Opinion

Dynamic Duos: Rich and Sally’s ongoing office romance

In this week's Dynamic Duos, Rich and Sally Harley, creative director and director at littleBIG, share how their phenomenal friendship blossomed into an office romance, and they've gone from strength to strength ever since.

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.

Sally Harley:

I met Rich in 2012 when he came to work in an office space littleBIG was sharing with a design collaborator he subcontracted to.

We worked on some really successful design projects together including some award-winning work for a New York-based streetwear label. He brought a great spark to work as well as hilarious and often quite dramatic dating tales. My workmates and I helped set up his RSVP profile (yes it was the olden days!) with great success, so it seemed.

Plot twist: now we’re married! And we run littleBIG together. After a few years of running separate businesses yet collaborating on many projects, I convinced Rich to properly join forces. It was a game changer for littleBIG, allowing us to ramp up our creative services offering and team. Now, most clients benefit from Rich’s creative brilliance.

Our relationship is built on mutual respect (cliche alert!), love and an understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We’ve really come to understand what each of us brings to littleBIG, which things I should lead and which he should based on our work styles and personalities. Rich has great instincts and trusts his gut implicitly. I’m more of a processor. I often lean on him to make final decisions where I’ve been weighing up the options.

I don’t think I would have lasted 16 years in business without Rich’s partnership. Managing littleBIG as the sole senior leader became very lonely and, as it grew, knowing what calls to make when, was really difficult. Since we joined business forces about seven years ago, littleBIG has solidified its place in the market, honing in on the food, drink and tourism sectors and fleshing out a full-service offering. I really don’t think I had it in me to do that alone.

And the challenges continue. It’s not like you reach a point in business where everything’s easy and set-and-forget. If anything, both personnel and revenue growth brings with it more complexity, especially when you’re selling a service. So much for the idea of establishing a “business that runs itself”! Is that really a thing? Rich continues to provide me the support and inspiration I need as a leader and makes littleBIG a fun, energising workplace, always moving forward, producing great work.

Rich Harley:

It was in an office in Richmond, Melbourne, opposite the famous commission housing there, that I met Sally, in around 2012. littleBIG was a modest operation then, made up of just two other individuals and an intern. The agency was set up in the same office space as Washington Creative, a visual communications business I was subcontracting for.

Sally’s business acumen was obvious to me right from the start, and it offered me an insight into the world of running a company which would later come in handy. I admired Sally’s treatment of both staff and clients, along with her willingness to embrace creativity. It was this that inspired me to take a leap and establish Rich Harley Creative, a solo endeavour through which I collaborated with Sally and the littleBIG team whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Through working together, a phenomenal friendship developed before a ‘game-changing’ Christmas party when a romantic relationship blossomed. All Sally by the way…

It was around 2016 that Rich Harley Creative and littleBIG joined forces to create one integrated agency, littleBIG Marketing. The merger presented challenges, due to our different operational styles. I’m pretty robust, dynamic, and loud, whereas Sally leans towards a more considered, analytical, and empathetic approach. We soon realised that harnessing these distinct styles – gut and logic – could lead to extraordinary results.

When we became parents, the question of how to operate as a family and continue working together came up. We navigated this new phase with our usual considered determination, always supporting each other and trying to mutually understand our differing perspectives. Respecting each other’s unique styles is a crucial aspect of our bond, and is one of the fundamental reasons we continue to thrive together – and speak to each other!

Every day, I am energised and inspired by Sally. I get so much confidence from her unwavering dedication to self-improvement and growth. The love she has for her work is infectious, and ignites a desire in me to strive for greatness in everything I do. That being said, the force at which her fingertips hit her keyboard can only be compared to that of a stampede of baby elephants – this could do with some serious, serious work.

Sally on Rich: 

Most memorable moment with Rich: Watching him become a dad for the first time.

Best word to describe him: Fun.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: Almost always being ‘right’ without even having to think about it (it’s both annoying and endearing).

Rich on Sally:

Most memorable moment with Sally: Infamous Christmas party.

Best word to describe her: Supportive.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour she has: Typing like she’s trying to kill the keyboard. 

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