Inventing Director
?What If!, China
Job Description
About ?What If!
We are innovators who ask and answer the ?What If! questions that help organisations imagine new futures and make them a reality. We have been ‘doing’ innovation for the past 25+ years, working with Fortune 500 clients across sectors.
We use an experimentation-led approach to define the strategy, create the inventions and change the culture to turn organisations into human powered experimentation engines.
Our values are embedded in our DNA and inform all of our decision making, not the least of which is recruitment.
Never stop asking ?What If!
The Team:
Our commercial impact has come from doubling down on the people side of innovation - the values, behaviours, skills, mindsets and spirit - that make the difference between a smart idea on paper and a living, thriving business.
We’ve been bringing our whole selves to work, collaborating, working from home and eating cereal together for years. Respect and support come as standard. We are friends.
Bringing your whole self to work means you can take your whole self home again - most nights. We don’t do lengthy on site client engagements so we get to hang out with our friends, family and each other.
Our people are smart and ambitious and also humble - strong opinions lightly held is how we sum it up. Lifelong learners are the people who do well here.
As a Director at ?What If! you will:
- Lead innovation projects, going beyond smart strategy documents to develop real-world solutions positioned for growth.
- Identify the opportunities that help clients win the game, whilst evolving and fundamentally disrupting their ways of working. You’ll do this by being brave and taking the non-linear leaps required to really innovate.
- Develop deep, senior relationships, taking a co-founder mentality to act as a steady partner to our clients through the uncertainties of growth and change.
- Act as the creative spark to inspire world class innovation teams and develop them through brilliant coaching and leadership. Contribute to talent spotting, recruiting and on-boarding.
- Play a key role in the on-going development of our Inventing practice and IP, growing revenue and maximising impact.
You will thrive in this role if you have:
The Basics
- Business experience in consulting, strategy, innovation, or change management (behavioural as well as structural) as well as a hands-on role building strategy and operations solutions in a startup.
- Experience leading innovation initiatives that create real world impact - including expertise in design thinking, consumer insight, experimentation and user experience in both corporate and consulting environments.
- Experience building client relationships across all levels, from being a trusted advisor and shaping C-Suite's agenda, to inspiring the whole team.
- A proven track record of selling big projects/ large scale programmes through relationships in Fortune 500 companies.
- Passion for leading people and teams - experience hiring, developing, nurturing and inspiring talent
And the Magic Touch.
- Inventing Directors need to be idea generators: you are constantly curious about the world and must be able to draw on your experience and also our own ?What If! tools and techniques to solve innovation challenges.
- Fast-thinking, nimble, adaptable and thrive in a fast-moving environment - always open to new ideas with the ability to recognise the business value of ideas.
- Possess the demeanour, business maturity, intellect and integrity required to establish immediate credibility with key stakeholders within the company and motivate your team in a way which lets them play to their strengths.
- Possess strong verbal and written communication skills and be masters in the art of persuasion to strategically get your point across.
- Entrepreneurial spirit and a restless heart.
- Head and heart in balance - deeply human in understanding people problems and commercially sharp with advice.
- Never the finished article: we’re for life-long learners only.
?What If! is an Equal Opportunity Employer.