I run an independent talent community, I promote the value of working with accomplished independent talent and advocate for the value of an independent stage of a senior leadership career path (it’s not the road to retirement, nor taking a backseat and don’t get me started on “leaning out”).

I talk about the effectiveness of independent talent – targeting the experience, skillset or expertise that you need. The efficiency of independent talent – heads without the overheads: no expensive agency or consultant’s fees, nor adding to your headcount.

But I rarely get to talk about what I see in those I’m lucky to work with every day. The PASSION of accomplished, independent talent.

"I’d do this for free if I didn’t have to pay the mortgage”
To caveat – I’m talking about senior marketing talent who are working independently. I can’t speak for talent in other disciplines and nor early career freelancers.

But take a senior marketing leader or specialist, around 20 years into their careers and you’ll find that they know exactly how they want to spent their working time, which for many is just as hard work as their corporate roles, but it doesn’t feel that way because they love what they do and care deeply about it. Someone said to me, “I’d do this for free if I didn’t have to pay the mortgage”.

What passion gets you
In my experience, exceptional work, done at an exceptional pace, that goes the extra mile. One of the reasons day rates are the completely wrong way to ask accomplished talent to charge for their time (another thing not to get me started on) is no-one is clock watching – they are immersed in, and loving, what they do.

Once people find the thing they really care about – so much so it’s the only thing they want to do, they become true experts in their field. Whether it’s uncovering insights, nailing growth strategies or maximising performance marketing for long and short-term gain - they hone their skill, but with the commercial perspective of leadership experience.

For some, it’s a category or transformation they really care about. I’ve seen talent find the only way to do what they really care about is to work independently, be that helping brands see how sustainability can sit at the heart of their growth rather than at odds with it, or leveraging AI for efficiency and getting companies moving on their AI journey.

Here I have personal experience. I worked for 16 years growing mass market snacking brands before working independently. I came full circle when I discovered the huge transformation that faces our food categories and systems to be better for us and have significantly less impact on our planet. I enjoyed food marketing and was good at it but was increasingly conflicted by driving people to eat more of what they don’t need (and that I've subsequently learnt our ecosystems ultimately can’t sustain). Now the work I spend my time directly on is with companies solving for this. I wish there were more hours in the day to do so.

Time to think about leveraging accomplished, independent talent?
The next time you have a customer, growth or marketing problem to solve, think about who could help you who will care as much, if not more, about solving it than you. Beyond being efficient and effective, asking someone to take on something they really want to do, rather than it’s in their job description on another item on a long to-do list, will yield the greatest results of all.