Fear and loathing irrelevance

I wrote last week about the pains of starting from scratch each year. I ended the post by asking how can we, being service businesses, create something of more lasting value. I mentioned this is a new end of the year question to add to my list. So, what are the old ones? 

A few weeks back I was talking to a director I'm friendly with. He is a non-Epoch director but I won't hold that against him. A young director was soliciting his advice and asked how he went about getting signed to his first company. He told him how 10 years ago, he made a list of his top 8 companies. His strategy was if he could get signed by any of the top 8, he'd do it. If not, he'd keep working on his reel. The young director liked this advice so they did the same exercise. Much to my friend's surprise the only company he recalled being on both the current and past list was Epoch. 

I was flattered but more had a strong feeling of satisfaction. Which brings me to the question I ask myself every year. If you are a company that has been around for 20 years in an industry obsessed by youth and lives by the mantra new and improved, what we must always ask ourself...how do we remain fresh, vibrant and most of all, relevant? 

I believe the foundation for our longevity is our commitment to developing new talent and I'm not talking solely directors. Over those ten years, Epoch has evolved and expanded at our own pace. Starting a viable London office. Developing and producing two feature films with our directors. Making an alliance with Rattling Stick. Investing in Imperial Woodpecker. Acquiring KGA to form Dandelion. There are also subtler less sexy moves. Hiring Dexter Randazzo in conjunction with MPC. Utilizing the creativity of Brielle Murray to make an internal monthly cultural cheat sheet. Empowering Megan Murphree to rise to the next level of her job. Along the way I can also point to many failures. I'll refrain from listing them here, one of the perks of having your own blog. But, those failures have helped enormously in creating something lasting and relevant. 

Arguably we may not be the only company both lists. I can say for a fact, we were never number one. No of that matters to me in the slightest. What does matter is our ability to consistently maintain a high level of excellence as directors careers have risen, maintained and subsided. We have done so at our own pace never looking to be anything we are not just maximize what we are. 

As my depression subsides from facing the climb up the mountain yet again, the hope of a new year inspires me. It's the year one of our young directors separates itself from the pack. An idea will germinate and spawn a new dimension to our company. Someone in the Epoch fold will rise to a new challenge and take an initiative to add value to the company. Or, it will be something completely unexpected.

We're ready for the challenge. And like every year, I believe this will be the best one yet.