Each morning when you wake up and head into the office, you probably know what to expect for the day’s events. When Joel Lunenfeld gets out of bed, he knows that his day at Moxie Interactive Inc. will be full of new — and often unexpected — changes. To start, the advertising and marketing company, which had $405 billion in gross media and production billings in 2008, is in an industry that changes constantly. Not to mention the fact that the way people interact is changing, as well.
“The way that people get information, get news, the way they view themselves, view privacy, the way they interact with companies that are our customers — all these things are changing, so culturally, it’s an incredible shift that everyone is feeling,” Lunenfeld says.
Then add in the fact that Moxie provides cutting-edge technology to its clients, and they are adapting as they try to do more with less given the economy.
“You put all these things together, and it’s just constantly managing change,” he says. “To do that, we try to breed a culture of disruptive innovation with urgency. I fundamentally believe that Moxie, our business, and really any business today is never standing still. You’re either forging ahead and advancing or you’re falling behind.”
Leading change in any organization is never easy, but Lunenfeld made it a more formal part of the culture when he took over as CEO last year upon the founder’s departure.
“With her leaving, it was, ‘OK, how do we take this culture of change that we have and really crystallize it,’” he says.
He attacks this challenge by driving innovation, leading by prediction and focusing on communication.
