All posts tagged john sculley

I have experience as a consultant, a prospective employee, and a design advocate. All three personas have demanded that I verbalize my methodologies, principles, and understanding of Design. From now on, I’m going to capitalize Design. It deserves no less, and it’s that important.

Now that I’m seeking a career, I’ve been trying to compile some good questions to ask prospective employers when asked “Do you have any questions about us?” Aside from taking a genuine interest in the company (you are genuinely interested, right?), I’ve come up with a few that I don’t think you (or the prospective employer) would think to ask.

They’re not ‘curveball’ questions meant to throw off your interviewer’s mojo – I think they’re genuine and simple, and they’re incredibly telling of what to expect if you do end up working there. It’s really easy for an employer or hiring manager to talk about amazing opportunities, but Design is an oft misunderstood craft. To some, Design is purely aesthetic. What could be called a ‘Senior UX Designer’ position could just be someone’s spin on ‘make our website look pretty and code it’ but with the “UX buzzword” – which isn’t a buzzword at all. The two jobs are on entirely different ends of the Interactive Design spectrum. Others could resonate with you perfectly, and simply asking will solidify in your mind that you’ve found the right place.

On the flipside, I think interviewers (HR, CEOs, Creative Directors) should be able to ask the question right back – they’re not exclusive. Designers, be prepared to ask and answer these. Think of it as a way to spark meaningful dialogue with a (potentially) huge influence on your life for the next ‘x‘ years.

1. What is good Design?

This is my favorite question to ask anyone. Sometimes the person will stammer for a second or two and either fall flat on their face or answer in a way that will genuinely surprise you. This is not an easy question to answer, even though my answer is fairly simple. I’m not just going to give you ‘the answer’ though… it’s something you need to define for yourself. This is a good place to start:

Google is also a surprisingly good place to look.

So why ask this question in the first place? I think it democratizes the conversation – it allows you to speak a common language. As a designer, if the person you’re speaking with has a totally different definition of design than you, it dramatically changes things. Are you going to live up to their expectations? Will the job live up to yours? Is this going to be a meaningful, worthwhile relationship?

Be prepared to talk about it. It hits the core of your craft and sets expectations on both sides.

2. What makes a good Designer?

The first two questions will seem similar, but they touch on some crucially different points in the employee – employer relationship. While learning their definition of ‘Good Design’ helps root you in their outlook on the profession and craft, asking what makes a ‘good Designer’ gives you benchmarks for how your performance and skill will be assessed.

Is a good Designer someone who can think holistically? Is it someone who is product-minded? User-minded? Someone who can deliver Photoshop files on time and on-budget? Someone who can design easily in PowerPoint ’97? I have seen countless examples of each ‘definition’ while consulting. Balk at my PowerPoint quip all you’d like, but some people seriously expect that kind of stuff. I have the .ppt files on my Archive HDD to prove it. As you can imagine, I’d like to avoid a career in PowerPoint like the plague.

Each company (and job title) will result in a different answer to this question. It’s a great way to easily figure out how you’ll stack up against their mental Designer template, and whether or not they (and you!) think you’ll be the right fit for the job.

3. How are you going to change the world?

This isn’t Designer-specific, but it’s a really important question if you’re looking to join a company full time. I could even see this being a totally valid question to ask a company contracting you as a freelancer or consultant, too. It’s probably the boldest (and hardest) question to ask, but it’s arguably more important than the two questions above. Beyond knowing how they feel about Design and Designers, the answer to this question will give you a great idea if any of that even matters.

No one starts a company (tech, bio-med, startup, etc… maybe doesn’t apply to a Mom n’ Pop store) to make ripples. Entrepreneurs and founders want to make huge waves and leave their mark on the world. Steve Jobs famously said to John Sculley, former President of PepsiCo, ”Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?”

It’s not just Apple – it’s everyone.

If you’re looking for exciting work outside of corporate America, this is a necessary question. Without high aspirations companies go stagnant, and so does their work. The last thing I could ever imagine myself doing is being a cog in the machine churning out uninspired work for uninspired people. I want to design products for >10m people without breaking a sweat, all the while figuring out how the product will work for the next 100 million customers. I’m hungry to learn from the absolute best. I don’t want to sell sugar water – I want to change the world.