Family culture helps agency do better work

David Rosenberg, 55, is president of Rosenberg Advertising, a Lakewood company he founded in 1981 with one employee – himself – and one client. Today, the full-service marketing and advertising firm employs 14 and has served more than 200 clients. Since 1997 Rosenberg's company has dwelled in an unusual office space: a renovated three-story, century-old home in Lakewood. These are excerpts from a recent chat between Rosenberg and Plain Dealer reporter Kaye Spector.

The Question: How would you describe your company's culture?

The Answer: It starts with having the atmosphere here, which is part of the house itself.

I moved here from the Warehouse District and was looking for something that I liked but was also our brand. Our brand is the fact that we do have this family culture, which we think helps us to do better work.

We have a magnolia tree outside. In our brand now we show the tree. We think the tree is very symbolic: fresh ideas, honest roots.

The honest roots comes in with how our culture is. We believe we are the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-work-hard mentality.

The Question: Making hiring decisions is particularly important in a small business. How do you choose new hires?

The Answer: First I try to identify what we need, the skill that we need. We want to make sure we hire somebody who has the skill to do the job.

But then, once that is given, that’s where the culture part comes in. We’re looking for the right person. We are looking for someone we feel we could see as a good team member and who has the same can-do attitude.

This is not a business where only I know the clients. Our clients know the people who work on their accounts. So we visualize, ‘Does this person represent us well, do they have the right type of spirit?’ ”

The Question: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about management?

The Answer: Some people say the advertising business is an idea business or a communication business. I definitely realize we are a people business.

But even before that, you have to have the right mix. We basically start with a blank piece of paper every day and it’s the people who fill it in. If you get the people part right, you’re going a long way to establishing a successful business.

The Question: You allow your employees to work from home a day or two a week. What made you decide to do that?

The Answer: When I started the business, everybody had to start work at 8:30 and leave at 5:30 and take an hour lunch. And if they came in at 8:35, then I was not happy.

I realize now flexibility is huge in people’s lives. And so we came up with a schedule that would provide us with enough face-to-face time together so that we can do what we do.

We figured out the technology, which wasn’t that hard to do. The phones roll over to a cell phone at home. With e-mail and technology we still can communicate very well.

There’s enough face time where I feel we have not lost anything in terms of what we need to do to be productive, proactive and good at our jobs. And I realized our work gets done. It gets done just as well.

The Question: : What did you gain from such a schedule?

The Answer: I think people were dedicated before, but I definitely feel that they are happier. I think their stress level went down a tad.

My job is to provide them the right environment so they can do their best work.

The Question: How do you foster creativity?

The Answer: We all get along here and I think people are open to talking and disagreeing, just communicating with each other. That is what we do, but it spawns creativity.

Creativity is basically allowing any idea to come out, and then collectively you figure out what can we work with, what can we not work with. The open communication goes a long way into being open to come up with good work.

If I want to get a meeting moving and sometimes the ideas aren’t good, I catch myself saying, “That’s not a good idea,” and I know better. That is so counterproductive.

Sometimes a bad idea spawns a good idea, which spawns a great idea.

If at the core, people get along and can talk with each other, that’s not fancy but that’s how we do good work and get creative ideas.