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PODCAST

Octopus Digital Strategy

Welcome to Octopus. This series is an exploration of digital strategy, its place within the broader marketing ecosystem and the people who have made it their career. It is designed to help prospective digital strategists get started in the industry and chart a roadmap for their careers with insights and perspectives from those that have worked in this space and helped shape it.

business management & marketing

All Episodes

04:23

Episode 64: Embrace The Chaos

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/07/25

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.” If you need to be in control at all times, don’t choose this career. If you think all decisions should be based solely on logic, don’t choose this career. If you fear change, don’t choose this career.

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05:33

Episode 63: Hypothesis Driven Strategy

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/07/17

In his book, Blink, The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell argues that spontaneous decisions are as good as, or even better than, carefully planned and considered ones. Does this fly in the face of the role of the strategist?

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04:11

Episode 62: Home For A Rest

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/07/10

Ours is a competitive and complex industry. To stay ahead of the pace, indeed, to set the pace, we need to constantly learn, constantly think, constantly be challenged. We need to integrate our work and lives. But sometimes, it all comes to a crashing halt if we don't stop, rest and recharge.

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05:13

Episode 61: Interviewing For A Strategic Role

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/07/04

Whether moving into a strategic role, or to the next role as a strategist, you will have to navigate a number of interviews. In any given month, I am lucky enough to interview a lot of people for a wide variety of roles within our organization. I always look for the same traits and am consistently baffled when people don't exhibit them. What do you need to know, to prepare, and to articulate in order to ace the interview?

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04:57

Episode 60: Fireproofing Your Digital Strategy Career

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/06/26

Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted. Buying fire insurance while your house is burning. Googling 'how to move to Canada' after your compatriots have voted poorly. After a calamity has happened is the worst time to prepare for it. So what is the best way to fireproof your digital strategy career?

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04:11

Episode 59: The Fallacy Of The Lone Wolf

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/06/12

The idea of being the lone wolf is an attractive one for the strategist. As generalists whose skills are in high demand, it is easy to feel like a singular talent whose best path would be as a sole contributor. This idea is a mistake. We have actively explored the fact that the skill set we bring and cultivate as strategists is an unusual combination of digital expertise and business acumen. In an industry of specialists, we are the generalists that pull the various elements together. We combine

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04:09

Episode 58: The Stoic Strategist

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/06/12

'You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength'. Almost 2,000 years ago, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote his masterpiece, Meditations, 'a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration'. I believe that the philosophy he espoused, stoicism, is one that is perfectly in tune with the role of the strategist

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03:26

Episode 57: The Power Of Brevity

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/06/06

'I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead'. Mark Twain would have been writing about digital practitioners had he written that today. How many times have we sat through interminable presentations with 140 slides of data, minutely dissecting every point, speculating endlessly on the causes of fluctuations in performance? For people who work in communications, we sometimes find it hard to communicate. Why is that? Why can't we be direct? Why can't we get to the point

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05:00

Episode 56: In Defence Of Being Difficult

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/05/29

‘The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”’. Contrast that quote by Jack Kerouac with the direction we are given in our everyday work lives to comply. Comply with process. Comply

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04:21

Episode 55: Don't Be A Strategist

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/05/23

Writing in Quartz, Kevin Delaney recently stated that he doesn’t “think anyone should have the word strategy in their job title”. Needless to say, I beg to differ. But what is the basis of the argument he articulates? What is the case for the prosecution?

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04:38

Episode 54: Be Water My Friend

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/05/15

Many years ago, while scuba diving in Dahab in the Sinai I watched as an octopus fought for its life. Perched on the side of an underwater cliff, this octopus was being attacked by half a dozen fish. These fish were working together to pull it off the wall and out into the open water where presumably they were going to tear it apart. Every time it looked like the fish were close to achieving their objective, the octopus would twist and reach out a tentacle to grab on to the coral. It kept moving,

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05:07

Episode 53: Innovation Through Conflict

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/05/08

"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock". That's Orson Welles as Harry Lime in the 1949 classic, The Third Man. The subtext is clear; conflict breeds innovation. And yet conflict that is not constructively channelled can be deeply destructive. How do you

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05:55

Episode 52: Working With In-House Teams

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/05/01

There is an undeniable trend towards building in-house teams andaway from using agency services. This trend has led to fierce debate and introspection in agency land, not to mention a fair amount of self-pity. But I would argue that if handled appropriately, this is a positive development that should be embraced and that reinforces the value of the digital strategist.

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05:18

Episode 51: Finding The Stamina For Long Term Success

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/04/23

Strategy is not a short lived endeavour. It is the mechanism to make sense of chaos and to achieve success over the long term. But staying focused on a long term objective and executing consistently is difficult. It needs single minded purpose. It needs a clear understanding of objectives and expected outcomes. It needs inspiration. And it needs stamina.

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05:49

Episode 50: Work/Life Balance Is A Lie

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/04/18

Everything you have been told is a lie. There is no such thing as work/life balance in our industry since it is based on the assumption that the work stops at some point. But the work doesn’t stop because the Internet does not sleep. In a globalized world, where your audience, your competition and your clients are constantly changing and demanding, there is no way to separate working hours and fallow times. Forget being able to switch off and unplug if you want to build a career in this industry

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04:05

Episode 49: Winning With Grace

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/04/11

One of the most satisfying elements of work as a digital strategist is the moment of victory. That moment when you hear that you've been selected, when your idea is to be implemented, or the recommendations you made turned performance around are the things we work for. But we have to learn how to take these victories in stride, to channel our emotions appropriately, and to win with grace.

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06:41

Episode 48: You're Fired!

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/04/02

It is the worst thing that we have to deal with in our work. It will happen more often than you expect, or frankly deserve. It is an inevitable fact of agency life that you will be fired by your client at some point in your career. Why does it happen, and how do you handle the bitterness of rejection while learning your lessons in order to become a better strategist?

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05:46

Episode 47: The Pain And The Passion

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/03/27

The long hours. The crazy deadlines. The incessant pressure. The lack of resources. The constant questions. The eighth set of revisions. The lack of briefing. The 7 hour delay at Laguardia airport. There's a lot we deal with in our day to day work. So why do we put up with it? It's not as if we are out of touch, out of fashion and out of options. Agencies are continuously raided for talent by the tech giants and brands for in house teams. We are heavily in demand and can take our skills elsewhere

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04:57

Episode 46: The Digital Strategist In The Age Of...

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/03/20

We are entering a new age in our relationship with technology, an age where our devices understand us as we communicate in human language. An age where machines know what we need before even we do. And an age where computers not only understand trends, but set them. At least, that's the pitch. So what is cognitive computing, why does it matter, how will it change the digital landscape, and what is the role of the digital strategist within it?

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05:54

Episode 45: The Digital Strategist As Evangelist

Octopus Digital Strategy ·

2016/03/12

When you're listening to a speaker at a conference, and you start to frown...not thoughtfully, but distastefully, that's bad religion. When you reach for your phone because the speaker is trotting out platitudes and boring you, that's bad religion. When you get up from your seat and walk out the hall because the speaker is a pompous, self important jerk, that's bad religion. When you're the speaker, and this is happening to you, that's bad religion. Here's 4 tips on avoiding bad religion when acting

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104 results

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