Somehow we manage

This Monday note is a little different: a book review.

I try to avoid business books because I find them boring and thin on application. But I picked up Jason Sperling’s Creative Directions because I hadn’t read a senior-level creative’s take on management before.

In the author’s words in his introduction, this book is “not meant for the Wharton Business School crowd… it’s meant for a special type of manger: the unorthodox outlier that powers corporate creativity up to its highest levels.”

I didn’t go to Wharton, but from what I’ve seen from fellow MBA-types, many of us could use some more training in organizational behavior (which, to be clear, is a class we all take). We go to business school to learn “hard” skills that the marketplace rewards — finance, accounting, operations management, analytics, marketing. But I’d argue that we get the longest term value out of being great managers because it’s a skillset that can scale better than those with technical parameters.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that some of the best managers I’ve worked with are ECDs. Managing creativity is a messier process than most. The deft transition from maker to leader reveals a special knack for understanding people and organizational motivation.

So it shouldn’t have been surprising that Creative Directions took a fresh approach to offering management advice. The book is broken up into five sections with about ten chapters each. Each chapter comes with an insightful headline (e.g., “A higher salary only makes you happy on payday”) that makes the table of contents one of the most useful reads in the book.

Rather than anecdotally spouting on for 400 pages, Sperling begins each chapter with a brief intro and then quotes from a handful of creative leaders from advertising, in-house, gaming, music, TV, film, and entertainment.

A few takeaways I jotted down as I read:

On infusing creativity into business-led orgs:

• Huge ideas can often come from the people the farthest away from the rules and politics of the brand — Margaret Keene, ECD Mullen LA
• The one that can be the most creative with the data early will be the winner — Jon Ikeda, VP, Acura Brand Officer
• 90% of directing is casting (quoting Scorsese)
• I don’t pretend I know everything. I don’t hide the fact that I come from a creative world and not their own. — Alison Watson, Partner, Founder, Legacy House
• When you reach an impasse on which direction to take, look for a third way. — Chris Ord, Executive Producer, Current Affairs, Containment
• Pull people in with, “We have an idea here that we know can be more. I’d love to have your thoughts on this.” — Brian Miller, CD, Disney

On growing into being great:

• The advice I always give to new managers is often the same as I give to new moms. Don’t feel bad if you don’t love it at first. It’s not easy — Alicia Dotter, 360 Senior CD, Amazon
• (Don’t just) solve your team’s problems, or feed your own ego by doing the heavy lifting for them.
• Having a POV comes with the higher title and salary.
• Those who say they want to lead often have a hard time actually making the leap from implementing to delegating. — Ted Price, President and Founder, Insomniac Games
• Sometimes the best baseball managers weren’t the superstar players or gifted athletes but the journeymen players. — Barry Weiss, Founder/ President, RECORDS
• You have to fall in love with building sandcastles rather than the sandcastles themselves. — Duncan Milner, Former Global Creative President, MAL

Creative Directions should be required reading for anyone who wants to be a great leader of creativity — agency, entertainment, or otherwise.