Welcome to Fast Company Daily, our daily newsletter on LinkedIn, featuring a free article selected each day by our editors as well as a roundup of great advice on careers, hiring, innovation, and technology.
Visit fastcompany.com for our top stories and breaking news. First time seeing this? Please subscribe.
[Photo: Courtesy Apple]
Tor Myhren is going to kind of hate this article. Because it’s about him, not his entire team.
Because I want to talk about his shift from agency chief creative officer to leading marketing for the most pristine marketer on the planet, not to mention one of the world’s most valuable companies.
Because I want to talk about how he’s been doing it for 10 years in an industry where brands change senior marketing executives as frequently as their socks.
And because I want to start with the worst moment of his decade at Apple.
At the time, Myhren had a singular focus.
In early 2024, Apple’s VP of marketing communications was sitting with his team, thinking about how they should approach the rollout of the new iPad Pro, Apple’s thinnest and most powerful iPad to date. Myhren, whose job it is to help sell the products of one of the world’s most profitable and beloved gadget makers, zeroed in on an idea.
“The idea was about the thinnest product we have ever made, and in the making of it, all I could see was thin, thin, thin,” Myhren says.
The team ended up releasing a spot in May 2024 called “Crush.” It depicted a collection of creative tools—turntables, a piano, trumpet, cans of paint, a sculptured bust, an old arcade game, a mannequin for fashion design, a writing desk, camera lenses—all piled up in an industrial compactor. Then, to the melancholy tune of Sonny & Cher’s “All I Ever Need Is You,” the objects were slowly and methodically crushed into the iPad Pro.
The ad bombed. It went viral for all the wrong reasons, and exposed a major blind spot for Apple. “Crush” aired in the early days of the AI hype cycle, and the ad fueled fears that new technological capabilities would replace creative professionals of all stripes and lead to massive job losses.
Barely 48 hours later, Myhren publicly apologized for the spot and it was pulled.
“When the world saw something other than what we intended in it, it was impossible to unsee,” Myhren recalls.
Read more on Fast Company Premium.
A Fast Company Premium subscription offers readers full access to subscriber-only stories including exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design.
Get the details and subscribe here.
Test the waters before you leave your 9–5
There’s a popular narrative around starting a solo business: quit your job, take the leap, figure it out along the way. It sounds bold. It also ignores what many successful solopreneurs actually do: start while they still have a paycheck, figure it out, and then quit.
I freelanced alongside my 9–5 for two full years before going solo full-time. That runway gave me time to figure out my offer and ideal clients, build a portfolio, and develop the confidence that I could make it work. As a result, the transition didn’t feel like a free fall.
If you’re thinking about solopreneurship, a side hustle might be a smart way to get started.
A side hustle while you’re still employed gives you something incredibly valuable: the ability to experiment without risking your livelihood.
You can determine what services you plan to offer and validate whether there’s demand. You can pitch potential clients, test different pricing, and figure out what “sticks”—all while a steady paycheck covers your bills.
You’re also building proof that you can do the work. Future clients want to see what you’ve already done, not what you plan to do. A portfolio and a few client testimonials go a long way when you’re ready to announce that you’re open for business full-time.
The tough part is juggling both. I had a lot of late nights and weekends when I took on freelance work alongside my 9–5 job. But I knew it wasn’t forever, so it was worth the period of overlap.
Read the full story on Fast Company.