We are recording a series of interviews with the 3800 team and our friends to share who we are, why we gather around the same table, and what our work means to us.

In the second interview in the series, we invited our founder Dave Greasley to discuss the story behind 3800.

During our time together we uncovered what an improvement studio is, why it’s important to know what not to be as a leader and how we can benefit from giving ourselves permission to fail every once in a while. 

Sophie Hill: Could you just describe your career journey up to this moment sat with me in this interview?

David Greasley: I think that my career started fairly slowly. Like a lot of people, I first worked for a company who didn't really value me or really invest in my progression, and therefore quite quickly I hit a ceiling.

I don't regret any of that early work, although it was quite creatively limited, I learned how to work fast, deal with customers, price jobs, attract new clients and build sales pipelines.

It was quite a small team, I got eyes on all the inner workings of company, which was invaluable at that time in my life. By 25 I felt comfortable and confident enough to start my own studio.

I think there's three key chapters to that story. The first one was becoming a student again. I realised that I couldn't be a good creative without constantly learning, experimenting and failing, and that no one was going to give me the space to do those things.

I started pushing myself beyond what I thought I was capable of, and often being quite pleasantly surprised by what I'd created.

The second chapter of my career I'd called “doing”. By undertaking and sharing all those weird experiments, I'd created a bit of a pull towards what I was doing and got opportunities to work with some big brands across the UK, US and as far away as Dubai and India.

Within this “doing” period of my life, I felt like I learned the most about who I wanted to work with. I wanted to do deeper work that most founders don't want to acknowledge needs doing.

I wanted to collaborate with companies who shone from the inside out, not those who wanted to cover up their shortcuts, poor leadership and bad behaviour, with fancy graphics.

This leads me to the last third of my career. I would call that chapter “understanding what I want to give”.

I'd done a lot of personal work in my early 30s, sort of reassessing who I was, what I wanted out of life, so I started to move away from things that weren't aligned with the life I wanted to lead.

SH: How did 3800 come to fruition, after the first three chapters that you've just mentioned there?

DG: I'd been quite lucky throughout my career to work closely with some great founders and leaders. I found the best ones were those who were willing to look under their rocks and actively wanted to improve every aspect of their business, even if that meant backtracking or rethinking what they'd done, or completely changing their minds.

These were the people I wanted to work with and 3800 was built around what I believe this audience needs.

My vision for 3800 was a collection of experts, all with varied experiences and different viewpoints, to become bolt-ons to existing teams, to help them implement change, solve problems and excite audiences. Essentially just grow brands.

The exciting bit about hiring people with really varied expertise was to see what would happen if you threw a behavioural strategist and an industrial designer and a storyteller in a room together to see how they'd approach a problem.

SH: 3800, you refer to it as an improvement studio. How does that approach differ from the more “traditional” agencies?

DG: I coined the phrase so it takes a lot of explaining to understand exactly what that is, which I completely get. I think we sit between where business consultants and design agencies meet. We’re in the middle of that Venn diagram.

What I've seen a lot in the past was design studios wanting to make things look pretty, not caring about the deeper impact. Or I'd see consultants who delivered great strategic pieces in dry, boring ways. They could do the deep thinking but not implement it in an engaging way.

3800 hopefully bridges the gap between those two, where we're a studio that can do the deeper work but also deliver on the beautiful creative stuff.

SH: Who, or what, do you refer back to for inspiration? Who's your lighthouse?

DG: Early on in my career, I took inspiration from Jessica Walsh. I remember being in Dublin at a conference called Offset in 2013 and seeing her command the stage.

At the time, I was blown away by how passionate she was in exploring different types of being a creative person.

When I was in that student mentality again, after being in that creatively stifling job, she was the lighthouse to show me that creativity can be so much more than I thought it could be. I probably owe Jessica a pint.

I think the people who inspire me now are the people who are using their platform, or the businesses that they've created, for more than making money. They care about the impact that they're having and how they're going to leave the world in a better position. 

My role now within 3,800 has moved from being a graphic designer/creative director type role to a studio manager, leader, business owner within the last 18-20 months.

Now I'm considering how I can give the people who are in the studio with me, the best experience. What's going to be keeping us exciting and how we're all going to grow together.

Working for other people has helped me see what I don't want to be as a leader. Now I look out for people who are doing that well. The, all too rare, people who are running a great, authentic businesses, that are living by what they say.

My job is now to step into that role. The old way isn't working, and the business world needs a shake up. Hopefully I can inspire and be part of the next generation of leaders.

SH: If you could be gifted one random skill or talent (non work related) what would you choose and why?

DG: I think that if I didn't work here, I would have a more physical occupation. I would definitely do something with my hands, probably be something like woodworking or furniture making.

Still a creative execution, but done much more physically. I would like to have that lifetime learnings of stuff in the back of my head so I know the appropriate tool to use for each job.

When I see master craftsmen doing their work, I'm in awe of how they work a piece of wood – from understanding the grain, to choosing the right chisel, to utilising the perfect tenon.

My friend once picked up a piece of wood and I asked, “what wood is that?” and he sniffed it and he knew it was pitch pine. I think that that’s a sign of someone who knows their materials well.