30 Years in the Creative Profession, 16 Takeaways

Yeah. I’ve been knocking around the creative profession for an embarrassingly long period of time. In fact, my father relishes each opportunity to remind me that I’ve long passed the point where I lost my credibility (thanks Pop). But lately, I’ve decided to embrace my age and take stock of all that I’ve learned so far. In the interest of posterity, I’ve compiled it here for others to enjoy or reject. 

1. The world of ideas is massive. Every creative assignment has a million possibilities. For every area you explore, there are a hundred other areas. So the idea that something can be done quickly is often based on the notion that you won’t be doing much exploration - which means it likely won’t be very creative or very good. “Not very good” is the standard.
2. The music is not IN the piano. Technology is great for some things, but coming up with ideas or helping you to come up with ideas is NOT one of them. Get a sketchbook and a pen. Play around. Draw some mistakes. Go for a walk. Bounce ideas around with your creative partner(s). Listen. Smell. Notice. Take in your subject matter directly, if possible. 
3. Simplicity is a superpower. With so much clutter in our information environment, the only things getting through to people are those that are extraordinarily simple. Therefore, the first goal in creating for the masses should be to achieve relative mastery over the topic. Don’t put anything into the world until you’re confident it’s the simplest thing out there on the subject. (I re-wrote this blurb 5 times).  
4. It’s all about the human brain. Most clients have a LOT of things they want their audience to hear, understand, know and absorb. And they think the best thing to do is to simply tell their audience those things. Ack. Truth is, the audience only has an infinitesimal sliver of interest in what your client is selling and their attention span is that of a goldfish. A pinprick. You must advise your clients to simplify. 
5. Technology changes, the art of persuasion remains the same. The internet radically changed the agency business (and some agencies are still trying to adapt to that). But the business has always been, and will always be, about changing minds. It’s about persuasion. And the principles of persuasion never change. Were they alive today, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Cicero (especially Cicero) would all be world-class marketers.
6. Don’t listen to people who say, “People don’t read.” If that were true, there would be no such thing as Facebook, Twitter or the New York Times. People read what interests them. So for the love of Pete, don’t be boring.
7. Don’t listen to people who say they’re “turning the ship around.” You are a candidate interviewing for a job and the hiring manager tells you that the company is on the brink of a turnaround. What you heard through the grapevine, they’ll tell you, is old information. “Things are a-changing,” they’ll claim. The truth is that nothing is going to change, companies rarely “turn around” and these prognostications never wind up being true. 
8. Process determines outcome. It’s not enough to have good ideas, brilliant execution skills and the ability to present well. If the client didn’t brief you properly, the project will fail. If the client didn’t bring their constituents in on the brief so they know what to expect, the project very well might fail. If the client comes back with changes every single time you show something to them, the creative will be shite. If the client gives you one day to do three days of work, the quality will suffer. The process is everything. 
9. Don’t be afraid of uncomfortable silences. When you’re sitting with someone trying to come up with ideas, silence is inevitable. Let it happen. It’s part of getting comfortable with your creative partners. Too many people treat uncomfortable silences as a sign that they’re done brainstorming together or worse, that they’re failing at it. Not true. It’s a sign that people are truly processing. They’re working. Digging. Exploring. Sifting through the bad ideas for kernels of good ones. 
10. The wrong answer might be the right answer. People seem too ready to reject ideas. An idea that doesn’t work might be the kernel of an idea that does work. Jot down every idea, revisit them often and hone in on what’s interesting about them. What did you like about them for that split second when it left your lips or was transferred to ink on paper? 
11. Study. Dig. Do the work. Visit the factory. Read the reviews. Talk to a customer. Use the damn product. Then use it again and again. This was originally David Ogilvy’s advice and it’s never been wrong. When I worked at TRX Training (a suspension training company), I did the team workouts 3-4 times a week. I talked to the exercise scientists. I lived the brand. 
12. Ask the stupid questions. I can’t tell you how many times I asked a very dumb, basic question and watched people around me perk up - as if they wanted to ask that very same question but were afraid it might make them look stupid. But the stupid questions are very often the right questions. People tend to be incomplete communicators and a basic question helps to ground the conversation and fill in the gaps. Better to ask than guess. 
13. All-nighters are dumb. Agencies are notorious for overworking their people (and they make bank because of it). You present to your creative director at the end of the day and they throw most of your work out. But the presentation is first thing tomorrow morning. What do you do? Work all night (after having worked all day). It’s 3am and you can’t think straight. By 9am, you have done some of the shittiest work of your career and you’re totally destroyed. This is a trap. Don’t fall for it. 
14. Be patient. A lot of bad work gets produced because people are unwilling to sit with the uncomfortable feeling you have when you don’t have any good ideas. The tick-tocking of the clock starts to sound like Big Ben in your ears and you start to sweat. Get itchy. Stomach in knots. Voices in your head start whispering the word “hack” over and over. Take a breath and trust the process. Ideas will come. 
15. One good idea begets other good ideas. Coming up with ideas should be fun. And once you have a good idea, it reminds you what that fun feels like. And that feeling helps you come up with even better ideas. Plus, you know you have something, so you relax. And once you relax, all kinds of things happen. You feel confident enough to go farther afield. 
16. Swing free. Get the client out of your head and create something that moves you. Chances are, if you’re not moved by what you’re doing, nobody else will be and you won’t be able to persuade anyone. That’s how you become great. 

Feel free to add your own lessons in the comments.