4th August 2026
Eric Segal and Brett Banker on freedom, innovation and doing what you love
Episode 84
Eric Segal & Brett Banker
Co-Founders, X&O
Today’s guests are Eric Segal and Brett Banker, Co-Founders of X&O – the sprint-based agency with an expert-only model, bringing together specialist talent to solve client challenges in double quick time.
Drawing on more than 20 years leading teams inside traditional agencies, they share why they chose not to replicate what exists, but to rethink how the work gets done.
Brett and Eric explore the shift from selling time to selling outcomes, why conviction matters more than compromise when defining a commercial model, and how freeing experts from meetings, multitasking and management responsibilities unlocks better thinking.
They also discuss the future of agency talent, arguing that the industry’s best people shouldn’t have to leave the work they love behind simply to climb the career ladder.
HIGHLIGHTS:
[01:45] A new model agency
[07:55] The winds of change
[10:27] Solving problems
[13:14] Specificity over availability
[20:21] Consistency builds trust
[28:34] Climbing the wrong ladder
[32:30] The C-suite’s secret weapon
[37:35] No long game
[42:24] Conviction over consensus
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