The Upside Down

So here goes...number 4 in my recalibration diaries.

By my reckoning, it's been almost 7 months since I last had a bona fide job and whilst I'd initially planned to have a new 'job' by September, the world has interfered and contrived to make that a little more complicated than I'd initially planned. Having said that, I need to start getting my ducks in a row and think about what might be next.

In fact, that's been the main - and understandably obvious - question that everyone has posed to me every time they make contact.

"What's next?"

Embarrassingly, I simply don't know. Even after all this time my brain doesn't seem to have allowed anything specific to bubble to the surface. Sure there are lots of things that interest me, but nothing has fermented and distilled in my little grey cell swamp to a level that demands overt focus or laser like direction.

It doesn't help that a few things have changed in the past 6 months...

There's the elephant of COVID-19 that has set traditional studio practice into a tailspin. Remote working is the norm although it's been interesting to sit back at a metaphorically safe distance and observe the initial acceptance and evangelical love of these home based circumstances to eventual murmurs of sentimentality and the need for the 'water cooler' interactions or person-to-person synaptic chemistry that comes from physical co-location. I'm in two minds with this one. I think a healthy balance of both is key.

Then there's the hijacking of the job title I thought I was safe to use. I took a degree in Product Design which meant that I designed physical objects (at least initially). I've been getting unrealistically excited to see lots of 'Head of Product Design' roles pop up in my 'recommended' feed in the past months, only for hopes to be dashed when you realise that Product Design is no longer owned by the physical realm, but has been hijacked by the digital folk. Go figure. Somewhat oxymoronic methinks?

And finally, there's the swathes of poor unfortunate buggers who have been unceremoniously 'let go' from countless well established businesses - all for versions of the same apparent truth, wrapped up in COVID related excuses. I'm incredibly fortunate in that I decided to take some time out and have enjoyed the experience (although our plans to go inter-railing with the kids were well and truly scuppered!) but I do empathise with those who have had to scrabble around as their lives and careers are tossed like casino dice.

So what of my recalibration?

Well now that schools have gone back, I finally have some peace and quiet to contemplate what my next step might be...or should be...or more importantly...shouldn't be. I've read every morsel of advice that you kind people have sent me via messages, calls, zoom chats, walks and suggested reading lists. It's been fascinating to hear the variety of stories - from burnouts to enlightenments to left turns to full stops, and I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has taken the time to do so. It is genuinely appreciated.

However, I keep coming back to something.

How do you look for something when you don't really know what it is you are looking for? How can I punch in a search string when I have no clue what to type?

So I figured I might have a go at writing what I'm calling 'An Upside Down Application'.

'Normal' job applications typically start with a mission statement extolling the reasons why THIS candidate would be perfect for THAT job, followed by a list of prior experience justified with evidence and glorious cliché. It's a targeted methodology. It puts the onus on the applicant to prove why they are worthy of the role, pitting themselves against multiple others.

Instead, I'm going to list what my criteria are for something that I think would fulfil me professionally and I'm going to see what happens. It's probably a stupid idea and one that may yield the square root of bugger all, but while I continue to spend time renovating my home, it might be an interesting experiment (if nothing else) to see if what I 'wish' resonates with anyone who might read this. If it doesn't, I'll try another tack, but hey...it's worth a shot.

The most interesting bit for me is the stuff that lies outside of my understanding of the roles I might typically fill - roles that normally have the word 'Design' in the title. If I remind myself of the things I love doing (professionally), then only a minority are genuinely design related. The rest could be applicable to completely alternate disciplines, which I have no knowledge of.

So here goes...my wish list...it's possibly far too honest but - hey - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger huh? There's no real order to the list, and there are quite a few others that I probably should include, but this will do for now.

1. My family. Family is incredibly important to me, and this last year has made me reflect all the more on this aspect of my life. Every job I have had (apart from when I ran my own business) has forced me to prioritise work over family - albeit to differing levels. Daily patterns and habits shift toward the professional needs of the job rather than the holistic importance of the family unit. I wrote about this in my first article, and it was a significant reason in deciding to 'recalibrate'. I would be a fool to ignore those lessons and signals that have sometimes been hard learned, so any future job would have to acknowledge that the flexibility to forge a career around the needs of the family unit are more important than forcing a family to accept the (often unnecessary) rigidity of a job.
2. I love where I live. In fact, its intrinsically linked to the family orbit. I've always travelled for hours each day to work (when I was working as an employee) as my wife and I have always chosen to live where we want rather than where the job dictates. We don't like living in cities. We love the open space that the countryside affords us and it's bloody great for the soul. I really don't want to spend cumulative weeks of my life travelling to and from work. It erodes the spirit. I fully appreciate that there are aspects of any job that require people to work together and I fully advocate that, but having to commute 5 days a week to sit at a desk for the majority of that time seems like folly.
3. The fuzzy link between technology and humans. Whenever people ask me what I do, I tend to regurgitate a version of this sentence. My role, when you boil it down to its very core, is to ensure that a technology, formulation, science, system or process is ultimately communicated and delivered to humans in the most intuitive, meaningful and straightforward way imaginable. I have a brain that can understand (relatively) complex systems and technologies but simplify them to a level that they can become digestible - mainly because that same brain only likes simple instructions so I have to simplify things in order for it to make sense to me in the first place. I mentioned it in my earlier article, but boiling things down so that they make immediate sense to the people they are destined for is critical. Strip away all the 'designer' type skills and slick visual trickery, and you are still left with a desire to be the critical middle of that unwritten equation. Complexity + 'Fuzzy Magic' = Intuitive Simplicity. I'm not suggesting what happens is 'magic' per se, but it does rely on a bucketload of soft skills and a handful of hard skills to come up with the right balance and formula whilst bringing the right people along for the ride, and I've done lots of it. I'm also not too shabby at it....even if I do say so myself. I'm not sure if this is my 'Why?' but it sure comes close.
4. Significance and impact. I've done my time ascending the experience and career ladder. I'd like to think I've made most of the major cock-ups I'm going to make and am now a confidently dependable lump of a human being. I'd like a role that allows me to make a significant impact on a business, be that as one of a number of very few cogs in a nimble machine or an influential cog in a bigger machine. Either way, I know I will simply get frustrated if the promises of impact are short lived and I spend most of my time playing politics. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.
5. 5 years. This is probably a bit too honest, but my kids are 13 and 15 and I reckon in 5 years time, they should both be at University (or something similar depending on how they choose to develop). Whilst it's not a dead stop timescale, I'd like my next role to have an approximate 5 year duration. I'd like to live and work abroad again, but not for the foreseeable 5 years whilst my kids navigate their GCSE's and A-Levels (all the more important in these fickle COVID times). However, the opportunity to decide to do something overseas in about 5 years time is something I'd like to feel able to do. This may well be a continuation of the role I do in the next 5 years...who knows?
6. Trust. This is tricky as I'm sure there are very few people who would overtly say they didn't trust someone they've hired, but - much like significance and impact - I need to have the unequivocal trust of the people who appoint me. Sure, that trust needs to be earned and delivered with evidence, but it has to be a 2 way street and one that links strongly with an ability to make decisions without seeking constant approval or permission. I'd like to think I'm an incredibly trustworthy guy who would seek to work in the very best interests of the business and people within it, so please afford me that trust.
7. Team Build. As I've described in my earlier article about mentoring, I love building teams based on shared values and spotting talent in those who don't yet know it themselves. Give me a mission, an ethos and a challenge and I will build you a team of creative talent to rival the best. But let me do it the way I see fit. I've interviewed, worked with and developed a lot of people over the years and think I have a pretty decent knack of getting it right and spotting the duds. Judge me by the results, but let me do it the way my gut and instinct suggests of me.
8. Doing. I was chatting with a good friend one evening recently and we were discussing the different ways in which we solve problems at work. He described himself as a catalyst - someone who brings others together to solve a problem. I've always been a 'do-er' and almost too much so for my own good. I guess it stems from having run my own business for 12 years and the absolute necessity (at that time) to continue delivering work myself rather than simply reviewing other's work. I'm not sure I can be the design evangelist or the instructional matchmaker that simply advises or suggests but then steps away. I'm too invested in every project to permit myself that distance. I guess you could describe it as interfering, but I like to think that - whilst no doubt bloody annoying for the other designer working with me on that project - it only helps to improve the final solution and avoid complacency. If I don't think something is good enough, I'll wade in and do it myself if that's what is needed. I'm not afraid to roll my sleeves up and wrestle in the mud. Now there's a mental picture! Lead by example but similarly not be too pigheaded to know when to back away and realise you input is not required.

So what does all of the above mean?

I'm not entirely sure, and appreciate that it may come across as grandiose and a somewhat arrogant approach to job hunting.

Many of you will immediate suggest that all of the aspects listed can be fulfilled by starting my own business again. True, but small business ownership is often lonely and is difficult to 'end'. My hunch leads me to think that working for a startup where they need someone to help translate innovation into intuition might be really exciting. It would certainly fulfil much of the criteria but they are tricky to judge and timing is key. Maybe a corporate role? Many people who know me suggest I may not be the right peg for that hole, but who am I to judge as someone who has never tried it?

What is clear is that the current business landscape is changing, often forcibly so and due to circumstances outwith its control or influence. The role of design is changing as has been demonstrated by the misuse and kidnapping of the term 'design thinking' by anyone who likes to think of themselves as 'game changing' (much like its older sibling 'innovation' which has been left in tatters). The relevance of creativity within business is changing, with a surge in home grown creative teams rather than outsourcing to agencies. The preconception of 'age and experience' is changing with myriad high growth, agile, disruptive businesses led by a generation who - rightly - refuse to adhere to stereotypical expectations.

I've been excited by what is happening in femtech, autonomous vehicles, gestural interfaces, athleisure, AI, education, cuisine, materials science and footwear (amongst many). All markets and categories typically inhabited by people who were establishment for that particular industry, but whose ground has been rattled by the 'upstarts'. The misfits as Steve Jobs so brilliantly coined them. Here's to Elvie, Arrival, Brewdog, Ultraleap, Gymshark...the list is growing. Businesses that are breaking the mould and putting the 'human' first, which in return makes me feel confident in thinking that the role of design can only ever improve and become justifiably relevant in more businesses. Not necessarily design as a token role 'at board level' but ingrained in the fibre and approach to many more facets of these businesses. Doing what 'design thinking' should have done before it became a shadowy 'drop term' used and abused by anyone and everyone.

So here goes...I'm going to go back to tiling my hallway and building my shed (which is clearly taking way too long) and will see how this resonates - or not as the case may be. Still...it at least gives me time to come up with another approach if this fails miserably.

If you would like to have a chat about how I might be a good fit for your business (however large or small), then please drop me a message.

Over and out.

Russell (now expert tiler!)