Dynamic Duos: ‘I could tell he was keen to stir the pot’
This week in Dynamic Duos, we hear from Impressive’s enterprise growth manager, Corbin Bristol, and enterprise growth strategist, Oscar Silk.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.
Corbin Bristol:
The first time I met Oscar was when I started at Impressive. I’m originally from New Zealand, and he grew up in Melbourne, so I didn’t catch him in any nightclubs prior to starting at the business.
I joined the Impressive growth team in 2023. We’re responsible for bringing new business into the company, servicing inbound marketing leads, as well as sourcing business through outreach and networking. There are a lot of discovery calls and pitching, and then, once we win the deal, we onboard the client and stay close to them for the first few months.
Given that we work in new business development, my relationship with Oscar is competitive in a healthy way. We have plenty of shared experiences from opportunities that we’ve worked on to our strategic approach to winning business.
Our team of two is a little different from the rest of the agency since we play by different rules than the client services teams. We don’t have to log our hours, for example. So other people at the agency often think we’ve got it easy. But we always say, “come and spend a month in our seat and you’ll see it’s anything but.”
What impresses me about Oscar is that he’s largely unbothered by anything. No matter what is going on, whether I’m beating him or he’s kicking my bum, he doesn’t seem to be flustered either way. I’m quite the opposite. I’m usually a happy-go-lucky guy, but if I’m not winning, I can be a bit of an old grouch. Oscar has to deal with that on a daily basis.
From the outset, I thought he was a pretty laid-back dude, but I could tell he was keen to stir the pot.
We recently hosted a gala dinner for the Impressive team. Oscar and I were the joint MCs. I emceed the event last year by myself, and Oscar was in Europe at the time, so he missed out on me taking the mickey out of him. But this year, we did it together, like tit for tat, which was really fun. It was a good vibe, us taking the piss out of ourselves and other people. That’s our dynamic in a nutshell.
Oscar Silk:
I remember the moment Corbin first walked into the Impressive office. I thought, “who’s this guy with the ridiculously spiked-up hair and why’s he so overdressed?”
He came in wearing a really posh jacket. Plus, he was another Kiwi. Not that there’s anything wrong with Kiwis, but he was the third Kiwi on the team. So I was starting to feel a little bit outnumbered.
To his credit, he hit his bootstraps pretty quickly. I could tell he had a solid work ethic and was prepared to push through the first few months. In sales, it can be quite tough because you’re starting blind. You don’t have a pipeline of opportunities to work with. But Corbin pushed through that phase, and now it’s just me and him in the team.
Sales, naturally, can be quite a competitive environment, but when you’re both doing well in a smaller team, it takes that competitive nature out of the equation. We’ve developed a pretty good working relationship. Corbin has the attitude of, “How do I help you get to where you need to get to because I’ve got a bit of capacity at the moment,” and vice versa.
It’s not just closing deals to him. He rides the emotional roller coaster of the ups and downs for the next six to 12 months of that client journey. I’ll often come in and ask him, “Why are you stressing?” And he’s talking about a client from eight months ago that doesn’t affect him directly. But he has an emotional attachment to the person that he brought on board. I like that Corbin wears his heart on his sleeve because it shows that he’s passionate. He cares.
Obviously, the work is very important, but you’ve got to find some fun and see the light-hearted side of things, so we like to joke around from time to time.
We’re a team. But even teams bicker and play jokes. Our relationship is very friendly. Lots of banter. But, at the same time, we want to help each other succeed.
Corbin on Oscar:
Most memorable moment with Oscar: One of the standout moments of our hosting gig at this year’s company gala was our light-hearted tribute to the now-retired “Absence Channel” on Slack — a space once known for its colourful and overly detailed sick day updates. The year prior, I’d joked about the creative ways people let the team know they were unwell, so this time around, Oscar and I gave the channel its own fitting farewell, replete with TMI about why it was saying goodbye.
Best word to describe him: Composed. He’s just composed all the time. You can never break the guy. Even if he’s playing table tennis and everyone’s hazing him, he doesn’t let it get to him.
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: He’s got a little jingle that he sings at least two times a day. It’s a play on an air conditioning song he once heard on the radio with my name in it. It’s really whiny, and I know he does it just to annoy me.
Oscar on Corbin:
Most memorable moment with Corbin: Not sure if memorable is the right word, but he always commits 100% to the bit, which I find funny. We had a co-worker’s themed party, and most people were just scrapping together a few pieces from their wardrobe to make a costume. Not Corbin, he drove from South Yarra to Brunswick on his lunch break to buy a $300 outfit that he will wear once. To his credit, he did look the part when he rocked up to the party in his Ghostbuster outfit (gun included).
Best word to describe him: Considered, he gives a lot of thought to things before moving forward with them. And fashionable, he loves his fashion.
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: He gets highly strung when a few things don’t go his way; it can be quite comical to watch him implode across the desk.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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