By Diane McAveeney
CEO & Chief Business Architect, Group-Q
My team and I are always looking for ways to stay sharp so we can keep bringing fresh ideas and different perspectives to our work. After all, language services is a uniquely complex discipline. It requires precision, elevated empathy for cultural nuance, and the ability to pivot on a dime. It’s strategic work that’s demanding, fun, and intense. For what we do at Group-Q, we depend on our ingenuity to balance big-picture trends in the global content marketplace with the custom strategies our clients require. So, it’s no surprise that our team has come up with some fun ways to recharge our creative batteries.
One way we recharge is by paying attention to creative professionals outside of our domain. Not research groups or media companies marketing to our industry to sell a methodology, but artists who actually build, cook, design, and produce. It’s refreshing to hear about their challenges, what sparks their imaginations, how they push through obstacles, and what keeps them showing up every day.
We pulled together a few of our favorite quotes from architects, chefs, designers, and artists, and we’re sharing them here, along with what they teach us about our own work.
Architects: Because Ideas Need a Frame
📜 “Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent,” says David Rockwell, American architect, designer, and founder of the Rockwell Group.
We don’t do cookie-cutter. Every client, every new challenge, is a chance to rethink what’s possible. We don’t do templates. We don’t do just good enough.
📜” I’m convinced that we exist to discover and invent,” says Sir Peter Cook, visionary architect and founder of Archigram.
This line really resonates with me because that’s exactly why I started Group-Q in the first place. To discover and invent. To build something in language services that did not exist before. It’s how we approach all our work, and I think it says something about our industry, too. We all have the opportunity to tackle new challenges every day, which is why we’re all so good at discovering and inventing, rethinking and reengaging what’s possible, both inside and outside the language services world.
📜 “Form ever follows function” was Louis Sullivan’s famous axiom, the father of modern skyscrapers. Updated later by Frank Lloyd Wright to “Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.” It’s the bedrock of modern architecture today.
We aim to incorporate this timeless advice into our business philosophy by focusing on results rather than just strategy. As technology advances and new tools emerge every day, it’s critical to remember that fancy doesn’t come first. When we work with technology providers, for example, to find the best integrations and workflow configurations, we remember that form and function should be one and the same, designed to do one thing: deliver results.
Chefs: Passion Without Posturing
📜 “Oh yeah, we’re constantly experimenting. I used to spend loads of hours on my own, trying to think up ideas. But I’ve learned that the best breakthroughs now are when we work together as a team,” says Simon Rogan, a Michelin star-winning British chef famous for being a pioneer of the farm-to-fork movement.
Group-Q is short for “group quotient” for a reason. The best ideas don’t come from a lone genius in a room. They come from a team whose diverse set of skills, knowledge, and experience we trust. We wouldn’t be anything without our team, and as Rogan says, you can’t come up with extraordinary ideas all on your own.
📜 “Dig deep inside and find a true connection to your food. Study, practice and build your technique constantly – that is the foundation that will allow your creativity to truly shine and grow. Authenticity is not duplication of the past; it is learning from the past, discovering depth and details that are new to you, and adapting them.” This insight is from Bee Satongun, world-renowned chef and restaurateur.
Authenticity is a core part of our identity. To be authentic in this space, we dig deep into the foundations we’ve built over time and apply them to today’s challenges to create new solutions. A chef who only replicates recipes never creates anything memorable. The same is true in our work. We honor the past, but we don’t duplicate. We learn. We discover. And we adapt.
📜 “Food is romantic. Soul. It’s about putting everything in your heart onto the plate. Hoping it’s perceived well. Honestly, it’s about passion. It’s about love,” says Executive Chef, Hillary Sterling.
We’ve been at this for over 20 years. That kind of run doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from our passion and caring for the industry, for our clients, and for solving problems that actually need solving.
Designers and Artists: No Rules, No Fear
📜 “My motto in life is ‘take risks’; you don’t have a voice if you don’t. You have to venture outside your boundaries. That’s what life’s all about,” says Kelly Wearstler, globally influential interior designer.
Playing it safe feels smart until you realize it’s just slow irrelevance. In this industry, you’ve got to be willing to wade into the unknown. Take risks. Try new markets. Integrate the tool. Run that pilot program. Our job is to be there with you when you do.
📜 “There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about,” said the abstract expressionist painter, Helen Frankenthaler.
Frankenthaler was a pioneering artist who experimented freely with various media, developing extraordinary new techniques and processes. Her quote inspires us to be brave, break away from established practices, and help our clients invent what comes next in the future of language services.
📜 Tina Fey, actress, comedian, and writer, says, “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.”
Look, we are strategic. But we’ve also seen brilliant ideas die from overthinking. Sometimes you just have to move. Trust your preparation. Take the leap.
One More from a Translator
In the preface of his award-winning short story collection, Ken Liu, science fiction author and translator, says, “Every act of communication is a miracle of translation.”
This is the truth at the core of everything we do. We are in the business of making connections that otherwise would not exist. Those connections are, in and of themselves, inspiring.
Let’s Build Something
If you’re an LSP looking to scale, a tech provider with global ambitions, or an enterprise with a story that belongs everywhere – let’s talk. Just honest partnership, creative drive, and people who actually care about the work.