The INSITUM Way (2019)

© Copyright Insitum 2017
THE INSITUM WAY 2019
THE WAY WE THINK, DO, USE, FEEL* AT INSITUM
#culturecode
@insitum
* Based on the famous Think-Do-Use framework coined by
Rick Robinson and John Cain, two of our influencers

WE WANT TO DESIGN A MORE HUMAN WORLD
WHY WE DO THIS?
THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS—IT’S THAT SIMPLE.
Look around at what organizations do and you will realize most of them
need help doing things “right” for people. Today, the world needs ideas,
products, services, systems, organizations that are better designed—
designed around people, with people and for people.
Everything we do aims to help the biggest companies in the world have a
positive impact in the world.

WE HELP LARGE ORGANIZATIONS
SOLVE COMPLEX, STRATEGIC,
AMBIGUOUS PROBLEMS THROUGH
PEOPLE-CENTERED APPROACHES
MOST OF THESE
PROBLEMS CAN BE
SOLVED BY
ENVISIONING NEW
PRODUCTS,
SERVICES,
BRANDS,
PROCESSES,
EXPERIENCES.
SUCH AS: DESIGN THINKING, LEAN
PROCESSES, ETHNOGRAPHIC
RESEARCH, USER EXPERIENCE,
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS, INNOVATION
CONSULTING, FUTURES, ETC.
WHAT DO WE DO?

WHO INSPIRES US?
You will “understand” INSITUM better if you have read
the knowledge of work of those who inspire us.
Alain de Botton
Alex Osborne
Andy Grove
Angela Duckworth
Baltasar Gracián
Barack Obama
Carol Dweck
Charlie Munger
Christopher Alexander
Clayton M. Christensen
Dan Ariely
Daniel Boorstin
Daniel Kahneman
Dave Gray
David Kelley & IDEO folks
Dieter Rams
Edward Tufte
Edwin H. Land
Ferran Adriá
Jeff Bezos
Larry Keeley
Margaret Mead
Mark Twain
Michael Porter
Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi
Mohan Sawhney
Peter Drucker
Reed Hastings
Reid Hoffman
Richard Buchanan
Richard Feynman
Richard Saul Wurman
Rick E. Robinson & John Cain
Roger Martin
Russell Ackoff
Seneca & the stoics
Sid Parnes
Steve Blank
Steve Jobs
Steward Brand
Sun Tzu
Teresa Amabile
Yu Kai Chou
Yuval Noah Harari

THE GREATEST COMPANY TO WORK FOR
Where work is not “work”, but a way to leave a mark in the
world.
At Insitum you will…
… not have boring, repetitive or monotonous
days
… not encounter jackass people or stupid
rules
… experiment an environment of openness,
honesty, candor and transparency.
… get equity… if you put your share
… work for world-class clients, in all
business sectors and in different countries
… constantly learn new things and
experience different ideas
… be challenged constantly—but this will
help you grow.
… work with friends, team mates, people
you respect and get along with
… grow based on the value and results you
add to the company
… feel good about yourself because we are
making a better, more human world

INSITUM IS IKIGAI
Most of us believe that
working at Insitum allows
us to combine:
what we LOVE,
what we are GOOD at,
what we are PAID for, and
what the world NEEDS.

ADAPTABLE
We assimilate change quite
fast, we are a learning
organization that adapts to
the changing needs of our
clients, the market, our own
conditions.
RESILIENCE
We are fearless and believe
in our capacity to adapt to
adverse conditions and that’s
why we take risks and accept
unpredictable challenges.
INTEGRITY
All our actions are based on
solid ethical principles such
as honesty, fairness and
transparency.
COLLABORATIVE
We are sensible to the needs
and empathic towards our
teams, our clients and society
as a whole.
PASSIONATE
We love design because the
process is as important as
the result. We enjoy every
step (positive or negative)
with effort and enthusiasm.
EXCELLENCE
We bend over backwards to
exceed expectations in
everything we do. We
constantly surprise our
clients by over-delivering.
OUR PEOPLE SHARE SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS:

OUR PRIORITIES:
1. Culture + Talent
Our first priority will always
be our people. Having
highly motivated,
autonomous, passionate
and happy teams are key
to our work. We are
convinced that our
organizational culture is
our main competitive
advantage, this is why we
invest so much in nurturing
an environment of trust,
integrity, fearlessness, and
balance is our number one
priority. This is a pre-
requisite for everything
else.
4. Financial health and
business growth
Having the best team, doing
the best work and achieving
happy clients will always
lead to prosperity. Profit and
growth are a consequence,
not the goal. If we take care
of the first three priorities, we
are sure to create a
sustainable, healthy, stable
and growing business.
3. Happy clients
If we focus on the first two
priorities, clients will be
happy to work with us. This
is a proven formula that has
worked for us: Satisfied and
loyal clients are the result of
having a great team doing
great work. But we also
recognize that great clients
appreciate our loyalty, our
friendship, our guidance and
our respect, so make your
best to accomplish this.
2. Quality + Impact
We strive for excellence
and impact in everything
we do. We will always do
our best to achieve the
highest standards, both in
the process and the
outcomes. Our work aims
to be consequential and
good to the world. This is
why clients hire us—
because we are always
trying to be the best.

The INSITUM way
The following “Principles” describe our
philosophy for doing things at
INSITUM.

HAPPINESS BEGETS PROSPERITY
En todo proyecto buscamos ser rentables, pero mas importante que
esto buscamos sentirnos felices y realizados en lo que hacemos.
Sabemos que a largo plazo la rentabilidad es mayor si se consigue
con gente feliz, plena, llena, que irradia energía positiva y que
disfruta lo que hace en INSITUM.
En muchos casos hemos sacrificado la rentabilidad de un proyecto
por la felicidad de un cliente y/o de nuestro equipo–esta regla
siempre nos va a beneficiar a largo plazo. Si alguno de nosotros no
es feliz haciendo lo que hacemos, es muy probable que INSITUM
esté haciendo algo mal y habrá que corregirlo.

WE ARE HIGH-DELAYERS
(we know how to wait for that second marshmallow)
If you don't know what we refer by this, check out the marshmallow
experiment. The point here is that we know how to avoid the
temptation of immediate rewards. We practice the art of patience
and thoughtful decision making, waiting for better rewards over the
long run.
We know that time is our ally in achieving what we want to achieve:
We may have lost a project, but we will win many more with that
client in the coming years; we may not have the greatest benefits,
but we will gain great economic rewards when we need them; we
may have lost a project now, but we’ll have far more interesting
projects in the future. So, don’t eat the marshmallow… yet.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR
CLIENTS’ BUSINESS
Every day we strive to help clients achieve their objectives using the
best insights and developing the most innovative solutions. In us
they trust their business, their jobs, their products, their brands and
their future so it is our responsibility to take our job as seriously as
we can and achieve the best possible outcome for them.
Every project deals with serious matters and we know it depends on
us to make a difference inside our clients business but most
important, in society at large. Our projects are the way we help build
a better world.

WE ARE CLIENT-CENTRIC
Uma de nossas principais forças é o grandioso serviço que
oferecemos aos nossos clientes. Quase tudo o que fazemos tem
como meta exceder as expectativa de nossos clientes: desde
responder a um email em menos de 2 horas, até surpreendê-los com
um excelente material de comunicação dos resultados do projeto /
output.
Grande parte de nosso sucesso se deve ao fato de sempre termos
sido “client-centric”, ou seja, entendemos muito bem o que eles
precisam e os ajudamos a atingir esses objetivos. Mesmo que muitas
vezes eles mudem de opinião, ampliem os objetivos do projeto,
troquem suas prioridades, demandem uma apresentação extra, ou
precisem adiantar a entrega dos resultados, sempre temos sabido
nos adaptar às suas necessidades e expectativas — até onde é
possível.
São estes mesmos clientes aqueles que nos confiam cada vez mais
projetos e que recomendam-nos para outros clientes.

WE ACT AS A HIGH PERFORMACE TEAM
Social relationships at INSITUM are not limited to professional ties
(those which are formally imposed by the organization) but we also
nurture informal social ties within everyone working at INSITUM.
This makes INSITUM a network, and not a hierarchical work
dependent structure. This means we are all authentically interested
in our collective success and we are solidary to others, helping
others constantly–regardless of where we are based at.
We encourage strong ties among all of us because we are aware
that these types of relationships help increase our adaptability,
flexibility, innovation potential, speed and information exchange.
Moreover, when we work intensely long days (and some nights!) it
makes a difference to do it among friends–and not just colleagues.

TRUSTING EACH OTHER ALLOWS US
TO GO FAST
Toda la gente es de toda nuestra confianza–hasta que demuestre lo
contrario.
Abrimos las puertas a quien quiera conocer sobre nosotros,
compartimos nuestro know-how y conocimiento con todo el que esté
interesado en éste, compartimos información interna con toda
nuestra gente, damos la oportunidad a todos de crecer tan rápido
como puedan, participamos en propuestas asumiendo que el cliente
decidirá de manera justa, negociamos imparcialmente. Esto nos ha
permitido crecer rápidamente, de manera sólida y construyendo
nuestra reputación. La confianza es el aceite que permite que
nuestras piezas funcionen rápidamente y con calidad.

WE CONSTANTLY ASK WHY
We are innately curious and question everything in front of us. We
are not afraid to constantly ask questions—to our clients, to project
stakeholders, to users, and even to ourselves. People working at
insitum were born curious and inquisitive because we know that “it is
better to innovate from knowledge than from ignorance” (quoting
someone at XeroxPARC).
Curiosity requires a capacity to ask good questions, to listen deeply,
to be open-minded, to be keenly aware of things, and to challenge
the status quo. This obsession for learning is what makes our work
so challenging, fun and engaging. As much as we like forming
questions, we love answering these questions in the most creative
and insightful way possible. If you are curious to understand and
challenge the world we live in, you are in the right place.

PRECISE IN PLANNING
Planeamos nuestras tareas alrededor de todos los riesgos que
puedan existir. A veces somos redundantes para asegurarnos que
suceden las cosas como queremos; o a veces trabajamos en el plan
A, plan B y plan C al mismo tiempo–por si acaso alguno no
funciona.
Todos los días somos conscientes que la tarea va a llevar mas
tiempo, será mas caro, será mas difícil y requiere mas personas de
lo esperado (una variación de la “ley de Hofstadler” (que dice:
“Siempre lleva más tiempo que el esperado, incluso cuando tomas
en cuenta La Ley de Hofstadter”). Todo esto permite que nuestros
planes se ejecuten perfectamente.

WE ARE TRANSPARENT
(AMONG US AND WITH OUR CLIENTS)
Nós não temos agendas escondidas, nós não ocultamos de nossos
clientes os problemas, nós mantemos uma comunicação aberta
entre a gente, nos somos totalmente acessíveis.
Nós sabemos que essa abertura é a chave para bons
relacionamentos, então, se nós não gostamos de alguma coisa, nós
falaremos; se nós queremos saber mais sobre alguma coisa, nós
perguntaremos; se alguma coisa lhes incomodar, vocês nos
questionarão; se alguma coisa causar dificuldades a vocês, vocês
nos pedirão ajuda. Nós não temos protocolos, nós não levamos as
coisas para o lado pessoal, nós estamos sempre abertos.

WE LOVE TO THINK, BUT WE ARE DOERS
Clients hire us because we know how to think (and we have fun
doing so!), but we are aware that thinking alone doesn’t get us very
far. People who only focus on thinking are DREAMERS, but people
who do innovation are also DOERS. Execution is what makes our
projects, clients and ourselves go forward. It is very easy to come up
with a new product idea, but we make prototypes of it; it is easy to
say “we should write an email”, but instead we sit down and type it;
anybody can talk about problems, we solve them.
Maybe this is why we love this Manifesto of a Doer.
Our company culture is one of execution, of doing, of achieving–
because we know that if we don’t do it, no one else will do it for us.

WE ARE A MERITOCRACY
Comprendemos que la persona que quiera crecer en la empresa,
debe de demostrarlo con acciones. En esta red no crecemos
acumulando tiempo, o siendo buen amigo, o simplemente haciendo
las cosas que se espera de nosotros.
En una meritocracia la gente crece por los resultados, por su
profesionalismo, su conocimiento, por el valor que aportas a la red.
Aquí la gente con más poder es la que más aporta, la que va más
allá, la que se hace sentir, la que tiene iniciativa, y la que se vuelve
indispensable para la empresa.
Si esperas a que la empresa te reconozca por hacer tu trabajo
solamente, esperarás ahí mucho tiempo.

FRUGALITY OVER LUXURY
Somos obsesivos con la salud financiera de la empresa—la mayor
parte de las ganancias anuales las reinvertimos para financiar el
crecimiento y solidez de la misma empresa. Priorizamos los gastos
mesuradamente e invertimos en aquellas cosas que directamente
nos ayudan a ser más productivos, a mejorar la calidad de nuestro
trabajo o a mejorar la calidad de vida de nuestra gente.
Si podemos hacerlo nosotros mismos, no lo subcontratamos; si
existe un mejor precio nosotros lo encontramos; si podemos
ingeniar una solución con mejor relación valor/precio, la
implementamos.
Invertimos siempre como si fuera nuestro dinero personal y no
aceptamos lujos banales y sin retorno.

SINK OR SWIM
La mayor parte de ustedes lo ha experimentado: o nadas o te
ahogas. Aunque nunca hemos dejado a nadie ahogarse, sabemos
que la mejor forma de aprender es mediante la práctica. Por eso
fomentamos situaciones donde la gente puede experimentar; decidir
por sí solos; cometer errores (¡controlados!); y tomar riesgos dentro
de ciertos límites.
Todos sentimos una enorme satisfacción cuando resolvemos un
problema en el que nos hemos metido; cuando nos demostramos a
nosotros mismos que podemos hacer algo nunca antes hecho;
cuando nos sorprendemos de nuestras propias capacidades;
cuando aprendemos mediante la práctica (“learning by doing”). Si
crees que te puedes equivocar al hacer algo en insitum, inténtalo—
porque si no lo intentas, seguro te equivocas.

WE ARE EXCESSIVELY OPTIMISTIC
We believe in the power of “self fulfilling prophecies“, mostly when it
comes to good things happening to us. Our positive attitude keeps
problems away and helps mitigate their negative effects–if they ever
reach us. Focusing on the positive keeps the negative (and useless)
away. This attitude is not limited to us as individuals or as a network,
but also to your family and friends, to our clients, to the projects we
do, to our partners and most important, to society at large. Some
people may think we are unrealistic, but so far it has worked quite
well for us.

WE TEACH BY EXAMPLE
One of the most effective ways to demand something from others is
by showing them how to do it (I have a 4 yr old at home, so believe
me I know). At INSITUM everybody is a role model for someone
else. We know that people will mimic our actions; that clients will
treat us the same way we treat them; that teams will work as hard as
their director; that quality standards should be as high as those you
can do yourself; that companies won’t innovate if we don’t innovate
ourselves.
Most people at INSITUM are well aware that we can’t demand ____
from others if we don’t do ____ ourselves. This behavior applies
equally to inside our company as it applies to our relationships to the
outside.
Treat others as you want to be treated–or attain to the
consequences.

WE BELIEVE IN KARMA
Everything that we do for others will eventually come back to us. We
strongly believe we need to behave with others the same way we
expect others to behave towards us. So never do anything that you
might regret, never do anything that you would not like to be done to
your children. Behave well even when no one is watching.
We nurture and protect our professional reputation diligently by not
poaching talent from the competition; by ending relationships on a
high note; by not lying or misleading anybody; by not being stupid;
by sticking to our promises; by solving conflicts in time; by being
forgiving; by preferring a win-win outcome over proving us right.
These rules describe what we believe in.

WE ALWAYS KNOW WHY WE EXIST
With such a wide variety of projects and client engagements we can lose track
of why we do what we do. But no matter how difficult this is, we constantly
remind ourselves our main responsibility, which is: to make the world more human
[centered].
And we do this by taking an obsessive care of three things:
1) The sustainability of the COMPANY. For example by creating a healthy
community that provides a fun and challenging environment; by doing
projects you can be passionate about; or providing long-term economic
benefits for all of us.
2) The relationships with our CLIENTS. For example by giving them the most
value for their money; doing things they could not do on their own; or helping
them grow as people and as a business
3) The wellbeing of SOCIETY. For example by providing jobs (like yours!),
improving the quality of life of users, helping them make smarter decisions,
or making them live more happy with the products, services and brands they
use.
This is why we exist—please never forget it.

THANK YOU FOR READING
If you are interested in joining us, send an email to: jobs@insitum.com and let
us know which office you want to work at.
Barcelona
Chicago
México City
Bogotá
Lima
São Paulo
Buenos Aires
More soon...

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