If you’re trying to do work that has purpose, help others, be great at what you do, and accomplish your own goals and dreams—we’d love to share this book with you.
The Backstory
We started making websites in a dorm room back in 2007. In September 2010, we decided to take a chance on an idea we called “Whiteboard,” a creative agency that has since worked with over 400 organizations in more than 20 countries building solutions for Fortune 500s, scrappy startups, global non-profits, and individuals willing to take a risk on their idea. In a world rich with resources about leadership, self-help, management and marketing, we began to wrestle with the word that defines our industry: agency.
“Agency” is a word often taken for granted. A byline we glance over in an email signature. A word often associated with ego, overwork, and exploitation.
But what does agency really mean? What does it mean for us as individuals, for our work, and for our families? Can we reframe the importance of agency in our hearts and imaginations?
Wrestling with these questions has been a cornerstone to our work for nearly fifteen years. Practicing agency requires balancing tensions of purpose, expertise, advocacy, and ambition. If you’re feeling burned out, ineffective, isolated, or even vain (a common trait in an influencer-driven society)—we’d suggest that your posture of agency may be out of alignment. We know that because we’ve been there, too. More times than we can count. And we finally found our way through.
That’s what this book is all about—finding your way through the tensions of working on behalf of others to a sense of personal fulfillment and flourishing.
In this book, Agency: The Antidote to a Culture Obsessed with Self, we call these tensions the Agency Axis. We demonstrate how the antidote to burnout, ineffectiveness, isolation, and vanity is to practice agency in our lives and work.
From young professionals to seasoned CEOs, from the self-employed to those working in major enterprises, the insights in Agency resonate broadly. We hope you’ll be inspired and empowered as Agency takes you on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
This book is more than a career guide; it’s a roadmap to living a more balanced, fulfilling life.
If you’re trying to do work that has purpose, help others, be a great at what you do, and accomplish your own goals and dreams—we’d love to share this book with you.
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Inside these pages, you will feel supported on the journey to face your own truth and find balance within your best self at home and in the office.
Lauren HallPresident and CEO of First Things First
Their gleaned insights have not only shaped their mission, leadership, and bond but are now generously shared in 'Agency.' I hope to apply more of these inspiring principles into my leadership.
Marija Zivanovic-SmithChief Marketing and Communications Officer, IEX Group
Agency is a must read for anyone seeking to engage the joys and tensions of vocational life with wisdom and balance.
Christy VinesPresident and CEO of Ideos Institute
In a self-serving world, this is a concept that could literally change culture. Agency is unsettling and challenging, practical and applicable, inspirational and hopeful.
Heath Wilson and Joey OdomCo-Founders of Aro
This book is about more than those who prefer to be self-employed; it describes the freedom, power, and perspective of being in control of your life and your career, no matter what job you have.
Rudy Cline-ThomasFounder & Managing Partner MASTRY, Inc.
In Agency, Eric and Taylor have clearly articulated how to effectively navigate work and life with a sense of purpose, mission, and accountability to ourselves and others.
Jason ProvonshaCEO of Steam Logistics
From two partners who started at the bottom, we receive an invitation to reclaim our preferred—but possibly unknown—natural state: the redemption of everyone through effort and empathy.
Blake CanterburyFounder and CEO, Purposity
Pride. Greed. Vanity. These are problems for all of us, but in Agency, Eric and Taylor inspire us to something more, something higher, something better.
Kevin Paul ScottAuthor and Co-founder of ADDO
This book is infused with the same spirit of service, brilliance, joy, and love that I’ve come to experience in my work with Whiteboard and my friendship with Eric and Taylor.
Michael WearFounder and President of the Center for Christianity and Public Life and Author of The Spirit of Our Politics