Lessons from our inaugural Think Week
By Sherri-Lyn Brown, Vice President, Consumer
In a world buzzing with constant activity and information overload, the simple yet profound act of thinking often takes a backseat. And in an industry like communications that rarely slows, you may be surprised by how often this is true. Do we prioritize the noise, the ‘right now’ requests, the bigger, better, faster of it all over thoughtful time spent to get to the good stuff? Sadly, most of us do.
As an agency built on the ethos of Better Thinking, we believe in the crucial importance of investing in the art of thinking. And in our experience, it’s often beyond our desks and daily tasks that some of the best of it occurs, where the genesis of smart creative and the greatest ideas come from. When we look up instead of down, switch off and switch on and stop, just for a second to think “hang on…”
So, this October at Agnostic we launched our inaugural Think Week. A week that makes space for thoughtful inspiration. One that allows us all to unlock creativity through collective experiences curated to help us gain exposure to new and different perspectives in life, art and storytelling.
From opening our eyes to find our voices at Being and Belonging at The ROM, to learning about circular storytelling at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto and getting to the art of making news at the Image Centre. There were drop-ins at the Glad Day Bookshop and Monkey’s Paw, and tours around Kensington and St Lawrence Market. Our days were packed with inspirational stories and new ways of looking at it all. We allowed our minds to wander as we explored in nature, were inspired by different perspectives in artwork, and were reminded that stories are everywhere - if we take the time to think about them.
Better Thinking requires thought and we can only build what we can imagine with our imaginations only limited by our vision. Think Week gave our teams the gift of time to debate, observe and just be in the presence of each other and our collective thoughts. And oh, do we see the impact in our work already!
When taking the time to think feels like a luxury, it’s long past due.
Regardless of industry or level, I highly recommend a Think Week of your own. Let us know if we can help you build one - funnily enough, we’ve got some thoughts.