Saturday, October 4, 2008
careers, news
There are few outward signs that Tim Lindsay isn't completely straight. A family man in his fifties and president of advertising giant TBWA, with a client list of international brands that include Apple, Adidas, Mars, McDonald's and PlayStation, Lindsay appears to be a highly successful, even conventional, senior manager.
Yet Lindsay has a secret. According to an aptitude test designed by the advertising industry to pull it out of its white, middle-class rut, Lindsay is, to date, the most "diagonal thinker" in the world.
You may have heard of linear thought - the ability to think logically. And you're probably aware of lateral thinking - the ability to think creatively. But diagonal thinking is a new concept dreamed up by the advertising business to describe the combination of the linear and lateral thinking needed to succeed in creative jobs.
"It's the ability to switch effortlessly between linear, logical thought processes to lateral, creative ones," explains Hamish Pringle, director general of advertising trade body the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), "and it seems to be one of the defining characteristics of people who do well in our industry. If you're just linear, you should, perhaps, be an accountant. Just lateral and maybe you should be in fine arts. But if you're a diagonal thinker, you are equipped to succeed in all the main roles in advertising."
According to the IPA 10% of the population can think diagonally. If you're curious to find out if you're a diagonal thinker - or keen to land a creative job - try taking the IPA's free hour-long, online aptitude test. "Anyone scoring more than 90% can print out an IPA certificate proving their scores and attach it to their CV," says Pringle. Proof of talent will become, he reckons, "their passport to Adland".
The test has been endorsed by the government which included it in a Creative Britain strategy document published earlier this year and was officially launched last week by culture secretary, Andy Burnham, at a festival held in London's Golden Square to promote the creative industries.
With the financial sector in crisis, the government sees the creative industries as key to Britain's future economic success. Currently accounting for more than 7% of GDP, the creative sector is growing at twice the rate of the wider economy and is on course to become the second largest contributor to the UK economy by 2018.
And yet it's an industry perceived as being riddled with institutional snobbery and elitism. Pringle admits that "diagonal thinking" is only the latest effort by creative industries desperate to shed their reputation as a refuge for the pampered bourgeoisie.
"There's a self-reinforcing cycle of largely white, middle class, university-educated students who are friends and family of similar people already employed throughout the top levels of the industry," he says. "They're the ones who get the scarce work experience positions, receive coaching on completing job applications and the interview process, and end up winning one of the rare jobs on offer."
Sure enough, a recent IPA survey found that only 6% of advertising people come from ethnic backgrounds - not so bad compared with the national average of 8%, but pretty shocking when compared with the London figure of 40%.
It doesn't help that agencies perpetuate the practice of wageless work placements and low entry-level salaries - an average of £17,000 per annum compared with £30,000 you might earn in a law firm, making it nigh impossible for graduate trainees with student debts to afford to live in London without family support. "If you're not already in our 'village', and from a non-white, non-graduate, non-middle class background, it's very hard to break in," concedes Pringle, "and the lack of role models makes it look as if Adland doesn't want you anyway."
Meanwhile Lindsay expresses surprise at being the highest-scoring diagonal thinker among the 200 people who have trialled the test. "I've always known I have both linear and lateral thinking skills, but always thought I was never quite good enough at either," he says.
But he reckons that it confirms what he has long looked for when recruiting fresh blood. "I always ask them about their enthusiasms - whether they read the FT and the Economist," says Lindsay. "But I also ask them who their favourite directors are and why.
"You need diagonal thinking in advertising to be able to come up with relevant creative ideas and innovative business ideas, and secondly to be able to judge creative ideas. But most of all you need it to manage creative types - often borderline sociopaths who just don't play by the rules."
The test has only been available for a few days, but the trials have already produced results. In 2001 Lucia Hargasova came to the UK from Slovakia where her father was a builder. After a couple of years of nannying she was sufficiently fluent in English to put herself through a degree at London Metropolitan University. She took part in the diagonal thinking trials before she graduated this year and, to her surprise, scored in the top 10%. It helped her secure four job interviews and she is now a trainee media planner for media agency Starcom.
"It was straightforward. Time pressured, but not difficult," she recalls. "But there's no doubt that my test results opened doors for me that might otherwise have remained closed."
How to do the diagonal thinking test
The diagonal thinking test is a cocktail of psychometric measures which identify the linear and lateral thinking styles, and personality traits that have been proven to be characteristic of people who do well in the advertising business, explains the occupational psychologist John Gage who developed the test. Try answering the following:
Lateral thinking question
You are managing director of a small but successful catalogue clothing business aimed at professional people within the UK with above average incomes. Your clothing is priced generally around 80% higher than your nearest competitor, but sells well to its market as it is seen as unique in design, high quality and British made. You are deciding whether to expand your target market or to re-brand to make your business even bigger and better.
List as many factors and issues you would need to take into account making this decision.
Linear thinking question
Should all British householders be fined for failing to recycle at least 70% of their household waste?
Questions like this measure your ability to judge whether an argument is a good or poor one in relation to the question presented. A good one would be important and related to the question, while a bad one would be if it is of minor importance or related only to trivial aspects of the question. For example, a poor argument might be "No - fining schemes usually backfire as people often rebel against them. It should be up to each individual household to decide on the amount of waste they wish to recycle." In contrast, a good argument might be: "Yes - this would encourage the average British citizen to think more about their recycling habits."
An aptitude test, designed to identify 'diagonal thinkers'
There are few outward signs that Tim Lindsay isn't completely straight. A family man in his fifties and president of advertising giant TBWA, with a client list of international brands that include Apple, Adidas, Mars, McDonald's and PlayStation, Lindsay appears to be a highly successful, even conventional, senior manager.
Yet Lindsay has a secret. According to an aptitude test designed by the advertising industry to pull it out of its white, middle-class rut, Lindsay is, to date, the most "diagonal thinker" in the world.
You may have heard of linear thought - the ability to think logically. And you're probably aware of lateral thinking - the ability to think creatively. But diagonal thinking is a new concept dreamed up by the advertising business to describe the combination of the linear and lateral thinking needed to succeed in creative jobs.
"It's the ability to switch effortlessly between linear, logical thought processes to lateral, creative ones," explains Hamish Pringle, director general of advertising trade body the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), "and it seems to be one of the defining characteristics of people who do well in our industry. If you're just linear, you should, perhaps, be an accountant. Just lateral and maybe you should be in fine arts. But if you're a diagonal thinker, you are equipped to succeed in all the main roles in advertising."
According to the IPA 10% of the population can think diagonally. If you're curious to find out if you're a diagonal thinker - or keen to land a creative job - try taking the IPA's free hour-long, online aptitude test. "Anyone scoring more than 90% can print out an IPA certificate proving their scores and attach it to their CV," says Pringle. Proof of talent will become, he reckons, "their passport to Adland".
The test has been endorsed by the government which included it in a Creative Britain strategy document published earlier this year and was officially launched last week by culture secretary, Andy Burnham, at a festival held in London's Golden Square to promote the creative industries.
With the financial sector in crisis, the government sees the creative industries as key to Britain's future economic success. Currently accounting for more than 7% of GDP, the creative sector is growing at twice the rate of the wider economy and is on course to become the second largest contributor to the UK economy by 2018.
And yet it's an industry perceived as being riddled with institutional snobbery and elitism. Pringle admits that "diagonal thinking" is only the latest effort by creative industries desperate to shed their reputation as a refuge for the pampered bourgeoisie.
"There's a self-reinforcing cycle of largely white, middle class, university-educated students who are friends and family of similar people already employed throughout the top levels of the industry," he says. "They're the ones who get the scarce work experience positions, receive coaching on completing job applications and the interview process, and end up winning one of the rare jobs on offer."
Sure enough, a recent IPA survey found that only 6% of advertising people come from ethnic backgrounds - not so bad compared with the national average of 8%, but pretty shocking when compared with the London figure of 40%.
It doesn't help that agencies perpetuate the practice of wageless work placements and low entry-level salaries - an average of £17,000 per annum compared with £30,000 you might earn in a law firm, making it nigh impossible for graduate trainees with student debts to afford to live in London without family support. "If you're not already in our 'village', and from a non-white, non-graduate, non-middle class background, it's very hard to break in," concedes Pringle, "and the lack of role models makes it look as if Adland doesn't want you anyway."
Meanwhile Lindsay expresses surprise at being the highest-scoring diagonal thinker among the 200 people who have trialled the test. "I've always known I have both linear and lateral thinking skills, but always thought I was never quite good enough at either," he says.
But he reckons that it confirms what he has long looked for when recruiting fresh blood. "I always ask them about their enthusiasms - whether they read the FT and the Economist," says Lindsay. "But I also ask them who their favourite directors are and why.
"You need diagonal thinking in advertising to be able to come up with relevant creative ideas and innovative business ideas, and secondly to be able to judge creative ideas. But most of all you need it to manage creative types - often borderline sociopaths who just don't play by the rules."
The test has only been available for a few days, but the trials have already produced results. In 2001 Lucia Hargasova came to the UK from Slovakia where her father was a builder. After a couple of years of nannying she was sufficiently fluent in English to put herself through a degree at London Metropolitan University. She took part in the diagonal thinking trials before she graduated this year and, to her surprise, scored in the top 10%. It helped her secure four job interviews and she is now a trainee media planner for media agency Starcom.
"It was straightforward. Time pressured, but not difficult," she recalls. "But there's no doubt that my test results opened doors for me that might otherwise have remained closed."
How to do the diagonal thinking test
The diagonal thinking test is a cocktail of psychometric measures which identify the linear and lateral thinking styles, and personality traits that have been proven to be characteristic of people who do well in the advertising business, explains the occupational psychologist John Gage who developed the test. Try answering the following:
Lateral thinking question
You are managing director of a small but successful catalogue clothing business aimed at professional people within the UK with above average incomes. Your clothing is priced generally around 80% higher than your nearest competitor, but sells well to its market as it is seen as unique in design, high quality and British made. You are deciding whether to expand your target market or to re-brand to make your business even bigger and better.
List as many factors and issues you would need to take into account making this decision.
Linear thinking question
Should all British householders be fined for failing to recycle at least 70% of their household waste?
Questions like this measure your ability to judge whether an argument is a good or poor one in relation to the question presented. A good one would be important and related to the question, while a bad one would be if it is of minor importance or related only to trivial aspects of the question. For example, a poor argument might be "No - fining schemes usually backfire as people often rebel against them. It should be up to each individual household to decide on the amount of waste they wish to recycle." In contrast, a good argument might be: "Yes - this would encourage the average British citizen to think more about their recycling habits."
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