Google Firestarters Episode 16: Patricia McDonad

The latest episode of Google Firestarters is now out. This one is with the always-interesting Pats McDonald who is the Global Chief Strategy Officer, Creative, at Dentsu. Lots of wisdom from Pats in this episode. I loved the way in which she talked about how generosity should be a kind of operating system for strategists, and how being open with your thinking can lead to unexpected returns (this reminded me of one of my favourite quotes of all time from Paul Arden: "Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know and more will come back to you."). I also liked her thinking around how important it is to bring people on the journey with you, how failure to do so is such an easy mistake to make, and how creating memorability is so key ('You don't have to be the loudest person in the room to be the most memorable'). And there's some great thoughts on team creativity and solutions ('none of us is as good as all of us') and changing behaviour (including one of my other favourite quotes from Clay Shirky: 'Behaviour is motivation filtered through opportunity'). Another fascinating episode so I hope you enjoy it. My thanks to Pats for being a part of Firestarters.