InsideOut Design Leader Community

Creative leaders face an AI Conundrum:? ? Execs want AI wins but fear the risk and investment required to realize its full impact. ? Creative teams want AI experience but fear being replaced by it. Here’s what Creative leaders can do about it: ? Upskill the team ? Experiment and iterate ? Educate stakeholders Real progress with AI requires partnerships with stakeholders *and* designers. Read the article for more insights from our recent roundtables on how to lead the way to unlocking AI value. (https://lnkd.in/gHV4skdY) Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, Aquent, Simon Lusty, #valueofAI, #aquentinsideout, ?#leadershipinsights, #designleadership, #designinsights, #futureofdesign #designingthefuture, #AIConundrum, #futureofAI, #creativeleaders

?? Exciting News! InsideOut is proud to be a media partner for the Henry Stewart Events #FestivalofCreativeOps?event on December 5th!??? Creative vision and strategy come to life through the intricate web of Creative Operations. Learn from industry leaders during the #FestivalofCreativeOps. ?? This online event covers the?full spectrum of creative delivery, including?Creative Operations,?Content Studio Ops, and?Creative Production. Whether you want to network with peers, collaborate on best practices, or learn from forward-thinking experts, this online event will give you the tools to thrive and succeed in the ever-evolving landscape of creative content delivery. ?? As a member of the InsideOut Design Leader Community, you can enjoy a?US$10 discount?using the code?INSIDEOUT10?at registration. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with industry leaders and explore the incredible speaker line-up and agenda. Learn more about the event here:? https://lnkd.in/eau8TxqD #CreativeOpsLA?#CreativeOps #InsideOutCommunity #DesignOps #CreativeOperations Simi K., Dan Luper, Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried

"CREATIVE” METRICS. Still sticking to the common measures when trying to convince your stakeholders to invest in your team? It’s time to get CREATIVE! ?? In a recent ops session, leaders shared two fascinating insights: ?? Sharing standard measures like capacity and hours worked can actually BACKFIRE, leading partners to simply want more, faster (and question your efficiency). ?? Positioning your team as an investment opportunity by presenting NEW capabilities is a powerful way to show off your strategic skills (rather than justifying your work). They also shared some fabulous alternatives to consider measuring: ?? Partners' annual OKRs to align to how they're measured ?? Time spent in meetings (especially high-value leader time) ?? Number of departments making requests and growth over time ?? Volume of projects not tied to business strategy ?? T-shirt sizing to show where time is being spent ?? Impact vs Effort to reduce high effort, low impact work ?? Qualitative case studies and retrospectives to discover high-impact stories While there’s no “One Measure to Rule Them All”, understanding what your stakeholders care about – and knowing what they measure – can be a game-changer. ?? If you have other non-traditional measurements for creative teams, please share. Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, Aquent, #leadershipinsights, #lightbulbmoments, #aquentinsideout, #businesscase, #creativeoperations, #designleadership, #iolightbulbmomentsseries Photo by Theo Crazzolara on Unsplash (https://lnkd.in/gf8WntnA)

UNUSUAL PARTNERS.?Look beyond your usual sources for data and insights to get the benefit of other perspectives and leverage your need to win.??? During a recent roundtable discussion, Leaders shared a long list of "unusual" relationships to build, both inside and outside the org. Often these teams are seen as adversaries, but with their involvement and insider knowledge up front, you'll be better poised to gain support. ?? HOT TIP: For best results, build these relationships *before* you need their help. If you’re not already, reach out to these teams to get ahead and have more success getting what you want–and need–to succeed: ? Compliance Teams? ?? Finance? ?? Audit ?? Procurement ?? Information Security ?? HR ? Revenue + IT Teams? ?? Product ?? Data & Analytics? ?? Business Affairs? ?? MarTech + IT? ? Other Interesting Teams ?? Internal Councils ?? External Partners ?? Executive Assistants If you’ve found success with partners not mentioned above, please share. Our leaders love to learn, and let’s face it, we all need all the help we can get! ?? Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, Aquent, #leadershipinsights, #lightbulbmoments, #aquentinsideout, #businesscase, #creativeoperations, #designleadership, #iolightbulbmomentsseries Photo by Theo Crazzolara on Unsplash (https://lnkd.in/gf8WntnA)

INSIDE IDEAS. ?? It's here! Our InsideOut community has been busy gathering in riveting in-person roundtables across 6 cities in 5 weeks. We did it! ?? In fact, we spent a total of 28 hours learning with our members and loved every minute. And now, it's time for YOU to check out what we've been up to in our latest InsideOut newsletter, stuffed full of insights, resources and more. Read, comment, share–give us feedback (we love that). Let's keep learning together. ?? #aquentinsideout #insideideas #designleadership #creativeleadership #creativeoperations #leadershiptips #buildingabusinesscase #stateofdesign Aquent Kate Gottfried Susie Hall Simon Lusty

Our Women of InsideOut group had an extra special treat as?Erica Hill-Rodriguez joined us to share what she's learned from an incredible career as a senior leader?(who happens to be a woman). Something that really resonated with our InsideOut Design Leader Community members: ?? Yes, paradoxes exist for women leaders (see slide below); however, ALL those traits combined are what make a truly inspirational leader. So women leaders, most often associated with traits on the right (which can be seen as weaknesses), have a leg up on becoming the leaders?we all aspire to be – and have. We just have to embrace both sides and show up as our authentic selves. ??HOT TIP:? Reframe those perceived "weaknesses" as strengths.? For example, "I may be DEMANDING, but it's because I CARE about you and your success." And that's just a tiny slice of the many insights from Erica.?We'll end with an inspirational quote she shared: ? "A woman who leads with conviction and competence isn't defying stereotypes, she's simply redefining what it means to be a boss.” ? YES. Honored to spend time with such amazing women leaders.? Now, let's go out there and lift one another up. We got this. Aquent, Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, #womenofinsideout #aquentinsideout #femaleleaders #designleadership #creativeoperations

In our latest 'Read to Lead' series, discover the books that have inspired our senior leaders. Together, let's explore how to make things worth making, multitasking, and how to do well under rapid change through resources shared by really amazing and smart leaders. ?? We'll provide a little context from our conversations but encourage you to click through to find the best resources for YOUR challenges: ?? Build by Tony Fadell (https://lnkd.in/g8EMx_Dw) If you want a guide on how to grow at work and make things worth making. ?? Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke (https://lnkd.in/giyXJTA2) If you're wondering why you can't stop multitasking. ?? Our Iceberg is Melting by John P Kotter (https://lnkd.in/gWS4gdWd) If you are looking to do well under the stress and uncertainty of rapid change. Kick-off your weekend with this inspiring list and check back each week for more recommendations from our amazing InsideOut Design Leader Community members. Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, Aquent, #readtolead, #aquentinsideout, #leadershipinsights,#designleadership, #creativeoperations, #leadershiplibrary, #ioreadtoleadseries Photo by Edoardo Botez on Unsplash (https://lnkd.in/dyZZ_MXR)

?? Listen Up! Our most recent article on the AI Conundrum is now available on Spotify for busy creative leaders looking to drive safe, ethical AI adoption in their organizations: https://lnkd.in/gRsfV9Uw So listen and learn what creative leaders are facing–and what they can do to reshape the AI narrative and put their teams at the forefront of innovation. Aquent, Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, #aquentinsideout, #aiconundrum, #valueofAI, #innovation, #creativeleadership, #Designleadership, #designinsights, #creativeinsights, #aiInsights

KNOW YOUR ROLE.?Expectations and responsibilities of #CreativeOperations roles vary from company to company, making it challenging for ops leaders to know what they *should* be doing.??? So smart creative ops leaders in our InsideOut Design Leader Community gathered to explore just that! However, what we learned was that “should” was the wrong question to ask. Instead, leaders agreed that figuring out your team’s ROLE in each of these areas was most helpful: ? Technology (tool selection, training, adoption, migration, etc) ? Resource Management (staff allocation, internal vs. external resources, etc) ? Capacity Planning (skills needed, volume of work, project prioritization, etc) ? Project / Account Management (direct or indirect leadership, AM skills for creative team, etc) ? The Brief (obtaining it, setting / training on process, landing it, scope, etc) ? Determining Scope of Services (what type of work the team can/cannot take on, what happens with overage, etc) As always, we have limited time to dig into topics in a roundtable, so we’re hoping YOU can share anything we’re MISSING above! ?? What other roles might Creative Ops play on in-house teams? Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, Aquent, #leadershipinsights, #lightbulbmoments, #aquentinsideout, #creativeoperations, #leadershipinsights, #roleofcreativeops, #iolightbulbmomentsseries Photo by Theo Crazzolara on Unsplash (https://lnkd.in/gf8WntnA)

UPSKILLING DESIGN TEAMS: Three powerful ways to improve your team’s skills. ?? In a recent LinkedIn post, we outlined three fabulous ideas from our leaders in our InsideOut Design Leader Community. (https://lnkd.in/gvfiU3YK). But not everyone loves (or has time) to read. So we made a flashy video to get your attention and share these high-level insights.??? And for those with only seconds to spare, the TL; DL (too long; didn’t listen) crowd, here are a few gems worth knowing: ?? Build a Heist Movie Team ?? Hire Outside Your Industry ?? Partner with Other Design Teams So when you’ve got your list of key skills gaps, think creatively about how to close ‘em. Susie Hall, Kate Gottfried, Aquent, #IOInsideSpark, #InsideOutInsideSpark, #sparkyourimagination, #sparkanidea, #sparksforDesignleaders, #sparksforCreativeleaders, #aquentinsideout