Mark Miller found his career before he found his degree. Growing up in Toronto as the youngest of three in a working-class family, he took a high school course that let students work at a company for credit if they could land the job themselves. He cold-called The Second City, hoping to write comedy. They turned him down, told him they liked him anyway, and phoned a small Canadian national ad agency on his behalf. He interned there as a copywriter, was offered a full-time job before he had finished school, and went to university instead because his parents would not hear otherwise. The same agency hired him the day he graduated.

From there he moved to a large global agency in Toronto, then was recruited to Los Angeles as a senior strategist at Rubin Postaer and Associates, where the strategy team sat overlooking the Third Street Promenade. He joined Team One as a director, became executive director, and was passed over for the chief strategy officer seat twice before a new business pitch he led and won finally made the case. The first people he called were his mom and dad.

In this episode, Mark tells Tiffany Pham what it is like to be handed budget approvals you do not yet know the rules for, why he wanted longevity rather than the next title, the body of work he is proudest of (the Global Affluent Collective, the Moonshot speaker series and the Legacy Lab), and the advice he would give anyone one seat below: be a little more like Waze.

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome

01:21 Toronto, and the high school course that paid in credit

02:34 Cold-calling The Second City

04:29 “You should do that”: the referral that started an advertising career

05:18 A full-time offer at seventeen, and why his parents said university first

06:49 From a small Canadian national to a large global agency

08:38 Recruited to Los Angeles: Rubin Postaer and Associates

10:53 Joining Team One, where business thinking drives creative thinking

12:04 Passed over for CSO, twice

13:52 The pitch he led, and won

15:08 Who made the call

16:17 The first people he told: his mom and dad

18:06 The first week, and a summons from the CFO

19:40 What he is proudest of: work that outlasts him

21:14 Alumni now at IDEO, Amazon and Meta

22:29 Advice for the next chief officer: be a little more like Waze

Quotes:

“I guess I would say be a little bit more like Waze. Strategic and flexible.”

“You need to know where you're starting and you need to know where you're going. With those two pieces of information, you can constantly route and reroute to get you there in the most efficient way.”

“I wasn't interested in just the next job, and I wasn't interested in just the next title. I knew that I wanted to do something that was meaningful in the industry.”

“Being a CSO is more than just being exceptional at your craft. There's the ability to inspire and move people and lead an organization forward.”