Fearless Creative Leadership

Who do you want to be? And what are you waiting for? I say all the time on this podcast and in my work, we do not have to be defined by the past or the expectations of others. We can all decide who we want to be and act with intention to be that person. Too often we got stuck by an imperfect view of who we are and why we are that way. Frozen by fear of change, or the truth or an excuse without real substance and which has become a habit. But our future selves are waiting to be written, to be lived and be loved. Don't wait too long.

How much do you know about what's happening at your company? Mark Read is the CEO of WPP. At last month's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, WPP was named the most Creative Company of the Year. Mark took over the role in 2018 from WPP's founder, Sir Martin Sorrell. It was one of the most publicized and dramatic changes in leadership that the advertising and marketing industries have ever seen. Taking the company from those turbulent times, to one of relative stability and success, has required a realistic, pragmatic approach. Leadership of any creative business is a balancing act. Between dreams and reality. Belief and skepticism. The known and the unknown. Where you are on each of those scales depends on circumstances that can change by the day and sometimes faster than that. Which means sometimes you have to make decisions based on instinct. That's fine, to a point. But as flawed human beings, even the best leaders among us are sometimes let down by their instincts. When you're looking for a place from which to start the process of deciding what happens next, I have found that the best leaders prefer to begin with the truth. In fact, they seek it out. As Mark says, when you're in charge, that's often difficult to find. But if you're going to build scalable, sustainable success, finding out what's really happening is a critical starting point. That might be difficult and sometimes painful in the short run. And a lot of leaders by-pass seeking out the truth because it makes life more complicated for a while. But starting with the truth pays for itself in big and small ways. Including in your ability to look yourself in the mirror.

Edited highlights of our full conversation. How much do you know about what's happening at your company? Mark Read is the CEO of WPP. At last month's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, WPP was named the most Creative Company of the Year. Mark took over the role in 2018 from WPP's founder, Sir Martin Sorrell. It was one of the most publicized and dramatic changes in leadership that the advertising and marketing industries have ever seen. Taking the company from those turbulent times, to one of relative stability and success, has required a realistic, pragmatic approach. Leadership of any creative business is a balancing act. Between dreams and reality. Belief and skepticism. The known and the unknown. Where you are on each of those scales depends on circumstances that can change by the day and sometimes faster than that. Which means sometimes you have to make decisions based on instinct. That's fine, to a point. But as flawed human beings, even the best leaders among us are sometimes let down by their instincts. When you're looking for a place from which to start the process of deciding what happens next, I have found that the best leaders prefer to begin with the truth. In fact, they seek it out. As Mark says, when you're in charge, that's often difficult to find. But if you're going to build scalable, sustainable success, finding out what's really happening is a critical starting point. That might be difficult and sometimes painful in the short run. And a lot of leaders by-pass seeking out the truth because it makes life more complicated for a while. But starting with the truth pays for itself in big and small ways. Including in your ability to look yourself in the mirror.

Edited highlights of our full conversation. How much do you know about what's happening at your company? Mark Read is the CEO of WPP. At last month's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, WPP was named the most Creative Company of the Year. Mark took over the role in 2018 from WPP's founder, Sir Martin Sorrell. It was one of the most publicized and dramatic changes in leadership that the advertising and marketing industries have ever seen. Taking the company from those turbulent times, to one of relative stability and success, has required a realistic, pragmatic approach. Leadership of any creative business is a balancing act. Between dreams and reality. Belief and skepticism. The known and the unknown. Where you are on each of those scales depends on circumstances that can change by the day and sometimes faster than that. Which means sometimes you have to make decisions based on instinct. That's fine, to a point. But as flawed human beings, even the best leaders among us are sometimes let down by their instincts. When you're looking for a place from which to start the process of deciding what happens next, I have found that the best leaders prefer to begin with the truth. In fact, they seek it out. As Mark says, when you're in charge, that's often difficult to find. But if you're going to build scalable, sustainable success, finding out what's really happening is a critical starting point. That might be difficult and sometimes painful in the short run. And a lot of leaders by-pass seeking out the truth because it makes life more complicated for a while. But starting with the truth pays for itself in big and small ways. Including in your ability to look yourself in the mirror.

How have you been changed by the last two years? Simon Cook is the CEO of Cannes Lions. Cannes is an institution. One built on in-person connections. Like many organizations dependent on human contact, it has struggled in the face of a two year long, global pandemic. Organizations reflect their leaders. Style. Sensibilities. Ethics. Values. Priorities and Intention. All of these come from or are influenced by the person with the authority to say yes or no. The Cannes Lions Festival has built a reputation for many things over the years. At its best, it shines a very bright light on the power of creativity to drive both business and change. And it acts as a shaper and predictor of what comes next. It has enormous influence. Amidst, all that, one word no one has ever used to describe Cannes is humble. Creativity is fueled by confidence. The willingness to boldly go where no one has gone before. But is is shaped and guided by humility. The recognition that creativity for creativity sake is not only wasteful, it is irresponsible. The understanding that when you have enormous impact, how you use that impact has wide and far reaching implications. Until 2020 showed up on our doorstep, confidence was not a scarce resource. But the flood of humility that has arrived in the last two years gives hope that the power of creativity can now be brought to bear in ways that are filled more with hope than hubris. If the Cannes Lion Festival does indeed reflect its leader, its role in guiding and shaping the future will become even more valuable.

What questions are you asking? Gareth Kay is the SVP of Brand at Happify Health. Before that, he's been the Head of Strategy at Goodby Silverstein, and the Founding Partner at Chapter Creative Studios. Gareth is a relentlessly curious soul. And that has made him one of the best thinkers in the world about creativity and innovation. When all the answers are out of date, or from a different reality, the only choice we have is to start asking more and better questions. Everyone wants to know what the future of work looks like. Leaders want their people back in the building because - pick any you want from this list - I can see what they're doing. I know who's engaged. Our business is better when we collaborate. Our culture is crucial. I have a ten year lease on 100,000 feet of prime commercial real estate. These are all answers to old questions. Questions focused on what works best for the company. If you're leading a business in which talent is not a competitive advantage, or one in which talent is easy to find, my bet is you will be able to create a new version of the old status quo by asking yourself and everyone around you old questions. But if you're leading a business in which talent is the game changer, and great talent is hard to find, then you're going to win when you start to ask different questions. Questions that put the needs of the talent at the center of your curiosity. And that starts by asking yourself new questions. The first of which is, "Like what?".

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What questions are you asking? Gareth Kay is the SVP of Brand at Happify Health. Before that, he's been the Head of Strategy at Goodby Silverstein, and the Founding Partner at Chapter Creative Studios. Gareth is a relentlessly curious soul. And that has made him one of the best thinkers in the world about creativity and innovation. When all the answers are out of date, or from a different reality, the only choice we have is to start asking more and better questions. Everyone wants to know what the future of work looks like. Leaders want their people back in the building because - pick any you want from this list - I can see what they're doing. I know who's engaged. Our business is better when we collaborate. Our culture is crucial. I have a ten year lease on 100,000 feet of prime commercial real estate. These are all answers to old questions. Questions focused on what works best for the company. If you're leading a business in which talent is not a competitive advantage, or one in which talent is easy to find, my bet is you will be able to create a new version of the old status quo by asking yourself and everyone around you old questions. But if you're leading a business in which talent is the game changer, and great talent is hard to find, then you're going to win when you start to ask different questions. Questions that put the needs of the talent at the center of your curiosity. And that starts by asking yourself new questions. The first of which is, "Like what?".

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What questions are you asking? Gareth Kay is the SVP of Brand at Happify Health. Before that, he's been the Head of Strategy at Goodby Silverstein, and the Founding Partner at Chapter Creative Studios. Gareth is a relentlessly curious soul. And that has made him one of the best thinkers in the world about creativity and innovation. When all the answers are out of date, or from a different reality, the only choice we have is to start asking more and better questions. Everyone wants to know what the future of work looks like. Leaders want their people back in the building because - pick any you want from this list - I can see what they're doing. I know who's engaged. Our business is better when we collaborate. Our culture is crucial. I have a ten year lease on 100,000 feet of prime commercial real estate. These are all answers to old questions. Questions focused on what works best for the company. If you're leading a business in which talent is not a competitive advantage, or one in which talent is easy to find, my bet is you will be able to create a new version of the old status quo by asking yourself and everyone around you old questions. But if you're leading a business in which talent is the game changer, and great talent is hard to find, then you're going to win when you start to ask different questions. Questions that put the needs of the talent at the center of your curiosity. And that starts by asking yourself new questions. The first of which is, "Like what?".

What kind of company are you building? Karl Lieberman and Neal Arthur are respectively the Global Chief Creative Officer and Global Chief Operating Officer of Wieden + Kennedy. Few companies have reached the creative heights of Wieden + Kennedy. None, that I can think of, have sustained those heights for most of the last forty years. Karl and Neal stepped into their global roles seven months after the beginning of the pandemic. How do you lead a culture opposed to rules through a time when there are no rules? The leaders of creative businesses are usually adventurers. They relish the fact that accepting the ambiguous and the unknown are lines 1 and 2 in the job description. But, as human beings, we are all comforted by the familiar and the known. Even the adventurers eventually turn for home. And yet, if your goal as a leader is to meet the future in a fair fight, then welcoming ambiguity and uncertainty are no longer enough. Turning for the safety of home will leave you behind. Creativity is the world's most powerful force. It's time to build flexible businesses that unleash it. It's time for leaders to let creativity loose.

Edited highlights of our full conversation. What kind of company are you building? Karl Lieberman and Neal Arthur are respectively the Global Chief Creative Officer and Global Chief Operating Officer of Wieden + Kennedy. Few companies have reached the creative heights of Wieden + Kennedy. None, that I can think of, have sustained those heights for most of the last forty years. Karl and Neal stepped into their global roles seven months after the beginning of the pandemic. How do you lead a culture opposed to rules through a time when there are no rules? The leaders of creative businesses are usually adventurers. They relish the fact that accepting the ambiguous and the unknown are lines 1 and 2 in the job description. But, as human beings, we are all comforted by the familiar and the known. Even the adventurers eventually turn for home. And yet, if your goal as a leader is to meet the future in a fair fight, then welcoming ambiguity and uncertainty are no longer enough. Turning for the safety of home will leave you behind. Creativity is the world's most powerful force. It's time to build flexible businesses that unleash it. It's time for leaders to let creativity loose.