tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13705390348318175392010-03-12T03:00:10.332-05:00Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-90171164386825445242010-03-12T03:00:00.045-05:002010-03-12T03:00:10.377-05:00

Having returned from Asia two days ago, the Leading Creatives crew is definitely feeling the jet lag. The 30 hours of travel to get home, though, offered plenty of opportunities for reflecting upon what we saw and heard. Monday night in Bangkok I had dinner with an old friend who's in marketing, and who just started a new job with a domestic airline (among other things, he's responsible for the

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-17271098472873263132010-03-10T03:00:00.048-05:002010-03-10T23:57:39.004-05:00

I've written before on the topic of education in Asia, but most of my experience comes as a professor in a Singaporean master's degree program. Now, I've seen it from the student's perspective, and I'm more convinced than ever that educational styles in Asia need to change to take full advantage of Creatives' potential. I was in Bangkok on this trip, taking a week-long class. Now, my students

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-9567424004714707202010-03-08T03:00:00.003-05:002010-03-08T03:00:08.286-05:00

Every now and then you'll have employees who try to make a name for themselves by attaching themselves to every project in sight but not really doing any work. Don't encourage this. Their plan is simple: they want to get their name out in front of their bosses as much as possible so they become one of "those people" whom everyone knows. And so, they volunteer to "help" with a lot of different

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-24179087522844928752010-03-05T03:00:00.049-05:002010-03-05T03:00:00.918-05:00

Creatives know that copying someone else's work is uncool. It may also be illegal, but to a true Creative that's far less important than the lack of ethics displayed by a copycat. When it comes to leaders, you shouldn't copy either, but for different reasons. When you take business classes, when you read books on leadership, and when you talk to your peers, you're going to be exposed to plenty

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-64193408735438281732010-03-03T03:00:00.061-05:002010-03-03T03:00:02.341-05:00

In the military, when it comes to dealing with senior leaders (some of whom may not be perfect, believe it or not) there's an idea that "you don't have to respect the person, but you have to respect the rank." A similar concept holds true in private business: while employees might not respect a leader, they should respect that person's position and authority. So even a poor leader will have

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-77186964153163653552010-03-01T03:00:00.002-05:002010-03-01T03:00:10.983-05:00

There are a few entries that I think bear repeating every now and then, such as this one on the importance of physical fitness. Fitness activities can help keep the creative juices flowing, give people the energy to work hard, and lower your firm's health care costs. Good fitness among your Creatives can increase revenues and decrease costs, which according to my calculations means higher

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-31391577559046232762010-02-26T03:00:00.066-05:002010-02-26T03:00:00.048-05:00

The Hippocratic Oath says "First, do know harm." Google says "Do no evil." I've been known to say "I don't need you to help me...I need you to get out of my way." Before you worry about how to motivate your Creatives, you might want to focus on not demotivating them. One of the great advantages of leading Creatives is that they tend to be passionate about what they do. They've got a talent,

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-14707181604045552462010-02-24T03:00:00.002-05:002010-02-24T03:00:06.418-05:00

The LeadingCreatives crew is heading back to Asia for a couple weeks. In between running a marathon and going to school at the Wat Po School of Traditional Thai Medicine, we're looking forward to meeting up with Creatives from throughout Asia who can share some insights into their industries and the unique aspects affecting leadership in their cultures. Too often, people in leadership roles

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-16775831274571101632010-02-22T03:00:00.048-05:002010-02-22T03:00:10.575-05:00

When you go into a leadership role, it doesn't have to be all about you. And when you're leading Creatives, it really shouldn't be. An article in Friday's Washington Post addresses the evolving need for less emphasis on THE leader, and more emphasis on leadership. Juana Bordas writes in "Holdin' Out for a Hero" that "everything a leader accomplishes is only possible because of the many

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-41138461733392229922010-02-19T03:00:00.072-05:002010-02-19T03:00:07.210-05:00

We know it's important not to go overboard when it comes to meetings. People have meetings to plan other meetings, they hold meetings to complain about how many meetings they have,...too often it gets to be too much. But sometimes -- sometimes -- they can be very important and very useful. And THESE meetings, you should take very seriously. Let's call these "strategic meetings." Why

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-25405502899166746222010-02-17T03:00:00.043-05:002010-02-17T03:00:01.222-05:00

Firms that want to stay profitable, or at least stay in business, have important decisions to make in today's economy. Profit is equal to your Total Revenue minus your Total Costs. During bad economic times your revenues are likely to drop. So what do you do? A lot of leaders will look at ways to reduce their costs. The logic is simple: you have more control over your costs while your

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-86621042318545831532010-02-15T03:00:00.003-05:002010-02-15T22:02:47.542-05:00

We don't typically think of Winter Olympic athletes as Creatives (well, except for Johnny Weir and his fashion line, Be Unique), but American snowboarder Graham Watanabe definitely needs to be recognized as an honorary Creative. When asked in a press conference how it feels to be at the Olympics, he answered: "Try to imagine Pegasus mating with a unicorn and the creature that they birth. I

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-47512790423833747432010-02-12T03:00:00.061-05:002010-02-12T03:00:06.414-05:00

Are leaders born, or are they made? One of the crew and I had this discussion last month over dinner. I've been thinking about it a lot since then. Every book I read, every article I look through, that question stays at the forefront. It's an old question that we've all asked ourselves before, and plenty of people have offered up an answer, but I'm not really concerned with what they think...

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-79671226756080819752010-02-10T03:00:00.079-05:002010-02-10T03:00:08.436-05:00

Daniel Pink understands runners.  Maybe that's why I like him so much. As with his earlier works that I've read (Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind), Daniel Pink has taken some important, emerging concepts and put them into terms even the most inexperienced leader can understand. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us examines "Motivation 3.0," an understanding of what

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-15117761661263292992010-02-08T03:00:00.004-05:002010-02-08T03:00:04.311-05:00

We all love Apple (well, OK, I do...I don't know about you). But does that mean we should run out and buy iPads for our firm? Well, maybe not for our creative firms. AppleInsider wrote last month that Apple is targeting the iPad for small businesses. The article talks about the capabilities Apple included to make it business-friendly and discusses the appeal of the iPad for business

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-5025884807240480092010-02-05T03:00:00.005-05:002010-02-05T14:11:50.866-05:00

Inc. magazine has embarked upon an interesting challenge: after writing about the ups and downs of virtual work, they've decided to pack up their offices for a month and publish the magazine remotely. Cool. And of course, they'll be blogging about it, so be sure to follow them. The folks at Inc. are very used to sitting down with one another...this kind of creative work often seems to benefit

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-49653754375326691932010-02-03T03:00:00.039-05:002010-02-03T03:00:01.477-05:00

The idea of "shooting the messenger" was first expressed by Shakespeare, or so says Wikipedia. But in a nutshell, the leader who lashes out at the poor subordinate who got tagged to report bad news is wasting time, and wasting messengers. Don't be that leader. Many leaders say they want open communication in their workplace, but very often what they really want is open "top-down" communication

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-64749840709221252852010-02-01T12:20:00.000-05:002010-02-01T12:20:14.758-05:00

Creatives need inspiration. Maybe something to get them into the right frame of mind, maybe something to spark some specific ideas about visuals or textures or sound, inspiration can be a starting point or a nudge in a particular direction. Part of your role as a leader is to create an environment where inspiration can happen...you can't always BE the inspiration, but you can help your

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-3181936376821583142010-01-29T03:00:00.083-05:002010-01-29T03:00:00.333-05:00

Multitasking is so common we don't even bother using the term most of the time...it's just the norm. While we're working we're used to e-mailing, chatting online, tweeting, listening to music, surfing the web...and this week's introduction of the iPad offers us yet another tool for occupying our minds with multiple things at once (my goal was to be like every other blogger and mention the iPad

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-19446618662744494912010-01-27T03:00:00.020-05:002010-01-27T03:00:08.341-05:00

You know these people: "How's it going?" "Oh, I'm gettin' by." "What's up?" "Well, I'm hangin' in there." "So how's your day?" "Let me tell you what that no-good dirtbag in Accounting did..." These people (the second ones in each example, not the first, in case you missed that) have got very negative attitudes. They subscribe to the "ain't it awful" school of conversation, where the only

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-8553093634669490042010-01-25T03:00:00.040-05:002010-01-25T03:00:06.098-05:00

If you could do a search and word count of the 200+ entries in this blog, the word that would probably come up the most is "balance." There is a reason for this: The most important function you have when leading Creatives is maintaining balance. Ok, that's just an opinion, not an established fact or anything. But if you think about it, so much of what you do is keeping different aspects of

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-11807436233077158562010-01-22T03:00:00.002-05:002010-01-24T13:14:10.858-05:00

I recently had a joyous day at work: my replacement arrived.I won't be leaving my current job until this summer but, because we'd originally thought I'd leave sooner, we'd already arranged a replacement. Since he's in now, rather than arriving as I'm walking out the door, means I actually get to train him up and get him acclimated to our unique environment before throwing him into the mix. The

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-43013195975633884912010-01-20T03:00:00.002-05:002010-02-17T21:57:02.088-05:00

Denver was fun, and we talked with lots of folks in creative fields out there. The tech industry is big there, especially satellite design and software development, in addition to all the cool artists down in LoDo. In talking with people about their work lives, one complaint we heard was about sitting along the wall in a conference room while others discussed the business at hand...in other

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-1943314640061387092010-01-13T03:00:00.000-05:002010-01-14T23:47:56.441-05:00

The Leading Creatives crew is heading west to Denver for a few days. We'll save up all these good ideas for blog entries until we return next week, and will probably pick up a few good stories out there as well. Yee ha!

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1370539034831817539.post-61238258298150945312010-01-11T03:00:00.004-05:002010-01-11T21:01:13.659-05:00

We've talked before about using your employees for what you've hired them to do and making sure you use the individual contributions your Creatives bring. These are important. Not only do you want to get the most out of your talented employees, you also want them to be motivated enough to offer you their best.You and they still need to realize, though, that when they're new, there may not be

Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16881372741688267807noreply@blogger.com2