Happy to be small again

Three months ago I was President and Chief Digital Officer of Engauge (a 250-person digital marketing agency) and had a wide range of responsibilities. Five different departments reported to me across three offices. There were days that I felt the meetings would not end. In no particular order, my responsibilities included:

– Help keep our culture great
– Oversee our business development and marketing efforts
– Oversee the media department
– Oversee the technology department
– Oversee the innovation group
– Oversee the social team
– Oversee the strategy team
– Leadership meetings
– Board meetings
– Lots of travel

Fortunately, I was blessed with great leaders working over most of those areas but they still reported to me and the success of their departments, and the agency as a whole, was part of my responsibility.

Now, as CEO of Dragon Army (a mobile-first game studio) I have a team of ten and my responsibilities are far less complicated: Build and market great mobile games.

It reminds me very much of when I started my first company, Spunlogic (also a digital marketing agency). When you have a small team typically the number of responsibilities you have are far less. Important, but less. Sell and build great websites. That was my responsibility in the early years of Spunlogic.

I’m certainly not complaining about overseeing a large group like I did at Engauge. It just requires a very different type of leadership and different day-to-day responsibilities. I’m excited – or couldn’t you tell – to be back in the mix with a smaller team, plotting through uncharted territory and spending more time being creative than in management meetings.