Put me in a room where everyone has a different worldview.
One of the most frustrating things I see on job ads, agency sites and social posts is the requirement for 'relevant' experience:
🧐 Someone with X-years of experience 🤨 Must have worked in a similar agency environment 🤔 X, Y or Z sector knowledge is a must
I know — there needs to be a certain amount of awareness of a particular field, sector or corner of the industry for someone to understand what's going on when they step in the door. But that's all learnable stuff. In my opinion, great work is more likely to be made by bringing in those who have a different perspectives to people already in the company, and letting them sprinkle it into the thinking.
Culture add > culture fit. This way, the work benefits with more balanced and richer storytelling, that actually ends up being more relevant when it goes out to the world.
Emma Barratt framed it perfectly to me when she said the team at Wolff Olins is like a fruit salad; everyone brings a different flavour. Unlike backgrounds, unlike upbringings, unlike career paths, unlike points of view, unlike experience — all results in unlikely ways in, through and out.
