Ben Bator is a master at the art of living. He co-owns a 40-person ad agency that just won an AdAge award. He drives sports cars skillfully. Takes pretty photos. Shakes a mean martini.
He also has hundreds of adoring friends. Why? Because he’s super nice. It’s pretty much that simple. Here’s an interview with him.
MA: How’d you get started, creatively speaking? Graphic design? Photography? Or just straight to bossing people around?
BB: I got started in digital — so a few experiences building websites and otherwise managing creative projects, so yeah… bossing people around.
Rattle off the list of what you’re involved with.
Co-founder at Lafayette American / Scorpion Rose Studio, an advertising agency / brand design studio.
Co-founder and CMO of Out Of Office Garage, a car club.
Board of Directors for Signal-Return, a community letterpress and arts organization in Detroit.
Consultant to ambitious founders and funders.
According to LinkedIn you’ve never been employed. Is this true?
Man, it’s a good line but I should probably change it.
I guess I’ve never really worked for anyone else, outside of internships and a brief first job before the 2008 crash. I wanted to be an entrepreneur but had no idea if that was possible, so I took the LSAT and got ready for a life reading contracts. Once I got accepted, I started throwing creative ideas at the wall with friends. Then, Texts From Last Night stuck and I never looked back.
I still ended up mostly reading contracts.
You pack a lot into your days. If I was Ben Bator going to bed at night, I’d be like yeah, I crushed this day. Moved the needle on the big things, plus took my leisure very seriously. Do you think about your days in this way? Do you set a morning intention or just wing it?
I wish it were more intentional sometimes. I like a list, but I love putting out a fire. I sleep best when my head hits my pillow after something unexpected came up that day and was handled, by me or the team, swiftly with care.
A nice drive, swim in a lake, or social call does the trick too.
I love seeing how different people react when tasks and pressures are piling up. Some people get overwhelmed, some people write it down and do it later. You just do everything, now. I’ve seen you edit a batch of photos and fix an IT issue while on a conference call, from the passenger seat of a speeding car. How?
There’s a Bezos quote that stress isn’t caused from being too busy, it’s from not taking action on things you can control. So my usual triage result for a lot of tasks is: just do it now.
The flip side is that if I don’t do something immediately, it gets done… eventually. Not a great schedule, so I’m working on it…
Can you think of a pivotal moment or learning that shaped your existence?
I’m fortunate that it was a truly obvious one. We started TFLN in February and watched it slowly build momentum before one week in May it went viral.
I remember sitting in my friend’s backyard lightly stressing about how we were going to pay the server bills. Then my BlackBerry lit up with a flurry of emails from literary agents, publishers, and MTV who all wanted to option the content on our site. It was the moment I knew I wasn’t going to be a lawyer and knew that creative projects could actually support themselves and, hopefully, sports cars.
What was the first hire you made after starting Lafayette American?
The first hire was Meg, who now runs Scorpion Rose Studio, our brand design studio. Focusing on design isn’t a typical move for an ad agency, but we see how powerful brand identity is to level up a brand and wanted to be able to start there for projects we took on.
When making hires since then, have you ever had to “replace yourself” or hand off a responsibility that you didn’t want to let go of?
We had a team of five when we started L|A, so I picked up a ton of jobs I was unqualified for but had to jump in and figure them out. I could not replace myself fast enough and I’m still so grateful to the people who joined in those early days, mainly to limit my own mistakes.
And yet… yeah. It’s always hard to let go. Even when you despise a task, there are moments where you think “if I don’t do that, will people think I’m not doing enough?”. Turns out, there’s always more.
Your company seems to have nailed some issues around office life that other companies are struggling with. For example you have a diverse team and a beautiful space and a strong culture… and just 2-days-per-week office attendance. What’s the key here?
First, that’s kind of you to say. We’re still a ways away from our goals in the diversity department, but we’re making progress.
I think the culture comes from our ambition to build a legendary agency in Detroit — without the backing of a hold-co, without a key client to start. Our early team believed we could get there together, and in return, our culture had to be built around those who gave us a chance and helped us succeed.
So there’s really no key, it’s built intentionally over time with a ton of small decisions that puts the team first.
You’re close with your parents. Do your mom or dad marvel at how different your professional life is from their own?
Luck is probably my through line here and that started with winning the parent lottery. They’re so supportive and have been since day one of my professional experimentation. They even let me hire my brother Philip, twice.
My dad took a swing and started his own law practice, so I had a front row seat to see what it takes to run a business and take calculated risks. And my mom is just the best and usually has the most straightforward life and business advice. Like I said, lucky.
What’s your advice for:
An up and coming designer who wants to build a big life around design?
A senior creative executive who has become jaded?
Up and comer -- be unapologetic, pursue perfection and just be really fucking nice about it. Nice designers get to be unreasonable and it gets them ahead.
Exec - try writing a book. Why not? If you finish writing it, then hit publish and add “author” to your CV. Or, if you run out of material, go back in the weeds and do something that would make for good reading.
What’s the most exciting thing about being an ambitious person in 2024?
I think a challenging fundraising environment makes things more interesting and innovative than one where there’s a check for every idea based on the latest trend. This is the time when the best stuff wins and wins big.
