Ideas
Deeper Questions
Essays, talks, lectures and workshops that help people question what they've stopped noticing, about media, culture, leadership and the way we work, and leave with bolder ambitions and ideas they can use.
For thirty years I've worked as a designer, a filmmaker, a creative leader and an independent strategist. On a stage or in a classroom I bring learnings and my practice of going upstream, questioning assumptions and challenging conventions that limit our imagination.
Things I think, write and talk about
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Asking Better Questions
The most expensive mistakes are made before the work starts. How to find the real question, and how to write a brief worth answering.
For: marketing and creative teams, in-house agencies, students
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Culture is upstream of brand
Brands are built through experience, and that depends on what people do, not what they say.
For: leadership and marketing conferences, company off-sites
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Creative leadership
What I learned building an award-winning creative team inside a global organisation, and why you should consider creativity as a strategic capability, not a service.
For: industry events, in-house agency leaders, MBA programmes
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Media, attention and the commons
Media are like air and water: they shape our attention, what we notice and what we believe, so it matters who controls them.
For: media conferences, universities, publications
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As simple as possible, but not simpler
The opposite of simple is complicated, not complex. How to make complex ideas clear without flattening them.
For: design schools, communications and strategy teams
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Creative Mix
For those who want a bit of art in their life, a little design in their strategy or a little philosophy in their design. I don't do silos.
For: design schools, creative agencies, in-house teams
Formats
Keynote
Thought-provoking ideas on a theme, 20 to 45 minutes.
Lecture or seminar
At events, universities and business schools, with time for questions.
Workshop or masterclass
Half a day or a day, hands-on collaborative session, built around a live brief or challenge.
Conversation
Panels, podcasts, interviews.
Essay
Commissioned writing and commentary.
Any of these can be built around specific audiences and questions.
Who invites me
Event organisers
Industry conferences that want more than a trend deck.
Universities and business schools
Programmes that want a practitioner who teaches strategy and creativity together.
Leadership teams
Offsites, away days and internal conferences that need to look beyond the next quarter.
Editors and hosts
Publications and podcasts looking for the long view on media, creativity and change.
Past keynotes and lectures
Events
- ADG-FAD Conference, Barcelona
- Cannes Lions, France
- D&AD Festival, UK
- GEMA (Promax), Global
- Cool Shit
- State of our Art
- Marketing Festival, London
- Pecha Kucha, Tokyo
Universities
- Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Ravensbourne, London
- Università Iuav di Venezia, Italy
Writing
I write to help me think, and publish to think with others. The Ideas Garden is where notes on brands, creativity, media and culture grow into essays.
Organisational Therapy
In strategy as in therapy, clients usually already have the answer. It might be right in front of them, but they are so used to it that they have stopped noticing.
British Bold Creative
The BBC Charter Renewal offers an unmissable opportunity to put the public in charge of Public Service Media, and enable it to reshape the media commons. In the increasingly troubled 21st century this is a strategic necessity.
Thinking & Writing in the Shitshow
As I strive to connect more dots, to help un-delude myself, I join forces with others who care and have the courage to imagine better ways of being together in the world.
Planning an event, a course or a conversation?
Tell me the question you want your audience to leave with.