Nick from Territory describes himself as the restless pragmatist. His co-founder David is the visionary dreamer. That pairing has driven Territory from a seven-person studio to over 200 people across global locations.

The dynamic works through respectful sparring. "I'll say, I love what you said. What does the first step look like?" Nick explains. "And then I'll catalyse and accelerate." The two have learned when to push and when to give the other space to process. "I never expect an agreement straight away," Nick says. "I plant the seed. Let him process. Have that conversation after a day or two."

The hardest test came when Territory acquired Cantina and brought them into the group. They had a roadmap for integration. Then the market turned. Budgets for the cultural exchange work they'd planned disappeared. "You realise the challenge with intent versus capital to execute on intent," Nick says.

Communication became the lifeline, and the liability. "If you stop communicating, people will create a narrative," he says. "And it won't be helpful." The instinct during difficult periods is to wait until there's good news to share. Nick sees that as the worst possible response. "You are always fixing something. There's always a win. So you need to put in hard structure around that stuff."

When they finally held a global summit and brought everyone to London, the planned format fell apart within hours. "We wanted to share some stuff, but then we realised all these people that have flown all this way, we want to hear from them." They called it out, dropped the structure, and the room opened up.

Listen to the full conversation with Nick on the Happy Teams podcast.