Fearless Creative Leadership

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.

Does your AI do what you need it to do? This episode is part of a series of conversations I've been having in partnership with the Cannes Lions 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. I'd planned on ending the series with my interview of Sir John Hegarty, but I recorded two bonus episodes during Cannes that I felt were an important part of the conversation. Adam Tucker is the Global Account Lead at WPP for Mondelez, and he reached out to me after listening to the first few episodes in this series. He pointed out that while we were focusing on how AI will impact the process of how the creative industries work, we hadn't talked about how it is already changing the work itself. WPP has made a significant investment in AI. The press reports that it's spending about $318 million annually in WPP Open, a set of AI capabilities that are now available to its 35,000 employees around the world. Adam explained why from his perspective, this investment creates a competitive advantage. I'm not an AI expert, nor have I seen WPP Open firsthand, to pass any judgment on its capabilities, and whether it is in fact superior to other forms of AI that are publicly available. This conversation is not intended to convince you whether WPP has created a competitive advantage or not. What it does establish is one clearly differentiated benchmark in the ecosystem of AI that are now springing up across the creative industries, and therefore, it provides one measurement against which to evaluate your own relationship with artificial intelligence. I'll wrap this series this week with one more bonus episode and then a recap. In the meantime, thanks for listening.

Are you willing to dare? This episode is the last in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes and during Cannes, we focused our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to fundamentally redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. This episode's guest is Sir John Hegarty. He's the Co-Founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and one of the most original thinkers of the last 40 plus years. Sir John is a reference point for an industry that has changed a lot, and also not very much over those four plus decades. The through lines that mattered, then still matter today. Confident, disruptive thinking. At a time when the future is waiting to be invented, like never before, Sir John's description of the atmosphere that leaders need to create is time tested. Only time will tell whether it is timeless. Next week, we'll have a couple of bonus episodes before I wrap up the series, and give you my thoughts on the impact of AI on the creative industries, based on the conversations that I've been having. In the meantime, thanks for listening.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. Are you willing to dare? This episode is the last in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes and during Cannes, we focused our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to fundamentally redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. This episode's guest is Sir John Hegarty. He's the Co-Founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and one of the most original thinkers of the last 40 plus years. Sir John is a reference point for an industry that has changed a lot, and also not very much over those four plus decades. The through lines that mattered, then still matter today. Confident, disruptive thinking. At a time when the future is waiting to be invented, like never before, Sir John's description of the atmosphere that leaders need to create is time tested. Only time will tell whether it is timeless. Next week, we'll have a couple of bonus episodes before I wrap up the series, and give you my thoughts on the impact of AI on the creative industries, based on the conversations that I've been having. In the meantime, thanks for listening.

What is it? This episode is the seventh in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to fundamentally redesign the creative industries? Or do we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Before we jump into this conversation, a couple of programming notes. I had originally intended to finish this series of conversations with this episode, and then to do a wrap up episode on my takeaways from the series. But I've got a chance to interview an industry legend at Cannes, and so I'm going to extend the series by one more. You'll hear that conversation at the end of Cannes next week. And then, the week after, we'll wrap up the series. Tiffany Rolfe is a mother, as well as the Global Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. I asked Tiffany to come back on the show because she is, as you'll hear, a self described tech optimist. She's also one of the most original thinkers that I know. Her professional journey has taken her from Executive Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to Chief Content Officer and Partner at one of the first agency consultancy hybrids, Co:Collective, to her role at R/GA. If you haven't heard our earlier episode in which she talks about the challenges of combining a demanding career with being a mother, it's a really powerful listen. In this conversation, one of the first questions that came up was, how should we think about AI? Stay tuned next week for our final conversation in the series. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. What is it? This episode is the seventh in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to fundamentally redesign the creative industries? Or do we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Before we jump into this conversation, a couple of programming notes. I had originally intended to finish this series of conversations with this episode, and then to do a wrap up episode on my takeaways from the series. But I've got a chance to interview an industry legend at Cannes, and so I'm going to extend the series by one more. You'll hear that conversation at the end of Cannes next week. And then, the week after, we'll wrap up the series. Tiffany Rolfe is a mother, as well as the Global Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. I asked Tiffany to come back on the show because she is, as you'll hear, a self described tech optimist. She's also one of the most original thinkers that I know. Her professional journey has taken her from Executive Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to Chief Content Officer and Partner at one of the first agency consultancy hybrids, Co:Collective, to her role at R/GA. If you haven't heard our earlier episode in which she talks about the challenges of combining a demanding career with being a mother, it's a really powerful listen. In this conversation, one of the first questions that came up was, how should we think about AI? Stay tuned next week for our final conversation in the series. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. What is it? This episode is the seventh in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to fundamentally redesign the creative industries? Or do we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? Do we follow the puck, or skate to where it's going? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Before we jump into this conversation, a couple of programming notes. I had originally intended to finish this series of conversations with this episode, and then to do a wrap up episode on my takeaways from the series. But I've got a chance to interview an industry legend at Cannes, and so I'm going to extend the series by one more. You'll hear that conversation at the end of Cannes next week. And then, the week after, we'll wrap up the series. Tiffany Rolfe is a mother, as well as the Global Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer at R/GA. I asked Tiffany to come back on the show because she is, as you'll hear, a self described tech optimist. She's also one of the most original thinkers that I know. Her professional journey has taken her from Executive Creative Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, to Chief Content Officer and Partner at one of the first agency consultancy hybrids, Co:Collective, to her role at R/GA. If you haven't heard our earlier episode in which she talks about the challenges of combining a demanding career with being a mother, it's a really powerful listen. In this conversation, one of the first questions that came up was, how should we think about AI? Stay tuned next week for our final conversation in the series. And in the meantime, thanks for joining us.

What do the artists think? This episode is the sixth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Jamie Gutfreund has seen the creative industries from many vantage points. She's the former Global Chief Marketing Officer for Hasbro and MGA Entertainment. She was Chief Growth Officer at Whalar and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs. Today, she's the Founder of Creator Vision, a company that she describes as helping brands bridge the gap between the practice and the promise of the creator economy. At a time when the future is coming towards us faster than perhaps at any period in human history, gaining some advanced warning about what will happen next, would be welcome. To put it mildly. Is it conceivable that AI itself might give us the clues to how AI is going to change the world as we know it? Jamie thinks it's possible, if we look at it through the right lens. The artists' lens. At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here. In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. What do the artists think? This episode is the sixth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Jamie Gutfreund has seen the creative industries from many vantage points. She's the former Global Chief Marketing Officer for Hasbro and MGA Entertainment. She was Chief Growth Officer at Whalar and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs. Today, she's the Founder of Creator Vision, a company that she describes as helping brands bridge the gap between the practice and the promise of the creator economy. At a time when the future is coming towards us faster than perhaps at any period in human history, gaining some advanced warning about what will happen next, would be welcome. To put it mildly. Is it conceivable that AI itself might give us the clues to how AI is going to change the world as we know it? Jamie thinks it's possible, if we look at it through the right lens. The artists' lens. At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here. In the meantime, thanks for joining us.

Edited highlights of our full length conversation. What do the artists think? This episode is the sixth in a series of conversations that I'm having in partnership with the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity. For the weeks leading up to Cannes, we're focusing our study of leadership through a single lens. The impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Creative Industries. Are we moving fast enough? Are we going far enough? Is this an opportunity to redesign the creative industries? Or should we adjust and iterate, slowly and carefully? There are opportunities and risks around every corner. Jamie Gutfreund has seen the creative industries from many vantage points. She's the former Global Chief Marketing Officer for Hasbro and MGA Entertainment. She was Chief Growth Officer at Whalar and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 50 Most Entrepreneurial CMOs. Today, she's the Founder of Creator Vision, a company that she describes as helping brands bridge the gap between the practice and the promise of the creator economy. At a time when the future is coming towards us faster than perhaps at any period in human history, gaining some advanced warning about what will happen next, would be welcome. To put it mildly. Is it conceivable that AI itself might give us the clues to how AI is going to change the world as we know it? Jamie thinks it's possible, if we look at it through the right lens. The artists' lens. At the end of the series, I'll offer some thoughts on what we've heard and learned, and where we might go from here. In the meantime, thanks for joining us.