The Impossible Network

012: Rough Diamond To Transformational Gem - Nicole Yershon

Mar 5, 2019

01:22:28

Guest Overview

This week’s guest is author, consultant, speaker, mentor and curiosity charged connector, Nicole Yershon.

Since starting her career in advertising at aged nineteen, Nicole has been forging the path of change, driving digital disruption inside traditional ad agencies and beyond.

Hired to initiate innovation at advertising institution Ogilvy & Mather Group, her lab inspired innovation across brands such as Amex, IBM, BP, Selfridges, Unilever and British Airways.

With an Amazon bestseller, Rough Diamond, to her name, Nicole recently launched her innovation consultancy NYC - Nicole Yershon Collective - to help organizations embrace radical digital transformation, through her experience, her ‘why not’ attitude and ability to translate business problems into innovation opportunities and real business value.

In this episode Nicole is joined by her collective partner, John Caswell, who’s helping businesses solve their big gnarly problems by thinking visually, using a technique he has designed called Structured Visual Thinking

I hope you enjoy the maverick thinking of Nicole Yershon and John Caswell.

What we discuss:

Nicole’s East End of London upbringing
The influence and impact of her parents on her thick-skinThe influence of Dave Trott or the ‘School of Trott’
Her ‘fixing’ attitudeHer journey to digital transformation at Ogilvy
Her accountability model (Revenue, Retention, Reputation, Responsibility, Recruitment, and Relationship)
Her approach to serendipity and alchemy
Say principle of ‘we do as we say and do as we say’
The end of her advertising careerHow her integrity impacted on her journey to success
Her fearless manifesto
The importance of curiosity
The importance of knowing yourself
Her integrity
How John solves business problems
Wolfram on teaching computational thinking
The art of writing business exam questions
How they forensically mine businesses to find solutions
What they’d do with the keys to No 10 Downing Street or the White House
Their principles
Their hard choices
Their Impossible advice
The books they recommend