About
Bailey Clift
Bailey makes complex things simpler. He owns his work — visible through his catch phrase and limited edition t-shirt line, "It's all my fault™️"
Hand him an idea, a prompt, chaos on one side, and what comes out the other is clean, clear and considered. He leaves his thinking visible and offers you a choice, so you can move the work forward.
He's a designer by training, a youth support worker in a past life, and a handful of other things in between — which is rather the point. He brings the principles of design to everything he touches, not just the visual: complex problems, AI, storytelling, writing.
Bailey reads and listens widely. He learns from everything, especially the stuff-ups, and never stops thinking about how the process could be adapted to make the next thing even more beautiful.
He underpromises and over-delivers with quiet confidence. He cares about outcomes over hours, though he'll put the hours in, and you can tell. He doesn't drop balls. His work speaks for itself.
He'll always give you the context, he'll stand by what he's made, and he'll speak the truth in simple terms to the person in charge, even when it could mean losing work. Surprise — this usually wins him more work.
Steady and peaceful, powerful and bold, Bailey is a joy to collaborate with, whatever the work may be.
Inspirations
- Tim Ferriss — five-plus years of the podcast, and it's the same two things every time: the voices he pulls to the surface, and his willingness to be the guinea pig and report back on the wins and the losses. I've borrowed the posture. Try it, measure it, say what actually happened.
- Tim Minchin — head down, all in on whatever the current project is, trusting that if the work is good the career looks after itself. I keep coming back to that. He also holds brutal reasoning, comic wit and beautiful storytelling in the same piece.
- Derek Sivers — short books, shorter answers, and a habit of publishing the reasoning behind a decision rather than just the decision. [Placeholder reason — needs Bailey's own.]
Robyn Cornish-Hall
Most projects hit a stage where the work is moving but the point has gone missing. That's when you want Robyn in the room. Better yet, bring her in from the start, and she'll help you find the clarity you're looking for before the work begins.
RCH has a knack for asking the right question at the right time — the one that gets to the heart of the issue and opens a way through. She's slow to assume, quick to act once it's clear, and she's got good instincts for when the best way forward is actually backwards.
She's got the other gear too. When it's time for rubber to meet road, she can plan the work, both take and delegate responsibility, and see the whole thing through.
Skills-wise, she's the best writer I know — her emails alone are worth studying. And she's a marketer at heart, with the instinct that only comes from reps: she knows who the work is for, and she begins with that end in mind.
Robyn tells the truth — she'll say the thing that needs to be said to move the work along. And she's fun, which nobody puts in a bio but everybody feels in a workshop.
Her CV reads like it belongs to a few different people. In New York she worked in the venture capital world, with entrepreneurs and investors. In Thailand she ran her own business teaching scuba diving. Somewhere in there she studied classical philosophy and literature. Most recently, she's been marketing breakthrough technology across the mining industry. The experience is broad, but the through-line is the same: find the point, take responsibility for the outcome, and never trust an assumption you haven't checked.
I do my best thinking when Robyn's in the room. You will too.
Inspirations
- Seth Godin — a short post every day, twenty years running, and the source of a useful truth: there is no Bureau of Excellent Ideas.
- Maria Popova — The Marginalian. Twenty years of reading widely and writing down what connects. [Reason — Robyn's own.]
- Krista Tippett — On Being. Asks a question and then lets the silence do some of the work. [Reason — Robyn's own.]
- Mike Birbiglia — comedian and film-maker who builds an hour out of one honest story. [Reason — Robyn's own.]
- David Sedaris — essayist and diarist, forty years of noticing. [Reason — Robyn's own.]