seeking invention strategists at heart

September 22nd, 2011 • posts i've written

I’m 4 weeks in now to my new job at Deutsch in Los Angeles as Invention Strategist, and while the role is fluid, I’m getting a better sense each day how it stacks up. More importantly, to you, is that we’re looking to hire people to experiment with this new role – working with me.

I come from a non-traditional background. I’ve worked in digital studios, content companies, a strategy shop, and a couple start-ups. I’ve been a programmer, a designer, a writer, a project manager, and strategist. What free time I have is spent deep diving into almost-random subject matter. I have a sick need to abuse myself of ignorance – and there’s so much I don’t know. When I was looking for a gig, it was hard to find a role that wasn’t too narrow, or too rigid.

So it makes sense that my role here is in a bit of a no-man’s land bridging strategy and creative. I think Winston did a great job explaining why Invention Strategy matters, I would just add that the purpose of the role is to bring ideas and prototypes to the client that don’t fit in the comfortable mold of ad deliverables that they’re used to.

We want to build a team that creates products. Modern products. Products that inspire people to share them, to talk about them, and to evangelize them. We want to find people that can invent those products, services, and platforms. We’re looking for people who think in systems, too, who see business models in systems, and propose advances that recognize and take advantage of systems and ecosystems. Together with the larger organization, we want a team that helps expand the definition of what an integrated agency can do – a team that can work with the talented storytellers, strategists, and developers already in-house to create remarkable pieces of communication and remarkable products to be communicated.

We’re looking to build a small nimble team that can extend itself across the organization, to sense what’s going on, and to bring valuable ideas and advisement where they’re needed most. I, personally, want to build a team of people smarter than myself, and I want to work closely with those people so we can make each other smarter. We want to find those individuals that shudder at the restrictive job descriptions in most agencies. The people who are routinely told, “You’re smart, but we don’t know what to do with you.” We want to build our own island of misfit toys, with the mission to pursue ideas that impact our client’s business. The kind of people that have a rabid sense of curiosity and a productive frustration that leads them to want to make things better. We also prefer to work with nice people. Egos need not apply.

If you’re interested, please send a cover letter and a resume to bud.caddell [at] deutschinc [dot] com.

Extra points: help me understand where you fit in these spectrums. No one maxes out all quadrants, we are all stronger in some areas and weaker in others, but give me concrete examples of when you’ve thought and when you’ve helped build in each area.

Related posts:

1. diagnosing the problem vs seeking the truth
2. making invention work
3. trendspotting will destroy your heart

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