No rules, just results: Meet the millennials of Montgomery Fitch

MANILA, Philippines – Louie De Leon furrowed his brow ever-so-slightly as he recounted the most trying moment his upstart creative agency had to go through.

“We kept on running into one bad break after another,” De Leon says. “At one point we were so broke that I even had to split P700 with our CEO, just so we could both have lunch and parking money. Going through that, you tend to start seeing things in an entirely different light afterward.”

The hustle and grind of the startup life is not for the faint of heart. The 9 out of 10 failure rate is too compelling of a deterrent for even the most seasoned of corporate regulars. So one can only surmise what happened when a bunch of twenty-somethings and their young former college professor banged their heads together in an attempt to crack one of the toughest business segments in the country.

“As with most startups, I believe that at the time we never quite realized what we were getting ourselves into. It was essentially a systematic way of jumping off a cliff,” quips Luis Arcangel, the agency’s 33-year-old founder and current chief executive. Arcangel once plied his trade in the busy production floors of New York ad shops and maintains adjunct tenure at several of the Philippines’ top business schools, but nothing could have prepared him for the roller coaster ride that was about to come.  

“If this were a movie, I would probably be the first to say that the script is just too freaking unbelievable,” says Arcangel.

Montgomery Fitch and Associates is their 5 year-old startup that specializes in 360 degree creative and digital communications. It counts brands such as Ortigas and Co., Medicard Philippines, and Sun Life Financial within its client list, and exudes a vibrant workplace persona replete with live card games, Snapchat showdowns, “Game of Thrones Mondays,” along with a PlayStation 4 and air hockey table for the usage of its employees. Its defining feature is that 100% of the nearly 40 individuals currently working in the agency count themselves as part of the millennial generation, with the median age hovering at around 22. The prevailing workforce ethos that these “Fitches” carry around like a badge of honor is an ideal termed “no rules, just results.” It’s a pragmatic, output-based behavioral model meant to humanize an industry infamous for long hours, burnouts, and pretty much anything that resembles work-related stress. But while this all looks great on paper right now, one could hazard that it wasn’t quite a well-oiled machine from the get-go. 

“As a workforce philosophy, to be quite honest I thought it sounded absolutely ridiculous the first time I ever heard of it,” says Geraldine Samson, the company’s first official employee and now its youthful 24-year-old executive vice president. “The system was prone to abuse from the very beginning. We even had an instance where someone would come in at 12 pm and leave at right around 3 pm without batting an eyelash. And I won’t even get you started with those who got ‘sick’ for two weeks straight and yet seemed healthy enough to post beach photos on Instagram.”

The millennial generation is getting a rap nowadays for all the wrong reasons, with hiring managers complaining about poor work ethic, a general lack of focus, and concerning insubordination from these workforce neophytes. But the company remains steadfast in its assertion that the general youth of its team is a major determinant to its success. “I have never met more passionate and hard-working people in my life,” professes Arcangel. “These are precocious, highly motivated young individuals who live, eat, and breathe their craft. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the unbridled energy they brought to the table.”

This unbridled energy had a flipside during the first few years of the company. A lack of organizational process and professional workforce structure, a traditional bane of early-stage startups, was shadowed by heavy tardiness and low productivity. This in turn led to heavy client attrition. “We couldn’t keep a client to save our life,” rues Samson.

Several delinquent accounts later coupled with an ill-timed, hard-luck expansion plan and the agency was on the verge of functional bankruptcy. “I actually sold my car just to keep us afloat for another month,” reveals Arcangel. “Me, Louie, Dine and our other partners would take only the barest minimum for months on end just so whatever little was coming in would be devoted to our payroll, if it came at all.”  

“Not being able to pay our employees on time, many of whom were my friends or were friends of friends – it was practically social suicide,” De Leon recounts with a grimace.   

But where most would cut their losses and call it a day, this intrepid group soldiered on. “The kids had to grow up overnight,” says Arcangel. Through the collective experience of being placed through the wringer, organic solidarity emerged. The “Fitches” didn’t just survive. They thrived. Given up for dead, they found a second wind grounded in steely resolve and the stubborn pride indicative of their demographical makeup. Processes were gradually improved and their organizational structure was streamlined for greater efficiency and productivity. Clients came rushing back in, top talent was attracted, and conversely renewed investor confidence brought in the necessary resources to bring the agency forward. Loyal employees who rode out the hard times saw their careers fast-tracked, something that was all but a pipe dream during the lean years. 

Orange Sanchez, 24, is now one the agency’s top accounts managers and a holdover from the pilot team. Why stay when nearly all her peers were headed out the door? Sanchez explains: “Even if it was my first job so I really don’t have a point of reference, I appreciated that management was still prioritizing workforce happiness even when times were really rough. This created an authentic culture of trust between us and management, and I really felt that my work was being appreciated and holds value here.”

Forged in the flames of being in startup hell and back, De Leon is now the company’s managing director and perhaps one of the youngest in the industry. At 24, he is aware of the need to project a sense of maturity beyond his years with client heads and business owners, many of whom are twice or even thrice his age. De Leon says: “I realize now in hindsight that putting up a company was its own school in itself. I picked up things I never knew I could, in places I never thought. The challenge was overcome by learning to breathe, loosening my grip on book smarts, and opening my mind to opportunity and the path to possible greatness.”  

Long detached from their startup days, Montgomery Fitch now features robust annual turnover and a rapidly expanding client list, all while rapidly eking out a reputation as the go-to agency of young blood keen on starting a career in the creative services industry. According to industry sources the company is fast expanding its reach to Europe, North America, and Australia, with Arcangel acknowledging that they are in “preliminary discussions with regional partners” to expand the company’s transcontinental workforce to more than 100 within the next 18 months.

The improbable success story of Montgomery Fitch could have just as easily been another cautionary tale of failure. And while the efficacy of the millennial demographic is still up for debate, the company’s freewheeling, inclusive workplace culture has seemingly provided a good case study for unlocking the potential of this generation. Its brash youth provide a certain je ne sais quoi as they carve their own unique path towards success. – Rappler.com