What do you do if senior stakeholders are not receptive to creative initiatives?

Like others, I would first seek to understand their concerns and perspectives. I would then work to build rapport and trust by demonstrating the potential benefits and value of the creative initiatives through data-driven insights, case studies, and successful examples from other organizations. Additionally, I would strive to involve the stakeholders in the ideation process, listening to their feedback and incorporating their ideas where possible to ensure their buy-in and ownership of the initiatives. By keeping open communication and aligning the initiatives with the organization's strategic objectives, I would work to shift their mindset and get their support for creative approaches to problem-solving and innovation.

Generally board members have a lesser understanding about how the company operates and what its intangible assets are and how they operate. Communication is important to reinforce information over time.

Nem sempre estará perceptível o descontentamento. Algumas pessoas s?o sutis quanto à isso e, portanto, é bom ter um senso de percep??o mais aflorado. Uma testa franzindo, uma olhada no celular ou relógio, podem ser sinais de desinteresse também.

You call them out. I want to assume "not being receptive" means much action has gone into involving and encouraging them, and no change is happening. I see this a lot, and it can be frustrating for the people doing the work. I suggest calling them out and clarifying all the work that has gone into the process. Being polite and quiet about such things helps no one, not even the senior stakeholder manager.

When engaging with senior stakeholders resistant to creative initiatives, the key is to align new ideas with their strategic goals. Present data-driven evidence showing how these initiatives can solve existing problems or seize untapped opportunities, making the benefits unmistakably clear. Empathize with their perspectives, identifying any concerns or risks they perceive, and address these proactively. Lastly, propose a pilot program, allowing a small-scale test of the initiative to demonstrate its potential impact with minimal risk. This approach balances innovation with prudence, fostering stakeholder buy-in.

Trust is often build when people see positive results, consistency and passion. Most often you can do so by doing what you think is right and at times you can do so by just following their instructions or approach but just like I observed from Steve Jobs leadership approach, you most certainly do so by finding your path, being consistent and persistent as It will fast track you to success.

Though not perfectly clear from the question, let's assume the unreceptive 'senior stakeholders' are part of your organization. I have a simple rule of thumb for this (okay, two thumbs): 1) Is the work clearly on strategy, e.g., does it honor/fulfill the creative brief? If so, then it deserves an audience with the client even if it subjectively unnerves some people. And, 2) if someone at your company has concrete evidence that clients are passionately averse to certain kinds of work, colors, imagery, etc., then assess the risk of sharing it. There's never just one way to do something good. Never.

In my experience sometimes to get certain more senior personality types onboard, to avoid hurting egos, you must frame your ideas in such a way that your solutions are glaring obvious but wait too lead let the senior stakeholder make the obvious suggestion or solution. This makes them feel as if they are involved or better yet steering the process and leads to your desired outcome far quicker than trying to argue the merit of your point. Whilst you may feel you are having credit stolen initially, I find this softer approach leads to less friction and better results in the long term which inevitably pay off!

In my experience, when it happens, most of the time, it is because of a lack of the culture, a sales-driven company that has been sailing, achieving its objectives without the help of a creative, out-of-the-box approach. So, even if you build your case by linking it to the company's objectives, it will not work. They will not buy it. The best is to start small, run a few tests, and prove how effective the creative campaigns are to generate results and how they will enhance the brand's reputation and support the business growth.