A prospective employee recently asked me for a few examples of how we innovate at SS+K.

Here’s what I said:

Cross Dressing Talent
SS+K recruits talent from many fields, including advertising, digital and social media, public affairs and politics, and entertainment. Throw in a few stand-up comics, goat farmers and ballet dancers and you’ve got yourself the necessary circus. Put them in unexpected roles within the agency and the result is either chaos or magic. The risk? Not so much.

Walk Like An Egyptian
Stanford University researchers found that going for a walk stimulates your brain, not just your legs. Bipedal thinkers include President Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. People glued to their desks are stunting their imaginations, a point I often make to the eternal annoyance of my sedentary colleagues. But it’s true. So, we make sure to walk out the front door in search of unusual experiences, like a recent team trip to Escape The Room [link: http://escapetheroomnyc.com/]

Fail with Pride
Fear of failure is natural and pervasive, but left unchecked it will block innovation. To enhance our own tolerance of failure, we established SS+K Labs, a sandbox for experiments in content and technology, with the mandate to think up really cool things or fail trying. We celebrate the great ideas, whether or not they play out. Fortunately, some work out really well, like these: http://www.vineviewer.co, http://minividi.co.

Play a Weak Hand
Since my 6-year-old son broke his right arm, he’s been using his left wing for everything — dressing, batting, whatever. While I hope all of my colleagues keep their limbs whole, they are encouraged to try things that are less comfortable for them. Out of that struggle to do different things or do things differently come new perspectives and inspiration. That said, I’m sure glad you didn’t ask me to sing aloud my thoughts on fostering innovation!