Fearless Creative Leadership

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Laura Holson, of The New York Times, is a brilliant and award-winning feature writer and visual editor who has written extensively about Hollywood, Silicon Valley and powerful figures in finance and politics. Our conversation covered a lot of areas. Her love of and approach to writing compelling stories. Why and how she created the Box Session salons which pull together extraordinarily creative people from all areas of the creative industries. Her first-hand and up close insights into the leadership of Steve Jobs at Pixar, and Michael Eisner and Bob Iger at Disney. And her own views of the priorities and challenges faced by today’s leaders. At the heart of all of that is Laura’s own journey, one that included a bout of long COVID that she wrote about in the Times earlier this year. Like a lot of us, Laura has had time to reflect about life. Creativity is a human attribute. It also scares a lot of people. But then so does life. We spend so much time tying to find our place in the world, so much time trying to adapt, adjust and fit in. We care so much about what other people think of us. Of what we do. Or how we behave. Then suddenly life is over, and in the process of fitting into other people’s definitions of who we are, we suddenly discover that we never found out who we could have been. Or we can choose another path. One that we design ourselves. One in which we show up as the full version of who we are. And then watch people follow your leadership. How do you do that? Perhaps, Mark Twain said it best. “Sing like no one is listening, love like you never been hurt, dance like no one is watching and live like it is heaven on earth.”

Jesse Joeckel is the Founder, Owner and Designer at Whalebone Creative. Based in Montauk, New York, Whalebone describes itself as a lifestyle brand that’s built around art, design, and surf culture. They sell super soft t-shirts, hoodies, hats and more, and they’ve been doing so since 2010. And they have become the definition of a very, very cool brand. Over the eleven years since he started Whalebone, Jesse has never strayed far from his definition of success. And happiness. Over the last few months, many, many people - maybe most people - have spent time thinking about what they want from life. Based on the number of people who are leaving their jobs during what has come to be known as the ‘Great Resignation’, the answer is ‘not this.’ Indeed, in some industries, a third of the people resigning have no clear idea about what they will do next or where. By the millions, people are challenging their own definitions of success. And even more fundamentally, their definitions of what it means to be happy.

Lisa Mehling is the owner of Chelsea Pictures, who last month were named the winner of the Palme D’Or as the Production Company of the Year at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Lisa doesn’t like to talk about herself. But her journey is an important one to understand as we struggle to build a society that supports all people. The single biggest decision we make in our lives is this. How will we use the time we get while we are here? How will we spend this moment? And this one? And this? Are we reacting or acting? Waiting or moving? Hoping or choosing? Time has moved differently over the last 18 months. We have learned new rhythms - some faster, some slower. But very little about the way we have spent our time has felt familiar. Until we got used to it, and it did. Sometimes in good ways. Sometimes in bad. And then the vaccines came. And now we have to figure out how we spend our time all over again. Which makes this moment a gift. I’m fortunate to see across and inside a wide range of industries and businesses. And what I’m increasingly certain of is that what came before 2020 will have increasingly little to do with what comes after. We have been living for a long time with norms and expectations that were designed and implemented during the Industrial Age. The 40 hour work week for instance, despite all the data that shows working fewer hours dramatically increases both performance and personal well-being. The Industrial Age started in about 1760 and ended sometime in the mid 20th century. Conservatively, that means we left the Industrial Age about 70 years ago. And yet we’re still tied to its apron strings. Human beings are creatures of habit, genetically and biologically built on rhythms. The rising of the sun, the speed of our breathing, the gestation period of creating new life. There are so many fundamental aspects of our existence that we can't control. But if you’re listening to this podcast, there are many, many things about your life that you can control. You have agency. To decide and to act. To test the boundaries of what is possible and to discover who you are in the process. The power to unlock creative thinking and innovation depends on challenging assumptions and breaking down norms. Or, as Lisa said, of not waiting for permission that you don’t need. These moments are fleeting. New structures and practices and expectations and processes will be here before we know it. So you can wait until someone tells you what’s allowed. Or you can save yourself ten years and decide yourself.

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Lisa Mehling is the owner of Chelsea Pictures, who last month were named the winner of the Palme D’Or as the Production Company of the Year at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Lisa doesn’t like to talk about herself. But her journey is an important one to understand as we struggle to build a society that supports all people. The single biggest decision we make in our lives is this. How will we use the time we get while we are here? How will we spend this moment? And this one? And this? Are we reacting or acting? Waiting or moving? Hoping or choosing? Time has moved differently over the last 18 months. We have learned new rhythms - some faster, some slower. But very little about the way we have spent our time has felt familiar. Until we got used to it, and it did. Sometimes in good ways. Sometimes in bad. And then the vaccines came. And now we have to figure out how we spend our time all over again. Which makes this moment a gift. I’m fortunate to see across and inside a wide range of industries and businesses. And what I’m increasingly certain of is that what came before 2020 will have increasingly little to do with what comes after. We have been living for a long time with norms and expectations that were designed and implemented during the Industrial Age. The 40 hour work week for instance, despite all the data that shows working fewer hours dramatically increases both performance and personal well-being. The Industrial Age started in about 1760 and ended sometime in the mid 20th century. Conservatively, that means we left the Industrial Age about 70 years ago. And yet we’re still tied to its apron strings. Human beings are creatures of habit, genetically and biologically built on rhythms. The rising of the sun, the speed of our breathing, the gestation period of creating new life. There are so many fundamental aspects of our existence that we can't control. But if you’re listening to this podcast, there are many, many things about your life that you can control. You have agency. To decide and to act. To test the boundaries of what is possible and to discover who you are in the process. The power to unlock creative thinking and innovation depends on challenging assumptions and breaking down norms. Or, as Lisa said, of not waiting for permission that you don’t need. These moments are fleeting. New structures and practices and expectations and processes will be here before we know it. So you can wait until someone tells you what’s allowed. Or you can save yourself ten years and decide yourself.

Nancy Reyes is the CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and Chris Beresford-Hill is the agency’s Chief Creative Officer. None us succeed alone. And the bigger the ambition, the more we need other people to reach it. The age of the iconic, solo, white male leader are almost behind us. Not a moment too soon. Welcome to the age of leadership partnership. And if you think what came before was challenging, well, as the song goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet. As humans, we want so badly to belong, that we’re attracted - almost compulsively - by the idea of partnership. It is a light calling us home. Or to the flame. There are many, many kinds of partnerships. Strategic. Impulsive. Circumstantial. Convenient. And those that are deeply, deeply personal. Successful and satisfying partnerships are rare. So rare, that when we find them we should take some time to understand why they work. As you will hear, their relationship embodies two of the most critical elements of any successful and sustainable partnership. First, you’ve got to like each other. Because you’re going to spend a lot of time having difficult conversations and making hard decisions. And second, once the decision is made - whether you agreed or not - you’ve got to develop the ability to support each other. Love and the ability to disagree well. Sometimes it’s just that simple. And that complicated. How well does your partnership work?

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Nancy Reyes is the CEO of TBWA\Chiat\Day New York and Chris Beresford-Hill is the agency’s Chief Creative Officer. None us succeed alone. And the bigger the ambition, the more we need other people to reach it. The age of the iconic, solo, white male leader are almost behind us. Not a moment too soon. Welcome to the age of leadership partnership. And if you think what came before was challenging, well, as the song goes, you ain’t seen nothing yet. As humans, we want so badly to belong, that we’re attracted - almost compulsively - by the idea of partnership. It is a light calling us home. Or to the flame. There are many, many kinds of partnerships. Strategic. Impulsive. Circumstantial. Convenient. And those that are deeply, deeply personal. Successful and satisfying partnerships are rare. So rare, that when we find them we should take some time to understand why they work. As you will hear, their relationship embodies two of the most critical elements of any successful and sustainable partnership. First, you’ve got to like each other. Because you’re going to spend a lot of time having difficult conversations and making hard decisions. And second, once the decision is made - whether you agreed or not - you’ve got to develop the ability to support each other. Love and the ability to disagree well. Sometimes it’s just that simple. And that complicated. How well does your partnership work?

Will Travis is the Founder of Elevation Barn. They describe themselves as a global network united to elevate each other’s clarity of purpose for personal, business and philanthropic goals. Will works with individual leaders. And I think the conversation about individual purpose is really important. Businesses talk a lot about purpose. Most do very little about it. They pre-sell or post rationalize. But very few change the way they spend money as a result of their purpose. What the best businesses do have in common is that they are intentioned. They’re clear about where they’re trying to get to and the journey that will get them there. In my experience, that’s often enough to achieve significant competitive advantage and serious success. There are a lot of highly effective leaders who have discovered the same thing about their own lives. Declare your intention for your business, define the journey it will take to get there, and you can often attract the kind of talent and funding that you’ll need. The only limitation is that it leaves an important bit out of the equation. You. What matters to you? Who do you want to be? Will’s work at the Elevation Barn really resonates with me. Like Will, I meet leaders who have become incredibly good at fitting square pegs into round holes. Often, they are the square peg. They have adapted themselves to the needs of the business. They conform to a set of expectations created by someone else for someone else in some other moment. They do what they think they should, conscious of a growing sense of disconnection, but never stopping to ask themselves, what matters to me? Who do I want to be? Life is short. Nothing is guaranteed. Let us hope the lasting lessons of the last 16 months are at least that. What do you want to do with your time here? What legacy do you want to leave behind? Leadership is an opportunity to unlock the potential of people and to shape the world in the process. One of those people whose potential you unlock, can be you.

Edited highlights of our full conversation. Will Travis is the Founder of Elevation Barn. They describe themselves as a global network united to elevate each other’s clarity of purpose for personal, business and philanthropic goals. Businesses talk a lot about purpose. Most do very little about it. They pre-sell or post rationalize. But very few change the way they spend money as a result of their purpose. What the best businesses do have in common is that they are intentioned. They’re clear about where they’re trying to get to and the journey that will get them there. In my experience, that’s often enough to achieve significant competitive advantage and serious success. There are a lot of highly effective leaders who have discovered the same thing about their own lives. Declare your intention for your business, define the journey it will take to get there, and you can often attract the kind of talent and funding that you’ll need. The only limitation is that it leaves an important bit out of the equation. You. What matters to you? Who do you want to be? Will’s work at the Elevation Barn really resonates with me. Like Will, I meet leaders who have become incredibly good at fitting square pegs into round holes. Often, they are the square peg. They have adapted themselves to the needs of the business. They conform to a set of expectations created by someone else for someone else in some other moment. They do what they think they should, conscious of a growing sense of disconnection, but never stopping to ask themselves, what matters to me? Who do I want to be? Life is short. Nothing is guaranteed. Let us hope the lasting lessons of the last 16 months are at least that. What do you want to do with your time here? What legacy do you want to leave behind? Leadership is an opportunity to unlock the potential of people and to shape the world in the process. One of those people whose potential you unlock, can be you.

David Kolbusz is the Chief Creative Officer at Droga5 in London. He’s worked for many of the most iconic agencies in the advertising industry. BBH, Goodby Silverstein, Wieden & Kennedy and Droga. Most of the time, he’s found a great fit. Occasionally, he hasn’t. But at every step of the way he’s brought a distinctive perspective and point of view. David talks about the fact that he does not consider himself a risk taker. But he is absolutely willing to see the status quo for what it is. An artifice. And a falsehood. Leading inside the lines is a choice. Pushing against them is another. But recognizing they don’t actually exist is perhaps the most powerful starting point for any form of creative leadership. In a world in which everything we thought we knew has been thrown up in the air, playing by an old set of artificial rules will get us to one place fast - a broken version of the past. Leading the future starts when you imagine the world without rules. And let the most powerful force of all - your imagination - run wild.

Edited highlights of our full conversation. David Kolbusz is the Chief Creative Officer at Droga5 in London. He’s worked for many of the most iconic agencies in the advertising industry. BBH, Goodby Silverstein, Wieden & Kennedy and Droga. Most of the time, he’s found a great fit. Occasionally, he hasn’t. But at every step of the way he’s brought a distinctive perspective and point of view. David talks about the fact that he does not consider himself a risk taker. But he is absolutely willing to see the status quo for what it is. An artifice. And a falsehood. Leading inside the lines is a choice. Pushing against them is another. But recognizing they don’t actually exist is perhaps the most powerful starting point for any form of creative leadership. In a world in which everything we thought we knew has been thrown up in the air, playing by an old set of artificial rules will get us to one place fast - a broken version of the past. Leading the future starts when you imagine the world without rules. And let the most powerful force of all - your imagination - run wild.