Huge Global CEO Pete Stein on Leadership

For the new head of the global experience agency, staying in the moment is a top priority in life and work.

In May, Pete Stein took the helm of Huge as the agency’s new global CEO. Since then, the 25-year industry vet has toured many of the global experience agency’s 13 offices, talking with people at every level of the organization about what’s working and what isn’t, and taking stock of what is truly special about Huge. “What sets us apart from competitors is our level of creativity and craft,” Stein says. “And our undying focus on user-centricity — our prioritization of the user and bringing that point of view to all our work. Because we’ve always had users’ interests in mind, we’re uniquely positioned to think about the entire customer experience across every touch point and really help our clients to drive positive momentum in their business.”

Stein plans to retain and amplify those qualities in his new vision for the agency — a commitment to “elevate the human experience” for the world’s most ambitious brands. That means moving beyond the digital interface (i.e., the screen) to think about all the ways a user might genuinely and holistically connect with a brand. “The lofty ambition of elevating the human experience,” Stein says, “is also acknowledging that we’re living in a world that’s facing pretty significant changes,” including climate change, income disparity, and the impact of automation on jobs. “It’s a recognition that Huge is a brand that thinks about these types of problems, and that we’re in business for more than just making money.”

Ahead of his Advertising Week talk with Brooks Running CMO Melanie Allen about uncovering a user’s emotions through their behavior, Magenta sat down with Stein to talk about how he stays in the present, quashes creative blocks, and gets inspired.

First things first

On my best day, I wake up at 5:45. I jog and stretch, shower, meditate for 15 minutes, eat breakfast, and walk to the train. On my worst day, I roll out of bed, jump in the shower, and run to the train.

Setting priorities

The rest of my day varies a lot. Generally, when I get to work, I like to start the day by writing physical list of everything I have to do — maybe 40 things — and setting five priorities. Then there are general things — territories — that I’m working on, including the acceleration of our experiential offerings, the official launch of our commerce practice, and the formalization of our sustainability initiative.

The importance of self-care

There are two things that I always make time for. One is making sure I have time with my kids — that I’ve set aside that time and prioritize it. And then the second is more like self-care, whether that be jogging or going for a walk or just time on my own. If I don’t have those moments of time away, I start to get tired. It just wears me down.

Quashing blocks

When I don’t take care of myself, I get blocked. Recognizing when I’ve been neglecting myself is half the battle. Exercise is the best thing for me to just clear my head and give me a fresh perspective. And usually even while I’m exercising, the ideas will start to unlock and flow again. I mountain bike and play tennis and do some other things, too, but jogging is my go-to; it’s the most efficient.

Creative envy

I envy anyone who is creating and has total control of their time. In this business, because so much of my time is out meeting with clients and pitching work, I don’t tend to do as much control over my time. But it’s the nature of the beast, and I think a part of me enjoys the surprise of it — never knowing what’s going to happen that day.

Staying present

A lack of discipline is the number one thing that gets in the way of being focused. There’s rarely something that is super urgent and super important, but it’s easy for everything to feel that way. For me, discipline means staying grounded and in today. Sometimes I’m in a conversation, but my head’s somewhere else. When I notice that happening — other thoughts creeping in — I train myself to just see them, let them go, and come back to the present. This is part of practicing meditation, too.

Soundtrack

I love listening to music, and what I listen to depends on the mood. I was listening to Kendrick Lamar this morning, and just now, I was listening to Cage the Elephant. I like a pretty wide swath of music. I’ll listen to music when I’m writing down ideas, but if I want to hear myself in my head or if I’m editing, I don’t listen to music.

Inspiring reads

Reading is the thing that helps me focus. I find it gives me energy, whereas I find that watching some TV shows is more of an energy suck for me. The books that I’ve read this year are across the board, some fiction and some nonfiction. Right now I’m reading a novel, Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin. I just finished Ta-Nahisi Coates’s Between the World and Me. That was somewhat depressing but amazing. Before that, I read Creativity Inc., by Ed Catmull, a cofounder of Pixar. That was amazing for practical reason, just in terms of Pixar’s approach to creativity. A director will own a film. But that director is going to get lost in the woods, because sticking to a narrative across the length of time it takes to develop a movie is challenging. So the director will come back to what they call a creative council of other Pixar directors who will review it. And in that process, they will beat it up; they’ll just demolish you in that meeting. Every little piece of it that’s not working, they’ll call out. But then it’s the original director’s job to go back and fix it. To me, it’s such a powerful process, because the director is clearly accountable but is also getting this amazing feedback from peers. I think Huge would probably like an approach like that. The beauty of Huge is that we have so many different disciplines — including everything from branding and data science to experiential design and commerce — so it could be a really useful way to input from different points of view.

Leadership mentor

One of my biggest mentors was Bob Lord when we were both at Razorfish, who’s now at IBM running one of their business units. He was amazing in terms of the energy he brought to the table and his conviction in his ideas. He really showed me that the power of using positive energy to propel an organization forward when there was maybe fear or resistance.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Stein had visited every office in the global experience agency’s network. He has visited most of them and hopes to visit the rest of them soon. We apologize for the error.

Magenta is a publication of Huge.