The Conversations We Don’t Have

The foundation episode introduces the core concept that gives the podcast its name: The Space Between. The three hosts — Ben Slater, Seth Hawthorne, and Debbie Richardson — explore how most agency-client dysfunction stems not from capability gaps but from what's never said.

Unstated assumptions, unasked questions, and misaligned expectations create the space between what agencies claim to do and what they actually deliver. Between what clients want and what they articulate. Between the strategy that's agreed in the boardroom and what reaches the market.

The episode sets up the thesis that runs through the entire series: the highest-value work in the agency-client relationship isn't making things — it's surfacing the things that need to be said. MSQ exists to structure those conversations, to make the invisible visible, and to give agencies a framework for bridging the gap.