In order to get to great work we need to be smart. Here’s a couple of principles I leverage that help release the best thinking:

• Methodology is everything. Having a breadth of different approaches in your back pocket allows you to jump channels and be truly integrated. Be lean one moment, editorial the next, then splice with a traditional waterfall approach.

• Strategic Creative. The best strategists are creative and the best creatives are strategic. Kick the tyres of the insights, stretch the brief and look for cracks.

• User centred design. Being empathetic towards your consumer leads to great strategy and better work.

• Behaviour driven. Hunting for human behaviours that can lead to strategies in which brands have an authentic role within the lives and activities of their audience.

We're humans who make things for other humans (clients) trying to connect with other humans. Our humanity and morality is a vital tool and a differentiator: 

• We're emotional beings. Great narrative, design, experience and visual craft reaches the soul and can move people. Always putting the audience first. Injecting your storytelling, passion and enthusiasm into the work will make it shine.

• Contemporary brands must add value. Empathy, relevance, authenticity and utility, create real meaning in the lives of our consumer.

• There's a new world of conscious capitalism emerging in which your ethics are an asset. This is core to how I work. Using our moral compass to guide clients and partners in making decisions and creating work that behaves responsibly within our world and society.

The best work is done when the thinking and making happens together. Having the muscle to execute flawlessly across so many channels is not easy:

• Get your hands dirty. Make stuff. It's that simple. Lead from the bottom. Show those in the trenches that you “get it”. Don't just throw them thoughts over a wall. Collaborate with them.

• Get the right know-how in early. This is especially relevant to more technological channels. Often this means that the traditional vendor relationships need to be re-thought.

• Enjoy and have fun! When people enjoy working with each other, it comes through in the work. Nurturing a culture of smiles and laughs is essential in getting to great.