Stepping Down

Stepping down from the top is hard. Especially when health concerns force you to do so. I’ve been there.

In 2010, a few months after being diagnosed with a rare and terminal heart issue, I decided not only to step down but suddenly, wholly, and permanently closed Tangible Worldwide at the height of its success and my career.

We had all sorts of fun accounts at the time — Angry Birds/Chillingo/ Electronic Arts (EA) , AIGA Design , Urban Outfitters , Walmart Sustainability, T-Mobile retail, Sazerac Company 's portfolio — and had just been given a carte blanche opportunity to create a brand or rebrand MTV (now part of Paramount ) after we converted Pitchfork from a blog into a powerhouse media brand and launched Apple ’s iPod Touch along with it (example). Our “MTV World” strategy introduced K-pop and artists like Psy worldwide.

That was my swan song on the creative side of advertising.

As Tangible’s CEO, I drove year-over-year growth, consistently double to triple-digit percentages, for the previous ~7 years — all through word-of-mouth. We were expanding to APAC and spinning up a new startup/product division anchored by GrabbaBeast, which was blowing up via a surprising global education use of the app, and other in-house ventures.

I was also quietly fielding a flurry of acquisition offers at the time that would’ve made me, the sole owner, an even wealthier man.

We were in a desirable position on paper and primed for exponential growth.

But after nearly dying in Japan, I was forced to face my mortality. If you haven’t been there, you can’t imagine the fear that pours over you or the thoughts that fill your head. The lies you tell yourself and others. Because any admission to anyone, especially the public, that it’s time to move on starts with having to admit to yourself that you’re dying.

That’s not easy. And it’s worse when you can see it happening in the mirror.

I knew it was unlikely that I would live long enough to get through an earn-out period, and I couldn’t imagine, being just 30 years old, working on client-restricted creative for the rest of my life (literally), much less having a boss for the first time in over a decade.

So, I fired clients instead of capitalizing on over a decade of hard-earned, often pioneering, entrepreneurial success and one of the best agency teams ever assembled (as evidenced by what they have accomplished post-Tangible).

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done (save for my battle for survival). And several unexpected factors during the expedited unwind, including the bank freezing all of my assets for an extended period, made it unbelievably more challenging. That window of time also subjected me to pre-existing condition flags due to an unplanned healthcare lapse, which all but bankrupted me a few years later.

I paid dearly for my decision to step down.

I still look back on that period, over a decade later, filled with regrets for how I handled things and how little faith I had in myself to beat my terminal diagnosis (which I did). For instance, I believe our brand and team would’ve thrived in an XR and AI market and we certainly would’ve pioneered some creative uses of both (only without PR per usual).

But I knew (and know) I had to step down.

Although I typically avoid politics on LinkedIn, I share this story with empathy for President Joe Biden to thank him for his selfless act over the weekend.

I also share this for past clients and employees with whom I didn’t keep in touch, who likely don’t know the entire story.

Even though it worked out well for all of us in the end, if you asked me about it today, you would still see the pain in my eyes — the same pain you can see in Joe’s and likely will for the rest of his life.

As they say, it’s lonely at the top. But, from experience, it gets a lot lonelier after you step down. Joe made the hardest decision of his life this weekend. And the only thing that will make it easier on him is seeing his colleagues go on to do great things.

I hope you keep this in mind in November.