Fast 10: Daniel Willis Chats The 'Take-No-Prisoners Attitude" That Led Him To Start Claxon
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Article was originally published by Brandt on 9 July, 2024
As the founder and CEO of the growth agency Claxon and an ex-finance industry CEO, Daniel Willis has built his career on successfully building fast-growing companies. He has travelled the world consulting large organisations on leadership and high-performance culture.
Willis sat down with Greg “Sparrow” Graham to unpack ten very fast questions as part of B&T’s Fast 10 series.
Claxon is a full-service agency how would you describe the agency in a headline?
An integrated agency across media, creative, experience and data – specialising in brand performance.
After seven years, the agency still has great momentum; how do you continue the growth?
We have more momentum now than at any other time in the last seven years and it feels great. We’ve certainly grown up as a business and found our feet. Our team is exceptional, and that provides a great foundation for our own growth. We have bold ambitions so until they’re achieved, we’ll always be chasing those north stars.
You have a varied background. What led you to start Claxon?
I still have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I was fortunate that throughout my career I became pretty good at building and growing companies. I spent the last stage of my corporate career as a CEO in the finance world and after a couple of years of working 100-hour weeks decided that I was done and pulled the ripcord. I’d done my own thing before and just felt that it was time to go back to that. 7 years later here we are.
Does having your HQ on the Gold Coast an advantage when hiring talent?
In the first few years, having our HQ on the Gold Coast was one of our biggest challenges. There’s never been a very big talent pool on the Gold Coast and because we were always the leading agency here, there was nowhere e to poach talent from. As we expanded to Sydney, and recently Melbourne, it gave us a lot larger talent pool to fish in.
I admire your shake-it-up, take-no-prisoners attitude. How does this influence your leadership?
I believe that being bold in business is critical to success, and as a result ‘We are Bold’ is one of Claxon’s brand values. I also believe that ‘different is better than better’, so I always encourage our staff to be bold in their own thinking and approach, and never be afraid to stand out. I’m not interested in trying to be an apple against the oranges, I’d rather be a chainsaw.
You have an impressive client list including Stella, Dymocks, Accor etc what’s some current work you are most proud of?
I’m proud of the creative work we’re doing from a creative AI perspective, but especially proud of a recent client win of a well -known global brand that sought us out specifically because of our viewpoints on brand & performance. They also want to be a chainsaw vs apples and oranges and came to us because of that shared viewpoint. That was a proud moment for me.
How are your clients addressing the current economic headwinds?
The majority of our client base reflects our ideal client values of bravery, innovation, ambition, and growth-mindedness. This means that at a fundamental level, their thinking is more aggressive, and for the most part, their viewpoint is that the current headwinds give them a great opportunity to capture market share from their more conservative competitors. This means that most of our client portfolio are spending more and not less and really doubling down on accelerated growth.
Do you have a mentor, coach, or leader who has been influential in your career development?
I’ve had many over the years, but my mum had the biggest influence on my career. She instilled in me the belief that I could achieve absolutely anything that I put my mind to, no matter how unachievable it might seem. She gave me a little poem when I was 15 years old that talked about how there was never a mountain that couldn’t be climbed, and for my entire life, I’ve carried that poem folded up in my wallet. I’m 45 and still have it now, and I take it out to read it often (despite knowing it off by heart).
Can you share with us something that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?
I’m a Freemason, like my father, grandfather and great-grandfather before me.
Do your parents know what you actually do?
Haha, well, in their mind, I work on Madison Avenue in the 1960s.
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