Creative Directions: Mastering the Transition from Talent to Leader
- 6h 47m 8s
- Jason Sperling
- HarperCollins Leadership
- 2021
More and more makers, designers, writers, and artists are in demand as we enter the Age of Creatives. By understanding the new strategies and mindset required to succeed, you can manage other creatives successfully.
For creators, getting that promotion to management is exciting but can also be scary. The skills that made them so successful may not translate to the skill required to be a great manager, and this gets even more complicated when managing other creatives who often don’t thrive under traditional management procedures.
Creative Directions is a management masterclass in which you attend lectures and seminars as you learn from some of the best in the business, including directors Ava DuVernay (When They See Us) and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame); two-time Academy Award-winning editor Angus Wall (The Social Network); executive producers from hit TV shows like The Simpsons and GLOW; and creative directors and leaders at businesses like Amazon, Apple, Disney, TikTok, and more.
In Creative Directions, you will:
- Receive essential guidance on how to master the delicate balance required to successfully lead a creative team.
- Learn from star creative leaders in the entertainment industry on essential lessons they learned on their path to success.
- Gain insights on how to balance mastering the new skills you need as a leader with finding the time and energy to focus on the creative work you love.
All of these lessons are provided in an easily accessible format so that you can open the book to any page and find an actionable, inspirational insight or strategy.
About the Author
Jason Sperling serves as Global Executive Creative Director for Facebook Reality Labs. For over two decades, he has been developing iconic, award-winning advertising for clients that include Apple, Honda, Pixar, TikTok, Amazon, and UNICEF. His Apple “Get a Mac” campaign was declared Campaign of the Decade by Adweek and was one of Ad Age’s Top Campaigns of the century. In 2015 he was selected as one of the Top 30 Creative Directors in the country. His first book on breakthrough marketing, Look at Me When I’m Talking to You: Building Brand Attraction in an Age of Brand Aversion, was released on Instagram (@lookatmebook) and was launched a page a day for over 160 days.
In this Audiobook
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Introduction
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Chapter 1 - Trade the spotlight for flashlights.
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Chapter 2 - Don't manage departments. Manage people.
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Chapter 3 - Remember the feeling.
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Chapter 4 - The delicate task of killing babies.
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Chapter 5 - Mirrors help reduce blind spots.
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Chapter 6 - Be a strong advocate for people & their projects.
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Chapter 7 - Set realistic expectations for your team <even if you have impossible expectations for yourself>.
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Chapter 8 - Make failure an option.
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Chapter 9 - The burden of bad news.
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Chapter 10 - If you have a bull in a china shop, move the china.
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Chapter 11 - Make more yous.
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Chapter 12 - Don't make anyone feel like a yellow Starburst.
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Chapter 13 - Make their struggle your struggle.
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Chapter 14 - Give a hundred. Expect ten in return.
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Chapter 15 - Don't take departures personally.
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Chapter 16 - In battle, always start with the bluntest weapon.
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Chapter 17 - Greatness necessitates compromise. <Sometimes.>.
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Chapter 18 - Align your spine.
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Chapter 19 - Learn to deputize.
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Chapter 20 - Only apes throw their poop at people.
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Chapter 21 - Sometimes you need to be a benevolent dictator.
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Chapter 22 - Opposition attracts.
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Chapter 23 - Bring out the human in people.
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Chapter 24 - Act your title.
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Chapter 25 - High-paid prima donnas make perfect targets.
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Chapter 26 - Your job description is just a starting point.
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Chapter 27 - There's nothing wrong with being a lifelong maker.
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Chapter 28 - Straddle the line between partner and prodder.
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Chapter 29 - Put your client's and company's concerns above your own. And have the ability to discern which are more important.
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Chapter 30 - Be mindful of the person above the person above.
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Chapter 31 - Don't rise so high that you lose sight of the people below you.
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Chapter 32 - Everyone at the table deserves respect <even if it's not apparent why yet>.
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Chapter 33 - Put a ring on it.
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Chapter 34 - Aspire to be a client whisperer.
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Chapter 35 - Don't treat insights or ideas like buried treasure.
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Chapter 36 - Great work still matters, but for different reasons.
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Chapter 37 - A POV is IMP.
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Chapter 38 - Fingerprints can leave smudges.
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Chapter 39 - Maintain a culture of consistency.
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Chapter 40 - Less pushing, more pulling.
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Chapter 41 - Falling on too many swords kills credibility.
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Chapter 42 - Take risks but mitigate disasters.
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Chapter 43 - Awards should be the fortuitous result of smart work, not the goal.
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Chapter 44 - Work rarely sells itself.
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Chapter 45 - Keep making things if making things makes you happy.
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Chapter 46 - When it comes to your job, be selfless. When it comes to your career, be selfish.
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Chapter 47 - Keep working on you v.2.
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Chapter 48 - Avoid burning a bridge you don't intend to walk across.
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Chapter 49 - A higher salary only makes you happy on payday.
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Chapter 50 - Go away and stay away.
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Chapter 51 - We all need a "fuck it" bucket.
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Chapter 52 - Try to establish a work-you balance.
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Chapter 53 - When 1 first took a leadership position, I wish I would have…
