Andrew Wallace, CEO of PortoSpire, utilizes a base subscription model with à la carte options to establish clients’ online presence and collaborates with them to enhance and expand their brands. With a background in entertainment, Andrew has mastered the art of storytelling and combines it with a scientific mindset in his endeavors. Throughout his career in live performance art, he participated in a variety of productions, ranging from intimate shows to large-scale performances with hundreds of team members working tirelessly behind the scenes. Following his transition to IT, Andrew concentrated on simplifying complex issues into more manageable components.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Andrew Wallace:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
Having spent a decade honing the skills of storytelling through entertainment (dancing, singing, and acting) before transitioning to tactical IT roles, I bring a blend of artistic and scientific mindsets to every effort I undertake. While working in live performance art, I performed with widely varying and diverse groups ranging from small, intimate shows to large-scale productions, with hundreds of individuals working behind the scenes to keep things running.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
As I transitioned into IT roles, I focused on breaking down complex problems into smaller, easier-to-digest portions. I often found myself in roles acting as a bridge between those more technically minded and those driving the business. Building on my previous experiences in entertainment, I began moving into roles helping to plan and lead projects. This eventually led to the role I hold today as CEO, in which I use a blend of a variety of experiences to tell the story of what the organization can be and how we can get there together.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
After working in a variety of organizations, both large and small, I have seen many company cultures that have positives and negatives. I have also seen how utterly difficult it can be for new, innovative ideas to take hold and for small businesses to break into industries to bring those ideas to market. Providing a humane environment as well as opportunities to help others succeed and launch their stories is what drove me to build PortoSpire. This effort aims to take the positives of company cultures and leave the negatives behind while reducing the barriers for small businesses to reach their target audiences.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
Our community and our workplace are global ones. A client or colleague may be 5,000 miles away on the map, but in truth, they are always right next door. We recognize and embrace this fact and have gone one step further by weaving this truth into the fabric of our DNA. These threads of the tapestry stand proud and alongside all other forms of diversity that make our team who they are. Our staff are proud members and allies of the LGBTQIA2+ community and come from a wide array of backgrounds and ethnicities. We break the molds that formerly defined what would and would not make for a solid partnership.
Which are the major services of the company and how do the company to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
We serve clients nationally and beyond with our small but mighty team of 5. Our geographically distributed team operates with flexible scheduling and asynchronous collaboration. Since the early 2000s, our team has taken a story-experience approach to all our projects. Our commitment to storytelling through experience has driven us to learn, grow, and adapt to provide high-quality solutions on and off the web.
After moving our primary location to central Ohio and restructuring the organization in 2016, we have further refined our storytelling experiences to standardize and automate our processes. We strive to provide opportunities for great brand stories that help small businesses thrive and individuals take control of their web presence.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
We continue to break traditional molds with our organizational culture, just like we do with everything else we do. Our staff is 100% virtual, working where it makes sense. We work when it is most convenient for all, which includes our families as well as clients. We might work on the beach at sunset in California one day and from a log cabin at the crack of dawn in Colorado the next. The days of dictating time and place as an authority from on high have long ended, and we fully embrace that. We are explorers and artists. We seek to bring the world together as we are, not as some undefined “they” want everyone to be.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
Innovation and the automation of processes are at the core of our organization. To support creative thinking and equally creative solutions, we follow a process that leaves room for personalization and customization at each step along the way. Our 6-step process:
- Discovery
- Planning
- Design
- Develop
- Launch
- Maintain
What are your responsibilities as the Chief Executive Officer of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
Similar to how a large ensemble production is put together, I ensure the goals are clear and put the right people in their optimal roles to produce the final product. Our processes and tools reinforce transparency, trust, and continual learning through each project we undertake.
I trust the team to work when and where it makes sense for them and the work they are doing. This takes extra focus and strategic communication to ensure the whole team understands the goals and is all moving in the same direction. I always encourage asking the question of whether a meeting planned to be scheduled could be an email or other type of communication instead.
Smaller organizations typically have more fluid roles, and we are no exception. My role has sometimes taken on everything from coding integrations to reconciling bank statements. My favourite part of the day is seeing all the strategy and planning efforts realized in a completed product or solution. There is something special about following along with something from inception to retirement that gives a level of pride in the collective efforts of the team that is unparalleled in other roles.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
No two individuals are going to bring out their best work or authentic selves using the exact same process and approach. Just because it might be easier to give one-size-fits-all management policies, that does not mean that is the best thing to do.
As new leaders, the best approach is to strive to improve upon how things are done by working smarter, not harder. Society has long moved away from the factory floor model to determine productivity, and there is no reason for us to continue processes and policies that are solely based on the production line model.
Written by Steve Sanchez.
