Fractional Expert Sydney, Australia

Joe - Fractional Insights Leader

At Maestro, we know there’s more to life than work. In fact, it’s the experiences, relationships and pursuits we have outside of work that can often give us an edge in what we do each day. We host an interview series called “Meet the Maestro” where we interview our Maestros and get an insight to who they really are and what makes them tick - beyond the CV.

Joe is a strategic thinker at heart, even if the titles for what he does are many and varied. From consumer insights and strategic planning to market research and qualitative exploration, his work is grounded in one simple idea: observing people in context, making sense of complex data and helping clients make confident, insight-led decisions that drive growth. With over two decades of experience across agency, consultancy, client-side and freelance roles and having lived and worked in London, Hamburg, New York, San Francisco, Miami and Sydney, Joe brings a rare adaptability and global perspective. Often describing himself as a Swiss army knife of strategy, he is intuitive, resilient and deeply resourceful, combining qual and quant tools to dig deeper into behaviour and turn complexity into clear, actionable strategies for some of the world’s biggest brands.

1. What do you do and what is your superpower that makes you incredible at what you do?

There are so many different titles or labels used to describe the kind of work that I do including consumer insights, strategic planning, market research and ‘quallie’ (which basically a qualitative researcher) ….. I like to think my job is about observing people and their environments, making sense of all kinds of (complex) data, and helping clients make informed insights-based decisions, ultimately to drive growth. 

I’ve had many different roles and experienced the industry from all angles ….. places I’ve worked include one of the biggest agencies in the world, a strategy consultancy, been a partner in a boutique agency, worked on the client side twice, and latterly worked as a freelance contractor.  Additionally, my career to date has been spread across London, Hamburg, New York, San Francisco, Miami and Sydney ….. all that considered, I think my ‘super-power’ (if you can call it that), is that I’ve become a sort of Swiss army knife type of strategic thinker who’s become ridiculously adaptable, resilient, intuitive and resourceful with all kinds of tools in my toolbox as it were. 

2. Tell us about a career highlight to date…

Not sure I could name an individual career highlight.  So far things have been pretty good and feel blessed to have had the experiences I’ve had alongside some amazing mentors/co-workers … but ‘winning’ is always a good feeling, whether that’s awards or pitches - receiving the global Rising Star after just 1 year at BBC was humbling and landing the Virgin business when I worked in NYC and all the great work we did on that account was very satisfying.

3. Talk us through an unusual career choice you’ve made along the way…

I can think of a couple of occasions (maybe less ‘unusual’ and more ‘questionable’) when although life was good, I was presented with opportunities that had the potential to upend all of that and therefore weren’t, on paper at least, the most obvious career move. The first was the job I got straight after graduating and was working for a global research agency, less than 2 years into it was asked to go and work out of the recently opened Detroit office for a few weeks and lead a global beverages client. I’d never driven on the other side of the road nor an automatic car before, so that alone was a crazy shock to the system. Those ‘few weeks’ ended up being closer to 5 months, during which time I was living in a hotel (thanks Marriott for the 350,000 points I accumulated!). Totally out of my comfort zone in every respect. The second time was the decision to leave one of the best jobs I had to go and work for myself. To go from a professional life filled with security, structure, support, healthy budgets not to mention comfortable salary to practically the opposite, was hugely challenging, frustrating and lots of hard work ….. but as they say, what doesn’t break you, makes you stronger!

4. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

From an early age music was a big part of my life, and having spent years learning to play not one but two instruments to a fairly high standard, I always had dreams of travelling the world as a professional muso, performing in front of all kinds of audiences with an amazing bunch of people who meant the world to me i.e. my fellow orchestra members. Sadly (perhaps), once I got to Uni I struggled to find the time to fit in rehearsals, practice and performances so it gradually faded into the background and never really returned.

5. What are your passions outside of work and how do you make time for them?

Passions is such a strong word, but some of the things that I either love, spend a lot of time doing/thinking about are food (mostly eating but love getting in the kitchen and trying to make new things), music of course, humans and everything from hanging out to trying to understand them and dogs (cannot get enough of those furry little things).

6. If you could instantly master any skill or hobby, what would it be and why?

Professionally … probably coding, but on a more personal level, although I had 2 musical instruments mastered, I’ve always wanted to be able to just sit down at a piano and play anything that someone requested … same is true of the guitar (probably a lot more practical to take on your travels lol). The flute and cello (instruments I play) are not the coolest or easiest to cart around!

7. What’s a personal value or belief that guides the way you live your life?

I’m a firm believer in ‘trusting the universe’ no matter how good/bad or absolutely horrific things are in your life or when you’re having to make decisions.  And from that, I’ve learnt that even when you think it can’t get any worse, somehow you gain some great learning from the experience which you wouldn’t have if, for example, you took the easy route. It boils down to my belief that the universe ultimately has our best interest at heart and is always looking for ways to advance us as humans …. Although many times it absolutely does not feel like that, which is why hindsight sometimes is a real blessing. 

8. What’s a challenge you’ve overcome outside of work that shaped you?

I went to live in NYC for a few years and was there when hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, and at the time was in the middle of changing jobs AND apartments.  Aside from the physical destruction, flooding power outages, it was the impact of literally everything in your life ceasing to exist, where all you could worry about was whether you had any light, water or food. It was unsettling to see this vibrant city turn into a frenzied, ‘no rules’ nightmare with no way of contacting anyone for days nor any power for almost 2 weeks. I had to adapt quickly, trust my instinct on who I could and couldn’t trust and learn how to stay calm and make decisions about navigating daily life with limited information. The experience shaped me profoundly and in fact at the end of it all I decided to step away from my career and took a sabbatical which led me to spending 18 months working with aid organisations around the world helping disadvantaged kids in Haiti, Peru, Uganda, Indonesia, India and Nepal.

9. What do you think your job will look like in 10 years time?

The same but different …. It’ll be more foresight than looking back …. Less about managing projects and more about orchestrating multiple data sources into streamlined banks of intel ….. we’ll be sitting closer to those at the top, strategically guiding all decision-making … we’ll be always-on, intimately close to the customer, all with the utilisation of AI capabilities which will have eradicated all ‘grunt’ work. For sure it will be exciting, ground-breaking but there’ll be equal parts that are overwhelming, maybe terrifying and hopefully still rewarding.

10. If you could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go and what would you do?

Hands down, I would head to South America.  I’ve always wanted to immerse myself in the diversity of their cultures and experience the Carnival festivities, hence Brazil would be an ideal first stop.  So many other places and things to do but top priority would be Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Colombia. Why? Such diverse cultures, interesting people, vibrant cities, local traditions, the food (reason alone to go), coffee, stunning landscapes … need I go on? 

11. What does success look like to you?

Doing work I love, when and where I want to, surrounded by people I respect and admire, being able to travel as often as I like and have financial freedom to do all that.  Ultimately, I’d think my life was a success if I was able to honestly say I left the world in a better place cos of the impact I’ve had, whether that’s a person, group of people or even bigger. With the work that I do, I’d love to be in a position to truly solve all kinds of real-life problems by better understanding people and working with organisations that are willing to listen and change.