As I finish up my internship at the this summer, it has allowed me to reflect on my experience as a ‘new to the workforce’ Gen Z. As a student, I am also surrounded by my peers who are completing their own summer internships and relaying their experiences—the highlights, the challenges, and the lessons we’ve learnt.

 Now more than ever, especially because of the pandemic, Gen Z interns really want to get the most out of their summer experiences. Because of this, we are looking for exciting, meaningful internship programs.

 Here are four valuable factors for Gen Z when participating in an internship, and thus four ways that Gen Z is transforming future internships—along with my own reflections on how several of these factors are being embraced at The !

 1.     Gen Z seeks continuous learning and ongoing feedback

 Every generation wants feedback and wants to learn, but with the evolution of digital technologies and the pace of industry change these days, Gen Z is especially keen on continuous learning. Gen Z values opportunities for professional and skill development during their internships.

 My intern experience at The has been a summer of learning – whether about innovation or myself as an employee. The work done at the is unlike any company I had ever heard of before, which means more than anything, I had to be open to learning and making mistakes. Working on a range of different projects not only expanded my knowledge about multiple industries but also taught me invaluable soft skills as I balanced these ongoing tasks.

 From 1:1 feedback sessions with Shelli and Fiona to a mid-term survey of feedback I received from the whole team, professional development and self-improvement are top priorities here. This allowed me to continually reflect on my learning and progress in my role through helpful feedback from the team.

 2.     Gen Z is a generation committed to inclusion—especially in the workplace!

of Gen-Z respondents say they consider an employer's commitment to diversity and inclusion when deciding where to work. But diversity and inclusion aren’t solely about race, religion, or physical ability—it’s also more simply about accepting and valuing different perspectives.

 Even as one of the youngest and the least experienced in innovation at the , I never felt like my opinion was unwelcome because of my background. The ’s team itself comes from an array of backgrounds and experiences, allowing them to be even more innovative. Watching two powerful women, Shelli and Fiona, lead the team is also incredibly inspiring as a young woman myself.

 3.     Gen Z is looking for roles that are around purpose, meaning, and having an impact!

 Gen Z is a eager to know their role and how their individual contributions can support their team’s success. Even the way this generation consumes is driven by the potential impact on themselves and others.

 During my time as an intern, I contributed in many ways that impacted the team's work—whether it be helping draft final reports, presenting to clients, or researching new products. One of my personal favourites being engaging with clients and learning about the impact of the ’s work on their businesses and lives.

 But even the not-so-glamorous work still has immense value to the team! A big part of this is finding those small projects that can actually have an unexpected impact on your team and their productivity—whether it be finding a better way to organize documents or configuring an improved layout for the team’s website. Fortunately, this continuous improvement and impact was always encouraged and welcomed at the from my first day.

 4.     Even in a remote setting, Gen Z values community, culture, and collaboration.

 Scratch that—especially in a remote setting, Gen Z interns . Building strong interpersonal relationships with coworkers and feeling a part of a team are more important than ever—in whatever work setting we are in. 

 Of course, our team outings to Blue Jays games and golfing days were tons of fun and great team bonding experiences—but, all that aside, the team at The is passionate, creative, and extremely supportive. Even in a hybrid setting, regular 1:1 calls and weekly team meetings made me feel a part of this very special team.

 These are just a few of the countless ways that Gen Z is leveraging their internship experiences as they enter the workforce. My time at The , unsurprisingly, aligned with all of these factors – a testament to this team's creativity, talent, and supportiveness. As my generation begins to enter the workforce through internships and entry-level jobs, I am looking forward to seeing the impact we will make on our industries as the workforce evolves with us!

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this post.

You can reach us via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, please follow us on .

As a consumer-centric innovation agency, we strive to design every innovation project with consumers at the heart. That means that we’re always looking for creative and efficient ways to integrate consumer insight into each of the six steps in our design thinking process – dramatically increasing the odds of in-market success.

 Consumer insights are, of course, essential to innovation. It’s a well-known fact that many of the world’s greatest innovations were born out of uncovering a consumer pain point, frustration, workaround or latent desire – and directly addressing it. When it comes to innovation, consumer dissatisfaction is a wonderful thing, as it opens up countless opportunities to listen, learn and improve.

 However, the value of listening to your consumers goes beyond innovation and transcends every industry. In today’s fragmented and dynamic market, it is more important than ever to truly understand consumers’ needs, preferences, desires and habits – and how your product or service can or does meet each of these very different demands. Crucially, the speed at which these are evolving is growing ever more rapid, given the dynamic nature of the market in general. More than ever before, what was true for someone yesterday may not be true tomorrow – or even today. That’s why staying in touch with consumers needs to be a true top priority and constant point of effort.

 With those challenges in mind, we often get asked about whether there are faster and more efficient methods to gather valuable consumer insights in such circumstances – especially for teams where there is still strong ambition to design with consumers at the heart, all year round. After all, while nothing can replace a rich and comprehensive consumer insight program, not all businesses have the money to invest in sophisticated research tools, particularly on a regular basis – and sometimes the need for speed on a particular project or challenge calls for a scrappier approach.

Here are 6 our favourite creative, low or no cost ways to gather insights:

1. Cheap and Cheerful Online Surveys: Platforms like Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, and Typeform make it easy to quickly design and distribute surveys to consumers. A concise, focused set of essential questions can yield very rich data – and usually requires a relatively low incentive (e.g., a discount, chance to win, or a small token of appreciation). Where possible, look for ways to actively seek input from your consumers immediately after they interact with your brand through impactful but inexpensive methods like follow-up emails, post-purchase surveys, etc.

2. Social Media Trawling: Pinterest, TikTok, Reddit, Instagram and other social media platforms can be a rich source of real-life opinions about your brand, product or service – and leveraging them only requires the time it takes to do a little social media surfing.

3. Online Reviews: Online reviews on platforms like Google, Amazon, Yelp, or your own web site can provide very honest insights into your customers' experiences. Look for recurring feedback themes – around key points of delight, dissatisfaction or friction.

4. Consumer relations reports: Especially for bigger companies, consumer relations reports capturing the feedback from consumer calls and emails are a rich, often untapped source of consumer pain points or, at times, inspiring testimonials. If you aren’t reading these on a monthly or quarterly basis, you may be missing the gold.

5. Friends and Family conversations: A sophisticated qualitative research study makes use of an extremely detailed survey to find consumers that meet very specific requirements and is then expertly moderated by someone with vast experience. But, when a more ‘80/20’ approach is required, a dramatically streamlined set of criteria can be developed to find suitable candidates in your personal network that may be willing to have a short conversation with you – free of charge or for a small token of thanks. A focused and thoughtful discussion guide filled with probing questions and conducted with 10-15 current or prospective consumers of your product or service won’t be able to offer as much learning as a full qualitative research project but can yield surprisingly useful insights all the same.

6. ‘Lurking’ at the point of purchase: Typically, the closer you can get to the actual consumer experience, the better. Which is why hanging out at the point of purchase or point of consumption – for example in the aisle where your products are sold or at a restaurant where they’re consumed – can be a great use of time. It shouldn’t be disruptive (or something that you do for long stretches of time!) but visiting the aisle during your regular grocery shop and observing how consumers browse the shelves, for example, can help you observe behaviour that might not be offered by consumers in a typical research setting, and enrich your understanding of the brand, category and aisle.

 In other words, gathering customer insights doesn’t have to be an expensive or long endeavour. Methods above – or others like them – can help businesses to gain valuable consumer perspectives, even when budgets are constrained.

 That being said, while these methods allow you to gather insights much more quickly and easily than traditional methods, it’s vital to avoid shortcutting the documentation, analysis and synthesis phase of consumer research. No matter what research you conduct or how you conduct it, it’s essential to plan (or hire an agency to lead) a storytelling session to consolidate the learning and identify emerging patterns, and ultimately to turn what you heard and observed into the ‘what’ (rich insights), the ‘so what’ (conclusions), and the ‘now what’ (recommendations) that will make these exercises truly worthwhile.

 If you ever want to bounce about designing a comprehensive or more scrappy research program, activating the insights already in your business, or turning the data you have into the ‘what’, the ‘so what’ and the ‘now what’ – don’t hesitate to get in touch at fiona@������.com. Happy learning!

We’ve all heard the statistics that 90% of innovations fail. At The , we believe this is often because organizations have skipped steps in the design-thinking process. But sometimes time and money are severely constrained – surely there must be a few shortcuts!

After 20-plus years running innovation programs, I can share a shortcut that can quickly fill your innovation pipeline with ideas proven in the marketplace. We’ve led this process with many multinational clients, and it has an extraordinarily high success rate.

Stop reading here if you’ve already done this – but we think Market Safaris from World-Leading Markets are underrated!

It’s not for every organization or challenge, but if there is a particular geography outside of your core market that is leading the world, there can be a lot to learn.

Recently, we’ve been running trend treks and market safaris to step-change inspiration and having amazing results for our clients. Looking for new flavours, new ingredients, new packaging, new benefits, and new formulations. There’s no shortage of inspiration – it takes time, diligence, and some dedicated resources, but it’s certainly an efficient way to broaden your view and add juice to your ideation phase.

The magic really happens when you import the inspiration to create a perfect fit for your market – pairing it with an unmet consumer need at home.

Should you be doing a Market Safari? Let’s look at a few examples that we think are worthwhile:

1. Cosmetics in South Korea

2. Confectionary in Japan

3. Quick Service Restaurant concepts in South-Western United States 

4. Convenience meals in Europe

Learn from the world’s best through the filter of your unique challenge.

Our mission at The is to unlock the creative potential of people and businesses through innovation - but that mission goes beyond just business, and the day to day work of our company. We also share a strong and deeply-rooted belief that every child deserves to learn the creative problem solving, design thinking and entrepreneurship skills that will help to prepare them for a future evolving at an unprecedented pace.

Unlocking the next generation’s creative potential

With that in mind, we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve written a picture book designed to unlock the creative potential of the next generation of innovators.

The book, The Greatest Helmet of All Time, tells the story of a group of animals who notice their friends with horns can’t participate safely in sports requiring head protection, because helmets aren’t designed for horns. They join forces and go through a six-step creative innovation process resulting in the creation of the “Greatest Helmet of All Time”—a universal helmet that fits every kind of horned head.

Through the story, we expose young readers between the ages of five and 10 to the same design thinking skills and frameworks that we use with our clients – some of the most innovative companies in the world.

Skills designed for an uncertain future

Today’s youth face an uncertain future full of complex global challenges. We believe that gaining a solid foundation in creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation from a very young age will help prepare the youngest generation for the challenges they will likely face. Empowering children with entrepreneurial and creative problem-solving skills will allow them to adapt and thrive, regardless of market conditions - and help them recognize that their innate creativity is one way to help them realize their potential. 

We hope the book helps to teach kids to identify problems or opportunities around them and gives them the confidence that their curiosity and a simple design thinking framework can truly help them solve any problem they might face throughout the course of their lives. To help to put those values into action, twenty-five per cent of the royalties from the book will be donated to Free for All Foundation, whose mission is to make productive citizens of children who are at risk of not realizing their full potential.

The Greatest Helmet of All Time, $19.99, will be available on   or  starting November 1, 2022. To ensure access for every child, The Greatest Helmet of All Time is also available as an e-book for $1.99.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this post.

You can reach us via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, please follow us on .

As someone who’s always been the quiet person in the room, I never could have imagined that I would end up in an organization like The . An unconventional innovation agency teeming with energy, enthusiasm, and passion, we unlock the creative potential of people and businesses through innovation – which in a digital environment can be challenging, since that energy and enthusiasm needs to be transmitted through video calls rather than in person. For an introvert like me, joining this team has been a wild, challenging and ultimately extremely fulfilling ride.

So how have I managed to fit into a group of mostly extroverted, passionate, and energetic individuals you might ask? I’ve adopted a few tactics and made small changes that make it easier to leverage my introverted tendencies as strengths.

So here are 5 tools that helped me navigate a virtual environment as an introvert:

1.      1 on 1 coffee chats.

I can sometimes disappear in large groups. I tend to stay quiet and even if I have something to add to the conversation, I always seem to miss the right moment to say it! To someone who identifies as an introvert, it always feels as though extroverted folks are just better at making conversation. But there’s a way around it! I’ve found that arranging 1 on 1 meetings with my colleagues and supervisors is incredibly helpful. Not only is it less intimidating to have a conversation when there is only one other person there, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to express any interesting ideas or opinions that I may not have had the chance or the courage to say in larger meetings or to ask questions that I might otherwise feel uncomfortable raising.

2.      “I’m not bored, I’m just listening!”

It is often easy to mistake my concentration (or “poker face”) as boredom – but that is usually not the case. Instead, I’m just listening and analyzing everything that’s being said. So how do I ensure that others don’t mistake my default way of being as a lack of interest? Small head nods, facial expressions, and short phrases are key here! When I hear someone say something interesting or agreeable, I make sure to nod or give a thumbs up to show my interest, or smile a little. Now that we’re in the virtual world, I make use of instant messaging chat functions and contribute supportive comments (“oh that sounds interesting” or “I really like that idea”). Taking part in the conversation in a way that’s relevant to the topic and that shows I’m truly listening and paying attention is a great way to stay engaged and to ensure everyone around me feels heard.

3.      Quality over quantity.

Something that I’ve had to teach myself over the past four months is to remember that just because everyone else is saying something, it doesn’t always mean that I have to say something too. Saying more is, after all, not always better. As an introvert, the idea of speaking simply for the sake of hearing my own voice is something I would never consider doing! Instead, I’ve learned to make little things count, and to prioritize adding value over adding just another voice. I gather and process my thoughts, make some notes if needed and when I am ready, I unmute myself and try to add something substantial to the conversation. I find that when I organize my thoughts and write them down first, I am able to make more useful contributions, and to make use of my quiet nature as the gift that it can be.

4.      Baby steps = progressive growth.

Make small, incremental changes. I’ve realized that I don’t have to change who I am and become a social butterfly overnight, or at all! That’s not how it works. Instead, I set up small, doable daily or weekly goals for myself – for example: “in today’s team meeting I’ll try to say at least 3 things” or “I will provide at least one idea in today’s brainstorming session”. It takes practice to get comfortable with larger groups, so I’ve found that smaller team meetings are a safe and sensible place to start.  l also try to reach out and have a quick video call with my teammates instead of hiding behind emails or chats. This has made me more confident and comfortable with participating, even beyond those one-on-one interactions.

5.      Trust yourself.

Lastly, and in my opinion perhaps most importantly, what I’ve learned here is to trust myself. It’s my first time working at a company like this so not everything I do is going to be perfect. Which is the whole point – no one is expecting perfection. No one is judging me as critically as I am judging myself. Everyone on my team is rooting for me. They want me to learn and grow from this experience. My team at The has helped me to take ownership and have confidence in my work and in all of the thought, time and effort that goes into it. I have learned to try to avoid comparing myself to others because everyone operates differently and has different strengths and areas of expertise. In the end, we all bring something different to the table, so the most important thing is to maintain a positive attitude, be yourself and enjoy the learning curve!

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this post.

You can reach us via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, please follow us on .

Congratulations!  If you’ve successfully transitioned from office-based working to a work-from-home model, you’re already an absolute champion!  Many of us talk about pandemic fatigue as if it’s simply a matter of navigating PPE and social distancing, while forgetting that the monumental task of completely transforming your working habits is a huge accomplishment in and of itself.  Give yourself a proverbial pat on the back for the way that you’ve seamlessly flexed into an entirely new working model!

But, even for those who’ve adjusted to – and may now even (mostly) prefer –  working from home, creative collaboration can still be one of the most challenging things to deal with in the virtual space. Even the best digital tools – from Zoom to Microsoft Teams – come with some built-in limitations when it comes to replicating what once happened in a boardroom or creative workshop space.

Having pivoted our in-person ideation approach at The to an entirely virtual one in the early days of the pandemic, we’re here to let you know that virtual ideation is not only possible, but in some ways is proving to be even better than the traditional in-person methodology. Now, of course, we’re not going to throw out the tried and tested experiential creativity just yet!  We are very much looking forward to the day when we can get back in a workshop room with our clients, enjoying simple acts that now seem like luxuries – like lunching together and physically writing down the ideas we come up with on pieces of actual paper. 

Since we don’t yet know when that day will come, though, we thought it would be worth sharing a few of the surprising benefits of the virtual ideation experience that we’ve discovered alongside our clients over the past several months:

It’s time for introverts to shine
While the energy and fun of in-person ideation really cannot be beat, it is inherently geared toward more extroverted thinkers who enjoy coming up with ideas spontaneously and in groups. In translating the in-person experience of a full-day ideation workshop into a virtual model, though, we’ve been able to add personal working time between sessions. This allows more introverted thinkers to take their time and land their thinking as individuals, before sharing ideas with the group for feedback and building – helping to elicit some truly fantastic ideas that may not have emerged in a conventional session.

When it comes to ideas, more is more
Most of our clients are over-achievers at heart, and when challenged, tend to over-deliver. Because the virtual experience provides more personal working time between sessions, the sheer breadth and number of ideas our client teams have been generating through the virtual ideation process has been astounding – and significantly higher than in person. This has accordingly given us an even larger pool of ideas from which to select those with the highest potential, which is a wonderful problem to have!

Short creative bursts beat a full-day session
From our experience, most people have a limited capacity for online meetings – life, and eye strain, tend to get in the way – so we’ve evolved the traditional full-day workshop into a series of shorter two to three hour long online sessions, typically scheduled in the morning. This allows us to get the best out of everyone’s brains – and avoid the post-lunch energy drain or fatigue that come near the end of the day. It also allows us to further separate the divergent idea generation process from the convergent idea selection process – tapping into different sides of our client’s magnificent minds on different days.

However, although the virtual approach clearly offers a number of substantial benefits, there are also some important things to keep in mind in order to ensure a successful virtual ideation process:

 Know your tools
Although there are some truly fantastic virtual meeting platforms and digital whiteboards now available to all of us, it’s important not to let them give you a false sense of security. Your management of the tools is everything, or they risk becoming distractions vs. enablers, sucking the energy out of the creative process. It is essential to ensure that whoever is running your session is intimately familiar with the technology, can troubleshoot in the moment, and is prepared with a plan B (and ideally C) if and when glitches arise on the day.

Be prepared for preparation

It’s important to remember that translating a full-day workshop into three shorter, virtually conducted, ideation sessions is not a straight ‘lift and shift’. There is substantially more prep work involved in building an engaging and seamless virtual process, so it’s vital to ensure that your planning allows for this extra time before and between each session. Additionally, don’t forget that ideas are usually only 50-60% ‘baked’ after ideation, so, as would be true for in-person ideation, you’ll need to leave space after your sessions to flesh out your ideas into something truly compelling (and executable)!

Skilled facilitators are vital

The key role played by the individual or team facilitating an ideation is made even more evident in a virtual world, as the demands of the role are higher than in person – particularly when it comes to keeping up a team’s energy and engagement when laptops, emails and social media are at every participant’s disposal. Whether you’re working with external partners, or internal team members who are skilled in this area, it’s essential to ensure that every breakout is facilitated by someone who can both land the ideas accurately and intuitively, and keep everyone engaged and coming up with great ideas. Plus, if it’s at all possible, make sure your facilitator is not the same person running the tech – if something does go wrong, you’ll be glad to have the extra set of hands!   

Don’t change too many variables at once

Just as it’s rarely a good idea to have a child, buy a house, and change your career all at once – when it comes to virtual ideation you can dramatically improve your odds of success by controlling as many variables as possible. In forming ideation groups, be intentional about matching personalities, while also balancing functional expertise, to ensure productive collaboration. Try to use creative techniques tried and tested within your company culture rather than experimenting with exciting yet unfamiliar new tools or approaches that could fall flat – better to keep your team focused on coming up with great ideas than learning a whole new way of doing things. And, crucially, don’t sacrifice inspiration! Giving your team a head start by integrating stimulus into your ideation process is even more important in the virtual world.

We’ve been thrilled to experience first-hand that virtual ideation is a truly viable online alternative to the traditional, in-person approach. Which is fortunate, really, since in a year where received wisdom, standard practice and old business models all seem to be changing day-by-day, there’s never been a more important time to be able to come up with a truly great idea.

After a year of surviving every challenge, crisis and catastrophe that the pandemic could throw at you, then, rest assured that leveraging the creative genius of your team remotely doesn’t have to be one of them!

Happy virtual ideating!

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this post.

You can reach us via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, please follow us on .

If you’re passionate about innovation, as we are at The , then you’ve most likely experienced waiting with bated breath for a certain event in your calendar each year: The Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California. An annual gathering of thousands of up-and-coming and established vendors in the natural product space, along with tens of thousands of industry attendees, Expo West has long been an invaluable space in which to uncover emerging trends in food, beverage, health and beauty. With attendance also offering a fantastic opportunity to connect with clients and peers in a truly inspirational setting, the show has become a much-anticipated and beloved tradition since we first opened our doors as an agency.

Unfortunately, this year’s Natural Products Expo West event was initially postponed and then recently cancelled, due to the developing circumstances around the COVID-19 virus. By way of response, we made an open call to vendors affected by the cancellation of NPEX through our LinkedIn page, to give them a chance to showcase their new products in this blog.

Thank you to those who responded and, for our readers, here are some of the breakthrough products that didn’t get a chance to shine at NPEX 2020 this year:

Acid League – Living Vinegars

Acid League’s ‘living vinegars’ are raw, unpasteurized, unfiltered and oxygenated to offer optimal nourishment. With bold flavors craft brewed from fresh pressed fruits and vegetables, like Strawberry Rosé, Mango Jalapeno and Meyer Lemon Honey, these vinegars are perfect for dressings, cooking, cocktails, and creativity.

RISE Brewing Co. – London Fog Nitro Early Grey Tea Oat Milk Latte

New York-based nitro coffee maker Rise Brewing Co. was slated to release their move into the tea space with their first ready-to-drink tea: the London Fog Nitro Earl Grey Tea Oat Milk Latte. Riding the trend of dairy-free milk alternatives, this RTD offers a caffeinated alternative to canned coffee for consumers.

Swiss Rösti – Crispy Filled Potato Deliciousness

Shredded Idaho potatoes, par-fried and crisp on the outside, with delicious cheesy filling on the inside. What could be better? This clean-label, non-G.M.O., and gluten-free potato product is of Swiss origin – and features delicious flavors like Melty Swiss Raclette, Stuffed Baked Potato and Zesty Chili Cheese.

Algi – Impact Bar

Algi creates revolutionary food products using the world's oldest and smallest superfood –spirulina algae. Their flagship product, the Impact Bar, is a plant-based nutrient bar with 5 ingredients, 12g of protein, and 4.5mg of iron.

We've also been taking a deep dive into the NPEX database and wanted to highlight some of the products that stood out to us as being particularly interesting and noteworthy:

Nutiva – Organic MCT Protein

This unique plant protein blend is a true triple threat. It contains 20g of protein per serving from pea, sunflower, pumpkin seed and hemp seed proteins, 4g of branched-chain amino acids (known to support muscle growth and reduce recovery time), and 6g of MCTs from coconuts for a brain boost. The result is a powerhouse supplement for fitness enthusiasts, keto lovers, or anyone looking for an extra boost!

World Centric – Compostable Fiber Lids

Your morning coffee cup could soon be biodegradable with the launch of World Centric’s compostable fiber lids. They are made from unbleached plant fiber, and compost in a mere three to six months! The hot cup lids offer an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. What’s more, 25% of the company’s profits are donated to grassroots social and environmental organizations and to offset the company’s carbon emissions.

Foodies - Pumfu

This minimally processed, allergy-friendly soy alternative has a similar texture to traditional tofu and picks up flavors just the same – but is made out of two simple ingredients: pumpkin seeds and water! We love this innovative vegan option to slice, dice or fry up as part of a delicious and healthy plant-based feast.

JUST Egg – Folded

JUST Egg taps into the ancient wisdom of the protein-packed mung bean to create a shockingly convincing (and non-GMO) egg alternative that requires little prep to pump up the protein in a breakfast sandwich or chop into a stir-fry. Even better, the ingredients consume 98% less water and emit 93% less CO2 than animal proteins.

Patch – Bamboo Bandages

These stripped-down bandages are set to disrupt a long-dominated industry! 100% organic, stone-milled bamboo fiber is enhanced with coconut oil, aloe vera and charcoal, making them ideal for soothing and repairing skin after minor abrasions. The hypoallergenic, biodegradable and compostable bandages are also free of plastics, latex and silicon.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this post, so please do get in touch!

You can reach us directly via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, follow us on and sign up for our mailing list!

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus has caused an unprecedented public reaction. As such, while we don’t feel equipped to offer any comment on the epidemiology of the virus, it seems important to respond as business leaders, and to recognize that the impact of the outbreak is going to be broad-reaching and deep.

Whether the collective reaction is going to be seen through the rearview mirror of history as panic-fuelled overreactions, or as sensible, forward-thinking safety precautions remains to be seen; however, there is increasingly little doubt that they are having - and will continue to have - a massive impact on business and the economy.

In these uncertain times, we believe that what will separate those businesses that thrive from those that struggle – either during this downturn, or after life returns to “normal” (as it no doubt will, even if the coronavirus becomes part of our pattern of life) – will be the ability to maintain focus, and to keep business agendas moving forward, in the face of an ever-more extreme set of consumer behaviours and business mandates. Those who falter and lose focus in the face of these challenges are much more likely to fail.

So how can you keep your business moving forward in these uncertain times?

Proactively test your remote systems – You or your workforce may not yet be working from home, but if tougher containment measures were imposed, ask yourself this: Could you and your colleagues do so without losing momentum? One of us recently had a conversation with a business owner who made his entire company work from home for 48 hours in order to test their remote working systems, and to ensure that they were fully prepared in the event of a quarantine. Then, he took this approach one step further, asking his clients to conduct all meetings remotely for a one-week period. We were inspired by this exercise that both has the potential to demonstrate the possibility of remote solutions, while also identifying any gaps or glitches that needed to be addressed, before they are urgently needed.

Don’t abandon your customers – This is not the time to walk away from understanding your consumers. A new mindset (and, in some cases, an extreme set of behaviours, attitudes and habits) is almost certainly arising in response to this unprecedented market landscape, which will inevitably impact virtually every category and industry across the globe. This, then, is the time to fully understand the specifics of how this adjustment in consumer behaviour and attitudes will affect your specific sector, and also to examine your target consumer’s evolving relationship and interaction with your brand. As an insight-led agency, we believe that identifying a powerful new insight about your target consumer, and linking it to a benefit that your brand or service provides, can create a significant competitive advantage. This is all the more true in a challenging period of time such as this.

Look for new opportunities arising from uncertainty – There are, of course, categories and stocks that will thrive during this downturn – this has been the case in every previous recession. Similarly, there are opportunities to be found in many sectors to better connect with consumers, and to stand out from the crowd. We’ve all heard of the “lipstick effect”, where cosmetics thrive in a slow economy. What, though, are the parts of your category or business that might experience an uptick with consumers spending more time at home, and limiting travel, social activities and business gatherings? Home delivery? Home entertainment? The recession-coined term staycation?  How can you, and your business, think creatively about applying your resources to an emerging consumer need?

Lead when competitors are reacting – Even if your best strategy turns out to be weathering the storm, you can still take the opportunity to lead while your competitors may be wasting time and energy focusing on or reacting to the situation in a non-productive way. Even some of the most traditionally steady businesses may well react to the coronavirus outbreak by cutting spending and activity – which then offers a huge opportunity for a challenger brand to seize the moment, and to get ahead of a competitor who has always been out in front.

With this in mind:

We believe that those companies that find creative approaches, and new virtual tools that allow them to continue to progress their business agendas, will find ways to thrive in the face of this adversity.

We believe that those companies that prioritize (rather than walking away from) understanding their consumer in the context of the current environment, will be able to uncover and capitalize on new insights about their target consumer and their relationship with your brand or service – allowing them to connect on a much deeper and more emotional and level.

And, crucially, we believe that those companies that seize the opportunity to lead in their categories and industries, while others falter, will be well placed to win when the world returns to its “new normal”.

The only real question? Whether your business is one of those companies.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about this post.

You can reach us via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, please follow us on .

Vancouver: a city I had long assumed was solely for hikers, runners, and people who loved spending their days in the great outdoors. As a self-proclaimed ‘big city girl’, I had never imagined I’d be spending a week out in BC, much less loving every second of it.

Let’s pause for a moment; why did I travel to Vancouver for a week? Why am I writing for The blog right now? Aren’t I supposed to be in the middle of my second semester of second year at Queen’s University? The answer is yes, but as it turns out, life doesn’t always happen the way it’s “supposed” to.

I made the difficult decision to postpone university at the start of my second year. I can’t really give any explicit “whys” as to how this decision came to be, but it ultimately boiled down to the fact that my set-in-stone plans became a lot less set-in-stone and a lot more “set-in-jello.” I decided to focus on transferring back to university in Toronto, and attending the “School of Life” in the meantime. As luck would have it, I was then able to start working full-time at The in the interim.

Returning to The has given me the opportunity to further my personal and professional development, while also getting to work alongside a talented and passionate team that support and inspire one another on a daily basis. I was also fortunate enough to be supported in pursuing a week-long trip to Vancouver, BC, where I was able to shadow four incredibly successful entrepreneurs and business leaders throughout the week. From home care companies to fitness-forward brands, my time spent with some of Canada’s most inspiring business leaders was filled with learning, connections, and a whole lot of energy.

Given my interest in business growth and entrepreneurship, I was keen to explore the key decisions and strategies that drove the companies I visited. My biggest takeaway came from chatting with the VP of Strategy at one of the companies, who explained that “strategy is choice.” This truly hit home with me, as I realized that making business decisions is a far more complex process than we sometimes credit it with being. Many business leaders are keen to ‘do it all’ and cover every base with their company’s vision. While this is theoretically ideal, it is often unrealistic in practice, and I was able to witness precisely how companies can ultimately be better off when they sit down and set attainable, yet aspirational, strategies that don’t try to do too much at once.

Alongside this, my time in Vancouver also taught me the value of always having efficient business systems in place. While some companies had tightly-scheduled daily ‘huddles,’ others had designated individuals whose sole job in meetings was timing, and ensuring that they were staying on track. These tactics ensured that discussion was concise and powerful, while sticking to the intended purpose of each meeting. As such, they’re an incredibly helpful tool for maintaining operational efficiency - and avoiding wasting people’s time!

In my time spent with business leaders and companies in Vancouver, I also learned a lot about the power of connections. Firstly, the importance of connections between business departments, and secondly, the importance of making meaningful connections with the individuals you work alongside. Seeing how effectively and efficiently different business departments can intertwine was a truly fascinating experience. I was amazed by how seamlessly some of the companies’ PR and Marketing departments worked together to avoid duplication and ensure that their businesses were being represented in the most consistent manner possible. While this may sound like a given for any company, it was truly astonishing to see how some of Canada’s most successful organizations develop thoughtful social media and content development strategies, engaging numerous departments to ensure the most attentive and competent marketing possible. I’m sure we can all think of examples of companies that struggle with this sometimes!

The other key element of connections within a business atmosphere is the individual connections made while working in an office of any size. Since The is a small (yet mighty!) team, I was intrigued to see how the employees of companies of larger sizes would interact. The answer? Not that differently! As it turns out, operating as a larger sized company doesn’t necessarily equate to having less engaged employees and team members. It simply makes it all the more important to make meaningful connections with one’s team members by asking thoughtful personal and professional questions, while demonstrating the utmost respect and compassion for every individual in the organization.

The last, and arguably most important, takeaway from my time in Vancouver was energy. This is something that The is known for, so I must admit that I had rather high standards going into these businesses. And yet, I was truly blown away by what a palpable difference a strong company culture can make in a corporate setting. While this concept is constantly preached about by business experts, you can truly feel when a company does or does not have a great culture and energy. In developing business culture, then, my main take away was the idea of that culture being real, as opposed to simply aspirational. When developing a company or team’s core values that will guide business actions and energy, it is important to consider what the company is, rather than what the company wants to be. Any business can aspire to be a million things, but the best company cultures are the ones that define what their team is, and how they actually behave, rather than focusing on how they wish their team acted.

There are other aspects that set great cultures apart from everyday good ones, too - in particular the body language of team members, and the physical environment that the company is based in. The strongest cultures all had highly engaged employees who demonstrated positive, but not false, body language, with limited phone usage, and strong eye contact being maintained at all times. Similarly, the physical office space made for noticeable differences in the nature of company culture. While not all companies can afford multimillion-dollar office spaces with cafeterias and slides, of course, some small, inexpensive things made big, tangible differences. From sitting together as a team in one communal space where open communication was enabled and encouraged, to having meaningful representations of company culture and history on the walls, it was clear that small environmental decisions have a much larger impact on company energy as a whole than we sometimes give them credit for. 

All in all, then, I am incredibly grateful for my time spent in Vancouver. With that in mind, I’d like to express my deep appreciation for Cameron Herold, who helped me to coordinate these incredible meetings and experiences, The , for allowing and empowering me to pursue this once-in-a-lifetime trip, and, lastly, Christopher Bennett, Greg Smith, Brian Scudamore, and Curtis Christopherson, the incredible business leaders and owners who welcomed me into their businesses for a whole day. As I move forward in my personal and professional career, knowing that no two great businesses are alike, I feel genuinely inspired and motivated to pursue what I am truly passionate about.

“But I’m not creative!”

Even today, it’s hard for me to write that.  After almost 20 years as an Innovation Expert, a role where clients hire me for my creativity and fresh ideas, and a long track record of commercial success, there’s still a small, childlike part of me that wonders if I’m creative enough.

My journey to a career in the world of creative thinking and innovation was not the standard path through marketing or advertising. After an undergraduate business degree, I started my working life as a management consultant, building excel models and cutting my teeth in data and analytics.  Even after my MBA I worked at McKinsey & Co. in London and was practicing a purely fact-based, analytical approach to the business world.

Then, while working on a pitch for a start up, I met some amazing creative geniuses, who blew me away with their ability to think differently, their ideas that seemingly came from nowhere, and their unwavering belief in those ideas, however eccentric. And I couldn’t figure out how they did it. Where were they getting these incredible ideas? Did their brains just work differently?  I was jealous, to say the least. I wished more than anything that I was creative, like them, since it looked like so much more fun than the world I was working in!

And so, in 2002, I decided to make it my mission to move into the creative working world. I set out developing my creative muscles, and started reading and learning widely, all the while doggedly pursuing a career with an innovation agency. Then, finally, I convinced an agency to hire me, which marked the beginning of over 20 years of fulfilling creative work, and more than 400 successful innovation projects. Now, not only do my clients value and launch the ideas developed during those projects, but I truly love my career, and each and every one of the creative skills that I’ve been able to develop and weave into what we do at The .

Here, then, are a few tips from someone who had to learn her way to creativity, on how even those who don’t believe that they’re creative can bring more creativity to their day-to-day working lives:

1.     Get into a great state of mind

When people are having fun, with a positive, energetic state of mind, challenging problems can be far more easily solved. This seems intuitive, yet when we’re faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges in our life or our work, many of us become overwhelmed, pessimistic or lose our energy. Which is the exact opposite of where we need to be if we’re going to find creative solutions to our problems. Have you ever noticed that when you’re in a great state of mind, you can seemingly solve any problem, and that nothing seems insurmountable? Being playful, enjoying and embracing the challenge and approaching every problem with the belief that you’re going to solve it are all critical to increasing your odds of success.

TRY THIS: If you want to increase your creativity hit rate… get into a positive and energetic state before you try to have ideas. Put on energizing music, play a creative game or simply take a walk outside before your brainstorming session, team meeting or when you’re trying to crack a problem – it can make a massive difference!

2.     New ideas come from making new connections

After two decades of having ideas and helping others to have them, there’s no doubt in my mind that the best ones come from connecting two previously unconnected concepts. Mark Twain said, “There is no such thing as a new idea. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.” Even the ideas that we see as being truly ‘new’ are actually just two elements that were already in existence connected together. Waze, for example, is a mass consumer-based data collection tool, blended with GPS technology and smart phone navigation. Each of these concepts existed independently before Waze was created, but by managing to pull them together in a unique, seamless and previously unconnected way, the company was able to create something immensely successful.'

TRY THIS: If you want to have better ideas… start with your challenge in mind, then go out into the world and look for parts of the solution in other industries or geographies that have cracked similar (but not identical) challenges. Your brain is designed to create connections, and this exploration is sure to help you be more creative and will take you to new places.

3.     Creativity is a practice, not a talent

In ‘Grit’, Angela Duckworth argues that, “As much as talent counts, effort counts twice.” With creativity, that’s doubly true. What I’ve come to realize is that great creative ideas typically come from a little bit of obsessiveness. Often, my best ideas come when I’m really and truly focused on a problem – then, everything that I’m doing, seeing or reading becomes a piece of stimulus that could potentially help me to solve my problem.  My brain begins to make links that I didn’t even know existed – and the solutions start to feel like those ‘Eureka Moments’ that you always hear about.

TRY THIS: If you want to practice your creativity… start thinking about a single problem – a lot!  Get obsessed, and be disciplined. Read, think and give yourself a few days to ponder your challenge. You’ll be amazed at what your brain is able to do, when given the chance.

4.     Embrace experimentation

Thinking about a challenge is not enough! And, sadly, it never will be. James Dyson spent fifteen years developing 5,127 prototypes before the first Dyson proved successful in 1993. To be creative, then, you have to radically embrace experimentation. Try it out for yourself. Find ways to write, draw, build or prototype your ideas and, most importantly, share them! Each experiment will lead to new and better ideas, and will get you closer to an incredible solution.

TRY THIS: If you want to try some experimentation… find cheap and cheerful ways to bring your ideas to life. Draw a sketch, write your idea down, create a mock ad. Just the act of trying to create a prototype of your idea will make the idea better, and will help you to be more creative.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this post, so please do get in touch!

You can reach me directly via email, or if you’d like to hear more from our team of innovation experts, follow us on and sign up for our mailing list!

Scrolling through social media in the days leading up to December 31st 2019 would likely lead one to think that the past year wasn’t kind to many of us. It often feels as though the news has dampened our spirits a few too many times, and that 2020 needs to be a ‘refreshed page’ that we just might be able to take a little more control of. However, with the passion of Generation Z – just think Greta Thunberg – having brought us some hope in 2019, it’s not impossible to see that kind of energy catching on, giving us the chance to see 2020 in a far more optimistic light.

This more optimistic viewpoint doesn’t mean that the world is suddenly buzzing with January jubilance – if anything, it means quite the opposite; I’ve been hearing about the overwhelm of January and the winter ahead more than usual, for instance. However, optimism doesn’t always have to directly equate to cheery energy. Sometimes, it can be the simple, straightforward observance of a clear reality, paired with the acknowledgement and acceptance of a commitment to finding your own joy within it. Post an especially heavy week of news leading off the first few days back to work for many of us after the holidays, I’m curious to see how this potential state of optimism unfolds.

At this time of year, we tend to absorb a lot of chatter around resolutions and goals –  the very time we need this dedication to a thriving optimistic spirit! And this year, I’ve been hearing about a few common trends when it comes to the goals we choose to set, and how we go about setting them.

Sizing up your goals – Ladder and scale things up!

Setting small achievable goals where you can see results quickly or progressively has typically been the go-to approach to resolutions, but there is value in big, forward-focused thinking, too! As failure becomes increasingly understood as a key component of realistic goals (wherein understanding failure necessitates trying, learning, and applying), big future goals don’t feel quite so overwhelming. So, in 2020, why not think about laddering your small goals into your larger end aspiration? Now that failure or learning through trial and error isn’t as taboo – and instead encouraged – try laddering your goals into 2030 and see where you end up. And then, do it in reverse. Think of a truly large 2030 goal, and peel back the layers of smaller goals that would be needed in order to get there. The context is a little different, but think about how much we achieve in the six years from Grade 7 to Grade 12, or, bigger still, the immense progression between Grades 1 and 6. Six years of growth and change can lead to making a huge difference – so just imagine what you could achieve in a decade if you were to ladder yourself there.

Understanding the motivation behind the goal

It is, in the greater scheme of things, relatively easy to have a goal; to get promoted, say, to spend more time on health, or to socialize with more intention. What isn’t as easy is to identify the why behind your goals. This can be a lot of work, especially in isolation, so there is a substantial amount of value to be found in talking about your goals with others, allowing you to express them out loud and to better understand both where it is that you’re coming from and exactly what it is that you’re trying to achieve. Why is the why important, though? It isn’t always all about the completion of the goal itself, after all. Instead, though it’s a nice perk to check the achievement off your list, the greater impact often comes from the growth and change that comes from the journey, and the experiences you have along the way. Thinking about goals as a series of experiences, then, can make them more engaging and attractive, and help you to focus less on one set outcome. If I’m correct in anticipating an increased sense of optimism about 2020, we may well also see an increasing level of interest in those around us engaging with motivated experiences over overt results.

The 2020 Goal – More self-care

We heard a lot about mindfulness in 2019 – whether in meditation studios, the classroom, access to the Headspace platform on airlines, or with the growing number of companies talking about their investment in the mental health of their employees. And that broader awareness seems to have made an impact: there has been a notable increase this new year in the number of conversations about how – and why – we should be setting self-care goals in 2020. Self-care isn’t just about indulgences, after all: it’s ultimately about attending to the needs that you have, the ones that often get passed over, whether they’re emotional, physical, mental, or spiritual. Committing to that doctor appointment you’ve been putting off, for instance, or acknowledging emotional overwhelm – or simply engaging in a new hobby for creative growth.

These acts of self support are now being referred to as some of the best things we can do for our overall stress reduction and, ultimately, our holistic health. It’s these things, the ones that we have over the years told ourselves are negotiable because they first and foremost directly impact us, that are seeing a resurgence. Dr. Guy Winch calls it ‘emotional first aid’, : “We sustain psychological injuries even more often than we do physical ones, injuries like failure or rejection or loneliness. And yet, even though there are scientifically proven techniques we could use to treat these kinds of psychological injuries, we don't. It doesn't even occur to us that we should.”

In 2020, with a few more shoots of collective optimism poking through regarding the possibilities that arise if and when we take the time to see the big picture and the joy of the journey, rather than simply focusing on a single moment of happiness, I predict self-care goals will have a lot more sticking power than in the past. 

Here’s to you all, and to what comes next - this video is for you!

We couldn’t be prouder of the whole team, and of the recognition of our growth over the past three years. When the two of us founded our company in January 2015 with a mission to unlock the creative potential of people and businesses through innovation, we never could have imagined that less than five years later, we would be celebrating being in the top half of a ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies, with a three-year revenue growth of 185%.

We’re incredibly proud of the work our team does, and believe that this ranking is a reflection of not only their dedication and talent, but also of the perfectly tuned blend of business-mindedness and creative thinking and, above all else, positive energy, that they bring to each and every engagement. One of our core company values is humility, but we both feel strongly that it is as important to celebrate your victories as it is to analyse and learn from your defeats.

We would also like to take the opportunity to explicitly thank each and every one of our exceptional clients, across more than 35 leading organizations, without whom this recognition would be both impossible, and far less meaningful. One of the most incredible parts of our jobs is having the opportunity to be inspired by remarkable people on a daily basis, and we’ve been fortunate enough to work with some truly inspirational clients, from all around the world. There are too many brilliant people to name, but we truly hope that you know who you are, and that we wouldn’t be writing this blog post without your insights, support and unstinting commitment to creating truly astounding innovation.

All of which is, really, just an attempt to say thank you, to as many people as humanly possible. The team at The , our wonderful clients, our incredible partners and suppliers, and of course The Globe and Mail for this honour.

You can find a link to the full press release right here, and the Report on Business’ ranking right . If there’s anything else you’d like to know, or to talk to us about, please do get in touch via the emails or phone number below!

fiona@������.com
shelli@������.com

+1 (647) 350-4332

1.    Choose your innovation team thoughtfully

Any number of books have been written about successful innovation processes, approaches, tools, requirements and techniques, but in my experience the single most important determining factor when it comes to success or failure in innovation is the team.  Your innovation team members not only need to have a diverse set of skills, be creative and believe in the art of the possible but also, most importantly, they need to be scrappy and entrepreneurial.  Crucially, that doesn’t always mean choosing your highest potential leaders as your innovation leaders.  For many companies, the best leaders are those who delegate, build consensus and are great managers of the day-to-day, making consistent, incremental improvements.  Innovation leaders, by contrast, roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and actively create substantive change.  They have a supportive network of fans, and are comfortable and successful at advocating for the things that matter with respect to their innovation, giving their innovation a better chance of making it into the pipeline and, ultimately, launching in the real world.

2.    Clearly define project objectives and scope

It might seem counter-intuitive, since many people imagine great ideas coming exclusively from ‘out-of-the-box thinking’ without any sort of boundaries, but in my experience great creativity only happens when it is laser-focused.  At the start of an innovation journey, then, make sure to ask yourself questions like: Who exactly is this innovation for?  How big does it need to be?  What are we willing to invest? What are the requirements for launch? And, of course, what are the unbreakable boundaries that, if crossed, would mean we would kill the project?  Having this clarity makes it substantially more likely that your project team will deliver an innovation that is commercial and able to be launched.

3.    Search for relevant inspiration to make creative leaps

When it comes to helping you and your innovation team have great ideas, the best place to start is to get out into the world to proactively search for inspiration. After all, great ideas most often come from creatively linking two previously separate concepts.  With that in mind, search in your home market, in other geographies and in other categories that face similar challenges.  Find startups that have launched interesting new products or services that your competitors might not have seen. Attend trade shows. And, most of all, simply get out of your office and into the world to find out what’s trending, and what’s on the leading edge and about to disrupt your category. 

4.    Iterate between feasibility, viability and desirability

Clients tend to think sequentially when it comes to innovation; first identifying and delivering against an unmet customer needs, and then engaging with both the practicality and financial viability of those new ideas.  Successful innovation requires a balance of - and constant iteration between - all three of these considerations.  Like any experienced human-centred design practitioners, The team always starts with empathy work to understand the current experience and pain points, but it’s also critical to work with a cross functional team to consistently examine whether an idea can make it to market quickly, profitably and within the project constraints.  This is especially true if you’re innovating with limited resources. 

5.    Embrace the inevitable pivot

Virtually every innovation project I’ve worked on over the years has taken a ‘left turn’ at some point along the way.  Almost inevitably, the team discovers something new and unexpected that requires a sizable shift in approach, or even the abandoning of a favourite idea.   The important thing in such moments is to not be afraid to change direction, and to be willing to go back to your stakeholders and let them know about the new learning that has changed the strategy. 

6.    Know when and how to fight for your idea

Great innovators know when to fight to preserve a critical element of an innovation (we call it the idea’s DNA) and have the passionate conviction to influence their stakeholders.  Initial concepts might not be realistic, and compromises might have to be made along the journey, but it’s vitally important to understand the critical essence of your idea so that you know where you can bend, and where you have to fight to protect a core element, to ensure you don’t lose the magic of an idea through the iteration process.

As a somewhat OCD individual who has had her life path planned down to the bathroom break since age 14, I had a clear idea of what my summers in between university would look like. They involved a blasé corporate job, an unflattering pantsuit or two, and lots of coffee runs. While these summers weren’t exactly dreamy, I knew they would be one step up the ladder towards my end goals of business “success.”

Enter The : the company I was lucky enough to work at for summer 2019. After meeting many times with both founders, Shelli Baltman and Fiona Stevenson, I had a gut feeling that this business might be just the place for me. After reflecting on the fact that a one dimensional corporate job didn’t HAVE to be my internship future for four summers, I excitedly accepted the position of Innovation Intern.

I could not have made a better decision. Each and every day, I woke up excited and motivated to head into the office and be inspired by an amazing and creative team of hardworking individuals. Along the way, I was lucky enough to have developed so many insights into the world innovation, ones that could only be learned through experiences such as an Internship.

Here are my top 10 takeaways from a summer spent ideating, innovating, and investigating:

1. Range is Key

I had the opportunity to wear many hats this summer. Some of them fit me better than others, but I surely got to try them all on! From client relations to idea development and iteration, I was so lucky to be afforded a diverse range of opportunities over four months. This range of work taught me how important it can be to generalize oneself. I’ve often tried to find a category to shove myself into; the quant girl, the good writer, etc., but I never felt like my skill set was quite strong enough in one specific area. The showed me that my range of diverse skills could be a benefit more than a burden, and I was able to apply different facets of myself to unique projects, while never ceasing to learn and grow.

2. Under-Promise, Over-Deliver

“Hey Cass, what’s your capacity looking like today?” This was one of the golden questions throughout my time at The . When starting with the company, I was keen to take on as much work as possible and get it all done comprehensively and efficiently. I quickly learned that taking on overwhelming amounts of detail-oriented work wouldn’t be of benefit to myself or the company. Instead, I learned to take on smaller amounts of work (that’s the under-promise part) and execute this work to the absolute best of my ability (there’s the over-delivering). Being able to surpass my colleagues’ expectations was both gratifying and reinforced my learning that a slightly lighter work load that is well-executed is more beneficial to both the company and my stress levels!

3. Work You Love isn’t Really Work

As a business student, I would hear some of my peers moan and groan about working 9-5 summer jobs at a company they weren’t particularly passionate about. I found these grievances quite hard to relate to, as I couldn’t remember a day where I wasn’t both excited and motivated to go to work. Being surrounded by hard-working and energetic individuals, all of whom were highly invested in their work, inspired me to discover everything I now love about the world of innovation. While I had often been told the old adage: “do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life,” I never fully understood it until I started work at The .

4. A Little Optimism can go a Long Way

While my time at The was 99.9% fun, as with any job, there is that 0.01% of the time where you are challenged to persevere through difficulties. At our company, I found that optimism was key to working through any issues that arose. I will never forget one of The ’s presidents, Shelli, coming into the main office on a stressful day and proceeding to break out in a dance party. Fun and light moments such as these are what made heavier times at work feel manageable, and I am so grateful to have been able to work alongside such a positive and upbeat team who ensured morale was high at all times.

5. Life is Just One Big Q&A

Ask questions! It’s as simple as that. While working at The I tried my best to push my nerves aside and not be afraid to inquire when there was a term I needed defining, or a problem I needed help solving. Basically, I treated my internship like one big Q&A. However, one must be aware of when it is a SMART time to ask questions. For example, if a foreign term came up in a client meeting, I made note of it to ask a co-worker later, rather than interrupting at a super important time. Being wary of whether or not it’s the right time to ask a question is very important, however I was never so wary that I refrained from asking questions altogether.

6. Being a She-E-O isn’t Easy

The was founded by two incredible women, Fiona Stevenson and Shelli Baltman. Along with all of the other inspiring people who work at The , these two specific ladies showed me just how challenging and rewarding being a CEO can be. I have always dreamt of being an entrepreneur, and watching Fiona and Shelli work tirelessly to build the best company possible was both daunting and inspiring. The long hours and countless demands of running a business are clearly tiring, however the incredible work they produce and company culture they have built has shown me that it can all be worth it.

7. Feedback Matters

I was lucky enough to have many one-on-one feedback sessions throughout my time at The . By checking in with numerous members of the company, I was able to learn about my strengths and weaknesses in order to become the best team member I could be. By taking constructive feedback seriously, instead of personally, I was able to adapt and develop my skills to grow as an intern and a human being. This was an invaluable process of change and development, that taught me the true importance of learning from feedback.

8. You are NOT Superman (or woman)!

In keeping with the tune of under-promising and over-delivering, I often had to remind myself it was okay to ask for help. In the past, when I hit road blocks, my stubbornness sometimes got the better of me. At The , I learned to reach out when I was struggling on a project or a task. The company’s welcoming environment made me feel like I could approach any individual to receive help and guidance, no matter how busy everyone else was.

9. Make Connections

The beauty of working with a unique team of people at The was that we each brought different life experiences and perspectives to our work. Learning this early on, I found myself drawing many comparisons between my life experiences and the work I was doing. Not only did this help me in my project work, but it also made me love my job even more, as I felt more personally connected to it. This lesson will stay with me throughout the rest of my professional and personal life, as I will strive to make connections between the world around me and the work I pursue.

10. Forget the Mistake, Remember the Lesson

I was by no means perfect throughout my entire internship. While I certainly tried to be, we are all humans and some things don’t go as planned. Rather than apologize for my errors and move on, I did my best to internalize them, in order to continuously grow and perform to the best of my abilities. By treating mistakes as lessons, I was able to spend much more of my internship learning, rather than dwelling on what went wrong.

Well, there you have it, my internship in review. While the confidential nature of our work didn’t allow me to dive too deeply into the tangible tasks I did, rest assured that no day was ever the same (or boring)! I am so grateful to have been able to work at a company as passionate and creative as The . The lessons I have learned have changed me as both a human and a businesswoman, and I look to my future knowing that I will never settle for an ugly pantsuit and a job that doesn’t inspire me.

And so, they did it!  THEY DID IT!!! And I find myself bursting with an unreasonable level of pride! Other than living in the amazing city to which the Raptors belong, I obviously can’t make any claim to the incredible achievements of this team – all season and, of course, the spectacular feat of last night’s NBA Finals win. And yet, this victory feels personal, and has from the start. And, judging from the extraordinary energy that has electrified this unseasonably cold and wet city over the past several weeks, there are millions more people across the country that have felt just as overwhelmed with emotion and pride as I have, all the way through this incredible NBA playoff season.

In so many ways, this outpouring of emotion seems to be on a whole other level compared to  other athletic milestones in our city’s recent history. When I watched our city’s hockey and baseball teams as they pushed for playoff success over the past few years, I certainly felt pride and excitement and, on a personal level, was undeniably inspired enough by the incredible physicality of elite athletes to consider taking up running - one day. But as the credits have rolled on each and every post-season Raptors game, and particularly last night’s, I’ve felt so incredibly motivated that I’ve simultaneously wanted to run a marathon, start an empire, and solve world hunger as soon as humanly possible. The level of motivation I’ve felt in all aspects of my personal and professional life over the past few weeks is beyond anything I’ve experienced.

As I’ve tried to unpack the why – of why it’s all felt so remarkable and at times even magical – I’ve realized it’s because, for me, this year’s Raptors team has been the perfect embodiment of a truly high-performance team.  And as those of us who have had the privilege of being part of such a team – be it on the field/court/rink or in a more traditional workplace setting  – can attest, that rare experience is every bit as magical and surreal as this unfolding Raptors season has been. Watching the Raptors take this playoff journey hasn’t just triggered a rollercoaster of emotions – it’s also unlocked precisely the sort of powerful memories (whether of crushing defeats, resounding successes, or countless displays of human vulnerability) that we’ve all felt at one time or another as members or leaders of a great team. I’ve certainly felt as though my own heart has been on the court, right alongside them, and from the outpouring of joy, excitement and pure emotion that erupted all across Canada last night, I know I’m not alone in that. With that in mind, then:

Is there anyone who would now deny that this team has demonstrated all the essential ingredients of a high-performing team? 

After all, this win hasn’t just come out of nowhere – and it certainly can’t be explained away by Kevin Durant’s injury woes, or the Warriors’ impending and unsettling move away from Oakland. Instead, it’s the result of a truly high-performing team – one that we can take away a whole lot of lessons from.  What are those lessons, then?

Strong, trusting and empowering leadership. Individual skill is important – vital, even – yet in the end, it’s not enough on its own. To be a truly great team, you need strong leadership that trusts and empowers every member to step up, and to be the very best that they can be, understanding the skills that each team member has, and encouraging them to flourish. Sometimes that’s through the vision of a Masai Ujiri, masterminding a win through big, institutional changes and hard choices. Sometimes that’s through the restrained, confidence-inspiring leadership of a Nick Nurse, offering both consistency and experimentation at the same time. And, sometimes, it’s through the inspiration of a great on-the-court leader like Kawhi Leonard or Kyle Lowry, leading by example and setting the tone for everyone around them.

A diverse team with unique and complementary skills.  I don’t imagine that many of us needs to be reminded that increasing the diversity of teams leads to better performance, but if we did, then this Raptors team is an incredible example of just how true that is. With members from all walks of life, from all around the world, and with a wide range of ages and levels of experience, this Raptors team is an effectively diverse workforce in microcosm. Each member brings something different yet complementary to the team, allowing the whole to be far greater than the sum of its parts.

A unifying, audacious goal. Every great team needs a single, shared purpose. This team’s relentless pursuit of the NBA title and their refusal to be satisfied with anything less has been admirable, even if it has resulted in some incredibly restrained post-game interviews (and my personal favourite playoff moment, when Kyle Lowry attempted but just couldn’t quite hold back his smile after beating the 76ers in the second round). It seems obvious, but coming together around a goal that stretches us to our very limits is a fantastic way to turn a group of individuals into a team – and to push that team towards greatness.

An MVP that ups everyone’s game. Will we ever be able to say enough about the impact that Kawhi Leonard has had on the team this year? Countless columns – and statues – will be dedicated to his achievement, and yet he surely deserves more credit still. Not only has he delivered time and time again, stepping up whenever he was needed, but he’s also raised his whole team up right alongside him. He’s tough, he’s strong, and he’s composed – but he’s also all about the team. Whether on the court or in the boardroom, that’s an incredible teammate to have.

The heart of the team. Not everyone is – or even wants to be – the MVP, though, and great teams are built on more than just superstars. Sometimes the very heart of the team is the player whose contributions are more subtle, and less easily quantified with statistics and box scores. The Raptors, in the end, are a team of these quiet heroes – from Fred VanVleet’s dedicated, unshowy defense against Steph Curry, to Serge Ibaka’s clutch offense when it really counted, with absolutely everything Pascal Siakam did in between. One man, though, was the true heart of this Raptors team. The quarterback strategist, extraordinary starter and supervisor to the second line, who truly stepped up when it counts (21 points in the first half of Game 6!) – honestly, what’s not to love about Kyle Lowry? To borrow the catchphrase of a certain diminutive Toronto Blue Jay, height doesn’t measure heart – and nor does it measure the importance of a dedicated supporting player to a truly great team.

Resilience, especially in the face of crushing defeat. Setbacks are inevitable in our pursuit of goals. Coming so close but falling short, and having to pick ourselves up and come back stronger is the name of the game. But great teams like the Raptors take each failure as an opportunity to learn and do better. Years of disappointment, whether in the playoffs or the business world, can break even the most remarkable performers. For truly great teams, though, they act as sources of inspiration and essential learning. Lost by 1 point in a game that mattered more than any before it? You can wallow in that defeat, and let it knock you down – or you can follow it up with a 4 point win in an even bigger and tougher game, and take a championship home with you.

The sideline advocate.  Take away his iconic, meme-laden status as Canada’s goofy uncle (and 20 million albums sold), and Drake’s just a guy who believed in a group of people and what they were capable of, and put himself on the line time and time again to show them – and the world – that his belief was unwavering and absolute. And, like any good advocate, he hasn’t spent the past weeks, months and years counting the lost millions from radio stations that have banned him or former fans who were turned off by his unapologetic fandom. He’s spent them supporting his team, no matter what. When you look at the crowds that filled the streets last night, you can see the countless Raptors fans who did exactly the same.

And it’s fleeting. Oh so fleeting. In the end, even the best things can’t last forever. Sometimes you’re on an incredible team, and it’s amazing, and then, suddenly, it’s over. One person leaves the team, a cascading effect follows, and things aren’t ever quite the same. No matter the strength of a dynasty, there’s always another great team coming along looking to take the throne. The Warriors looked unbeatable not so long ago, and now they’re going home disappointed. The Raptors – no matter how great this team is, and has been – now have to try to turn an incredible playoff run into something larger – and if they can’t keep the likes of Leonard, Gasol and Green (or replace them well), then they’re likely to be looking at an expensive rebuild. Sometimes, after the excitement’s over, you almost wonder if it really ever was.  

And yet…

Though some of my grand post-playoff ambitions will surely fade as the high of tonight’s win subsides in the weeks to come, the motivation to create and foster a high-performance team in my workplace is a spark that has been re-ignited by this team, as I’m sure it has for leaders all across this great country. Every team is different, of course, and not every moment can be the final seconds of the NBA Finals, watching heroes somehow – somehow – find a way to get the job done. Sometimes, you have to strain and struggle to keep an incredible team together, and work to create a legendary dynasty – and sometimes, when the time comes, you have to rebuild, looking back on what came before for inspiration. But as long as we, together, push ourselves to create and encourage truly great, high-performing teams of our own, then the spirit of this Raptors team will live on – and the Larry O’Brien trophy won’t be the only legacy that this great team leaves behind.

Returning from the 2019 Natural Products Expo in Anaheim leaves you facing two big questions, ‘what are the new trends - and how can I build them into my business’? But, in a space that is increasingly and ever more rapidly becoming part of the mainstream, how are these trends, once far more niche, experienced by consumers - and what does that mean for brands?

After Expo has closed and you’ve doubled your daily step count, it’s time for everyone - the show, industry, bloggers, and those who attended on behalf of bigger companies - to maintain their heightened levels of energy. There are new products to distribute, innovations to test, new philosophies to explore, and thousands of people hyped up on modernized matcha shots, oat milk lattes, sparkling cascara juice, and caffeinated coconut water.

But what about the consumers - what will they see when they hit the aisles or browse social media during the year ahead? How do they land these trends in their own lives, first and foremost with what they ultimately decide to buy?

Adding things to our life

It wasn’t so long ago that we were collectively striving for reduction: low in fat, no calories, no added sugar, made without, etc. Now, though, we’re seeing a shift on shelf, where the focus has moved to what we are consuming, as opposed to what we aren’t, and on bringing things into our lives, rather than removing them from it. Products are sure to tell you what kind of eating style is satisfied (i.e. Keto, Paleo, Vegan), and language is changing its tone to full of, made with, added benefits, grown with, nurture through, boosting, and the like.

In a society where we are so often looking to minimize our consumption (I’m not the only one with a new wardrobe thanks to Marie Kondo), it’s notable that food claims are instead getting away with offering us more. Ingredient lists, however, don’t always follow the same philosophy.

Minimal ingredient lists

Not new to a Natural Products Expo veteran, but becoming increasingly commonplace in the discourse of consumers, is a desire for fewer ingredients – so few, in fact, that they can often all be listed front of pack. Food and drink products, it seems, still need to be clean. This has also resulted in a re-romancing of old standby ingredients that consumers are less inclined to question and instinctively believe are wholesome. Oats for instance, said to be in the human diet for more than 100,000 years, are back in action as oat milk, fresher than ever, and are coming to multiple stylized Instagram stories near you in the form of oat milk lattes.

However, if I’m a consumer that has been told oats are healthy but also high in carbs, everything is likely to get a bit perplexing if I’m also exploring Keto products (now available across a multitude of categories) that highlight being low in carbs! Is it a yay or a nay to oat milk, then? How is a consumer to know?

Do liquids get a free pass?

If taking shots at your desk wasn’t part of office culture before, 2019 might change that, at least for shots with functional benefits: between tea, coffee, dairy, dairy alternatives, supplements, juice, and water, there were shots in virtually all beverage categories at this years Expo. I’m sure LMFAO and Lil Jon will be looking for new partners in the oat industry any day now.

Thinking back to the theme of putting more into our bodies, this isn’t simply about ingredients, calories, and vitamins. Instead, it’s about enhancing our natural state. This year’s Expo gave a lot of permission to liquid to provide multiple body and brain benefits at once, with the underlying message being you can only drink so much in one day, so you might as well get more bang for your buck. Whether that be a smoothie-kombucha hybrid with probiotics and vitamin C, a hydrating carbonated coconut water with caffeine, or water that helps curb sugar cravings in order to promote brain function and better rest, there is a liquid for that (and that, and that).

Rituals and the natural state of people

Humans are innately prone to straying from their natural impulses, and perpetually employ a wide range of strategies to continue that behaviour: When we are tired, we look to take something for a boost. When we are sick, we take medicine. When our mental energy is low, we don’t take breaks, but instead try to ‘push through’ with stimulants. The reason we create these consumption rituals? To make sure that we don’t stray too far from feeling ‘normal’. These drinks or shots aren’t part of our nature as human beings, but we make rituals to take them anyway, as part of an overall push to bring our bodies back to their ‘natural’ state.

As such, it’s not all that surprising that there was an increase in products at Expo this year that were positioned to add to your life and/or help you through, or out of, just about anything. However, if you pair this with the natural product space’s usual behaviour - creating new habits or rituals to maintain ‘natural’ behaviours – this can feel somewhat counter-intuitive to the ‘natural’ way of doing things.

It reminds me of an age-old question: ‘If you patch holes in your jeans until there’s no original jean left, are they still the same pair of jeans that you started with’? When we continue to amass natural remedies or products for our body, throwing ever more ‘natural’ solutions at the wall to see what sticks, how natural are we really being?

Connect with your consumer, not the ritual

With the natural products space growing in popularity, with consumers being told to take care of their health and to be kind to their bodies and mind in more and more ways each year, it’s worth considering how consumers will navigate this increasingly crowded space, filled with conflicting trends. Will they drink Oat Milk, or not? Is Keto right for them? Will Chondroitin in bone broth be seen as clean, or as a chemical? How much collagen will they accept as being ‘natural’? What remedy is the right one for them, or for their kids?

It will be easy to get overwhelmed and even frustrated when surrounded by such mixed messages. So, when it comes to consumers making a choice in the natural products space, brands need to remember that a simple message may well be the most effective, and that it will be critical to develop a bond with the consumer that goes beyond functional benefits and product attributes alone. As always, the consumer is key!

Let’s make this the year of brutal honesty in our personal and professional lives!

Flashback to a decade ago. We were a group of 20-something Canadians who had spent the past couple of years together as ex-pats in Europe. We’d gathered for a reunion over the Christmas holidays, and were happily reminiscing about off-piste adventures when someone made a provocative suggestion: “Let’s make this the year of brutal honesty!” As we started to play around with the idea, our enthusiasm grew, likely inspired by the far more direct style of communication we’d witnessed while living in Europe. Imagine the freedom of being able to declare our every need and desire for an entire year – without filters! 

Within minutes, and in virtually all of our interactions with each other over the next year, gone was the indirect language, subtle hinting or slight passive aggressiveness that so often slips into (and has become an accepted reality of) modern social interaction. It was incredibly energizing to be able to unabashedly claim that last piece of pizza, to remind someone of an unpaid debt, or to provide genuine, unfiltered advice – all without fear of ruffling feathers or suffering serious social consequences. Embracing direct communication allowed us to consistently achieve a depth of conversation – and a level of intimacy – that can often be missing in even our closest relationships.

But as our ex-pat assignments came to an end and we each began new adventures in various parts of the globe, it didn’t take long for our old habits to return. The fact is that even with the purest intentions and the gentlest approach, you can’t run around being brutally honest in a world where a culture of indirectness (often masked as ‘politeness’) prevails – you end up looking like a bull in a china shop! A brutally honest approach ultimately only works when there’s an agreement among a group of people to embrace it. 

So, can 2019 be the year we collectively decide to embrace brutal honesty, and all of the benefits that it can bring?

After all, as long as our intentions are positive, the upside is massive!

With that in mind, here are some thoughts on how embracing brutal honesty in different areas of our life could be an immensely powerful tool.

As champions of great ideas – The most innovative companies and greatest business cultures are the ones where the best ideas win – no matter where they come from. With this, crucially, comes a willingness to kill ideas (including the ‘babies’ of senior leadership), which starts with a culture where we put ego aside, and separate ideas from the person who came up with them. In this environment, people aren’t afraid to express either the positives or the shortcomings of an idea, and we can collectively feel free to seek out constructive feedback and new builds for our ideas, recognizing that these will make them – and in the long run our businesses – exponentially stronger.

As employees with a growth mindset – I spent the early years of my career falsely believing that the best managers were the ones that were completely hands off. However, with the benefit of hindsight, I’ve come to realize that it was the managers who truly challenged my thinking, weren’t afraid to give me tough love (time and time again), and pushed me far out of my comfort zone, who most fundamentally moved me. It can be incredibly hard to take at the time, but if we embrace a growth mindset and open ourselves up to constructive feedback from our colleagues and managers – especially early in our careers – it can exponentially increase our potential, and often lead to unexpected and incredible things.   

As humble and transformative leaders – People need to know where they stand, and a manager of others owes it to each of their direct reports to be clear in their communication, to ‘say the unsaid’, and to provide frequent and direct feedback on how they can effectively leverage their strengths, address key opportunity areas, and realize their full potential. At the same time, embracing a growth mindset also means creating an open culture of sharing, and opening ourselves up to honest feedback from our employees about how we can improve as leaders. In other words: dishing it means we have to be able to take it, but once again, the upside is enormous. Being aware of our blind spots and responding to the barriers and pain points in our organization can transform our workplaces and do wonders for employee productivity, engagement and retention.

As seekers of meaningful relationships – Our lives are incredibly busy. What I wouldn’t give for six extra hours in the day! Between our responsibilities in the office and at home, there’s so little time left for quality social interaction with our friends and family members, even though we all know that it’s incredibly important to our happiness, well-being, and energy! And yet, social interactions can sometimes be draining rather than energizing if we feel the need to ‘be on’ vs. simply being whoever we are or need to be in that moment. Bringing our true and authentic selves to every interaction – which includes letting others in to where we’re at and what we’re going through, asking for what we need, and, when they arise, bringing issues to the surface immediately and quickly resolving them (never letting molehills become mountains!) – has the power to transform not only our relationships, but also the energy we get from every interaction.

And this is why I’m personally determined to make 2019 a year of brutal, energizing, business-building and creativity-inspiring honesty. Any takers?

A 14-hour flight behind me, I can always feel the energy coming through a new airport. With new people to watch and listen to, even with the edge of jet lag, it continues to be a privilege to arrive at someone else’s everyday and observe. 

Armed with my hotel card and a business card size piece of paper with my hotel address in the local language, I was in a taxi and on my way to “downtown” – I say this because Beijing is massive, and everything felt like the core of the city to me. I don’t like starting out with a ‘this is the Soho or Wynwood of Beijing’, or ‘Gastown of Shanghai’, mentality. Removing this filter provides a much purer lens through which to observe your surroundings. Find a coffee shop an hour or two into your meanderings and do a quick search on where you’ve ended up - I bet you see things differently.

After a long ride in grid-locked traffic, which my car by-passed by riding the shoulder, I arrived at my hotel. But not before I watched in disbelief as the taxi driver carried on a 4-way video chat with his fellow cabbie friends for the better part of 45 minutes!

Two 8-hour history-filled tours, a pair of three hour back alley “un-food tours” and dozens of walks and runs through busy, quiet, tourist-filled, business suit, and scooter strewn neighbourhoods later, in two amazing cities, Beijing and Shanghai , my senses were eagerly awakened, with a new country, new stores, and a new culture all around me.

Here are a few of the most intriguing things those awakened senses saw, heard and tasted:

Gold stars for public transport; The metro system was amazing – smooth, fast, efficient, and clean! Funnily enough, locals I raved to about this did not feel the same way!

All the advertising in the metro was digital but didn’t always have ads playing – as a marketer I saw opportunity; as a passenger, so much calm to the commute.

Craft rice wine bars are new and trendy. I went to one of the first to open in Beijing, Nuyoan, and participated in a six varietal wine tasting. The two-year aged options as well as the Rose, Sandalwood, and Plum varieties, were standouts for me.

Donkey is delicious, and a popular late-night food when wrapped in something akin to a flaky hot croissant but more like a crepe in thinness and naan in texture. Known as a Donkey Burger, it’s served only with fried green peppers, and you get full on greasy, meat-forward flavour with a hint of buttery pastry.

Peppa Pig is taking over. Yes, it is the year of the pig, and I was there ahead of Chinese New Year, but even after working in Children’s television for three years and directly with Peppa, I was still overwhelmed by the licensing (and not so kosher licensing) at every turn!

Family time in the outdoors is increasingly important. While in Beijing I visited the Olympic Forest Park on a Sunday run. In a city where I was finding it challenging to locate a fellow runner, the park was overflowing with activities, run stations and kilometre markers, play structures and varied walking paths, to a level I haven’t observed anywhere else in the world, including other Olympic Parks. I witnessed this outdoor enthusiasm again at the Summer Palace. The frozen lake was full of families, skating, slipping, and enjoying the air of winter. It’s difficult to make out in the photo, but all of those little dots in the distance are people.

Hats and gloves were nowhere to be seen! There wasn’t a lack of down filled coats - a long coat such as a Canada Goose is a status signal for both men and women - but hats and gloves were hardly to be found. My Canadian blood didn’t understand this.

So - many - malls! But they are all virtually empty, not of stores, but of people. I wondered multiple times a day how they managed to stay in business. However, one of the most important learnings in a big Chinese city: some of the best food can be found in Mall cafeterias, so don’t shy away with judgement.

Fruit! When looking for packaging inspiration, flavour inspiration, or even just a splash of colour, fruit played a major role in both cities.

Proud of their cocktails­ – Although it wasn’t common or easy to happen across a cocktail bar, the ones I searched out demonstrated extreme care and attention to detail. Whether using cotton candy, tea or essential oil infusions, including incense, sugar or salt-encrusted fruits on the side, served at your table with multiple house infused gins, or at one of the many Shanghai Speakeasies, no cocktail was served without detailed attention to each and every ingredient. I emphasise each and every ingredient because during my travels I came across more minimal drinks than I was used to, with just a few high quality and flavourful ingredients (in stark contrast to the half-menu long ingredient lists you come across more and more in many cocktail menus today.)

Nougat is the new cupcake. Maybe not quite, but if you’re not buying artisanal nougat, then you aren’t exploring trendy sweets. Various nut and fruit inclusions, as well as some standouts like Oreo and Matcha are being widely incorporated – my personal favourite was mango.

There are some key hype-foods to watch. And I literally mean watch, as lines are between 1.5 to 3 hours long.

1. Cheese Foam tea, by Hey Tea

2. Dirty Bun / zang zang bao, by Bad Farmers - a pain au chocolat, but covered in chocolate and sprinkled with cocoa powder, making it "dirty"

3. Brown sugar milk tea / heitang naicha 

AI is front and centre and, quite literally, not hiding from citizens in Shanghai. Crossing the street on the Bund, you couldn’t help noticing that you were being watched. In an attempt to curb jaywalking, the cross-walk lights weren’t just telling you to walk and stop, but they also used face recognition to pick up faces of jay-walking law breakers and broadcast them on a small screen. Public shaming, Black Mirror-style – definitely food for thought that I’m coming home with!