Dynamic Duos: Navigating the jump from holdco to indie together

In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.

Stephen Fisher: 

In such a close-knit market like Melbourne, a town where everyone’s connected, Adrian and I existed in different orbits for 15 to 20 years. Our paths never really crossed. We probably shook hands at events and got introduced over the years, but we never really got to know each other.

While my career was heading in the direction of client service, strategy and ultimately management, Adrian was focused on digital and trading. 

However, in the background, behind all of that, there was this consistent theme that Adrian’s a ripping bloke. An absolute cracker. One of the best in the business. 

I joined Hatched in 2016 and it was like landing in a foreign country. The culture shock moving from a holdco to an indie was real. I spent the first week walking around thinking, what have I done? But once I got acclimatised, I never looked back. 

Adrian was at Dentsu when I went with Hatched founder Jack Byrne (JB) to meet with him. He was selling something and while we didn’t buy it, we bought into Adrian.  

After that meeting, Jack and I came away thinking that we needed to be honest with ourselves about our own limitations. To achieve our ambitions for the business, to push Hatched into the space that we both wanted it to get to, we were going to need different skill sets – complementary skill sets. We needed Adrian.  

We’ve never set rules for our working relationship; it’s always felt natural and unforced. He just walked in on day one and we got on with it. We don’t hide anything. If there’s something on our minds, we talk about it. We intuitively know each other’s view before it’s vocalised so there are few surprises.  

We have shared values, shared aspirations and shared lifestyles with our lives outside of work also running in parallel. Our kids are about the same age, we’re both outdoorsy and enjoy spending time with family.  

Adrian is the smartest person I’ve ever worked with his ability to take in information at a macro level and to process it in a very clear-headed, pragmatic and rational way is astounding. I look up to him constantly.  

Adrian Roeling:

Before joining Hatched, I admired Stevo from afar. I’d seen him doing great things and I was always impressed by what I heard about him, and what he’d achieved. But our paths never really collided.  

A big part of the reason why I wanted to join Hatched was because Stevo was there.  

It’s a big leap from a holdco to an indie agency. When you start to see people like Stevo rocking up at an independent agency, you go, okay. There must be something good going on there. 

Alongside my respect for JB and the other talented people who had already joined Hatched, Stevo bridged that gap for me. He made it an attractive proposition. If it wasn’t for Stevo, I might not have made the leap. He gave me the confidence to make the transition to what was a new environment. 

When I first arrived at Hatched, I had a certain veneer from spending so long in a commercial corporate environment. And I think that had to wash off a little. Once it did, I relaxed into the role. Having Stevo there helped a lot. 

Ours is one of the most enjoyable working relationships I’ve had. What I love about it is that I can completely be myself working with someone I inherently trust. 

When you’re aligned from a values perspective and you’ve got complementary skill sets, it works quite naturally. 

One of the things I love about Stevo is that he’s very humble. And he leads by putting other people first. The integrity that he has and the admiration of the people who work for him, as well as the relationships he has with clients – are things that I greatly respect. 

I love being in meetings and pitches with Stevo. Sitting back and watching him in flow, sometimes I forget, oh – I actually have to talk now! 

Stevo on Adrian:  

Most memorable moment with Adrian: Winning Mumbrella Agency of the Year in 2022 was incredible. In our roles, Adrian and I are often running at 100 miles an hour and very guilty of not pausing to reflect on the journey. To be honest, I don’t remember much of that night, but it is a night that will live long in my memory. It was the culmination of so much effort and a validation of how far Hatched had come, and it was simply awesome to celebrate that together and with the team. 

Best word to describe him: I’m going to go with two – bloody legend. Because he’s more than just a legend.  

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: Supporting Tottenham. 

Adrian on Stevo:  

Most memorable moment with Stevo: Getting locked in a conference room together with the Hatched leadership team during an offsite. It was the start of one of Melbourne’s infamous Covid lockdowns. We had a cracker of a night with a bottle of Café Patron. That’s when I learned Stevo had played Mr. Mistoffelees in a performance of Cats when he was a teenager. I’m never going to let him live that down. 

Best word to describe him: Friend.

Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: Supporting Millwall.

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