I love making things.

Dinner. Collaged letters for my nieces at camp. Useless papier-mâché objects, handmade typefaces, large landscapes. I can kind of do a handstand, and I’ve sold dozens of oil portraits over the last 15 years. I write too, for fun – currently a very slow-moving magical-realist murder mystery based on something that happened to me when I was a teenager. I’ll probably be working on it for 20 years.

I love people who are really good at what they do, making new friends, researching things far past the point of usefulness, and getting completely absorbed in whatever I’m interested in.

I think that’s why I ended up in strategy – and why I love it. I get to learn a new world, figure out what’s interesting about it, and turn a mess of information into an idea that feels clear, useful, and creatively exciting – then convince other people it’s worth pursuing. I spent the first half of my career making the work; now I love helping figure out what the work should be.