6 Questions for... Nima Yassini.

Nima is the CEO of New Republique and Chair of the Board of Directors of Digital + Technology Collective

1. What gets you up in the morning?

My hobby (my work), my team and the desperate need for coffee!

I love what I do, it's not my job. I get up everyday and get to work on my hobby. What makes my hobby even better, is my team. They are super smart and complement my weaknesses so well. I look forward to walking in everyday and hanging out and doing exceptional work with them.

2. What are you most excited about in the digital and tech space?

I'm excited by the growth of tech starters in Australia. We are such an innovative country and to see more start-ups popping up in Australia is exciting as we are creating the next wave of digital businesses in Australia since Seek, Domain etc. I'm excited by AI, VR etc – but it's not the tech that excites me, it's how the minds of the future are using and adapting these to solve real problems.

3. If you were a piece of technology, what would you be?

I would be the Google search engine - I would kill it at the pub quiz.

4. What's your favourite quote/proverb/saying/mantra?

I have two mantras. One that is personal and one that is work-related.

My personal one is to give more today than you take, so later you can take more than you give. It always reminds me that nothing in life comes without sacrifice, dedication and consistency. And if you want something, you need to invest first. I take this into my work life, client relationships, work and every other part of my life.

My work one is to create environments that help people make better decisions and live better lives. I believe that great design can change how people live and can help people be better and do better.

5. Music: what's at the top of the playlist?

I love music and my home and office is filled with music. I believe everything in life needs a beat. I don't listen to any particular genre and always float between the classics and current stuff I find on Spotify. Right now, I'm back on the classics: re-living The Doors and Rides on the Storm.

6. Look into your crystal ball - what do you see?

Honestly, I'm not sure, the more I'm in the market the more I see the future as very hazy. On one hand, we have management consultancies stepping into the category and competing with the holding groups. I see, clients taking work in-house and building their own team. I see agency models shifting from making money by doing grunt work to moving towards making money by findings, testing and developing a systematic approach to the new innovative approach. I see clients moving away from paid media and focusing on owned media. I see UX, CRO and machine learning merging, bringing into question and redefining what UX means and how it's done.

I have been in the digital industry for 20 years and I have never seen so many big moving shifts happening at once, that it is becoming really hard to predict where it will all land.

One thing is for sure these are industry defining moments. If anyone can predict where it will go, they should buy a lottery ticket.