Dynamic Duos: Keep Left’s Caroline Catterall and Gillian Gosling
In this week's Dynamic Duos, we are joined by Keep Left's founder and CEO Caroline Catterall and managing partner Gillian Gosling. They reminisce on their past 15 years of friendship and professional partnership and the success they have had along the way, in growing the agency to what it is today.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two members of the same organisation with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.
Caroline Catterall:
I met Gill 13 years ago when she applied for a job at Keep Left as an Account Executive. During the interview with her, it became clear she wasn’t your average employee. Her attitude was different to other young people at the time – she spoke like someone with experience beyond her years, and was commercially much more astute. For all these reasons, I snapped her up pretty quickly.
To no one’s surprise, she accelerated at break-neck speed through the organisation. She was very good at the craft – with a particular passion for the property industry in the early years – but what set her apart was her client skills. She could talk to clients like a peer and could sense what they needed. She was (and still is) a step or two ahead in anticipating their needs and having a solution at the ready. She earned the respect and trust of people easily and got great results.
While she was great at the craft, it was the business side of things that elevated her even further. Her new business nous and genuine interest in seeing Keep Left succeed played a huge role in helping us get to that next stage of growth and made her next move a no-brainer.
When I fell pregnant with my first, I sat down with her and asked if she’d be interested in buying into the agency. For most 29-year-olds, that would have been a very foreign concept – especially because she’d already been working in the business – but Gill immediately saw the opportunity, grabbed it with two hands and we did the deal. Neither of us has ever looked back and the agency has grown exponentially since.
We are very different people in terms of the strengths we bring to the table. Gill has a background in accounting so is much stronger at numbers than me and can also get deep into operational issues that make my eyes glaze over. I’m more strategy, brand, and the big picture. We both have strong attention to detail but apply it in very different ways across the agency.
We’ll argue about things from time to time, but I think one of the reasons the partnership has worked long-term is that we’re value-aligned. If there’s a moral dilemma, we’re on the same page about the right thing to do. I can imagine life would be very difficult if this wasn’t the case!
Gillian Gosling:
I met Caz nearly 14 years ago, interviewing for a job at Keep Left. I still remember that coffee with her as if it happened yesterday, and in particular, being super impressed by a then 30-year-old Caz who had started and grown her business to 10 people from the age of 23.
The fact that she had the tenacity to do this from such a young age, was a stark contrast to my bosses at the time – two brothers in their 50s. I walked away from that coffee pretty set that I wanted to work with her.
The rest, as they say, is history. I joined Keep Left as an AE in 2009 and five years later, was offered the opportunity to buy into the business. We had a team of 15 at the time, and in the last 8 years, we’ve diversified our offering, tripled our revenue and grown into a team of 45.
While we’re extremely similar in our values (and we’ve worked so long together now that some days we turn up to the office in matching outfits, without ever planning it!), our work styles are different and I think that’s why we work so well together.
Caz is a planner; she can think ten steps ahead and kicks around every possible scenario in her head. It has been this forward thinking that has underpinned our ongoing evolution, whereas my strength is my ability to get on with the job. I love to keep things moving and I’m often too impatient to plan every last detail in the way Caz does.
We balance each other out as she’ll always weigh up all the pros and cons, and I’ll happily plough straight ahead – which probably drives her a little bit crazy. She’d probably also say I’m more commercial than she is, but I think for the business to have grown the way it has, we’re both pretty good with the numbers.
We’ve had our fair share of heated debates over the years, but it’s never personal and we have a knack for moving on quickly. I think it’s also a testament to our partnership that we always work it out and reach a decision we’re both happy with (either that or one of us gives in to the other!).
Having said that, the one thing we’ll probably never see eye to eye on is where we spend our budget – I’ll always happily prioritise new tech, whereas Caz would much rather splurge on new couches or flowers for the office.
Caroline on Gillian:
Most memorable moment with Gillian: Going to SXSW with her in 2016. Specifically, the Iggy Pop concert at Austin City Limits where we rewarded ourselves after 5 days of Interactive by letting the hair (right down) and enjoyed the free-poured G&Ts on offer. There might have even been a few ex-Mumbrella staffers there! A business partnership is like any relationship – you’ve got to work at it and keep it fresh. Getting out of the office together helped us to build the strong bond we still have today.
Describe Gillian in one word: Ambitious.
Gillian’s most annoying habit or endearing behaviour: Gill is a very caring person. She’ll always check in with people if they’re unwell or going through a rough time. While she’s driving a hard agenda, you always know she cares. But of course, she can be annoying too and for Gill, it’s that she can never be wrong!
Gillian on Caroline:
Most memorable moment with Caroline: On a personal front, hands down at my wedding, when Caz hoisted me onto her shoulders while we were on the dance floor. I must add, it was quite late in the night at that point!
Professionally, our trip to SXSW in 2016 would have to be up there – not only because we spent a pretty exciting and action-packed 10 days in Austin (where we treated ourselves to a few gigs after the Interactive component was over) but it was probably the point when we first started really pushing the business forward into content. We came back from that trip energised and motivated, and it was then that we began to build out a dedicated studio and content offering.
Describe Caroline in one word: Fearless.
Caroline’s: most annoying habit or endearing behaviour: Changing her mind! As I said earlier, Caz tends to think through every step of a scenario. She leaves no stone unturned, which means that she can often change her view on something (sometimes more than once) as part of her process.
If you and a colleague would like to submit your story to Dynamic duos, please email kwelch@mumbrella.com.au.
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