Human on the Inside. We’re big believers in the power of human skills. But don’t just take our word for it - the evidence for excellence powered by human (‘soft’) skills is everywhere! In this engaging, ever-enlightening series, we speak with industry leaders, innovators and game-changers to learn a little about their personal career journeys, and how human-led strategies, philosophies and cultures are proving a force for good in their working worlds … 

Maxme: Welcome Carlos, and thanks for stepping into the #SuccessIsHuman Spotlight. 

You’re the Founder & Creative Director at un-sanctioned™ running & The Bay 13 Institute. In 2 (ok we’ll give you 3-4) sentences, what do these roles entail?

Carlos Furnari: Challenging the way sports communications are done. Protecting clients from themselves by saying no more than I say yes. Frequently accepting Google meeting requests for inconvenient time zones. Wandering around scratching my head a lot trying to deliver on the first sentence I’ve written here; even when the client is actually me. 

M: You’ve been leading the un-sanctioned™ running charge for five years now, and The Bay 13 Institute for almost a decade, but your exceptional career as a creative is of course much deeper. 

It all kicked off in the mid 90s as an Art Director/Copywriter with Leonardi Advertising. Your first gig in ‘Ad Land’, you stayed with Leonardi for ~3.5 years before heading to the UK as a freelancer for various leading London agencies in the 2.5 years to follow. 

In May 2000 you headed to Germany and joined DDB Berlin as a copywriter, working full time on the Volkswagen (GER) account. The following year you relocated to Amsterdam and joined Wiedan+Kennedy (WK), again as a copywriter but this time across multiple brands including Nike Europe, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Amazon, Siemens and Sharp. 

After an impressive 6 years with WK, it was time for a change in late 2008 and you joined 180 Global as Creative Director. There you worked solely on Adidas global running. A little over 12 months later, you ventured out alone again, working as a highly sought freelance Writer/Creative Director for various sports brands, agencies and brand marketing directors. Your folio of work over this ~5 year consulting period featured Nike, adidas, On Running, Strava, K-Swiss and Converse. 

In late 2013 you returned to Melbourne and joined BMF Advertising as Creative Director for ~1.5 years before Founding The Bay 13 Institute. 

What a ride! How does all this speak to your personal purpose and what drives you as an individual? 

CF: As lame as it may come across, I’m very much driven by excellence — in all forms. Whether that’s in my work or personal life. I love craft and the details that matter or make the difference. If I’m doing something, I’m really doing it. I’m invested in it. It takes just as much work to achieve mediocre results, so why not aim for something better? I’m a 100% or zero% person by nature — either all in, or not in at all. Whether I’m committing to yet another marathon (eleven and counting), or whether I’m agreeing to take on a new work project. Whether I’ve decided to take a shot at building the best, most sustainable, industry-challenging running brand in the world.

The world does not need more ‘stuff’. So if I’m going to be responsible as a professional creative, or start up apparel founder for putting more ‘stuff’ out into the world, then I think there’s a responsibility for all that ‘stuff’ to be better. Which of course feeds straight back to being driven by excellence.  

M: Tell us a little about your personal education pathway/s - what led you to where you are now? How closely do your formal qualifications match your current career?

CF: I was the arty kid at school. But also the sporty kid. So it’s not so difficult now to draw a line back and see how I somehow ended up carving out a career for myself that mashes both of those things together. And on an even more granular/specific level that I was the arty runner kid who would draw pictures of runners & Nike ads, but then go on to have a career creating real running ads for global brands, including Nike! 

But more specifically to the question: I studied a BA in Advertising at RMIT. However, it started out as a graphic design degree. Being a super-competitive field to get a placement in, with year 12 results not really meaning much, I first did a ‘portfolio’ year at TAFE in order to get into that.

So I guess my formal qualifications match pretty strongly to what I’ve gone on to do. Mind you, painting & life drawing were always my favourite subjects — no wonder I’m still rubbish at spreadsheets.

M: If you could share one piece of career advice to your 21 year old self it would be ...

CF: Trust. Your. Gut. More. Rarely is it far from the truth or what’s best for you in any given situation. 

M: Maximising the potential of individuals, communities and businesses through the power of human skills is the reason Maxme exists. Can you tell us a little about the role and / or value of human skills in your industry right now?

CF: Hmm… In my role as a Creative Director to some degree this has become more and more a tricky one. For better or worse the nature of the job is to steer the work, determine what is and isn’t a good ‘idea’. And that of course also means telling somebody “Yes, brilliant… love it. Genius!!”

But the reality is, 90% of the time it’s the opposite of that; it’s telling somebody it’s not right, not that good, we can do better. And that’s tough. You need to be able to convey that ‘I’m not telling you you’re crap’, I’m just saying ‘this idea isn’t great’.

At the end of the day, yeah, we’re all humans who feel, and so it’s difficult to separate things and not take everything as a personal attack. It would be really great to be able to tell everybody (clients included) that all their ideas are great and we should implement them immediately! But then maybe the role would be something more like ‘Creative People Pleaser Who Lets All Our Ideas Through But Destroys Our Brand In The Process’?

Thankfully, it’s fair to say though that the industry has definitely moved on from the days of “I told you it was sh*t yesterday, and it’s still sh*t today”. Not sure that approach would get you anywhere but a visit to the HR department now.

M: Self Awareness sets the critical foundation for all Maxme learning experiences. With that said … What's your strongest trait / personal superpower?

CF: Stubborn Self Belief mixed with absolute creative insecurity. Yes, that makes no sense at all. I’m willing to back myself in most situations and not afraid to go against the grain, challenge the norm and try a different approach — while doubting myself the whole time. Ridiculous.

M: And on the flip side, what’s one human / ‘soft’ skill you’ve had to really work on improving over the course of your career?

CF: Think before I react. Let the internal flames simmer a bit before responding to something I ‘perhaps’ disagree with. Doing that can’t not result in a different approach to how something is communicated. Be more patient. Don’t press send just yet, sit with it for a bit, or maybe even until tomorrow! Great creative work pulls strong at various emotions, but the communication process of getting there can probably benefit from a more level-headed approach most of the time.  

M: If you could share one piece of career advice with recent Uni graduates or candidates keen to work in the fields of creative direction &/or online retail, what would it be?

CF: Don’t be in a hurry to ‘get there’. Go travel. Do something else. Be curious about the world. A degree is a degree is a degree. It’s important, sure. But nothing will set you up better than actual life experiences outside the comfort zone of familiarity. Who knows, those experiences may result in you wanting to do something else all together. And that’s totally okay. 

M: You’ve been granted approval to add one University graduate to your business, but have 100 applicants, all with outstanding academic results. How do you find your perfect candidate - what are you looking for?

CF: Honestly, I don’t care about outstanding academic results. I care about the person in front of me. Hmm… I guess this links back to the advice I would give my 21 year old self — I’d trust my gut and go with the candidate it thinks I should hire. I don’t think AI can do that for me just yet.  

M:In the words of John Dewey, “education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.” 

What’s next on your #learning agenda? 

CF: Given that I very recently bought a new, old home, I think most of the learnings on my foreseeable agenda will somehow involve youtube home renovations ‘how to’ tutorials. All tips and links welcome! 

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