So, you want to be a creative director? (Column)

 Andrew Simon is the chief creative officer at Cundari in Toronto

The other morning as I was putting on my black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and black leather high tops, I suddenly realized that I don’t own a black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, or black leather high tops. And the only time I’ve donned a scarf indoors was when I was bedridden with the flu.

Yet even with all my stereotypical shortcomings, when I check my underwear, it still says Chief Creative Officer. Which begs the question, other than looking the part, exactly what does it take to rise to the top of the creative food chain?

A lot of folks think being elevated to the highest creative ranks lives and dies with winning awards. And they’re mostly right. Collect multiple shiny things, especially shiny things from foreign lands, and the job offers with swankier titles (and bigger dollars) will cascade down from the heavens like a Vancouver rainstorm. But what happens next? A team makes the leap based on their ability to conceive and produce award-worthy work and yet as they climb higher and higher, the job demands skills that are further and further away from what got them promoted in the first place. Soon they’re held responsible for managing others, and if sports has taught us anything, a celebrated playing career doesn’t automatically translate to similar success behind the bench. Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson, and Isiah Thomas can back me up on that.

To be a truly effective creative leader of an agency, the job demands you to be part new biz dynamo, part strategist, part motivator, and if you happen to work for a multinational, part lion tamer. There’s a reason that some of the top creative leaders in Canada are former account people – beyond a strong creative mind, it pays to be business-minded.

Being a great salesperson is another huge asset. In the future, the creative problems you solve will have less to do with how to convince time-starved moms to buy dishwashing liquid and more to do with how to convince risk-averse clients to buy scary creative ideas. And it’s not just external selling. You have an agency to co-run. If you work at a multinational with separate P&L’s that could mean battling it out over such scintillating topics as department budget, staffing, and salary to revenue ratios. Sitting at a coffee shop and staring at your partner’s face for hours on end may seem like a sweet, sweet memory.

The reality is that as a creative leader, there are a bevy of serious topics to grapple with. To be ready to do so, like Peter Pan, you’ll need to decide whether or not you want to grow up. Let’s face it – as a creative, you can often get away with behaviour that would make a teenager blush. I know I was often coddled, the way I’m sure my creative forefathers and foremothers were as well. But if you’re gunning for that top job, you’ll have to bottle up some of that creative ego in the name of the greater agency good. You’ll need to learn to reconcile embracing a few soul-sucking clients who help pay the bills and fund other more creatively fulfilling relationships. And sometimes, dare I say it, you’ll have to concede in the short-term for long-term gain.

But don’t get me wrong – it’s an awesome job. It’s just not an easy job. So when you’re ready to interview for that Grand Creative Poobah job, come prepared. Make sure you have a vision, a plan for taking that agency to the next level with specific short and long-term goals. Commit it to paper. Prove that you’re a person of real substance – thoughtful, passionate, and more “we” than “me.” Remember, it’s easy to see through posers in black-rimmed glasses, especially when those glasses don’t have a prescription.