Meet Justin Dauer

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Justin Dauer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Justin below.

Hi Justin, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My work ethic is a result of my values—a focus on growth, the need to be challenged, and a desire to foster connection, among them.

For as long as I can recall, I’ve been ambitious and driven. I think the secret sauce amongst everything in play is letting this energy be a complement to other meaningful things in my life, rather than overtaking them.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m both a lifelong Chicagoan and a lifelong student of the discipline of design. Since graduating the School of the Art Intstitute of Chicago, I’ve never looked back on having chosen design—visual problem solving—as my calling.

And to that end, I strongly believe that the discipline of design in and of itself is ‘connection’ made manifest. How what we create, who we create for, and who we create with, must all harmoniously be fueled by the same set of values.

This mindset drives the books I’ve written, the international public speaking I do, and the design organizations I’ve built (recently as a VP of Design within CVS Health). Most recently, this mindset is also the central pillar around which my agency Anomali by Design was founded.

Leveraging our experience, humility, and values, Anomali by Design connects with people—wherever they’re at, agnostic of circumstance.

We advise. We consult. We create. Thoughtfully, honestly, with measurable and impactful outcomes. It’s a simple notion: we work on things we love—with clients we love—because they align to our values and fulfill our passions.
Across design and product work (pairing with clients directly—or their internal team—on craft and design), marketing and public relations (developing integrated campaigns, managing media relations, product launches), or overall engagement (true people-first culture and connection), we cut through the nonsense and show clients what truly works—leveraging our expertise to bring our values, processes, and methods in to your organization.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Being able to identify, and prioritize, my values was essential in helping me understand the environment in which I—and design as a discipline—best thrive. This has helped me effective build design organizations, create robust experiences from inception through release within the complexities of a Fortune 5 corporation, and ultimately define the USP for Anomali by Design.

My advice to those at the onset of their journey is that when you’re looking for a best-fit role for you and our work, it’s essential to be crystal clear on our most important values. As such, being able to prioritize them is vital. This allows us to have a clear sense of the ‘must-haves’ for the respective design work itself and the given role, the given organization, and the process by which they create. Sometimes, the work will satisfy some values more than others, making it even more imperative that you weigh what you need against what you could potentially function without (or with a diminished capacity).

For example, could you take on design work that made a user’s workflow more intuitive (strong on ‘empathy’ and ‘connection’) but was part of a larger SaaS product built upon capitalistic goals (not so strong on ‘making a difference’)? When we’re unclear on our most important values, we may take on work and roles that drive disconnection over time. So, take some ‘you’ time to think through which of your values have most fulfilled you over the course of your life, personal and professional.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
We work with clients and verticals that we’re passionate about, and align with our values (compassion, humility, integrity, among them). Connecting with stakeholders in this capacity means we’re never just going through the motions in an engagement—in communication, personal level of service, strategy, and output. We’re as much consultants as we are advisors and crafters (and away from work, we’re also musicians, writers, denim aficionados, and parents).

If you’re an organization looking to collaborate with a partner like Anomali by Design, please do reach out via [email protected], or schedule a time for us to chat via https://calendly.com/jdauer

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Ayano Hisa

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