Building the Next Generation of Diverse Leaders, the OMD Way

OMD39s Nest program fosters similar passions by embracing diverse talent who have not followed the predictable path to an agency career but instead show such hunger and promise that it overrides their lack of media experienceAs the agency39s accelerator program for emerging talent the Nest addresses business imperatives by leveraging a diversity of background generation demographics life experiences and thought And OMD leaders say that has resulted in a 360degree payoff across talent agency client and the advertising community at largeEric Villarreal one of the 2021 Nesters spent over 20 years in the US Marine Corps in strategic planning and recruiting He was looking for a postmilitary career that tapped into his passion for datadriven decisions and that would require a strategic mindset to solve problems He also recently completed a Master of Science program in threat and response management an important skillset in today39s COVID19 reality Villarreal is now an integral part of the US Army client account at OMD providing support across media planning and executionOMD teaches Nesters about the world of media by immersing them directly into it with eyes wide open This stimulates creative inspiration and helps refine skills in a new craft Nesters spend quotsix months in a paid fellowship learning across practices that integrated media planning video investment digital activation and marketing science to build their media acumenquot explained Aurelie Binisti Executive Director Human Resources OMD quotAt the conclusion of their fellowships Nesters identify their preferred practice and are offered a fulltime rolequotquotThe goal is to provide our Nesters with the tools and experience they need to succeed at OMD and feel confident in bringing their diverse perspectives and life experiences to the job of driving business results for our clientsquot explained John Osborn CEO of OMD USA one of the architects of the programOsborn said that a big strategic focus at OMD is to quotattract and retain an unfair share of talent out there and the trick is to look at new creative ways to identify themquotThis marks a move away from a cookiecutter approach to recruitment that has traditionally relied on candidates with an established track record in media With the Nest the agency is able to use a quotwide lensquot approach to identify talent who demonstrate intellectual curiosity deep problemsolving skills a passion for media and an appetite to learn Binisti saidThe military skills that Villarreal has displayed can have a multiplier effect on other teammembers Osborn noted that the quotfrontline emergency responses that is a core military skill was something we had to learn and emulate with teams taking their cues from Ericquot The learning is multidirectional and dynamic where not only the new talent learns the media industry but importantly established team members are exposed to new ways of solving a problemOsborn and Binisti both echoed the importance of acceptance inclusion and belonging and how the agency embraces diversity in all its forms culturally generationally experientially and demographicallyVillarreal said he is energized by how his military acumen in data analysis and strategic planning correlates with the key learning themes of the Nest programquotThis depth of experience is something you cannot decipher from a flat piece of paper called the resume but instead you need to go to the third dimension of life experience inner motivation drive and hunger to learnquot Osborn explainedquotThe success of the program relies on candid and honest feedback from the Nest candidate and the integrated teams supporting themquot Binisti said After spending three months evaluating key discipline areas within OMD Nesters use the second three months of the program to focus on their passion areasWhen asked about what learnings from OMD have been most impactful Villarreal replied speed of action buoyed by an abundance of data quotIn the military we also have to act with high accuracy in a nanosecond living in a VUCA volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous world with little data But in the media industry there is an incredible volume and velocity of data at your fingertipsquotClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Building the Next Generation of Diverse Leaders, the OMD Way

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Raquelle Zuzarte

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