I was interviewed last year by Anna Farmery about our democratic working practices at NixonMcInnes for her Engaging Brand podcast series. The interview never appeared on her site leaving me a bit paranoid that I had been completely boring or incoherent. Fortunately, it turned out she had just misplaced the memory card which has now been found and so the interview is live.
You can listen to the episode through the web player. The interview starts about two minutes in.
As always, interested to know what you think.
Tom - I was inspired by your story, I often laugh at agencies who speak externally about social media but do not live it internally. It really was great to meet you - just put my absent mindedness down to mid life crisis :)
Anna
Posted by: Anna Farmery | 17 June 2008 at 06:53 PM
As always with NM, very interesting.
Do you use any proprietary software to help you manage this internally?
Posted by: David Stone | 17 June 2008 at 08:59 PM
Interesting question Dave. What kind of thing were you thinking that software might be needed for?
Posted by: Tom Nixon | 18 June 2008 at 10:37 AM
Proprietary wasn't really the word I was looking for- more home brewed. Or do you stick with Google Apps for your domain? Basecamp maybe? etc
Posted by: David Stone | 18 June 2008 at 03:16 PM
A bit of everything really: Basecamp; Google Apps; Fogbugz; Various open source bits like SVN, SugarCRM
Posted by: Tom Nixon | 18 June 2008 at 05:31 PM
I listened to The Engaging Brand audio show and found the content very thought provoking. Thank you for giving an insight into your approach and your business.
Posted by: Louise Manning | 19 June 2008 at 12:45 AM
I really like the talk - which appears genuine - around democracy in action in your company. However, you are a small group and it is much easier to be democractic with a near identical demographic!
Looking at the 'Nice People' pages and all that appears on first sight is a mono-culture of white 20-30 somethings. Does this show a lurking (90's new media) ageism? Who's voice isn't there that could give a truly maverick and original view and insight that may disturb the status quo? Is participation the same as democracy..? I dont think so.
Posted by: James | 18 November 2008 at 05:57 PM
I'm not sure I agree that it's easier to be more democratic when you're less diverse. If everyone thought the same thing, you'd lose the value of democracy (for example, you'd get bored of voting on issues if everyone always voted the same way.)
Dissenting voices are good and I'm always appreciative of the people who speak up.
Posted by: Tom Nixon | 18 November 2008 at 09:47 PM
thought it might add a stamp of authenticity if I added my voice - I work at NixonMcInnes and can vouch that we try very hard to live the principles Tom outlines in his post. We've by no means got it right, but we've got a clear vision and work towards it in everything we do.
The point about diversity is an interesting one - and quite flattering as I'm a good 10 years out of the age bracket mentioned - you do the maths ;) I'd like to see more diversity within the team - we're building products for the full gamut of 'people', so it would be better if we could reflect this ourselves. I'm not sure though how best to affect that, based as we are in a predominantly white city and an industry that unfortunately remains most attractive to young(er), male(r) people. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Jenni Lloyd | 19 November 2008 at 10:25 PM