James Ferguson has spent his career moving towards things that excite him rather than away from things that don’t. From a Scottish design agency at sixteen, to building Skyscanner’s design system, to shipping interaction work at Atlassian from the other side of the world, to leading product and creative design at OVO Energy, he has consistently backed his instincts and figured out the rest on arrival. This year he discovered improv theatre, threw himself in without overthinking it, and is absolutely loving it.

What comes through most in this conversation is how much James believes in play as a serious thing. Not play instead of rigour, but play as the condition that makes rigour possible. We talk about what it means to celebrate failure out loud, about why not bringing your whole self to work earlier in your career is a kind of loss worth naming, and about what happens when you stop worrying quite so much about what everyone else thinks. There is also a peanut, or possibly a potato, that sits on his desk and occasionally gets held up to the camera in large meetings just to see who is actually paying attention.

If you’re feeling stuck, or just want to think out loud about where you’re headed, you don’t have to figure it out on your own. I offer free 15-minute conversations for anyone who wants to talk through what’s in front of them. Whether that leads to working together or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ve got someone in your corner, even for 15 minutes.

Head to http://www.growwithadamjennings.com and book a call.

I’d genuinely love to hear from you.

Want to support Awaiting Approval?

Remember to rate this episode, and subscribe to the show.

And you can get your hands on amazing Awaiting Approval caps, mugs and more, here: https://adam-jennings-shop.fourthwall.com/en-gbp