If you’re working closely with creatives, you must have conviction.You don’t necessarily have to be a good copywriter or designer. But, you should have an opinion on what good copy and design look like.

Rick Rubin is one of the great producers alive today. Yet, he doesnt sing. He doesn’t write. He doesn’t play an instrument. He rarely touches a sound board. However, he knows a good song when he hears one. And, more so, he knows what direction to give the artist to help them create their best work. Artists don’t hire Rubin because of his skill. They hire him because of conviction.

Being a creative director is not unlike being a producer. In advertising, this doesn’t necessarily mean stepping in and doing/ editing the work yourself. In fact, this can piss creatives off. Don’t tell Picasso where to paint the boob.

Instead, your job is to develop a degree of conviction around what you believe to be good creative work and finding the right words to describe this conviction. If you hire the right creatives and articulate this conviction effectively, most of your work will be getting out of their way. When you do speak up, it’s because you believe they are capable of more. And, if they trust that you have their best interest in mind, they will listen.

But, otherwise, being a creative director is mostly keeping mum.