What a Strategist at Huge Inc Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Digital Agency Industry
Sarah, a GVP of Strategy at Huge Inc, highlights the importance of "creative" and "collaborative" skills in a digital agency setting, emphasizing the need for strategists to understand various disciplines—"technology, Creative Design, data and data science"—to effectively partner with diverse teams and deliver successful client outcomes. The ability to "speak those languages" is key to thriving in this environment, she notes.
Creative, Collaborative, Communication, Cross-functional Teamwork, Strategic Thinking
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Sarah McMains
GVP, Strategy
Huge Inc
USC, 2006
CSULB, MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology; UCLA Anderson, MBA
Psychology
Consulting & Related Professional Services
Business Strategy
Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Highly collaborative individuals who can work with various teams (creatives, data scientists, technologists).
2. Creative individuals who are comfortable with ambiguity and can handle multiple inputs.
3. Professionals with a broad understanding of different disciplines, such as technology, design, and data science, even if they are not experts in each area.
Transcript
How would you describe people who typically thrive in this industry?
As a strategist in a digital agency, I work with many creatives, data scientists, and technologists. In this mix, we have to be really creative and collaborative. We also need to be able to speak many different languages.
I always joke that a strategist needs to know enough to be dangerous about technology, creative design, and data science. It's not because we think we can do all those jobs, but so we can interface and collaborate with other disciplines. The work we do really requires all four or five of those inputs or people on a team to successfully deliver for our clients.
Being creative and able to cross-collaborate and speak those languages helps people thrive the most in this industry.
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