Edited highlights of our full length conversation. Is that good? Heather Freeland is the Chief Brand Officer at Adobe, a business that, as Heather describes, is undergoing significant change to prepare itself for the future to come, and the one that is already here. In a company long known for providing powerful tools to creative people, the advent of Generative AI is both a threat and an opportunity. How human beings maintain our relevance sits at the very heart of that tension. Is that good? In the quest to become leaders that make a difference, there are many powerful questions to ask ourselves. What do I want to find out about myself? What is success? Both of these are intensely personal, and can be answered, albeit with some serious and honest reflection, from within. But, “Is that good?” usually stretches us out into the world. We are inclined to ask, through what lens? Against what criteria? Measured by what result? Based on whose experience? But at the end of that journey of data collection, consultation, and analysis, the answer to, “Is that good?” is still waiting for someone to decide. Michelangelo, when asked how he had created such perfection from a piece of rock said, “I simply removed everything that wasn’t the David.” If human beings are to create a dividing line that AI can not cross, the question, “Is that good?” may be the beating heart on which that barrier depends. “Is that good?” is heavy lifting. It requires clarity and confidence. Muscles we should probably start building today.

Why are you doing what you’re doing? Gabriel Schmitt has just celebrated his one year anniversary as the Global CCO of Grey. Grey’s proposition is that they have been coming up with famously effective ideas since 1917. Gabriel is somewhat younger than that, but over his career, has learned one of the most important leadership lessons that I think often gets overlooked. The importance of context. A few years ago, I wrote an article for Fast Company called The Four Weapons of Exceptional Creative Leaders. I got some pushback on using the word “weapons” in the context of creativity. My response was that if you’ve ever done battle with the status quo, then you already know that you need to bring some serious weapons to that fight. Context is the beginning and the end of the leadership journey. Without it, you have no ability to answer critical questions, like where are we on our journey? How much further do we have to go? Context is the reason why you are trying to make that wild idea. It is why you hire that person. It is why you invest in that technology. It is why you make that decision. It is why you come up with the answer. It is why people follow you. And without it… everything else is just a guess. So why are you doing what you’re doing? And are you sure?

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Gabriel Schmitt has just celebrated his one year anniversary as the Global CCO of Grey. Grey’s proposition is that they have been coming up with famously effective ideas since 1917. Gabriel is somewhat younger than that, but over his career, has learned one of the most important leadership lessons that I think often gets overlooked. The importance of context. A few years ago, I wrote an article for Fast Company called The Four Weapons of Exceptional Creative Leaders. I got some pushback on using the word “weapons” in the context of creativity. My response was that if you’ve ever done battle with the status quo, then you already know that you need to bring some serious weapons to that fight. Context is the beginning and the end of the leadership journey. Without it, you have no ability to answer critical questions, like where are we on our journey? How much further do we have to go? Context is the reason why you are trying to make that wild idea. It is why you hire that person. It is why you invest in that technology. It is why you make that decision. It is why you come up with the answer. It is why people follow you. And without it… everything else is just a guess. So why are you doing what you’re doing? And are you sure?

How well do you know yourself? Lisa Smith is the Global Executive Creative Director at JKR. Fast Company have called her a visionary designer, citing in particular her work for Burger King, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Chobani and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They described her work as unique because “it has consistently changed the visual landscape, disrupted popular aesthetics, and started trends of its own.” When you meet Lisa, her energy is infectious. As you’ll hear in our conversation, she wants to make a difference. She also knows herself well enough to have learned that her energy sometimes needs an adapter. We are driven by instincts, starting with the genetic code that we must survive.  Against that context, self awareness comes second and is usually filtered and diluted by other impulses.  The ability to stand back and accurately reflect on the impact we are having in real time, is a lifelong quest for most of us. But when you meet someone who has learned to understand themselves multi-dimensionally, who sees themselves in mirrors that reflect all angles, the good and the works in progress, our trust in that person rises like the proverbial tide - predictably and visibly.  That remains true even if, especially if, they show up as less than their best selves but can acknowledge or forewarn us that they can see, and feel and acknowledge that - sometimes preemptively. Lisa is not alone in her ambition sometimes turning her into a bulldozer. She is rare in her ability to see it happening before it happens and to warn those around her that her form of leadership encompasses all the elements of “lead, follow or get out of the way.” 

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. How well do you know yourself? Lisa Smith is the Global Executive Creative Director at JKR. Fast Company have called her a visionary designer, citing in particular her work for Burger King, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Chobani and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They described her work as unique because “it has consistently changed the visual landscape, disrupted popular aesthetics, and started trends of its own.” When you meet Lisa, her energy is infectious. As you’ll hear in our conversation, she wants to make a difference. She also knows herself well enough to have learned that her energy sometimes needs an adapter. We are driven by instincts, starting with the genetic code that we must survive.  Against that context, self awareness comes second and is usually filtered and diluted by other impulses.  The ability to stand back and accurately reflect on the impact we are having in real time, is a lifelong quest for most of us. But when you meet someone who has learned to understand themselves multi-dimensionally, who sees themselves in mirrors that reflect all angles, the good and the works in progress, our trust in that person rises like the proverbial tide - predictably and visibly.  That remains true even if, especially if, they show up as less than their best selves but can acknowledge or forewarn us that they can see, and feel and acknowledge that - sometimes preemptively. Lisa is not alone in her ambition sometimes turning her into a bulldozer. She is rare in her ability to see it happening before it happens and to warn those around her that her form of leadership encompasses all the elements of “lead, follow or get out of the way.” 

Which direction are you going? Nils Leonard, one of the co-founders of Uncommon - the award winning global creative studio - has been a regular guest on this show since I started Fearless seven years ago. In all of that time, I’ve wondered abut his partnership with his two co-founders, Natalie Graeme and Lucy Jameson. Why did they decide to go into business together? How does it work and what might get in the way? And what makes the Uncommon partnership particularly worth understanding is the extraordinary consistency between what they said mattered to them when they started, and how they show up today. This conversation, on a wet, rainy Thursday morning, at an outdoor restaurant in Cannes, shows why this partnership has worked so successfully so far and raises some questions about how it will need to evolve to guide the company’s next stage of evolution.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. Which direction are you going? Nils Leonard, one of the co-founders of Uncommon - the award winning global creative studio - has been a regular guest on this show since I started Fearless seven years ago. In all of that time, I’ve wondered abut his partnership with his two co-founders, Natalie Graeme and Lucy Jameson. Why did they decide to go into business together? How does it work and what might get in the way? And what makes the Uncommon partnership particularly worth understanding is the extraordinary consistency between what they said mattered to them when they started, and how they show up today. This conversation, on a wet, rainy Thursday morning, at an outdoor restaurant in Cannes, shows why this partnership has worked so successfully so far and raises some questions about how it will need to evolve to guide the company’s next stage of evolution.

What lessons have you learned? This episode features the return visit of Jon Cook, the Global CEO of VML. I interviewed Jon for the first time a year ago, eight months after he had died while going for a run in his neighborhood. Today, he is the CEO of the world's largest advertising agency. We covered a lot of topics during our latest conversation, from the qualities that he brings as a leader, to navigating mergers, to the impact of AI. We also talked about a simple but powerful truth that I think a lot of leaders have a hard time remembering when they're facing stressful situations - that we are already better than we think. Leadership is lonely. It's a cliche because it's true. Those feelings of isolation usually leave our doubts and insecurities to wander through the garden of our minds, unchaperoned. Given enough time and enough space, those insecurities can become a permanent part of our self-image and self-beliefs. Talking to someone who can help us to fully see ourselves is always helpful. Of course, I'd say that. I'm a leadership coach. But we have ways to help ourselves that can be powerful, too. One of the simplest is to look back and to see our past achievements for what they are. Achievements, experiences, skills, and wisdom. And if you take a few moments and you write that list of achievements down, you'll be better prepared, not only to meet this moment, but you'll also be able to quiet the part of you that thinks that nothing you do is ever good enough. Self-awareness is the most powerful asset that any leader can develop. So, make that list right now.

What will be the impact of AI on the creative industries, and how can we meet this moment? This is the final episode of my series of interviews over the last few weeks leading up to and through the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. It offers a map for the future based on those conversations, and observations of the speed of change. If you haven’t seen it, look up the Volvo ad that was just published on social media. It took one person, 24 hours to create. This ad could not have been made in May, when I started this series of interviews. Creativity and innovation are oxygen for the world's best businesses. Increase the flow and they soar. Limit the supply and they wither and ultimately die. That has been true for longer than anyone reading this has been alive. What is also true is that until now, that creativity, that ability to come up with original ideas that solve problems has been limited to human beings. With the arrival and advances in AI, will that still be true five years from now? Two? Tomorrow? Over the last few weeks, I've interviewed ten different leaders from across the creative industries. Brand leaders, agency founders, global agency heads, global client leads, production experts, creator community experts, consultants, and an advertising industry legend. And while I was at Cannes, I talked to two dozen more about where the creative industries are headed and what they need to do to ensure their future. These industries are a complex eco system of competing and contradictory forces built on what I believe is the worst business model in the world: selling original ideas based on how long it took to conceive and deliver them, and then giving up the ownership and the economic benefit of those ideas forever. It is the equivalent of pricing a Picasso based on how long it took him to paint it. It is selling every patentable idea based on the cost of the labor, while ignoring the impact on people's lives. According to some reports it takes 24 hours to build an iPhone. Imagine if Apple broke that down into a scope of work and then sold each iPhone for the cost of that scope and, with it, the ownership of the IP. For how long would they remain the most valuable business in the world? The daily advances of AI challenge every aspect of the creative industries. From defining and articulating the problem, to conceiving, creating and delivering solutions. Every part of the process is being radically changed. And the extent of that change is limitless. So what should we do about that?

Where does ideation end and production begin? This episode is part of a series of conversations I've been having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. Over the last few weeks, I've been focusing my study of leadership through a single lens, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. This final interview is with David Rolfe, the Global Head of Production at WPP. Dave and I have known each other for more years than we care to acknowledge, and he is the most provocative and disruptive thinker about production that I know. As the week at Cannes unfolded, it became clear that this series wouldn't be complete without a conversation about production. So I asked Dave late in the week if he would sit down with me and talk about the impact of AI on production. As you may have heard in my interview with Adam Tucker, WPP has made a large investment in AI. That wasn't the reason I wanted to include Dave in this series, but it does, again, add a dimension to the conversation that helps to establish reference points as the industry navigates the disruption that AI is already bringing. I started the conversation with Dave from a simple premise. Is production dead? As you'll hear, it is most definitely not, but it will look very, very different in a very short space of time, and that change has already begun. So if any part of your future thinking about production is based on how production looked and worked a year ago, you probably need to challenge that perspective to make sure that it stands the test of time, which in today's world, we can probably define as somewhere between 12 and 24 months, I suspect. In the next episode, I'll sum up everything I've heard and seen since we started this series. In the meantime, thank you for listening.