Featured Guru :: Mark Szabo, Karo Group, Canada
Expertise : Design Management
1) Tell us what you do?
I run the Calgary office of Karo Group, an integrated communications shop that creates brand followers for our clients. I actually started off as a lawyer who went rogue and started wearing black, and now I manage a team of about 50 people.
2) What makes your company unique and different in your industry and your country?
To succeed as an integrated shop you have to have a common starting point, and for us it’s the One Thing people need to experience in order to get them to do, think or feel what we want them to. Once you have that insight, developing ideas and creating impact with integrated solutions is much easier, because it helps you get to, and stay focused on, useful simplicity.
3) Did you have any mentors? If you did, who were they? What were their advices to you?
I can name two mentors in the business. The first is Mark Pigott, a local ad legend with whom I worked at Ogilvy, who taught me to pick the top five things I really don’t want to do and do them first. My current mentor is Chris Bedford, our CEO, who taught me the value of applying design thinking to any strategic challenge.
4) Name top 3 entrepreneurs/leaders/designers that you admire the most and why.
I admire Roger Martin for how he is infusing design thinking at the Rotman School of Business. I am a huge fan of Bose sound systems for their continual innovation, and I love pretty much everything Porsche designs.
5) Can you suggest your favorite books?
“The Design of Business” by Roger Martin for creating a workable framework for applying design thinking in the real world. “Truth, Lies and Advertising” by Jon Steele for driving home the power usable customer insights have in getting to useful simplicity.
6) What is the difference between good and great design?
Good design makes you say, “Wow that is gorgeous.” Great design makes you say, “How did I live without this before?”
7) How do you define a good leader?
A good leader is nothing more, or less, than someone who has followers. That has nothing to do with position or title. It has to do with an emotional connection, which is why some organizations are not actually lead by the top of the org chart.
8) What is the design scene like in Canada?
It’s great. This is a pretty artsy country and there is a fair bit of public support for the arts community. Not to mention the fact that most of our metropolitan centers are near some sort of nature, so it’s a great draw for designy types.
9) What makes you happy?
Seeing young talented staff grow professionally, making my kids laugh, and laying down a low, deep bass groove.
10) If you were not a designer (or in the design business), what would you want to be?
A professor.
