At Lippincott, John is a senior client advisor. He divides his time between leading client relationships and his nonprofit startup Potential Energy, a major industry-wide effort tapping the best talent in the marketing industry to fight climate change. He is also a Professor of Marketing at the Tuck School at Dartmouth College. In his ten years at Lippincott, John has held several leadership roles, including Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, Chief Client Officer, and head of the firm’s Brand Strategy and Innovation practices.
Being a Lippincott’er means:
Believing that creativity can change the world.
Have you made any significant left turns, u-turns or corkscrews in life?
I wouldn’t say I made a left turn so much as I added a whole new lane when I had the idea for Potential Energy. What started as a challenge from my son to do something about climate change is now an incorporated non-profit with 17 of the industry’s leading creative agencies committed to the cause.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
The privilege to work with our incredible and diverse team on the big problems that matter.
Lippincott has been doing this thing now called ‘design thinking’ for 75 years. Not a fad here; a deeply woven fabric.
What’s your happy place?
At the helm of my boat Starlight, with my wife and three boys, with nothing but the horizon in sight.
When did you decide you wanted to be in this business? Why?
Oddly, it was my experience in strategy and analytics that pulled me into the marketing and innovation business, and yet it’s the poetry and beauty that won’t let me leave!
Since you began your career, what's changed the least about the industry?
A great idea, beautifully expressed, is just as enduring.
What did school actually teach you?
That organic chemistry requires more than one night to master. Learned that one too late.