Creative Leadership

I’d never really thought of myself as a leader until one day I realized I’d become one. I’ve led a start-up agency in one city and grown it into a network with three offices, with a reputation strong enough for us to be acquired by a global network to reverse-takeover their operations in Australia.

I’ve led an office with a long history of unremarkable work to the No.1 creatively ranked agency in the world.

I’ve led a network’s global creative community, consistently delivering the best creative performance in its history. Culminating in Cannes Global Network of the Year and Effie Global Network of the year (creativity and effectiveness have always gone hand in hand).

I’ve led pitches. Local and global. Haven’t won them all, but a decent percentage.

I’ve led work on clients. From global brands such as Microsoft and Reckitt, down to the smallest challenger brands.

Creative leadership can be a tough thing to pin down. For me, it’s about building an unshakable belief in the power of creativity, and an equally strong belief inside everyone who works with me that every day is a very real opportunity to do something incredible. Inspiration is nothing without belief.

Creative Direction

Everything from running a pitch or launching a product or brand, through to a single campaign. I’ve been a Creative Director for quite a while now, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

One of the things that my seven years leading the McCann Worldgroup global creative council has given me is the ability to very quickly identify the spark/moment/magic/soul in an idea, and really hone in on that. Turning something small but interesting into something genuinely impactful is a big part of the job. There’s generally no shortage of raw ideas. What to do with them is the trick.

That, and understanding that the work has many stakeholders. Your business and strategy partners, the clients, production partners… the more engaged and invested everyone is, the better it’s going to be. It’s a collective effort, this game.

Creative Development

I’m a writer and a maker. I create ideas. All kinds of ideas. My approach to creative development is to put the problem or the ask at the center of everything, and just follow it wherever it goes. I don’t have any kind of bias towards any kind of execution. And even though I’ve had some big titles, and managed a lot of people, I’ve never stopped creating. And I never will.