*Typing*

You don’t want to do work that is easy to achieve. Nor work that is impossible. You want to do work that is difficult. Work that is just out-of-reach. You want to do work that requires a degree of ingenuity: a hanger duct taped to a broom stick, a stepstool, your tiptoes and a stretch that makes you hold your breath. This kind of work requires you to grow, to expand and to become, while at the same time remaining incredibly fun. Easy work is boring. Impossible work is brutal. Difficult work is beautiful. Do difficult work.

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If you want to do great work, you have to invite constructive criticism. Unfortunately, we as humans aren’t particularly gifted at being constructive with our criticism. We’re far better at pointing out problems than we are at coming up with solutions.

Critiques must be accompanied by suggestions. If you are going to do the easy work of pointing out something that isn’t working, you are expected to do the hard work of coming up with a way to fix it. During your next feedback session, ask this simple question to facilitate constructive criticism… “How can this be better?” Not only will the feedback be less personal, everyone will become invested in finding a solution.

Reading isn’t an efficient means of consuming art. At least not compared to watching a film, listening to an album or gazing at a painting. We forget 90% of what we read. Yet, we recollect the scenes of a film, the lyrics of a song and the colors of a painting decades after last experiencing them. So, why read at all?

I find the act of reading to be so much more than the absorption of information. It’s a means of both ideation and meditation. Folks get down on themselves when their minds wander while reading. But, I’d argue this is a great gift of reading. I’ve read entire pages only to find I wasn’t reading at all but instead mulling over an idea for an ad, poem, short story or song. If you are struck with an idea that distracts you from reading, it’s likely a good indicator the idea if worth pursuing.

Rarely do we allow our minds the space to wander without constant distraction from our many devices. And so the time spent day dreaming while reading is not wasted. Occasionally, we will happen upon a book that is so enrapturing, we do not day dream at all but instead experience unparalleled presence. Is this not meditation? We leave a reading session like this latter one and we feel lighter and perhaps even enlightened, as if we spent an hour walking some alternate plane.

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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.

The Marlboro Man is arguably the most successful advertising campaign of all time. It sold billions and billions of cigarettes over several decades. Prior to his introduction, Marlboro owned just 1% of the tobacco market share. After his creation, that number climbed to 40% within about 3-5 years. Four of the five Marlboro men died of lung cancer or lung-related diseases (the one that survived never actually smoked the cigarettes he advertised). Prior to their deaths, many of them became anti-smoking advocates.