After four years as Executive Creative Director of Global Insights at frog I left.

I feel fortunate to have contributed to something as dynamic and interesting at a particular moment in time in that company’s history. It is definitely the right time to go.

My principle has always been that if someone more junior can do some of what I do, they should step up in order to grow. This approach naturally puts a time limit on my role which suits me just fine. It has been rewarding to take on one of the few global roles in an organisation that by its very DNA is based around the gravitational pull of studios and I’m grateful to Doreen Lorenzo (previously frog President, now President at Quirky) and Mark Rolston (previously frog Chief Creative Officer and my boss at frog, and now founder of Argo Design) for the space to figure out what that role could be. I’m also grateful for the many colleagues that have inspired me including Robert Fabricant (my other boss at frog, recently resigned), Paul Pugh (formerly VP software, now at Amazon), Tim Leberecht (previously frog CMO, now CMO at NBBJ), Fabio Sergio, Rainer Wessler, Ravi Chhaptar (recently resigned), Aric Cheston and Nick de La Mare (previously ECDs and recent co-founders of Big Tomorrow), Katie Dill (recently joined airbnb), David Sherwin, Reena Jana (recently joined IBM), Kristina Loring (now at NPR), Rayna Wiles (recently joined Westfield Labs) and Cara Silver (recently joined Google X) plus a few others. As you might imagine losing a significant amount of talent in six months radically alters the DNA of what the organisation stands for and what it can achieve.

People are the lifeblood a consultancy. Its ability to charge a premium to clients is predicated on the assumption that it has the best talent, the smartest processes, the most precise tools, and can operate at a scale and apply the right experience and creative nous to getting the job done. A consultancy might (but by no means always) pull it off if it has the talent and everything falls into place. But any consultancy that cannot retain or attract talent that binds it all together is in trouble.

I wish my ex-colleagues the very best.