Seven things you should know about how I think.

Secret sauce — seven things you should know about how I think. The secret sauce that shapes what I see, how I decode complexity and how I execute for global brands. Design principles for life and beyond.

Culture is the glue

The best studios are filled with humour, creatives are masters of observation and seeing the invisible. Laughter is the secret weapon but Einstein said it best: play is the highest form of research.

Design for life

Brand is the thread that links your business culture and ethos to the human interaction. Design changes the way we interact, how we communicate, how we listen and who we follow. It builds tribes and cult followings. Design is everywhere. Part art. Part science.

A hole in the head

All decisions are made through an emotional lens. Without emotion even the best proof points are reduced to drying paint. A gun powder spark sent a steel rod through the brain of Phineas Gage. He survived and lived a productive life but couldn’t make any logical decisions. Turns out the steel rod had pierced the part of his brain that controlled emotion.

An antidote for the easily bored

Design allows you to be a creative polymath. Starting out on a project where you think you know the answer is miserable. I’m a life-long learner with a penchant for rabbit holes. A writer, dreamer and designer, a thinker, observer and connector, an artist, creator and maker, with an ego that would fit in my pencil case.

Fear is good

Fear is where the growth lies, or the start of a cool story. It leads you to new answers and disruption. It starts from a place of discomfort. Nothing new or category defining starts at safe. Fear heightens the senses and creates creative tension. It drives the project forward and leads to unexpected magic and serendipity.

Plan for magic

Set your intention to create the extraordinary, but allow for mistakes. They bring spontaneity, a sense of humanity, and a sense of magic. Mistakes open you up to serendipity and chance. But don’t leave it to chance — plan for magic. Create the environment and allow it to flourish. Too much structure creates conformity.

Herding cats

I decode complexity into simple and simple into beautiful. Each business problem has an inherent truth. Find the truth and you find the silver bullet.