Just imagine if he’d stuck with selling bonds.

Very few of us wake up convinced we need to be a creative person, and then stick with it. No, some of us venture off into corporate finance for a bit first.

But then creativity comes calling.

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When I first met Dave Weist (website, LinkedIn) I was convinced he was older, wiser and earned a lot more money than I did. Some of these things might have been true. Today he’s Hill Holliday’s Chief Creative Officer, so I know most of them definitely are true.

Dave understands humans, especially creative ones, and has a keen sense of how they function and how to organize them effectively. His focus is on the power of individuality.

“I need your brain here. Like I really want you here. Call it a little axiom, but great minds don’t all think alike. So I need you to pressure test this with me. I need us to disagree a little bit.” - Dave Weist

It’s hard won, valuable trait. And I’m thrilled he made time to talk about what he knows.

[Like they say] “Be yourself because everyone else is taken. I’m definitely always preaching that in a creative department. And you have to remind yourself sometimes too, you know, that that’s ultimately what it is. Because the ultimate goal is, I need that—I need your fingerprints on the work for it to really connect.” - Dave Weist

We covered the waterfront, from how to sell audacious ideas, to the three (very different) roles of the Executive Creative Director.

“When you become an executive creative director, you have to acknowledge when you go into a room which role you’re playing. Are you the executive where you observe things from a 30,000-foot view, the creative digging around for solutions with the team, or the director working to bring a creative vision to life?” - Dave Weist

There’s lots of useful, inspiring insights in this episode. I hope you enjoy it.

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