today, Emma is the CEO and Courtney is the COO of a 23-year-old performance marketing agency that has managed growth for over 200 clients. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ How two account managers became CEO and COO through a founder-retirement handover ▸ The hardest mindset shift from IC to CEO ▸ How to delegate so the work feeds someone's growth interests ▸ Why they hire math majors and train them on marketing ▸ The kindness rule and how they distinguish kind from nice ▸ Why no client is worth losing a team member over ▸ How two co-founders divide responsibilities and stay aligned over a decade ▸ Open book management: sharing the company numbers with the full team every week ▸ The surprising answer both gave about a mistake they would refuse to repeat 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guests: Emma (CEO) and Courtney (COO) of Working Planet Host: Wesley Hoang, COO of Agency Workplaces

  5. Jun 26

    German, Mica & Lil: How To Build A Culture That Lasts 17 Years | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 9

    Seventeen years ago, German started a four-person media consultancy in Uruguay. Today, WildFi is a 300-person creative performance agency with offices across eight countries in Latin America. In this episode, German sits down with two of the leaders who helped him build it: Lil, a partner who started as an entry-level campaign manager 15 years ago and worked her way up to Director of Business Intelligence, and Mica, the Strategy Director for Uruguay and Puerto Rico. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ How WildFi grew from a 4-person startup to a 300-person agency across 8 countries  ▸ Why "always in beta" is the philosophy that has kept the company growing for 17 years  ▸ The "Creative Performance" operating system that aligns all eight country offices  ▸ Why exporting your culture beats hiring local leaders when you open a new market  ▸ What makes someone ready to move from IC to leader (it is not the skill set)  ▸ The culture-fit-over-skill rule for promotions  ▸ How to handle the immediacy mindset of newer generations  ▸ Why they refuse to create roles for people, only for company needs  ▸ The mistakes each of them would refuse to repeat 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing?  Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guests: German (Founder), Lil (Partner), and Mica (Strategy Director) of WildFi  Host: Wesley Hoang, COO @Agency Workplaces

  6. Jun 19

    Irina Didier: How To Translate Vision Into Team Goals | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 8

    Irina spent nearly two decades in the agency world, going from intern to strategy director at one of the largest agencies in Brazil. Along the way, she learned that the technical work is only half the job. The other half is making people actually buy your ideas. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ Why technical work alone is never enough in creative industries ▸ The Foucault definition of power that reshaped how she leads ▸ Why approaching people outside meetings always beats confronting them inside ▸ The Brené Brown principle ("Clear is kind, unclear is unkind") that guides her communication ▸ The annual planning deck that turns a founder's vision into team-level goals ▸ Why team fit beats talent 100 percent of the time, even in creative ▸ The fake New Year's Eve in July her team threw to fight mid-year burnout ▸ The mistake she would refuse to repeat: being a people pleaser 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guest: Irina Didier - Strategy Director @Ampfy Host: Dr. Vo - CEO @Agency Workplaces

  7. Jun 12

    Natasha & Sam: How To Hire A-Players When You Are Bootstrapped | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 7

    In 2022, Natasha and Sam were a marketing pro and a college sophomore who started a conversation at a family reunion. Three years later, The Viral Group is a 24-person global influencer marketing agency. In this episode, the two co-founders sit down to share how they built it, how they hire, how they handled the HR manager who faked interview scorecards, and the lessons they have learned about clarity, trust, and remote culture along the way. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ Why they hired senior "builders" before junior "executioners" and didn't take a salary for 18 months ▸ The hiring philosophy that combines startup speed with corporate systems ▸ The HR manager who faked interview scorecards (and what they did about it) ▸ The light-accountability systems they built afterward, instead of resorting to micromanagement ▸ How they track 24 people across functions without micromanaging ▸ Why burnout comes from lack of clarity, not workload ▸ How a single team member's feedback led to company-wide health insurance ▸ How to tell an A-player "no" to a promotion without losing them ▸ The two mistakes both founders would refuse to repeat 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guests: Natasha and Sam, Co-Founders of The Viral Group Host: Wesley Hoang, COO at Agency Workplaces

  8. Jun 9

    Gaspar Perez: How To Scale An Agency Team Across 93 Countries | Agency Culture Conversations Ep. 6

    Gaspar has spent more than 30 years inside advertising agencies. He started as an intern, helped bring CNN to Mexico, built an internal agency at Herbalife Nutrition that supported marketing across 93 countries, and today leads global operations at 121, a worldwide agency with over 200 employees. In this episode, you'll learn: ▸ Why alignment beats talent and process every single time ▸ How to build an internal agency that supports marketing across 93 countries ▸ The cultural proximity model behind hubs in Bangalore and Kuala Lumpur ▸ Why rewards work in private and criticism works in public in some cultures ▸ The 3-3 framework for structuring difficult accountability conversations ▸ The three mistakes leaders make as their teams scale past 15 people ▸ How to protect culture when speed is the goal ▸ Why AI will not replace agency teams, but it will replace the teams that refuse to use it ▸ The one mistake he would refuse to repeat after 30 years in agencies 🏆 Run an agency with a culture worth recognizing? Apply for our official agency culture recognition program at: https://agencyworkplaces.com/nomination-form Guest: Gaspar, Director of Global Operations at 121 Host: Wesley Hoang, COO at Agency Workplaces

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About

What is the secret sauce behind the world’s most successful agencies? It's not just a high-ticket offer or a flawless sales script, it's an exceptional culture that attracts top-tier talent and keeps them for years. Welcome to Agency Culture Conversations, the podcast dedicated to the human side of high-performance scaling. Hosted by the CEO and COO of Agency Workplaces, this show pulls back the curtain on the internal engines of 7 and 8-figure agencies that aren't just winning on the balance sheet, but winning in the hearts of their teams. Each episode, we sit down with founders and leaders who have cracked the code on workplace excellence. These aren't just "feel-good" stories, our guests lead agencies with verified, exceptional culture scores. We dive deep into the tangible strategies they use to build trust, foster innovation, and maintain a competitive edge in a remote, hybrid, or onsite world. In every episode, we explore: Scaling Without Burnout: How elite agencies maintain their "soul" while crossing the 7 and 8-figure marks.The ROI of Culture: Data-driven insights on how a high culture score directly impacts retention, client satisfaction, and profitability.Leadership at the Top: Candid conversations with founders on the hard decisions required to protect a team's environment.Operational Excellence: How leaders align day-to-day workflows with core values to create a "workplace of choice." Whether you’re a founder looking to bridge the gap from "busy shop" to "award-winning workplace" or a leader tasked with protecting your team’s momentum, this is your weekly masterclass in agency leadership. Build a better team. Get recognized. Scale with soul. Learn more about getting your agency recognized at AgencyWorkplaces.com.

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