The Glitch — where I stopped thinking like an agency.

The mandate I’d been climbing toward — Director, building and leading a 30-plus person strategy and business team for the Flux unit, on some of the most culturally charged brands in the country.

How to build capability, not just campaigns — a team, a P&L, a growth engine — for brands like Netflix and OnePlus where culture moves faster than any brief. We grew the unit 135% year on year and made award-winning integrated work.

Sitting across from a senior client one afternoon, I caught myself reworking his business — acquisition, retention, where brand perception actually moved money — not his campaign. I wasn’t thinking like an agency guy anymore. That was the moment the decade ended, even though I stayed a while longer.

Everything. The next move wasn’t another agency. It was to stop advising brands and start being accountable for one.