While reflecting on what I learned in 2012, I realized that the list is LONG! It’s been shaped by lots of life changes, some sad events, and a lot of hope for the future. I think the best way for me to tackle it is to rely on some “Traci-isms”! What’s a “Traci-ism”? Well, of course I made it up, but it’s part cliché, part quotes from profound people, and part experience…all with a hint of humor. I won’t list them all, but let’s hit the Top12 since we are signing off to the year 2012!

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
So, this statement can be attributed to God, parents, teachers and anyone who is older than you and wants you to know things will get better. In my case, this year has been a continuation of trying life experiences, including divorce, parental illness and a few other events of note. I believe this statement more than ever. Significant emotional events teach and strengthen you!

Never burn a bridge.
I got this one from my Dad, and though not original, it’s a rule I live by! People can drive you crazy. They can be mean, nasty and just down-right awful. However, St. Louis, and perhaps, the world, is too small to make unnecessary enemies. Whatever the case, you can always do your best to be cordial, professional and try to keep the “bridge” still crossable. You never know when you might need it!

So, #2 leads me to #3. Always try to be the bigger person.
This one is hard. You will be tested, as I have been this year, and I do believe when you strive to leave a situation in the most adult way possible, it will work out for the better. It’s okay to get angry, mad, pissed off… but, in the end, try to remain graceful!

You are not your age, but you should act it!
Once I turned 40, I thought, “damn I’m old”! But “old” is a state of mind, not a number. I have the responsibilities of a 42-year-old, many that are not fun. And some areas of my body ache unlike ever before. But, I don’t feel 42 and I don’t act it! I do, however, choose not to dress and/or behave like I’m 18, and that’s a good thing for everyone!

Do what you love, and love what you do.
Another quote from my Dad, which I have followed for years. This year marked 15 years of running my own business. I think we should always evaluate if the thing you do to make a living really makes you happy. And, all things ebb and flow, so we won’t always love every minute or aspect of it. However, we spend so much time working, shouldn’t we enjoy it?

Be adventurous!
In September, my friend and I drove to Chicago for 24 hours to see Prince in concert. It was totally worth it!!! Some things are worth the hours of sleep you may miss. Like one of the most powerful brands in the world markets—Just Do It!

Agree to disagree.
This was a very political year, as we all know, and thank goodness it’s over. The election happened, and in four years, we’ll do it again. I’m pretty sure we all have some battle scars, but it’s time to let it go! Changing someone’s mind is not always possible, and it’s okay. Most relationships are worth more than the argument!

Be open to anything and anyone.
I’m a bit of a control freak, but have learned you don’t know what or who is going to happen. So, when something unexpected shows up, keep the door open and “the light on”, as my friend says!

Try new stuff!
As long as you won’t die doing it, try it! This summer I took a few classes: one in quilting, one in letterpress and a mixology class! It was a great experience and I loved learning something new.

Kids are amazing!
I’m the proud aunt of five and Godmother to four. I work with students in my classes at WashU, and through a mentor program at U. City High School. I’m surrounded by young people. Kids constantly amaze me and make me excited for the future!

Cursing is a stress reliever!
The best word ever invented begins with the letter F! Using it regularly is cathartic. Just make sure there are no kids or tightly-wound adults around! Oh, and I don’t curse in front of my parents or members of the clergy!

Always find something to laugh at, even if it’s yourself!
It’s not always easy to do, but it’s very needed. A good cry is helpful, but a good laugh is therapy! If you can’t find something on Facebook, try a movie, or call a friend that always makes you laugh.

In honor of 2013, a baker’s dozen!

Life is short.
This year, after teaching more than 8 years, I experienced for the the first time a passing of one of my students: Emily Benatar, a freshman. She was the kind of girl that made you smile just looking at her, and was a joy to have in class. I didn’t know when I met her that she would die within six months and I wouldn’t get to tell her how much potential I thought she had. This event sent me into a tailspin. If a freshman in college can suddenly die, what does that mean for the rest of us. Since then, we’ve had shootings of small children, Hurricane Sandy, and all kinds of other tragedies that have taken lives of people who were not expected to go.

What I was reminded of by Emily’s passing, and the sadness in the loss of life of so many other people, is that life is short. Tell people you love them now. Treat them well, even when they don’t deserve it. Let them know that they are behaving badly, but tell them you still love them anyway. Don’t get rid of rules and boundaries, but remember that there are so many people in our lives that we affect daily, we may not get that chance again.

In your quest to protect yourself, to be strong and love those immediately around you, remember those people you don’t know very well. The ones whose lives are impacted by you, even if only for that moment. Then, acknowledge it and let them know they matter.

Don’t get me wrong, 2012 wasn’t all bad, or all good, but I’m sure looking forward to 2013 and what happens next!

Observations and unsolicited advice based on what I’ve learned in the last 12-ish months.

• Don’t Jump to Proportions!
Inadvertent metaphor-mixing is rampant in the ad business, and I suspect in conference rooms across the nation. This is next-level shit for jargon-spewers everywhere. Following are quotations from meetings I’ve been in personally:

“Let’s put a stake in the sand you guys.”

“We need to move the dime.”

“This is gonna blow their socks out of the water!”

• Work out at lunch. Put it in your calendar and do it. Even if it’s just a quick walk. A little treadmill time is better for you, your co-workers and your clients than another hour in that office with Turkey Tom, Thinny Chips and a Diet Coke.

• Step away from the Outlook. We all know that emailing is no substitute for face-to-face conversations, yet we continue to sit at our keyboards and email the person two cubes over. It’s absurd and (ironically) it makes us less accountable. Sure, your ass is covered. But did you actually accomplish anything?

• The person who talks most in the meeting feels best about how the meeting went. So shut your mouth.

• I’ll take an influencer over a leader any day of the week. There’s a difference. And we need to get things done.

• Amazon Prime is the best thing to happen to shoppers since self-checkout.

• St. Louis is our opportunity and our responsibility. We all need to invest our time, talent and money to make this a place people want to work and live and visit. There’s a lot of good stuff happening. Let’s quit complaining and get involved.

• There are few things in life more valuable than perspective. Be disciplined about looking at matters from other peoples’ points of view in addition to your own. There’s a whole lot more to see that way.

• Your time is precious, so spend it wisely and don’t be ashamed to outsource things that don’t add to your/your family’s quality of life. And if you need help justifying the expense, give me a shout. I’ve gotten good at rationalizing. Ever heard of Doody Calls? I’d rather spend $60/month on that than on a thrice-weekly Starbucks habit. Am I right or am I right?!

• Appreciate. There are a lot of good things happening in your life. Choose to focus on those things, especially when times are tough.

• Have the courage to care about something. Apathy is for assholes.

• Work hard and be nice to people. It’s not rocket surgery.

Let me first say how honored I am to be asked to participate in this.
And, at the same time, terrified.

“What I learned this year” is a pretty clear-cut question. While one could easily fluff a response to “What inspired me this year” or “What I enjoyed about this year,” there’s virtually no ambiguity to a summary of personal and professional growth over the last 12 months.

I firmly believe that we never stop learning form one another. And I wanted to do this right. I wanted to really look back and share some of the things that expanded my universe this year. As I looked back at previous entries from the Denver Egotist, I saw a pretty wide variety of contributions. A lot of lists of “things that inspire me.” Some chuckles. A few rather heavy personal stories. But the entries to “What I learned this year” that I found most intriguing weren’t the ones designed for entertainment, but the ones where people shared their mistakes, and the invaluable lessons learned from them. They showed me that there are countless other people out there, just like us, building and growing and adapting within this crazy creative business of ours. And they have the same problems, and concerns, and fears we all do.

So my list is short. No, this isn’t everything I learned this year. I’m still relatively young, and that list is too damn long. These are a just few of the key things this year has taught me as a human, a business leader, and as a teammate. Stumbles I’ve made, and revelations I’ve reached – sometimes painfully. Because I also believe good judgment comes from experience, which comes from bad judgment.

1. First find love, then find balance.

This was, by far, the easiest thing to learn once I had the life experiences to appreciate it. Wiser people have told me for years how important it is to find balance between our work, our families, and our personal passions. In my arrogant youth, I wrote much of this off. I mean, some (certainly not all) of the most creative individuals in our history, artists, inventors, teachers, live (or lived) miserable existences. And at one point early in my career, I rationalized being unhappy for the sake of being better. In hindsight, I realize how pathetic that logic was.

This year, my super-amazing wife and I made our second (and theoretically final) installment to our young family. Within a span of 20 months, I went from grew-up-in-a-family-of-boys Ross, to lives-with-three-girls Ross. Now all the things that stressed me out about running a creative business seem trivial in comparison to the open ocean of parenthood.

At first, I tried to fit my family life around my work life. I quickly learned that this wasn’t fair to either my family or my teammates, that it was making me unhappy, and that my work performance was suffering as a result.

So what changed? A couple of things. First, I quickly gained a whole new level of respect for the members of my 2e family that have successfully balanced beautiful families with solid careers for years. Folks like Lynda, John, Matt and Amy. I’ve learned to listen more to those, like Larry, Melanie, and of course, my partner Joe, who are much further along in this journey. These people are amazing, creative folks, and I’m continually inspired by their ability to find harmony.

I’ve also learned to trust others to do their job well. This doesn’t mean I’ve learned to “let go.” I still care about the work we do. It’s my job. But I think I’ve started getting better at setting expectations, then stepping out of the way of my more-than-capable teammates.

And finally, I’ve started putting my family, and the families of those around me, first. It’s okay to step out for my daughter’s preschool sing-along. The company will still be here when I get back.

2. There is true good in the work we do.

I had a bit of a career crisis over the last couple years, most likely triggered by the birth of my first daughter. I had taken a moment from years of head-down focus on the business to come up for air and ask myself what we were working toward. My business partner, Joe, has occasionally challenged me with that very question over the years, but I hadn’t really paid it the respectful attention it deserved. Probably because I didn’t truly understand the question.

But then my brother and sister-in-law joined the Peace Corps. Right now, they’re in Peru directly impacting the lives and communities of thousands of people. They’re two brilliant, beautiful, kind people who are making a difference, and I’m incredibly proud of them. This caused me to ask, what do I do? As much as I love the creative process, and enjoy working in an environment where I’m surrounded by creative individuals, the fact is in the creative business, we don’t actually make anything. We don’t build bridges, or produce widgets, or give people homes. Our most tangible output is ideas and the tools used to communicate them.

But what we do is so fascinating. We actually create products of the mind –
brands, ideas, strategies – out of nothing. It’s a daily cycle of invention. So how do we find passion in the brands we’re so adept at creating?

We shared that question with the team here at 2e Creative. We took a deep, long look at the clients we were most passionate about. Which ones we most enjoyed working with, and what characteristics they had in common. We quickly realized that our favorite brands were those that sought to make a real difference in the world. Brands that challenged us with their complexities, and that saw true value in our ability to help them tell their story.

At 2e Creative, we help drive change for brands that want to change the world. Coming to that realization has helped our team unite behind a common purpose. It has provided guidance in our pursuit of new business. It’s reignited my passion, not just in what we do, but in who we’re working with.

I look forward to revisiting that question with my teammates every day for years to come.

3. We’re made better by the brilliant people around us.

We should all take our heads out of the dreadful mechanics of business to catch a breath of air and remember that companies are communities, not machines.

There was, not long ago, a period in my career at 2e when I was in problem-solving mode. The creative industry was (and still is) in the midst of great evolution, and I had focused all of my energies on how our little company would survive, thrive and prosper. For whatever reason, I made the mistake of thinking it was my job alone to worry about, and ultimately find solutions to, these challenges.

I’d lost touch with the wealth of intelligent, creative brainpower that surrounds me. It took some subtle (and a few flagrant) nudges from my teammates to realize what was happening, but I was astounded at how quickly and readily this incredible team of ours stepped up to help. Brilliant creatives like Simon and Brandon. Solid strategists like Bridget. And tenured believers like Steve and Teresa.

The last 12 months have represented a gradual – but inspiring – community effort to reimagine our agency’s future. We still have a lot of work ahead, but I know it’s going to be an incredible journey.

The net result? I’ve found peace in loving what I do, and more importantly, the brilliant, passionate people I work with.

“Everything that is good comes from honesty,” is a line from the song “The Last” by rapper Childish Gambino. Admittedly, I’ve been known to listen to the same album for months at a time. And this year, I seem to have his music stuck on repeat. I admit I have issues.

To me, the line is about having the courage to approach things from your own perspective, take chances, and be yourself along the way.

A lot of the projects we worked on this year scared the hell out of me. We decided to take a couple key projects and push them as far as we could, without any regrets of why we couldn’t.

I remember the pressure we put on ourselves when we made the materials for the AIGA St. Louis Design Show. We looked at all the outstanding work that had been done in the previous years, and knew that it really wasn’t our design style. But of course we wanted to make something equally great. At the end, it was just like, “Fuck it, this is how we see it. Let’s just do something we think represents the event and that we can be proud of.”

And it all turned out ok. At least no one bashed us on Twitter.

But I think success is addictive, and we kept trying to do work that made us nervous while trying to hold on to our perspective along the way. We had conversations with new business about the things we wanted to get out of the project. And called out each other’s work if we didn’t think it was where it should be. Never mean, always supportive and honest.

We also tried to talk about the business of design to whomever would listen, because while creative shops love to show their work, hardly anyone ever talks about money or how they get new business. There’s always been a lack of information on the topic, and we always wondered how other companies handle these issues. And while we’ll never have it figured out completely, we tried to share everything we’ve learned so far, so maybe it will help somebody enjoy this profession a little more.

We learned a lot in 2012, and did a lot of things we’re proud of. We had some failures along the way, but we had some pretty great successes, too. And even when we failed, it was usually trying to do something we honestly believed in.

I have the benefit of having amazing support from my family, and I’m privileged to get to work with some really wonderful people. I learned a long time ago how lucky I am.