DIARY OF A CREATIVE DIRECTOR

An Exploration Of The Road to Greatness

Do those 20% of the world’s creative people who have created aspirational careers think differently about those careers than most of us do?

Is a great portfolio enough to become a rich and famous superstar creative person?

What do these creative directors believe is the greatest contributor to success?

What do they believe gets in many people’s way?

What questions do they want answered when they are considering a move?

How do they know when it’s time to change jobs?

Does the money matter?

These are just some of the questions I wanted answered when I created The Diary of a Creative Director Project. 

In my previous life as a recruiter of creative people, I often found myself in interviews asking questions that no one seemed to have the answer to. 

Answers that I thought anyone who was ‘up to something’ should have at the tip of their tongue.  Not so much.  More blank stares than anything.

I wanted to know if those 20% would have the answers to those questions and, just as interesting to me, if they did, what would they say?

How was I going to get to interview the elite of Creative Directors?  If I did get the interview, how could I share it with as many people as possible?  Answer.  Create an event.  Create many events. See if you can get it into the Cannes Festival.  Yes you can.  Yes you did. (3rd highest attended seminar I might add.) Do more interviews. See if there is a pattern.  (Yes there is.) Write a book.  Share the conversations.  Share what you’ve observed and what you’ve learned.  About excellence.  About success.  About creative leadership.

And here we are.

I’ll assume you hate not knowing the answer as much as I do.

Do those 20% think differently about their careers than the way you do and I did when I was a copywriter?

Yes.

They do.