Strands of Genius: David Carr + The Art of the Prompt
featuring: an interview with our guest editor and a research report
Welcome to the Bonus edition of Strands of Genius! On Fridays, we’ll be publishing interviews from our guest editors, and sharing a research report. Thanks for being along for the ride. Oh and by the way, you look great today :)
:: STEAL THIS THINKING | RESEARCH REPORT ::
This is a guide put together by fellow Strategists and Creatives at Google, based on their experiences and observations of Gemini's potential to help on insights and ideation processes.
It does not reflect a comprehensive use of Gemini, but rather intends to inspire users on how to make the most of Gemini to help with specific tasks and use cases.
:: DIVE IN | THE INTERVIEW ::
DAVID CARR, DIRECTOR CX & INNOVATION CONSULTING AT PUBLICIS SAPIENT
>> David Carr, guest curated Strands on October 17th 2024. Read it here.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what keeps you busy. How did you end up doing what you’re doing today?
How did I end up in digital marketing and consultancy? I knew how to fix the fax machine. A pitch brief to develop Kellogg's websites came into the tiny agency where I worked as a strategist back in the early 2000s, and the chairman knew, that I knew, how to fix the always breaking fax machine - "so David's pretty technical, give it to him". We (and I) had never made a website. So I went and bought some books and some software and taught myself how. Bizarrely we won. From there I worked my way up the creative greasy pole: I was digital creative lead on the award-winning Army account, became a very young Head of Digital and CD at Chemistry, then realising that I cared less about what the work looked like and more about what it did for people and businesses, so I took over Digital Strategy and UX. From there I joined JWT and learnt what brand actually meant before winning two APGs and going to Digitas where I worked on challenges as diverse as transforming Formula 1’s digital product & experience, to service design for patients and oncologists undertaking new immuno-oncology treatments. And then I switched to the scary serious world of Management Consultancy and Digital Business Transformation.
What excites you most about what you do?
Human behaviour in all its contradictions. How everything changes once a week but actually the fundamentals are still the same 20 years later. Working with teams, learning from them and leaning on them - thankfully the days of concepting, designing and approving a Kellogg's microsite on your own, coding it in Flash, html and ASP, uploading it straight to production on your own are gone ;-)
What beliefs define your approach to work? How would you define your leadership style?
Learning by doing. Finding a way rather than waiting for someone to show you. More human and less hierarchical. Unless my idea is better ;-)
What has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on and why?
Lighthouse - a service from AstraZeneca to support cancer patients receiving innovative new Combination Immuno-oncology (IO) therapies. It is a journey where we learnt that strategy has value even when navigating the intimidating worlds of cancer and IO, where we experienced how collaboration really works in the face of ethnographic-driven service design across time zones, and how we discovered that what is really useful to patients and oncologists on unfamiliar therapies isn't what “digital-innovation-people” first think.
Ultimately it is a story of how strategy became less about perfect insights and control, and more about shaping choices to encourage the team to find the problem worth solving. And when it turned out that we had the perfect solution to the wrong problem, it became a story about how teams need to be brave and make use of creativity and human empathy as a force-multiplier to keep going and make things right.
We are big believers in diversity -- Not only because we believe in equality, but because we also think it’s better for business. How do you frame these kinds of conversations, both internally and with clients? Is there an emphasis on action, or are the conversations really more about communication?
Basic human decency. And commerce.
We all do better when we take into account the full wealth of perspectives available and don't isolate ourselves. Businesses do better when they take into account the full range of market needs and stop selling to people who look and sound like themselves.
Switching gears a bit, how do you find time to balance personal interests with your career? Do you believe work/life balance is possible? Anything you’ve implemented that you recommend that others try?
I would dream of work life balance, but I don't have a billable Job number for it. Outside of work it's family & friends, cats, books and colleagues who are trying to indoctrinate me into 40K (they may be winning based on the amount of lore I've recently read).
What’s your media diet? Where do you find inspiration?
Now Twitter has degenerated into a ‘public town square’ designed by Albert Speer but built by Donald Trump (after stiffing the contractors) I find fewer inspiring or serendipitous links there. My media is books - from the pretentious to the guilty pleasures with the occasional bit of strategy thrown in. Strangely I find myself going back to a lot of my old Literary Criticism texts because the ideas being explored in the late 90s seem to be just coming around again in the world of tech.
What’s the best piece of advice/knowledge you’ve stolen, and who/where’d you steal it from?
"It's not worth being an arsehole." When I was CD at Chemistry I'd learned some toxic behaviours from "the CDs of old" (and probably added some myself). I was very driven and my creative partner (and future best man) Rob Trono staged a good intervention. Since then I've built on this and passed it on a lot - it's pointless, self-destructive and in our industry it's career limiting. And don't punch down. Marketing is like a pack of cards, the same people periodically re-shuffled into different hands, I guarantee that the people you take it out on will be either your boss or your client in a few years time...
Do You Like Kittens?
Yes, of course.
You can keep in touch with David on LinkedIn.
If we can ever be of help to you, even outside of a formal engagement, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
rockON,
faris & rosie | your friends over at geniussteals.co
(still want more? @faris is still “tweeting” while @rosieyakob prefers instagram stories)