Ep 205: Gareth Kay - In 15

Edited highlights of our full conversation.

What questions are you asking?

Gareth Kay is the SVP of Brand at Happify Health. Before that, he’s been the Head of Strategy at Goodby Silverstein, and the Founding Partner at Chapter Creative Studios.

Gareth is a relentlessly curious soul. And that has made him one of the best thinkers in the world about creativity and innovation.

When all the answers are out of date, or from a different reality, the only choice we have is to start asking more and better questions.

Everyone wants to know what the future of work looks like. Leaders want their people back in the building because - pick any you want from this list - I can see what they’re doing. I know who’s engaged. Our business is better when we collaborate. Our culture is crucial. I have a ten year lease on 100,000 feet of prime commercial real estate.

These are all answers to old questions. Questions focused on what works best for the company.

If you’re leading a business in which talent is not a competitive advantage, or one in which talent is easy to find, my bet is you will be able to create a new version of the old status quo by asking yourself and everyone around you old questions.

But if you’re leading a business in which talent is the game changer, and great talent is hard to find, then you’re going to win when you start to ask different questions. Questions that put the needs of the talent at the center of your curiosity.

And that starts by asking yourself new questions. The first of which is, “Like what?”.