Bill Kenney is the CEO and a partner of Focus Lab, a brand agency that helps B2B companies stand out. Trained as an art major who discovered design, he built his career from small freelance jobs into a leading agency, and he speaks about trust, authenticity and practical time management.
Last updated: 10 November 2026
Reading time: about 9 minutes
How we wrote this article: this article was written by Saj Ali. It is based on Bill Kenney’s 2026 interview in G2’s Industry Insights series and on Focus Lab’s own website. Quotes are taken from the published interview, and the research links show what studies say about the habits he describes.
Bill Kenney at a glance
- Role. Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Focus Lab, a B2B brand agency.
- Background. Art major who found his calling in design classes.
- First job. Mowing the graveyard in his home town, for about three weeks.
- Time hack. Colour-coded time blocking: red drains energy, purple recharges.
- Core belief. “Trust is everything in any type of relationship.”
Contents
- Finding His Path: From Poor Student to Straight As
- Starting Small and Spotting Opportunity
- His Time-Blocking Method
- Trust Is Everything
- Owning Your Mistakes
- Staying Human in the Age of AI
- Lessons From Bill Kenney
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Key Takeaways
- Explore More on Self Help Supermarket
- Sources
Finding His Path: From Poor Student to Straight As
Kenney describes his path as “very organic”, shaped by a few pivotal moments. Speaking to G2’s Industry Insights series in August 2026, he said: “I was a pretty poor student in general, even through high school and college. But when I became an art student, I loved it, and I thrived with straight As from that point.”
The next shift came in design classes, when he moved from painting, drawing and sculpture to working on a computer. “That intersection of technology and creativity for me was epic,” he said.
The self-help lesson: struggling in one setting does not mean you lack ability. Finding work that genuinely interests you can change your results. Research on intrinsic motivation supports this: people who find an activity interesting and personally meaningful tend to engage more deeply and persist longer (Ryan and Deci, 2000). Our guide to life purpose and meaning explores how to find that fit.
Starting Small and Spotting Opportunity
His first job was hardly glamorous. “I mowed the graveyard in my little town,” he recalled. “I didn’t do that for very long, I think three weeks… But, hey, you gotta start somewhere.”
After college, he took a job answering phones for a woman who ran a vacation rental company. “She realized I could design, and I started to design for her and then for all of her business friends. That’s when I realized I could make money doing this.”
He summed it up: “So, first, I fell in love with it, and then I realized this could become a thing.” He then met his business partner, and they “made a run at it”. Focus Lab’s about page today lists Kenney as Partner and Chief Executive Officer, alongside partners Erik Reagan and Will Straughn.
| Stage | What happened | Lesson |
|---|---|---|
| First job | Mowed the town graveyard | Everyone starts somewhere |
| College | Switched to art, then design | Interest drives performance |
| First job after college | Designed for his employer and her business friends | Show your skills where you are |
| Partnership | Met his business partner and started Focus Lab | Shared ambition helps you take the leap |
| Today | CEO of Focus Lab | Small steps build into a career |
His Time-Blocking Method
Kenney says time blocking came later in his career: “I’ve become a big-time blocker later in my career. That’s not who I was initially. But now I block my Google Calendar religiously.”
His method is simple:
- Put tasks on the calendar. He adds his Asana tasks to Google Calendar as individual blocks.
- Colour-code by energy. “I color-code all my meetings red. Red, for me, means it’s going to discharge my battery. And then things that would charge me up are purple.”
- Read the week at a glance. “Even without seeing what all the little micro time blocks are, I’m able to get a scale of my week.”
Why it works: Scheduling a specific time for a task is a form of planning that research links to follow-through. A meta-analysis of 94 studies found that “if-then” plans, which tie a task to a specific time or situation, had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals (Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006). Kenney’s colour coding adds energy to the picture, an idea popularised in Harvard Business Review’s article “Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time” by Tony Schwartz and Catherine McCarthy.
Try it yourself: pick two colours, one for tasks that drain you and one for tasks that recharge you. At the end of the week, check the balance. If one colour dominates, move or add recharging blocks. See our productivity and procrastination guides for more.
Trust Is Everything
Kenney’s work is about building brands, but his ideas apply to people too. “It feels like a dramatic statement, but trust is everything in any type of relationship,” he told G2.
He explained that a brand builds trust by showing what it values, and then acting in line with that over time. “Now, you still have to deliver on the promise. That’s where the trust is solidified.”
He offers three ways to build trust early:
| Principle | In his words | Personal application |
|---|---|---|
| Be genuine | “You have to own who you actually are. Even when people have faults, if they are real, genuine, and authentic about themselves, we still trust them.” | Show up as yourself rather than an image |
| Be consistent | “If you’re going to say a certain thing, you need to follow through with it.” | Match your actions to your words in every setting |
| Use social proof | “Social proof goes a long way.” | Let your track record and others’ feedback speak for you |
The research: studies on authenticity link living in line with your true self to higher self-esteem and wellbeing (Wood et al., 2008). For more, see our guide to authentic confidence.
Owning Your Mistakes
Kenney is open that his company sometimes gets things wrong. “Some projects are really challenging. Maybe we make a mistake. Maybe we didn’t follow through on something in the way that we should have. But if we care about the customer and own up to it, we can resolve all of that, and we can still end in a very happy state.”
His advice is direct: “Just own it. I do feel like people can understand an error if you just own it. That’s all they’re looking for.”
He also warns that the most lasting damage comes from making people feel wronged or treated “like a number and not a human”. The fix is to focus on the people factor.
The research: owning a mistake works best alongside kindness to yourself. In a series of experiments, people who were encouraged to take a self-compassionate view of a weakness or mistake were more motivated to improve and to make amends than those in comparison groups (Breines and Chen, 2012). Our self-compassion guide shows how to practise this.
Staying Human in the Age of AI
Kenney believes AI will make authenticity more important, not less. “In the age of AI, the world is more nervous about what’s real. This will push us to be more real now as a brand,” he said. “It is still a people-to-people world. AI will just push the momentum of the need to be human even more. And honestly, I think that’s a good thing.”
He applies the same thinking to reviews, which he values highly: “I don’t know that there’s anything more powerful than a customer review.” He noted that Focus Lab had built up more than 40 testimonials and 27 G2 reviews over years of work.
The self-help lesson: in a world full of automated content, real connection, honest communication and a reputation built over time stand out.
Lessons From Bill Kenney
| Lesson | How to apply it |
|---|---|
| Find what you love | Notice which subjects or tasks make you thrive, and follow them |
| Start where you are | Use your current job to show skills you want to grow |
| Block your time | Put tasks on your calendar, not just your to-do list |
| Track your energy | Colour-code tasks that drain and tasks that recharge |
| Be genuine and consistent | Let your actions match your words |
| Own your mistakes | Admit errors quickly and focus on putting things right |
| Stay human | Value honest, personal communication |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Bill Kenney?
Bill Kenney is the CEO and a partner of Focus Lab, a brand agency that helps B2B companies stand out.
What is Bill Kenney’s time-blocking method?
He puts his Asana tasks onto Google Calendar as time blocks and colour-codes them: red for meetings that drain his energy and purple for activities that recharge him.
How did Bill Kenney start his career?
He became an art major, discovered design, and then began designing for his employer at a vacation rental company and her business friends, which showed him he could make money from design.
What does Bill Kenney say about trust?
He says trust is everything in any relationship and is built by being genuine, being consistent and using social proof, then delivering on your promises.
What does Bill Kenney say about mistakes?
His advice is to “just own it”, because people can understand an error when you admit it and care about putting it right.
What was Bill Kenney’s first job?
He mowed the graveyard in his home town for about three weeks.
Key Takeaways
- Bill Kenney went from a poor student to straight As after finding art and design.
- He built his career by showing his design skills in a job that had nothing to do with design.
- His time-blocking system colour-codes tasks by whether they drain or recharge his energy.
- He believes trust rests on being genuine, consistent and delivering on promises.
- His advice on mistakes is simple: own them.
Explore More on Self Help Supermarket
Use these pages alongside this one:
- Productivity – practical ways to get more done
- Procrastination – getting started on tasks you avoid
- Self-Compassion – being kind to yourself after mistakes
- Authentic Confidence – building confidence by being yourself
- Life Purpose and Meaning – finding work that fits you
- Ayesha Ofori – a profile on purpose and financial confidence
- Browse all self-help techniques – compare every method on Self Help Supermarket.
Sources
- Vazquez, A. (2026, August 26). Transparency in B2B branding with Focus Lab’s Bill Kenney. G2 Learn Hub. https://learn.g2.com/professional-spotlight-bill-kenney
- Focus Lab. About us. https://www.focuslab.agency/about
- Gollwitzer, P. M., and Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601%2806%2938002-1
- Schwartz, T., and McCarthy, C. (2007). Manage your energy, not your time. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2007/10/manage-your-energy-not-your-time
- Wood, A. M., Linley, P. A., Maltby, J., Baliousis, M., and Joseph, S. (2008). The authentic personality. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(3), 385–399. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385
- Ryan, R. M., and Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
- Breines, J. G., and Chen, S. (2012). Self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(9), 1133–1143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167212445599
Self Help Supermarket guides are for general information and are not a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice.