Guest: Mo Said, the Founder & CEO of Mojo Supermarket, a powerhouse advertising agency that’s been named Small Agency of the Year, Strategy Team of the Year, and one of the Best Places to Work.
Overview: Growing and managing a BIG business is an art. For many CEOs, high-level leadership is also a journey of self-discovery. Find that perfect harmony between all your skills and passions and Making BIG Happen will be that much more fulfilling.
On today’s show, Mo Said discusses how he resolved the tensions between the artist he wanted to be and the CEO his business needed. He also shares how he designed his own CEO education through stories, coaching, and reflection, and why great entrepreneurs are actually great artists.
Mo Said on finding a business outlet for his creativity:
”I’m a musician, I’m a songwriter, I liked making little movies, I liked acting. But in Pakistan, at least in my family, art was not a reputable thing to be doing, or a monetarily good thing to be doing. I stepped into an advertising agency and I realized that people in advertising agencies were doing all the things that I liked. They were making the movies, they were making the songs, they were doing the jingles. And that’s something that I could tell my family and friends that I was doing. Being a creative in advertising scratches the itch of the business side and the art side at the same time, and I just luckily fell into it.”
Mo Said on creating a business system to sustain his art:
“Most people are just running a business that is just like another business, that is just like another business, and they’re moving forward incrementally. We talked about the business person being the artist, coming in and saying, ‘What if we reimagine from scratch what an ad is and how an ad is created?’ And then the business acumen comes in and says, ‘Okay, how do you operationalize such a thing?’ And then you write the operational structure of that and then say, ‘Okay, how do you bring people along on a week-by-week basis? If you told me the artist four years ago, three years ago, six months ago, that you should implement the EOS system, I would’ve been like, ‘Get the hell outta here.’ But it took both of those friends now in my brain, the artist and the businessmen, the creative person and the business person, saying, ‘What if you could imagine an incredible future? And what if I could systemize a way to get us there and finance our way to get us there? What if you and I could be friends? What if it wasn’t me taking advantage of your art and selling it to people? You taking advantage of taking that money and buying a piano? What if we weren’t two people that are adversaries that leached off each other? What if you and I were friends and what if you and I could create something?’”
Mo Said on “firing” himself to grow into the CEO role:
“ I changed my title to ‘Founder and CEO’ and I got in front of the company and I said, ‘I’m leaving the creative department and I am going to be CEO.’ People were like, ‘Don’t tell clients that, clients come to you because you’re the best creative director in the world. Don’t tell your employees that, employees will end up leaving because you’re not being the creative.’ By the way, ever since I became CEO, I’ve had more creative impact on the work. But I had to fire myself from being the artist and say, ‘You are now a CEO. What education do you need?’ I said, ‘I’m a 3 out of 10 CEO. How do I get to an 8 and what do I need to learn and what do I need to believe about myself that I can do that job?’ I literally changed my wardrobe when I took the CEO job at my own company. I fired my creative self and threw out those clothes and I bought new clothes. I bought a new way of life to fully play that way of life that felt so foreign to me. It’s not easy and it wasn’t enjoyable.
“But now that I’ve done that, I can integrate both parts and to be able to integrate both parts you have to go play the part that you least want to play. I went from five years of never looking at finances to spending time only doing finance, operations, HR, legal, all the things that I couldn’t be bothered looking at. I spent most of my time doing that, and only through that, putting in enough reps, I feel like I am an expert at it. I can go back to my basement to play piano and feel like both parts are integrated and I don’t need to be a afraid of the one that I’m bad at. Fire yourself from the role that you know best to go play the role that you know the least in your company to understand and make yourself a little bit whole.”
Links:
The “Story” That’s Holding You and Your Company Hostage – Tom Asacker discusses the power and limitations of your business’ story and how CEOs can rewrite their narratives to Make BIG Happen.
5 Non-Traditional Books for CEOs To Put on Your Reading List for 2025 – Make this the year that you diversify your inputs more and broaden how you see your company, your industry, and the world.
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