Scrolling LinkedIn isn’t something I recommend, but if you do, there will be at least three to four standard posts on management. One will be a meme, one will be something like “what White Lotus taught me about leadership” and another could actually be solid advice. 

None of them will cover creative leadership specifically.

This is the part where I tell you how a unique skillset is required to be an effective creative leader, right? It isn’t. Even though there is a lot of mystery around how a talented creative rises to the ranks of Creative Director or higher, we are still dealing with human beings like any other industry. Quite a gut punch to us creatives, but here’s the good news: leadership, and managing people in general, doesn’t need to be difficult. Oh, you don’t believe me? Let me break this down into three key points. 

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1. It’s not about you.

Your job as a creative leader is to foster great work and remove roadblocks for those doing it. A big ego may get things done in the short term but the burnout will be real. Instead, focus on fostering relationships with clients and the account team. Easier said than done but preparing a landing strip for great ideas, along with the budget and time to execute them should be a top priority. 

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2. Find and foster creative talent.

The finding part will be dictated by the state of the economy and how desirable your agency or brand is to creatives. Fostering once you find it is the part where most struggle. From holding companies to in-house, businesses in general are often oblivious to the basic needs of their employees when it comes to flexibility, pay & investment. If you are lucky as a creative leader, you will be at a shop that values those so you can focus on helping your team achieve the creative goals they truly seek. Here is the trick to that: everyone is different. That’s it. Just as every study has shown, humans lean in unique ways, and it’s your job to discover what they are. It could be hands-on, mentorship, or online resources. Whatever it is, you will not find it without regular communication. The same goes for honing the skills they possess as well as avoiding the skills they don’t. A creative’s strengths are unique and once found should be leaned into. 

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3. It’s all about the work.

At the end of the day (which is also when those drafts are due) we are not doing our job as creative leaders if great work isn’t regularly getting made. It should be unique and move the viewer in a measurable way, but our process is formulaic. Set it up for success, refined the brief and assigned the right team. Then, push the team when they need it—but don’t do the work for them (see #1). Protect those crazy ideas when they are fragile, and as they grow, fight for them from the first round till the last bell sounds. This is our product, and what our clients deserve and need even if they don’t realize it.        

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Ok, so maybe it’s a little harder than 1, 2, 3 but the process itself is not as difficult as most make it out to be. If you can clear the first big hurdle of accepting the role of a leader of creatives VS being the creative, the rest falls into place. 

Now go out and inspire your team to make some killer banner ads so THEY can humbly brag about it on LinkedIn.