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Chief
I built an analytics department from scratch at a mid size agency. A lot of awesome experience. Learned a lot. Certainly some challenges [people don’t like change]. feel free to DM me.
Yup. It’s a lot of work. You need to have a vision for the type of work you want to do, the process to get there and then hire the people to support it.
And while you’re doing that you will also have to do the client work.
Having built out two departments now...it’s a different type of work. Building is rewarding, engaging, and invigorating and also exhausting, crushing, and relentless, depending on the day. You have to WANT to do that type of work. Still stretches your strategy brain, but in a very different way than client work (which you will still likely be doing while you build).
For myself, I love it, and choose it over pure strategy work. I once needed to take a leave and one of my directors took over for me for a short time. He hated the job for the exact reasons I loved it and was happy to move back into his previous role as soon as I returned.
There’s no *right* answer about if that’s a good next step for you. Really just comes down to what you want. Good luck!
Follow up: you said it’s a senior strat role. Does that mean Senior Strategist as a title, or it’s a senior role more generally?
I ask because creating the type of change this requires would be quite a bit harder from a non-senior leadership role, and/or near impossible depending on the amount of hierarchy in the agency, even at a small place. So if it is a senior strategist title, I’d discuss with them what the future plans really look like for hiring, investment in strategy, and access to decision makers.
Chief
I’ve built a social practice in two agencies. The biggest challenge I’ve found is that most people don’t give a shit. I could see the same happening with strategy. You need full investment (financially and emotionally) from leadership to make it happen.
You need to get in touch with a guy in London called Will Humphries who works at Wonderman Thompson as a Strategy Director. He has done exactly this in a previous role and I am sure he has great advice for you about it. Very nice guy too.