Strands of Genius: Know Irvin, Behavioural Economics, Munk Debates

Guest curated by Adam Ferrier

Oct 22, 2020

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, ADAM FERRIER ::

LOCATION: Sydney, Australia
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Thinkerbell

Hi my brand essence is 'enigmatic irritation', even stating that is kind of proof I live up to it. I used to work with Faris at Naked, I co-founded the APAC area of Naked, before co-Founding Thinkerbell an agency that practices 'measured magic' (or marketing sciences meets hardcore creativity'. We have 3 other companies that all do their thing; Hocus Focus (a less shit market research company), s p a c e (a conference festival thing where ideas meet influence) and D.O.A. (a social cause agency - it stands for Decade of Action, but we like that people think it stands for Dead On Arrival as a reminder that there is no business model on a dead planet).

Married to Anna, with two sons Arturo and Asterix, and a dog named Finick.

Editor’s Note: Faris met Adam when he went Naked Down Under and was immediately impressed with a man who had done his PhD thesis on ‘coolness’. In the intervening 15 or so years we have hung out in various places, worked on things, written things for each other, and one time his agency sent us a nice bottle of whiskey [they were a client! we must be influencers]. His lovely family are all As - except Finick, who can be a bit particular and gets an F.

Adam is a brilliant mind and maverick mentor, a continual source of contentious brilliance, entrepreneurial drive and straight talking genius. Author of The Advertising Effect, and Stop Listening to Your Customer, and, we believe the only advertising person we know who is regular on a network panel game show.

:: THE LINKS ::

TO KNOW YOURSELF KNOW IRVIN

So this is a psychiatrist who can really write. He changed my life many years ago when I read his book 'Existential Psychotherapy'. The premise of the book (as I remember it) was to accept the constraints we all have being human (fear of being alone, fear of death, fear of meaningless, and a fear of freedom) but don't accept the constraints that others put on you. As a result of reading this I changed my name (the next day) from Adam to Max. After about 5 years I changed it back. There's some powerful shit in them pages, be careful. (Yalom)

BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS

If you want to sound smart a lot get to know this link. Behavioural economics stole everything social psychology already knew, did some marketing to it and made it fresh and exciting. It should be the foundation of everyone in advertising / creativity / design / marketing foundation knowledge pool. The yearly guides are a must read. (Behavioral Economics)

MUNK DEBATES

This website and foundation makes me want to be Canadian. (Munk Debates)

Looking for more from Adam Ferrier? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Chess or 5 Second Rule

:: City :: Bangui

:: Book :: Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

:: Podcast :: The Beekeepers Corner

:: Album :: Paul Kelly: Songs from the South

:: SPACE SERIES :

Space is where ideas meet influence.

God bless.

Adam Ferrier

adam@thinkerbell.com

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

Strands of Genius