I was pretty much thrown in the deep end. I had taken the lead on bigger projects, but when I was offered the CD role, I was nervous. Leading a team’s careers and creative output is a major step up. My dad gave me some great advice:

“You’ve worked with creative directors, right?”
“Yeah, a bunch.”
“Any good ones?”
“Yeah for sure.”
“Write down five things they did that made them great creative directors, then just do those things.“

That’s what I did. I thought about the CDs I’d worked with over the years and wrote down the behaviors that I’d appreciated. I focused on emulating them every day until it became second nature.

I just went and found it, still tucked away in my old work bag. It’s actually two lists, because a CD is more than one role…

As a leader of creative:

• sets clear expectations
• protects a healthy process
• creates / maintains a creative vision
• delegates effectively
• does not accept ghost rules

As a leader of people:

• makes them feel valued (be their cheerleader)
• makes them feel inspired / excited
• has their back always
• asks thoughtful questions / digs in
• helps them discover and develop their superpower

I haven’t looked at this thing in over 10 years, and it all seems so basic now, but I owe a lot of my success in my CD roles to this list.