Bossing It: Honesty and Transparency Always Comes First with Tommy Henvey

As co-founder and chief creative, Tommy drives the creative vision behind the work at Something Different. He loves ideas. Loves figuring them out, making them better and bringing them to life. 

Tommy has received numerous prestigious awards from shows like AICP, ANDY, Cannes Film Festival, Clio, Effie, New York Festival, and the One Show. He’s also been lucky enough to have written for renowned talent that includes Robert DeNiro, Ricky Gervais, Ellen DeGeneres, and Beyonce. He would also hate that his accomplishments are being listed here and would most likely prefer to be known for his sense of humour and his complete and total blind optimism, in almost any situation.

Having over two decades of experience working across fully-integrated platforms, Tommy has guided creative teams on brands like FedEx, Pepsi, Spectrum, HPE, Doritos, NASCAR, and Kraft, among many others. He has served as executive creative director at McGarry Bowen and Ogilvy, global creative director at Y&R and creative director at BBDO.

Tommy loves what he does and feels lucky he gets to do it everyday. Admittedly, he'd still rather be playing shortstop for the Yankees, though the likelihood of that diminishes daily.

LBB> What was your first experience of leadership?

Tommy> I started a curse club when I was about 10 years old. It’s exactly what it sounds like, or maybe it isn’t. We didn’t put curses on people, we just said bad words. Unfortunately, I had to kick my best friend Paul out because he wouldn’t say fuck. I loved him, but those were the rules.

How did you figure out what kind of leader you wanted to be – or what kind of leader you didn’t want to be?

Tommy> I don’t know if I’ve ever figured that out. I guess I never really thought about being in that position. People at some point looked at me to be the one to make a decision and when they did I made it to the best of my ability and stood by it. I wasn’t always right but I never blamed someone else for it. I knew I didn’t want to be like that.

LBB> What experience or moment gave you your biggest lesson in leadership?

Tommy> I played a lot of sports growing up but I wasn’t a big yelling speech guy. One baseball game we were getting killed and in the last inning I ran into a fence to catch a foul ball and one of the younger guys asked me why I didn’t just let it go foul so that the game could be over. I said that’s how you’re supposed to play, the score and the inning really didn’t matter. I could see a big change in how people looked at things after that. It taught me that showing people what you expect is much more powerful than just yelling it.

LBB> Did you know you always wanted to take on a leadership role? If so how did you work towards it and if not, when did you start realising that you had it in you?

Tommy> I never made a conscious decision or anything like that to be in a leadership role. It just kind of happened. It started with sports I guess, I was always the captain on the teams and not because I was necessarily the best player. I loved it and I worked hard at it, that’s how I was brought up and I expected everyone around me to do the same. It’s no different in business. 

LBB> When it comes to 'leadership' as a skill, how much do you think is a natural part of personality, how much can be taught and learned?

Tommy> That’s a tough one. I think you can learn how to be a better manager and learn how to handle people differently, you can always get better. But whether or not people are going to run out of a fox hole with you in the first place is something I think you’re born with.

LBB> What are the aspects of leadership that you find most personally challenging? And how do you work through them? 

Tommy> Probably the same as most people. Having to let someone go. It’s crushing because you build incredible relationships with people but it’s part of business unfortunately. I try to think of all the times I was knocked on my ass and remember without those bad times I thought I’d never get through I wouldn’t have ended up doing what I do today. It doesn’t take away the pain at the time but it gives me hope.

LBB> Have you ever felt like you've failed whilst in charge? How did you address the issue and what did you learn from it?

Tommy> Way too many times to count. That’s part of the gig though. You can’t be in that position and not expect to fall on your face sometimes. You have to stand by the call you made and take your medicine. Does it suck? Absolutely. But if you’re surrounded by the right people and have built real relationships, there is always a way forward.

LBB> In terms of leadership and openness, what’s your approach there? Do you think it’s important to be transparent as possible in the service of being authentic? Or is there a value in being careful and considered?

Tommy> If transparent means don’t bullshit I’m incredibly transparent. It’s just who I am and who I’ve always been. The people I work with and the clients we have know that I genuinely care about them, so it’s never mean or anything like that. For better or worse I’m always going to tell them how I really feel about something. But it’s coming from a good place and I think they respect that.

LBB> As you developed your leadership skills did you have a mentor, if so who were/are they and what have you learned? And on the flip side, do you mentor any aspiring leaders and how do you approach that relationship? 

Tommy> In life it’s always been my father. He was always just someone people counted on and looked up to. In business I was just as lucky. I grew up under Michael Patti, Phil Dusenberry, Ted Sann, Joe Pytka and Chris Wall. All very different but all people that you would run through a wall for if you had to because they never expected anything from you that they weren’t willing to put the work in for themselves.

I’m not saying it was always easy but I learned more from them about advertising than I could ever put into words. As far as me with people coming up, I just try to be as honest as possible as I can with them as far as what I’ve learned and hope someday, they feel that way about me. My best advice is find the thing that makes them who they are and run with it, don’t try to imitate someone else. It never quite works.

LBB> In continually changing market circumstances, how do you cope with the responsibility of leading a team through difficult waters? 

Tommy> Like everything else I think it comes down to honesty. Everyone should be aware of what the stakes are and how we see the future shaking out. You’re dealing with people’s lives and families, you want them to know that you’re doing everything you can to not just survive but to succeed. It’s a heavy responsibility but if you remember why you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for, it’s worth it.

LBB> As a leader, what are some of the ways in which you’ve prioritised diversity and inclusion within your workforce?

Tommy> I don’t know who said it but someone did: “if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” The best ideas, the best work, the best environment comes when you surround yourself with people that are good at the things you’re not. The only way to fill a room like that is with different types of people, with different types of brains, that have different experiences from you. It’s what we try to do on every project because not only does the work get better but so do you.

LBB> How important is your company culture to the success of your business? And how have you managed to keep it alive with increases in remote and hybrid working patterns? 

Tommy> It’s probably the most important part for us. When my partner Patti McConnell and I started Something Different we wanted to work with people we loved. You spend a lot of time together and you should look forward to it. Yes it’s work. Yes it’s gruelling sometimes and I want to punch myself in the face for saying it but we’re like a family. Remote and hybrid can be tough, especially on the creative bits but we were doing it before covid so that made it less of a shock for us.

If you can count on the people doing the work, where they do it doesn’t matter. We shoot a good amount so we spend weeks together on location plus we do office days and all that but I still miss their faces in person sometimes.

LBB> What are the most useful resources you’ve found to help you along your leadership journey?

Tommy> Here’s where I’d like to list a bunch of incredible books I’ve read about leadership but it would be a lie. There’s a great quote by Teddy Roosevelt called “The Man in the Arena” that I love. Long story short he says it’s better to be in the arena trying hard and beat to crap than outside of it questioning how the person beat to crap could have done a better job. That always made sense to me.

If I’m being honest the most useful resource I’ve found throughout my life is the people that have counted on me, their families, my family. They put their faith in me for some reason I can’t imagine and I never want to let them down. The choices aren’t always easy but I’d rather be in there making them than wondering if someone else made them right.