By no means am I saying that what I’m about to write is set in stone, quite the contrary, I think creative leadership needs to be extremely flexible and adapt to the new challenges that present themselves on a daily basis. I’ve developed my leadership skills through my education, professional experience, working with great leaders, researching successful leaders, reading biographies on great leaders, and participating in leadership training whenever available. I’ve also learned a great deal observing ineffective management techniques and, like everyone, making my own mistakes along the way has taught me quite a bit as well.

• Hire and work with the best
• Strive for excellence in everything you do
• Offer growth opportunities for your team members
• Offer team members creative challenges beyond their current abilities
• Have a growth plan for individuals and the team itself
• Treat everyone as an equal
• Provide constructive criticism, which is very different from criticism
• Clearly communicate plans, projects, and important information
• Empower your team members to make decisions
• Take calculated risks
• Treat your team and clients with respect
• Build a true creative team that works together as one, can trust each other, and performs best when working off of each others strengths.
• Have fun

This isn’t an extensive list by any means, it’s just some of the strategies that I deem most important when leading creative teams. I also understand that many of these are pretty common amongst leadership books and that the MBA in us all may scoff at how rudimentary some of them may seem. But, I wanted to share my thoughts for those that like to hear what others are doing while they’re formulating their own leadership strategies.

This is from a program toolkit that I art directed.

This is from a large scale led screen package that I art directed.

This is from an arena package that I art directed.

This is an element that is used in numerous commercials that I art directed.

This is from a series of broadcast bumps that I art directed.

This is from a commercial that I art directed.

This is from a spot that I art directed.