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Creative director: A user’s guide
One of my long-time mentors in the creative space advised me to put together a “user’s manual” for the creatives who work under my direction to be able to use, well, me. I have to admit it feels a little absurd and self-aggrandizing, but it’s also fair to say that life and work might be a little smoother for all of us if humans came with a how-to guide. While this guide covers the things I as an individual care about, I believe it’s relevant to all creative leaders — or those looking to become one.
I am here to support YOU.
It’s not my job to come up with all the creative ideas and then make others execute on them; that would be weird — and lonely. I’m here to help the team make the most out of their own ideas. I’m here to help you grow into a great idea-haver and idea-executor. As Molly Graham says, “True management is the act of making the people around you better.”
I believe in the “second right answer.”
A term coined by National Geographic photographer and speaker De Witt Jones, I use “the second right answer” to mean “not what I would’ve done myself, but still great.” This means that, to the best of my ability, I keep my personal preferences out of my feedback. As long as your work keeps in mind the right goals and the right considerations, I’m game — even if I would have done it differently. Morale can tank if your creative staff is spending all their time attempting to build work on something as arbitrary as leadership’s personal taste. We become designers to get to use our creative talents!
I lean on your expertise.
It’s highly likely I don’t know your job as well as you do. I’ve been a designer and a writer, but I’ve never been a motion graphics artist. Or a UX designer. Or a social media manager. I can certainly be an effective leader in these areas: We will discuss goals and priorities; I will help you if you need it; we will do retrospectives and look for opportunities to improve. And I will avoid micromanaging anything… because, trust me, we’d both hate it. Patty McCord, author of Powerful and co-creator of the famed Netflix Culture Deck, calls this “context not control,” and I’m a fan. No part of me wants to nerd out on the best color for a “submit” button, but if…
