I’ve had the opportunity over the years to work for amazingly talented creative leaders and some not-so-great-ones, too.
Along the way, I’ve realized there are a few basic qualities that separate the powerful creative leaders from the weak. Here are the essential characteristics those rock star leaders from my past shared.
Strategy, Strategy, Strategy
Powerful creative leaders are strategic, sharp, deep-thinkers.
They ask tough questions, push their team out of their comfort zones to help them grow professionally, and lead through example.
They aren’t yes-people, and they aren’t no-people either. They hang back, listen to all opinions, and ask their team for their expertise before making a call. They are 100% willing to roll their sleeves up and work on the project with you and can easily illuminate the areas of your work you need to develop further.
If you aim to be a Creative Director with the respect of your team, lead by example. Be the strategic mind that can help them break through a creative block.
When you have a strategic creative leader at the helm, the rest of the team isn’t afraid to ask for feedback and push themselves to deliver because they trust your creative direction and know you’re on their side.
They Care About Quality
In my experience, the Creative Director sets the tone for the rest of the creative team. If they aren’t 100% committed to producing the highest quality content possible, the rest of the team isn’t either.
The creative leader must be committed to every single piece of collateral produced by their team; they have to care about the quality of the work their team puts out.
When the creative leader is sloppy, they are fostering that same ambivalence in their team. I’ve learned the creative leader that cares—and is passionate about quality work—inspires the same commitment from the people who work for them.
Be a Mentor, Not a Director
Mentorship is a defining quality of a true creative leader. Ask yourself before you aim to lead the team, do you want to direct a bunch of reports, or do you want to foster a diverse group of creative minds that aren’t afraid to tackle any challenge you present them?
Directors give orders, expect results, and lead through a hierarchy. A real creative leader recognizes if you foster fear in your team, you’ll never build trust, which is necessary for people to take risks—and if your team isn’t willing to take risks creatively, they’ll never produce exceptional content.
In our world, mentorship is fundamental for career growth. So, if you’re not prepared to lead through example by slowing down and explaining the principle behind your changes so your team can learn and grow their skill set, you’re not fulfilling your part of the creative exchange—and you’re not investing in your team’s success.
Mentorship isn’t always easy, and it can sometimes hurt (at the end of the day, even the toughest creative hates getting their work torn apart), but it is essential for developing and growing your team’s skill set.
If you aren’t willing to do it, you’re not truly leading through example and you’re not showing your team the reason you’re in the position you’re in, or why they should look to you for leadership.
You’ve Got to Have Talent
Creative employees want to be inspired and (most) yearn to work for someone who not only speaks their language but is more talented than them.
In my career, I’ve worked for some truly talented leaders, and it is their talent that sparks me to be better, push harder, and keep trying till they say it’s right.
When you work for someone you admire, or even just respect creatively, you seek out their opinion and trust their guidance—which leads to engaged, determined employees who don’t give up, even if they must refine that damn draft 40 times till you tell them it’s right.
Empathy Builds Bonds
My master’s thesis explored an area of narratology known as authenticity studies—basically, an obscure area of literary theory that asks the question, “What makes an audience disengage from their reality and buy into an author’s?”
My research revealed the moment a reader can see an element of themselves or their experiences reflected in the narrative of the writer, they are more willing to disengage from their version of the truth and start believing in that of the writer’s.
Empathy—a vastly underrated human emotion that is more complicated than sympathy and infinitely more powerful—breaks down barriers between people by tapping into an individual’s personal experience to connect with another person authentically. Ironically, this same principle I explored in my thesis translates to creative teams.
Why? Because the best creative leaders know the nature of being in the creative field and they’ve taken their knocks, too.
When a leader is willing to share their past failures and successes, or how they survived their worst days, as well as their tactics to overcome a seemingly unconquerable challenge with the people who work for them, they forge powerful, authentic relationships based on shared emotion and respect. Those sorts of relationships can weather both good and bad days.
I’ve had my share of tough days (as we all do), and it was during those moments when I’ve gotten beaten up that the real creative leaders I’ve worked for have shined.
And they’ve done it by empathizing with me.
After all, empathy is just tapping into the part of yourself that understands the feelings of another and responding with authenticity and wisdom.
That’s leadership.
Rhiannon Pickus 