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Talking karaoke and priorities with Loyalkaspar's Scott Lakso | #GettingToKnow

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In this week’s #GettingTo Know we catch up with Scott Lakso, Executive Producer at the New York-based creative branding agency loyalkaspar.

Scott is an eccentric and dynamic creative who sees his role as “cumulative rather than reductive.” In other words, he likes to wear many hats. We discuss everything from the value of childhood experiences in shaping our adult creative brains to the best karaoke bars to take clients after a meeting. And so much more besides.

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Tell us a bit about your role! Is there a “typical” day?

Given that no two days are quite the same, I would say a "typical" day is one that surprises me and requires unique approaches and solutions compared to the day before. That's both one of the joys and one of the challenges of the position; no day is ever boring, but no day is ever a cakewalk either. 

In terms of my role, it could be summed up as "everything I've ever done in previous roles plus a bunch of new things," meaning that I see the role of Executive Producer as a cumulative one rather than reductive

The components that are unique to the EP role include establishing and maintaining relationships with clients, developing proposals and plans for potential assignments, and overseeing our production team to make sure everyone is happy and doing their best work. 

And while I wouldn't say it's in the official job description to jump into After Effects to re-render something, brainstorm names and tag lines for a streaming platform, or determine the best karaoke bar to take our clients to after dinner, those are just a few of the unexpected challenges an EP might face. 

Basically, any of the skills I've developed over the last 15 years might be called upon at any time. The hardest part then is to prioritise what to tackle first!

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What was the biggest challenge in getting to your current position?

I'm not sure if there's one challenge that was harder to overcome than another, but the one prerequisite that can't be skipped or condensed is the amount of experience needed to perform at an executive level. 

No matter how intelligent, confident, and self-assured you are coming out of college, no matter how much you've read or studied, there are experiences – including mistakes and failures and attempting seemingly impossible tasks – that you can only learn from by living through them. 

The nuances in managing clients and teams can't be learned overnight, so the biggest "challenge" was to grow, learn, adapt, and evolve over more than a decade of coordinating, producing, and managing teams in order to apply those insights in the EP position.

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What is your personal background and what role did it play in your career?

When I say the EP role includes "everything I've ever done in previous roles plus a bunch of new things," I don't just mean my roles as a professional; I would say the EP role taps into skills I developed even at a much younger age. 

My friends in school – in the pre-internet, pre-cell phone days – used to joke that I overcomplicated every attempt to get together, going so far as to coin the term "a Scott Plan" to describe my efforts. Later I became the Stage Manager for our high school's theatre program, which was an excellent crash course in managing talent and supporting directors. 

I think that even my preferred sports and roles – gravitating towards doubles tennis, preferring to be the goalkeeper in soccer and floor hockey, etc. – reflected my team-based leadership mentality and helped me further develop the skills necessary to be successful in the role I am today. Throw in a university film studies education and you've got a pretty good starting point for a future Executive Producer.

What is your biggest career-related win? What is your biggest loss?

There are a lot to choose from, but I would probably say the biggest win was having the opportunity to launch Dlife, a Walt Disney Television network in Japan, which involved an intensive week-long, in-person workshop on Japanese culture at their offices in Tokyo

Even ignoring the jet lag, the amount of information and knowledge we absorbed on that trip was overwhelming and exhausting – in a good way. To have the chance to collaborate with colleagues on the other side of the planet, immerse ourselves in a culture that's both connected to but vastly different from where I come from, and to then translate those learnings into design and animation was an experience I'll never forget and that will be hard to top.

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As for the flip side, I try not to take professional losses personally, so the toughest moments for me would have to be when a colleague I've worked with for a long time chooses to part ways with the company. 

Although we all remain friends and are still close, some people are irreplaceable as day-to-day colleagues so having to say goodbye to those types of professional friendships feel like losses in the context of my career.

Which individuals and/or agencies do you gain inspiration from? Do you have any heroes in the industry?

That's a tough question! I'm not convinced that anyone in the branding industry rises to the level of "hero," to be honest. As for inspiration, I've always felt most inspired by film directors, cinematographers, and other behind-the-camera talent that have a unique voice that shine through in their films. 

Few things can affect me as deeply as an amazing movie, and seeing an entire orchestra of crew members work together to make a work of art never fails to make me feel that child-like sense of wonder. That doesn't directly translate to what I do at the office, but it does inspire me as a team leader when sometimes work can feel like herding cats.

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If you could go back to your teenage years, would you have done things differently? Do you have any regrets?

I suppose I regret not putting more effort into my own artistic expression as a teenager, as opposed to being a shepherd of other people's talent. 

As a kid I loved to draw, play music and (attempt to) make movies on our camcorder, but the more I took on roles that focused on managing artists the less I focused on my own personal expression, which really became noticeable when I started working from home in March 2020 and was stuck staring at the same blank white wall in Queens, day in and day out. 

The good news is it's never too late to start, so I'm happy to say I've rekindled the curiosity and optimism of youth over the past few years by trying my hands at blacksmithing, writing music, weaving chainmail, and so on.

If you weren’t in your current industry, what would you be doing?

Assuming that I could make a living doing it, I'd love to be a blacksmith. That's a huge assumption, but I love the idea of a profession that is both physically demanding and artistically expressive. What could be more cool than making works of art by smashing a hammer into molten metal? 

If that didn't pan out I would take any job that NASA would hire me for, because outer space is hands down the coolest thing ever. So yeah, I'd probably be mopping floors at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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What’s your one big dream for the future of the industry?

Although we're really getting into hypothetical territory here, my biggest dream would be for everyone in our industry to be more serious about protecting and healing our planet. Some companies in our industry have pro-social departments and put money into charitable endeavours, but at the same time they have fleets of cruise ships that are destroying the oceans for profit, so that really scrambles my moral compass. 

That's just one example, but trying to keep ethical blinders on can require some serious mental gymnastics. Achieving that dream would require clients to change their practices and for agencies to hold them accountable, but in such a competitive space I'm a bit pessimistic that it could happen. 

For what it's worth, I'm proud to say that the leadership team at loyalkaspar weighs the moral implications of working with our clients, so it's safe to say you won't see us branding an oil company or a weapons manufacturer any time soon.

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What are your top tips for aspiring creative professionals?

Build friendships – actual, meaningful friendships – with as many people in the industry as you can. I'm not talking about networking or schmoozing (although that is fun too), I mean making emotional connections with as many people as you're able to. 

Professional mentorship is crucial to advancing your career, but I believe that emotional and moral mentorship is even more important as you grow and begin to encounter increasingly difficult and stressful experiences. 

Not many people outside of our industry really understand what we do, so being close to people that really get what you're dealing with and the emotional toll it can take is key to remaining sane and happy when times are tough. Given how especially difficult the last two years have been, I think everyone would benefit from that kind of guidance, no matter how old or young.

What are your top tips for other creative leaders?

Put yourself in the shoes of your colleagues, especially those that report to you. Everyone, whether they're thriving in their position or struggling, is dealing with some amount of stress, anxiety, or hopelessness, especially given we're entering year three of a global pandemic, so I truly believe that empathy is the key to success. 

I think that the world has changed, and we've progressed, to the point where people benefit when they bring their entire selves to their work, so understanding what they're dealing with both inside and outside of the office can provide an opportunity to support, grow and champion people that otherwise would have suffered in silence. 

Even a simple "How are you holding up? How are you dealing with things?" can make someone feel seen and appreciated, and in time their work will likely benefit as well.

When you think about your team, what is the thing that matters to you the most?

Empathy. We spend the vast majority of our waking hours with the same small team, so truly knowing each other and empathising with each other's situations is critical to running a successful project or company, especially when times are tough. 

I wouldn't want to work with a bunch of robots since that would be the loneliest experience I can imagine, and I think the more authentically we bring ourselves to work and try to understand everyone's unique background and situation, the better our work will be – and the happier we'll all feel.

Do you have any websites, books or resources you would recommend?

I'd strongly recommend Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman. I realise that totally sounds like a cheesy book a producer would recommend, but, despite the title, it's about learning how to change your relationship with time to achieve a more fulfilling life, both at the office and at home – even when they're the same thing. 

It offers a fascinating explanation of our anxieties around "spending" time in the "best" way and the relentless pursuit of perfection, and it really helped me prioritise what is important in my life and what is simply an effort to please others or achieve external validation. 

We all know that life is short and time is finite, and this book offers a chance to break free from some of the guilt and anxiety that a deadline-based creative industry can cause.

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