Together Is Better: The Undeniable Magic of In-Person Work

**This piece was originally published by The Portland Business Journal on December 6, 2023.

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Put this on blast: in-person work is an X-factor and a huge competitive advantage – today more than ever.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for every individual, team and organization, I’ve come to terms with the fact that some form of in-person connection (ie: people working in the same room together), whenever feasible, offers a huge advantage for individuals, teams, and organizations of all shapes and sizes. It’s an absolute x-factor. Perhaps it’s kind of like broccoli: you may not always like it, but it’s hard to deny broccoli is good for you.

To be clear, I’m not here to debate remote work versus in-person, versus hybrid or anything like that. All options are reasonable to explore and try, depending on the role, function, core values, workplace culture, etc. I’m simply making a case for the tremendous upside in-person connection has on teams and organizations.

We’re one year into our latest evolution of a hybrid work concept at my company and I’ve learned a ton. While 30% of our staff work remotely spread across the country, 70% of our staff are based in Portland, Oregon where our HQ is located. These folks work in-office, in-sync with their respective team one day a week, while some choose to come in more frequently, and leaders work in-office 3-4 days a week. Teams sync-up for weekly meetings and other internal rhythms, while our distributed (aka remote) team members Zoom-in regularly.   

What I’ve observed over the past year has been nothing short of mind blowing. Every day, without exception, I witness some kind of “magic moment” – and it’s the kind of stuff that can’t easily happen working remote through screens. I observe people going out for coffee, taking walks and having lunch together. I witness teammates tackling challenges in an organic, impromptu manner – whether in passing, in a conference room or in the kitchen. Perhaps the best part – there’s unexpected social, creative and intellectual “collisions” regularly happening before and after meetings, or while making coffee – magic moments that aren’t possible working remote through glowing screens. Once you see it in action, you can’t unsee it. It’s pure magic. It’s special. It’s a clear competitive advantage. And as a leader/nerd, it’s super cool to witness.

Apparently I’m not the only one feeling the impact of this “together is better” phenomenon. A recent MIT research study found that social bonds between co-workers is critical for innovation, creativity and team chemistry — and is best cultivated by some measure of IRL, in-the-same-room connection. Whether working in-office once a week, once a month, or even once a year, in-person connection creates powerful opportunities to deepen chemistry, build trust among teammates, boost creativity and innovation, and create a special kind of magic that simply isn't possible working through glowing screens and messaging apps. 

Marmoset HQ // November 2023

An organization's purpose and values can be a helpful compass for finding the best approach. My company is a Certified B Corp and our stated purpose is to “Be Community.”  In 2023 alone, our people got on airplanes every month, taking more than 30 in-person trips across the globe, traveling far and wide, to build authentic face-to-face connections, including more than 300 in-person client meetings. Throughout the year we threw parties, hosted learning events, community and industry mixers, plus all of the typical kinds of internal happy hours, quarterly All Hands, and annual retreats you can imagine.

Real human connection is the center of who we are. And objectively speaking, we’ve experienced healthy year-over-year growth in 2023. The impact is real.

Remember that old saying, “there's no i in team”? Contemporary business genius Reid Hoffman once quipped, “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team."   If one’s primary case for remote work is all about you – your individual comfort, your commute, your preferences or personality type, your productivity, your boundaries, and all of your personal needs – I would encourage you to take a beat to reflect.

Sure, you’ve eliminated your commute and can work in sweatpants, run errands and take personal appointments with less hassle. But what kind of chemistry and energy are you building with your team? How many unexpected creative and intellectual collisions are happening before and after meetings, or perhaps in the kitchen? Are you able to have passionate conversations and share new ideas on the fly? Are your new hires learning by osmosis – by just being in the same room and overhearing conversations? Are you satisfied living within the limits of a glowing screen, supported by digital calendar reminders telling you when to talk, who to talk to, and what to talk about?

If you truly believe in the impact derived from building strong teams and culture, consider the possibility that what's best for someone individually might not always be what’s best for the team. The world’s highest performing teams always have a “team first” mindset.  "Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships." - Michael Jordan

There's also something to be said about growing a career through in-person connection. Whether we're talking about co-workers, clients, bosses, industry networking, future opportunities or the broader community, there're so many advantages to getting into the same room with people. Yes, especially early in one’s career – but IRL connection is equally impactful for seasoned professionals too.

As teams and companies emerge from a long season of a pandemic-induced remote work world, perhaps the most important concept that needs to be put on blast is the tremendous advantage of getting into the same room with other humans. While there’s no prescriptive, right or wrong way to do it, it’s a clear competitive advantage, today more than ever. 

So simple, yet so easy to miss in a modern world.

- RW

**This piece was originally published by The Portland Business Journal on December 6, 2023.

Marmoset HQ // November 2023

Marmoset supports choice.

Marmoset Staff Retreat, June 2022

Friday’s SCOTUS decision struck a heart-wrenching blow for human rights in our country and beyond. An out-of-touch, polarizing court of mostly old white men, are dragging our communities backwards in time, undoing nearly 50 years of progress. It’s truly hard to fathom.

In spite of recent events, Marmoset stands unequivocal in our support of equity at every level, including gender equity. Abortion, an individual’s right to choose and reproductive rights are not simply issues of politics or religion. These are issues of the highest magnitude for humanity — issues with wide-ranging impacts on gender and racial equity, economics, justice and freedom for all.

Marmoset is committed to building a better future — one where our nation’s broken and shameful past can be acknowledged, systemic inequities can be corrected, and where a bright future can be reconstructed, centered in equity.

Today more than ever, it’s critical for employers to recognize we are nothing without our staff. As such, Marmoset takes a holistic approach in supporting the overall health and wellness of our people:

• Marmoset covers 100% of healthcare premiums for all full-time employees, and our health plans include abortion care. Where restrictions may exist, we are committed to covering expenses for travel, lodging, meals and other related expenses. This support includes any partner or dependent covered under our medical plans.

• We provide a “Flexible Paid Time Off” policy, empowering employees to “take what you need.” This means our staff are empowered to plan their time off collaboratively among their team and co-workers, leaning into equity, acknowledging each of us have unique backgrounds and different needs. There is no cap. Marmoset staff average 8 weeks of paid-time-off annually, per person.

• We provide 3 months of fully paid parental leave, and paid sabbaticals at 4 years, 7 years, 10 years and beyond. Further, we offer a wide spectrum of holistic benefits — outlined in Marmoset’s Annual Transparency Report.

In response to many tragedies experienced across our communities in recent years, Marmoset is hereby doubling down by covering 100% of co-pays for mental health care. We’re also adding child-care coverage for parents on work trips, and we’re following the lead of Patagonia, by adding paid training and bail for those who choose to peacefully protest for civil justice, including reproductive justice.

To our staff: if there’s any point of failure along the way, whether by laws, politicians or healthcare providers — we’ve got your back. We are committed to supporting you and walking with you, no matter what curveballs (or systemic inequities) life may throw at you.

- Ryan

Ryan Wines, Founder & CEO, Marmoset // Track Club

Better Is Always Better Than More

Better is always better than more. 

In a marketplace where music licensing companies boast an unfathomable number of tracks, it may seem crazy to launch a new alternative, based on the belief that less is more. But that’s exactly what we’re doing with Track Club, powered by Marmoset.

Apparently APM Music has nearly 1 million tracks. Other companies, Audio Network and Megatrax, both boast more than 200,000 tracks. Newer entries to the marketplace seem to have somewhere around 40k to 50k tracks, right out of the gate. By the way, who names these places anyways?

Using basic math, if you divide 50k tracks by the average size of a traditional studio album (10-12 songs), that’s the equivalent of having around 5000 vinyl records. That’s almost double the physical records my friends, Michael and Maya Gersten of Speck’s Records & Tapes, have available in their record store on any given day. It’s a smaller-sized shop, but you get the idea. Bottom line, it’s a ton of music!

Michael and Maya could choose to run a giant-sized record store if they wanted. But they too believe less is more. And it’s working. Visit them sometime at 8216 N Denver Ave, Portland, Oregon to see for yourself. The magic is real at Speck’s Records & Tapes. 

Michael, Maya, Miles and Mo Gersten at Speck’s Records & Tapes in Portland, Oregon

Why do most music companies seem to think bigger is better? 

Talk with APM customers and you’ll hear the same thing over and over. They’ll tell you the catalog is full of very average, so-so quality production music. Hundreds of thousands of mostly uninspiring production tracks. You know the music I speak of.  But if you listen closely, APM customers will also tell you that if you know where to dig, and if you dig long enough, you’ll find some real gems. 

My question is this: who wants to spend hours of their precious time digging through thousands of losers, just to find one gem? 

At both Marmoset, and our soon-to-launch subscription brand, Track Club, we spend significant internal time and resources twice a year doing something we call “The 10% Curation Event.” In this, we carefully evaluate the performance of every song in our catalog, removing the worst performing 10%. That’s right -- we strategically reduce the size of our catalog twice a year, purely to make it a better experience for our clients. (It’s a lot of work too.)

Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. 

With Track Club, we’ve designed the app to feature a better catalog of music, not the biggest one. In fact, we invite you to take the challenge yourself: strap on your headphones and spend 5 minutes on Track Club... and then go spend 5 minutes with the competition. It shouldn’t take too long. 

If that isn’t good enough for you, know this: Track Club is the first ever music licensing app on the planet that features 100% customizable songs. If there’s a song you like, but perhaps the drums are a bit too loud, or the guitar is too distracting -- you can edit the song yourself, all in the app.  You can easily mute, solo, or adjust the volume of the instruments and vocals in the song, until it meets your exact vision for your project. Or if you prefer to do the editing with your own preferred software or app on your own computer or console, you can easily download all the stems too. The choice is yours.

Our thesis is this: a meticulously curated, perpetually refined, small-batch catalog of the highest quality, that you can easily customize (in the app) to meet the specific needs of your project, is always better than any “mega” catalog out there. 

Better is always better than more. 

RW

PS: Sign up to be the one of the first invited at www.trackclub.com

Learn more about Track Club, and sign up for the beta program from the link in our Journal Post: https://lnkd.in/ggTS76hR

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#musiclicensing #creatoreconomy #musicpublishing #musiclicensingApp #musicproducer #musicapp #musicindustry #musicindustrynews #musicbiz #musicbusiness #musictech #musictechnology #bcorp #bcorps #bcorpcertified #streaming #musicrights #community #marmoset #music

A DEI Playbook for Leaders: What I’ve Learned Leading Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at My Company

Note: A short version of this essay was originally published on December 29, 2020 by The Portland Business Journal.

Amid today’s rapidly shifting societal landscape, leaders are scrambling to navigate the waters of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). I started doing the work to build a more equitable and diverse company five years ago, when 13 of my 18 staff members were male and only one was BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of color). In a rare epiphany, I realized workplace homogeneity was a problem and I committed to addressing it. This was us in 2015:

Marmoset staff, November 2015.

My business is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, where about 73% of the population identifies as white. Statistics in Portland’s business community are more staggering, where higher paying and more sought after roles lack diversity. A cliche excuse I often hear expressed by local business leaders is applicant pools are mostly white. My answer: Yes, status quos (and systemic power structures) are hard to break.  

After five years, Marmoset is now 61% non-male and 34% BIPOC, with even greater diversity in leadership and highest paid positions. While systemic white power structures run deep in Portland, my story is proof that a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce is possible. 

I’ve learned some lessons along the way. And I hope by sharing them here, framed within my own journey, it might help other leaders find their way. 

Lesson #1: Know why you’re doing the work. 

Why do you want to do DEI work? What does it mean to you and what are you looking to achieve? While it can evolve over time, first and foremost always know why you’re doing the work.  

My why is I love my community and I’m committed to making it better. I’m here to change the way the Portland business community shows up, change the way it looks and feels, and how it’s experienced by all. 

My why is to dismantle systemic racism and destroy a 2000+ year patriarchy that’s holding back our community, our industry, and so much more. I’m committed to leveling the playing field and creating more equitable opportunities at my company and in my industry. 

Lesson #2: There are no shortcuts. DEI work takes time.

There have been moments I wanted to do all the work as quickly as possible. It’s uncomfortable having so many eyes on me, wondering why the leadership team is so white and what’s taking so long. Thankfully, I’ve learned from more experienced folks to take the long road to get it right. Doing the work takes a long-term vision, discipline, and more time than you’d think. 

Lesson #3: Assemble a trusted team of advisors.

Five years ago I sought out two people to help me start learning and developing my long-term vision on DEI. One is a business leader who started his equity work a few years prior. Thank you, Ryan Buchanan. The other is a leading DEI expert whose candor, brutal honesty, and unparalleled professional experience has given me more understanding than I’ve found anywhere else. Thank you, Serilda Summers-McGee. I’ve added more peer mentors and experts along the way. 

Having a qualified, trusted team to advise and walk alongside you is especially helpful when the work gets hard and uncomfortable. Peer mentors are there to guide you, pick you up, and help you remember why you’re doing the work in the first place. And it’s critically important to differentiate between who’s actually doing the work with you vs. who’s throwing criticism down on you from the cheap seats. The “Man in the Arena” speech can be helpful in these moments.  

Lesson #4: Develop a long-term roadmap and define success. 

There’s no finish line with DEI work. There’s no consultant or workshop that checks all the boxes. It’s a never-ending commitment to learning, transformation, and impact. It requires a long-term vision and plan, similar to that of a business strategy. 

Start by selecting a date 3-5 years out. Paint the picture of what success looks like. The best goals are set to a timeline with specific milestones along the way. Make your plan SMART.

Working with Serilida back in 2015, these were the long-term goals we set:  

• Achieve diversity representation better than the demographics of our city/community. Knowing Portland is about 27% non-white, we had to do better than that. This was our first major milepost. And to maximize impact, I wanted that representation to be true at every level of my organization, especially the most sought after roles: creative roles and leadership roles. 

• Increase the diversity (race and gender) of the artists and the music we represent.

• Work with more BIPOC and women owned businesses for projects and work where we enlist contractors, advisors, vendors and consultants. 

• Provide ongoing training and education for leaders and all staff. 

Reflecting back on these now, I wish I would’ve made the goals smarter, more measurable and timeline-based. The best goals are always SMART ones. 

Once long-term goals are set, work backwards, cutting it up into smaller chunks -- similar to how you might approach a business strategic plan.

Lesson #5: You will fail. And you absolutely must keep going. 

This may be the most important lesson of all. This work is hard, and without exception, everyone will misstep and fail from time to time. There’s no avoiding it. 

While it pains me to admit, I too have failed. People have suffered systemic racism, bias, and discrimination at my company too. No doubt about it, we have failed some of our people along the way. And despite our failures, we are committed to learning from our mistakes, and getting better as we go. 

I also accept the fact that I too have exhibited racist and patricarchical behaviors, and at times I have been part of the problem. I’m working on myself -- working to learn about and process the dark parts of our communities and of our history. It’s impossible to do this kind of work if I’m unable to wrestle with my own identity and dissect my own ego.  As they say, acceptance is the first step of recovery.

Lesson #6: Stay focused. 

You’re held to higher standards when you commit to doing this work, and will therefore receive more scrutiny and criticism. Learn to receive it. And say thank you.  

That said, it’s unfortunate society has devolved to cancel culture, where anonymous critics and disingenuous bystanders so quickly tear people down in a public setting. While I support increased accountability, we can do better than drive-by Yelp reviews for humans. 

All the more reason to stay focused on the work. Don’t get distracted by critics, cynics and trolls working against you. If your values, track record and reputation are strong, your community will know that, no matter what’s said about you. 

Blind spots

It’s recently come to my attention that communication has been a blind spot for me. To be vulnerable here, talking about DEI within my own company is something I’ve struggled with at times. At my core, I’m a “talk is cheap” sorta person. So until we’ve achieved some pretty big, meaningful results, I wasn’t too keen on talking about it. I never wanted to be the CIS white, privileged CEO guy standing up in front of a bunch of people (smart people!), talking about all of the diversity work I’m doing. So I put my head down and did most of the work solo or alongside just a couple of my colleagues and advisors, mostly working behind the scenes.

Because of my own discomfort in talking more openly about it, I now see and realize I’ve missed some meaningful opportunities for broader dialog, engagement and alignment within my company. The downside of working quietly behind the scenes is my staff didn’t always know what I was upto. It’s possible some didn’t know if our progress was happening by accident or on purpose. Moving forward, I’m learning to embrace the notion that our staff wants to know what I’m upto -- especially on topics of DEI. And ultimately, they need to hear their CEO and leaders are all-in, leading the way. 

Impact

Five years into the work, Marmoset’s staff demographics are better than Portland’s by every metric. Eight of our top ten highest paid employees are women. Five out of the top six are BIPOC women. There are no pay gaps at my company. Full stop. And the good news: if we can do this in Portland, Oregon, anyone can do it. 

For the people in the back: If we can do this in Portland, Oregon -- anyone can do it.

And for any business leaders out there who may be wondering how DEI impacts the bottom line, know this: Marmoset as a business has never been stronger or healthier than it is today. We’re at our peak right now in nearly every imaginable business metric: cash, resources, profitability, sales, expenses, people, morale and vibes, brand, innovation, momentum and upward trajectory. That said, I buried this fact a little bit because it could be a distracting headline. Doing DEI work to boost the bottom line is shitty… or disingenuous at best. Do it for the right reasons and you can rest assured, the results will follow. Research supports this.

What’s Next? 

Because the work is never done, we continue to raise the bar with our long-term goals and plans. Our staff and Marmoset’s DiversiTeam have gradually taken on more of the work, and have developed several new goals and strategies spanning all teams and functions. For instance, we’ve made good strides in terms of the diversity of the artist roster we represent. Currently, one of our goals is improving the diversity (race and gender) of our top royalty earners. 

Another important long-term goal for me is to one day replace myself or split my role with someone who doesn’t look like me or think like me. Someone who can bring new ideas, with new expertise and experiences, to help take the company to another place. 

I am so grateful our staff has stepped up in big ways over the past couple of years, now much more invested in helping carry the responsibility of DEI with me. I am especially thankful for my colleagues, Nicole Hooper and Jené Etheridge, Marmoset’s DiversiTeam, and many others, for their collaboration and commitment in doing this work. 

The work is endless. And yes, it’s all worth it. 

RW

Note: An condensed version of this essay was originally published on December 29, 2020 by The Portland Business Journal.

*This is yet another essay in-part inspired by my friends Mario and Chris — please check out their work too. We believe the process of public writing helps us learn, grow and improves our lives too. We call ourselves the Western Writers League and someday we might make hats with a cool logo.