My First Year As Creative Director Of An Ad Agency.

Imagine you’re in a room with Chinese investors. Of all the people clamoring for the spot, they chose to do business with you, because…because they believe Mandarin is your second language. Then Xin Chi Moon rattles his glass, proposes a toast to you and everyone waits silently for a long poetic Mandarin response. Only problem is, you haven’t actually actually spoken Mandarin in that way before. That’s kind of how I felt turning up on my first day as Creative Director.

I spent hours Googling to find out how other Creative Directors navigated their first year but found nothing really. I would have loved a post I could relate to, most preferably from an African context. So I’m writing this for anyone with similar curiosities as I had in the beginning.

INTERNAL STRUGGLES

Leadership Technicalities

I’d been a senior creative in another agency, led smaller teams, cracked campaigns almost single handedly, developed my strategic acumen, etc but there was always Sitso (my creative director). And now there wasn’t. In my first week, I remember someone asking me permission to come in late and I reflexively said “Ask Sitso” before realising “Wait a minute! I am Sitso”. I wasn’t sure how this whole leadership thing went.

My leadership style was inspired by the CD I’d worked under. She wasn’t intimidated by anyone’s creativity so she wasn’t fussy. She didn’t keep the best briefs for herself or micromanage. She gave plenty of opportunity for growth and proactivity. She never stole credit, she delegated and trusted in a way that made a reprimand dreadful. She was quiet but assertive and she could fight! Fight for us, fight for our works. I took all that and added my own flavour to it.

Competitive Vs Inspirational

The hardest thing for me was learning how to bring out the best in people and inspire them to be their best. This is because I’d always been competitive, and now it had to be less about me.

It required more patience than I showed up with. Patience and the ability to criticize constructively. You have to make several judgment calls about people’s works, clearly identify what’s missing and how to make it better, and you wont always know how to make it better. Sometimes it seemed easier to just do it myself. Over time I got better at it.

I also made myself reproachable. I started most ideas or suggestions with a ‘Bad Idea’ disclaimer to make it easy for differing thoughts to be shared. It helped that I didn’t laud myself over anyone. It made it harder to be disliked.

No Respect

When you have value to give, skepticism gives way to respect then admiration.

Creativity wasn’t the problem, I had plenty of that…it was the people, earning their respect. I was younger then several people on the team and I was replacing a maverick expat with great track record. It didn’t help that I had no official Creative Director experience.

I had to work hard for that respect. I was determined to earn it, not demand it. I sat at a very ordinary desk with everyone; no fancy desk in an office. I wanted the kind of respect that was a natural response to undeniable creative fortitude. I also wanted my team to trust that if they accepted and supported my vision and made it theirs as well, it’d be in their interest.

I also taught quite a lot. To teach, I had to keep learning. When you have value to give, skepticism gives way to respect then admiration.

Then I led the team to win a massive pitch, which was a Bill & Melinda Gates funded project. It was sweeter for me because it was over my former agency. It was addictive sweetness. Then we started winning more awards at the industry’s annual awards competition. Through this process, they saw even more clearly the value I had to offer. ‘Respect’ was a response.

Self Doubt

I was afraid I’d fail. There was strong internal resistance from the team I inherited “Who the heck is this boy?” Was the question every one asked without saying a word. What does he know? I remember saying to myself “If you still have this job by month’s end, it’s 0% you and 100% God.”

My faith as a Christian was my biggest help here. Also winning pitches and eventually getting client approvals made me more confident. Seeing team members embrace my ideas and ways of working and using it to improve their own work was super useful.

Office Politics

I was 29, making me younger than everyone on the management team by over a decade. You could call it a generation gap. On a management team -and even with the wider team- everyone has an agenda. There are conflicting personalities and history of bruised egos or role clashes. Also the fact that you have a management seat doesn’t automatically make you influential. You could be there and quite redundant.

I was fortunate that my role was the heartbeat of the agency. Think about it; no one puts strategy or balance brought forward or client list on a bill board; it’s ideas! So I had to demonstrate value! For a long time the agency didn’t have a strategy person, so I stretched myself to deliver (for no extra pay). I won pitches. The vibe in the creative studio kept getting better. All these made my inputs and requests weighty. I was influential and realized my personal agenda primarily because I was delivering. I got to go to the Loeries in Durban, Cannes in France and enjoy other perks on account of performance.Age bows to Performance. In my case, performance was the most effective office politics navigation strategy.

EXTERNAL STRUGGLES

Intimidating Clients

My Nido client was this incredibly smart French-born Korean lady who looked into me like she was checking if I was Gucci or Succi. Her boss was even smarter. The kind of smart that’s more intimidating than an unlocked dog kennel. Nescafe and PZ were no different.

I felt like a fraud that could be found out at any moment.

These were clients with decades of experience and the entire West-Africa to oversee and they had to trust the creative custody of their brand in the hands of this boy. I could see the undecidedness in their eyes, or maybe it was just my paranoia. I felt like a fraud that could be found out at any moment. There was so much to get abreast with, so many brands to get immersed into. Coming from a traditional background, I had to get a firm grip of digital and fast, because that’s what we were delivering on for Nestle.

I used their weakness against them. I realized early on that they are intellectually discriminatory. They would gauge your intellectual depth in your submissions and use that to determine their future availability to you and how often they wanted you in their meetings. So I learned their business and deepened my understanding of their target and their media consumption habits. My inputs were grounded on a combination of these.

They also loved to be challenged. Great clients do not respect ‘walk overs’ people who nod to everything. They love different points of view politely and clearly made. They love passion and proactivity. Even when they don’t approve an idea, they respect the energy and passion that went into it. It all makes them feel they can trust you with their business. That’s when the respect comes.

It took time, but things fell into place. When client starts to respect you and your opinion, it shows. Age doesn’t matter when you keep making valuable inputs and churning great ideas. Nothing feels better than that respect. And clients don’t hide sentiments, they’ll tell your boss about you.

If you master your craft, you’ll be treated as an equal, no matter how young you are.

More time has passed since my first year and I’ve learnt that the best way to get better is to keep going. Overtime you strengthen your capacity to withstand all kinds of pressures, deadlines and expectations. No one has it all figured out, you’re probably better than the person you revere. There’s no one way to get it done. Believe that you can. Burn the bridges behind you. It forces you to dig deeper than you thought was possible. Question the status quo! Success is no respecter of age. If you have it, you have it.

If you master your craft, you’ll be treated as an equal, no matter how young you are. When it’s frightful at the start, think of how in the end, it’ll all seem so much easier.

After three years, I recently agreed to be CD at Publicis West Africa. It is a much bigger role with a much bigger portfolio and I started feeling like I did during my first year. The difference is that now I interpret it to be the tingly excitement and adrenaline rush of a ridiculously challenging and unknown adventure. I’ll keep you posted.

Originally posted on www.benanyan.com