Following eyewitness reports of stolen genius, we hurtled down the highway to catch ad land’s own Bonnie and Clyde; it’s Rosie and Faris Yakob.

Together they form Genius Steals, a nomadic creative consultancy helping brands, agencies, and rebels find the awesome at the intersection of new communication ideas, new product concepts, and new ways of thinking.

They give us the low down on life on the ~~run~~ road, how Rosie earned $10,000 babysitting, ‘Ask Faris’, US vs UK education system, the lack of industry practitioners as professors, engineering moments of in-betweenness, K-shaped recovery, Blair Enns, charging for what you know (not what you do), entertainment as the cost of admission to someone’s brain, the key to creative effectiveness, and a whole lot more.

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Here’s Genius Steals

Follow Rosie on Instagram

And follow Faris on Twitter (yes, he’s still on there)

For our chinwag with Blair Enns, hear here

Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann

Timestamps

(01:44) - Quick fire questions (Ask Jeeves or Ask Faris?)

(03:42) - How Rosie made $10,000 babysitting and her first jobs

(10:32) - Faris’s beginnings collecting golf balls, management consultancy and working at lads mags

(18:41) - The education system, subjectivity and outdated teaching methods

(26:52) - Life on the road and why you shouldn’t be a prisoner to your preferences

(32:47) - Engineering moments of in-betweenness

(42:08) - Listener questions

(42:24) - Attention, emotion and the importance of context

(52:56) - How we can create more effective work

(01:02:00) - Trends for marketers and the emergence of luxury products

(01:04:50) - 4 pertinent posers

Rosie and Faris's book recommendations are:

To Sell is Human by Dan Pink

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

XX by Rian Hughes

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Stone Junction by Jim Dodge

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