David Baldwin on Leaning Into What's Scary
“I hope what I leave is relationships. That’s what I value in life. To this day, I have people I hired into this business, who are at the highest levels, that I’m still dear friends with and talk to all the time and value their input and opinions. That’s what I love. Advertising people are the funniest, smartest, most sarcastic people – they’re just such an amazing group of weirdos and misfits. I just feel so lucky to have been around them and to know them.” ~David Baldwin

David Baldwin, one of the most recognized copywriters and creative directors in the advertising business today, is the founder of Baldwin& in Raleigh, N.C. The agency was named Ad Age’s Small Agency of the Year after only three years in business, and was awarded the Four A’s O’Toole Award for best body of work from a small agency after only five years in business.

A former chairman of the One Club in New York City, David was also an executive producer for the Emmy-award winning film, Art & Copy. He’s also an associate producer for the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning film, The Loving Story.

David is also a guitarist/songwriter for the band Pants, whose CD “Twice The Snake You Need” can be found on iTunes and Amazon.com. His work and writings have been featured in numerous publications and college textbooks on advertising. To add to his accomplishments, David is also the co-founder of Ponysaurus Brewing Co., a nano-brewery in Durham, N.C.

In this episode, David talks about leaning into the scary things and compartmentalizing the terror to give yourself courage to explore what you don’t know about or understand. He shares the best advice he’s ever been given – and explains how his award-winning agency is more like a rock band than a family.