Dave Hayward: Write-Offs! Expensive mistakes that you don't have to make.

Dave Hayward has changed industry and discipline more times than most people change jobs. This is what all that jumping taught him, and what it cost. In his first solo episode of Slideshow, recorded from a talk at [Revved](revved.events)'s Write-Offs event, Dave works through four lessons from a career spent jumping off the deep end: sinking before you swim, treating optimism as a tactic rather than a default, surviving bad bosses and impossible targets, and the dream job that fell apart and led him to revive Europa Creative Partners. Along the way, he gets into forgetting the coffee for a coffee tasting and closing the deal anyway, a sales target that was doubled and then tripled with no extra resource, and the dream job that fell apart and pushed him to quit with a fresh mortgage and no plan, the write-off that became Europa Creative Partners. He also lands on why 2026 might be the best time in years to be a generalist, and why the self-doubt never really goes away. Worth a watch if you have ever taken on a job you had no business taking, and made it work anyway. Links: Dave Hayward, LinkedIn Europa Creative Partners This episode was recorded from content that was part of Dave's talk at Revved's Write-Offs event. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:50 A first solo edition: the Write-Offs talk 01:40 Imposter syndrome and the 84 percent 02:50 Breadth, depth, and optimism as a tactic 04:00 The welding job he wasn't ready for 05:20 Birmingham: a coffee tasting with no coffee 06:10 Bad bosses and a target that doubled then tripled 08:10 The dream job and the scandal that followed 09:20 Quitting with no plan, and how Europa came back 11:50 Why 2026 is a good time to be a generalist 12:40 Still jumping, just picking better watersFind full show notes, links, and transcript at europa.nz/podcasts.Produced by Europa Creative Partners.