Slideshow with Dave Hayward, Ep 7, Season 2 (#20)
Episode links
Most people are told to jump in and swim. Dave Hayward’s career is a study in what happens when you sink first, climb out, and then do it all again.
This is a first for the show. Dave Hayward, founder of Europa Creative Partners and the usual host of Slideshow, steps out from behind the interview chair for a solo edition. It’s adapted from a PechaKucha talk he gave at Revved’s Write-Offs, an event centred on the business failures and bad calls that rarely get said out loud. His subject is jumping off the deep end, and four lessons from a career of abrupt changes in industry and discipline.
The thesis is simple and slightly uncomfortable: every jump made Dave in some way, and every jump cost him the compounding depth that comes from staying put. He gets into the difference between breadth and depth, why optimism works better as a tactic than a setting, and the kind of boss who can quietly cost you your job. The stories earn their place, including a coffee tasting he drove hours to with no coffee in the car, and a sales target that was doubled, then tripled, with no extra resources to hit it.
At the centre is the write-off that became Europa: a dream job that fell apart, a decision to quit during a recession with a fresh mortgage and no plan, and the odd relief of being truly free on the other side. He closes on a more hopeful note, arguing that 2026 might be the best time in years to be a generalist, and that the self-doubt which follows him into every role is something you learn to work with rather than wait out.
Links and things
Slideshow with Dave Hayward podcast links:
Produced by Europa Creative Partners
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 waters
Keywords
imposter syndrome, generalist vs specialist, career reinvention, founder mindset, AI and work, T-shaped skills, business failure, resilience, quitting your job, New Zealand business, entrepreneurship, marketing agency, Pecha Kucha, optimism as a tactic
FAQ (for humans and search engines)
What is the Slideshow Write-Offs edition about?
It’s Dave Hayward’s first solo episode, adapted from a talk he gave at Revved’s Write-Offs event. He works through four lessons from a career spent jumping between industries and disciplines, including what that breadth gave him and what it cost. The theme is recovering from the bad calls and setbacks that most people never talk about.
Is it normal to feel like an imposter as a founder or business leader?
Dave references a study suggesting around 84 percent of entrepreneurs experience some form of imposter syndrome, and that even very successful founders often still feel like frauds. His own version is a habit of telling his wife “I can’t do this” before he takes on anything new. The point he makes is that the feeling is close to universal, and it doesn’t have to stop you acting.
Is it better to be a generalist or a specialist in the age of AI?
Dave argues that 2026 is one of the better times in years to be a generalist. Broad experience without deep specialist knowledge used to be a liability, but a wide operator can now draw on AI for the deep domain expertise they lack. He’s clear that genuine specialists still matter, though the balance has tipped in the generalist’s favour.
What does it mean to treat optimism as a tactic rather than a default?
It means using optimism deliberately instead of defaulting to blind hope that something will work out. Dave’s view is that saying yes to everything only makes sense if you have unlimited time and resources. The discipline is thinking through how you will actually do the thing before you commit to it.
What is a T-shaped person, and why does it matter now?
A T-shaped person has broad experience across many areas plus the ability to go deep where it counts. Dave’s take is that AI now gives a broad generalist something close to an on-call team of deep specialists, which makes that wide base far more useful than it used to be.
