Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Mahaffy.
Hi Ali, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I took an advertising class in college (KU), and fell in love with the industry. I started in advertising right out of school and was able to get experience in sales promotion, media, research and account management pretty quickly in my career. I leaned into and landed on account management. I love the client interaction, helping solve business problems through marketing and working with all departments across the agency.
I also had a great experience on the client side, and learned how agencies and clients interact and what clients deal with on a daily basis. It was really great experience and learning to take back to agency life.
I went back to the agency with a decision to join Signal Theory in 2001. I started as an account supervisor and worked my way up to co-CEO.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been 80% smooth, which I think is pretty good. There has been so much change in the industry, for one. Going from hand-drawn storyboards and in-person presentations, to video calls and work being done in seconds with AI.
There have also been clients that have come and gone, and employees who have come and gone. I’m a glass half-full kind of person, so I tend to look at these comings and goings as opportunities to learn, grow and appreciate them for what they were. But overall, I’ve been able to meet some of the smartest, most creative and amazing people who I call friends.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Signal Theory?
When John January and I became co-CEOs, we started making a lot of changes. We changed how we were approaching opportunities with more behavioral science. We changed our strategic process. We changed our focus areas. We changed our team structure. We changed the leadership structure. One day, we looked at each other and said, maybe we need to change our brand. So we did.
We went from using the founders’ names as our brand to something that was more indicative of how we were thinking. That’s when we changed our brand name to Signal Theory.
It might seem like a simple change, but it helped us emotionally change a lot.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am a glass-half-full person before pretty much everything, but I am also fiercely competitive. Perhaps it comes from being one of 9 kids in a blended family. Or maybe the way I was raised. I’ve always known it was up to me to make my life and career what I dreamt it could be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://signaltheory.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alimahaffy/
- Other: [email protected]
