Real Creative Leadership

The prescribed career path for creatives has often been to pick one of two routes: work in-house or choose an agency. But not anymore, argues Jess Kirkman. Today, the skills learned from both places are the way to build a foundation for decades-long creative success. In this episode of Real Creative Leadership, Kirkman explains how to get the most from moving from one to the other and why a food brand like Taco Bell can be a great place for creativity.

Real Creative Leadership is a video and podcast series that addresses the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe's executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Mentioned in this show: 

• Jess Kirkman
• Taco Bell Design
• The Stoke Group

Creative people, says Jim Antonopoulos, haven’t been taught to sit comfortably in an ambiguous problem space. Instead, creatives are trained to focus on execution, often sacrificing strategic thinking in the process. In this episode of Real Creative Leadership, Jim shares his process for unleashing “strategic creativity” — and delivering creative solutions to the most complex challenges. 

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

When Reality Labs at Meta’s Global Executive Creative Director Jason Sperling attended art school, his professor burned one of his pieces in front of the entire class — literally. But that didn’t stop him. Tune in to the newest episode of Real Creative Leadership to learn more about Jason’s creative friction, and how he used constraints and criticism to grow into the seasoned leader he is today.

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Nothing confuses your audience more than a mixed message. But it’s common for brands to try to say too much at once — whether that’s on their website, their social channels, or even during a single commercial. In this episode of Real Creative Leadership, host Adam Morgan shares how to simplify your strategic messaging — so your audience will really listen. 

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Changing a beloved company into one that’s a stranger to employees and customers is a daunting challenge. Luckily, there are ways to make the process smoother for all who are affected by the big change. In this episode of Real Creative Leadership, Adam chats with CMO of Momentive (formerly known as SurveyMonkey) Leela Srinivasan about the Momentive rebrand journey — and why it was important to bid their old brand adieu.

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Alex Amado is the perfect example of the notion that there is more to a creative career than just your chosen craft. In this episode of Real Creative Leadership, Alex chats with Adam Morgan about the ups and downs of his career journey, how he made the leap from a budding creative to a seasoned business executive — and how you can, too.

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Leaders aren’t perfect communicators. There are three distinct statements Janis Fratamico, Citrix global VP of field marketing, has often heard leaders say insincerely. Adam and Janis unpack these three statements, and why you should only say them if you mean them.

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Building relationships is the third most sought-for skill in potential promotion candidates, according to our recent creative leadership survey. In this episode, Adam Morgan shares five different types of relationships you should actively seek to develop — and six ways to make sure they stick.

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.

Your business is growing, and so are your customers’ expectations. As a creative leader, you need to scale your team, and you want to do it right — in a way that accelerates the business and fosters career growth for your team.  
 
In this episode of Real Creative Leadership, Adam Morgan and Chris Do, founder and CEO of The Futur, come together to discuss this critical topic. Tune in and learn how to design, build, and lead your creative dream team. 
 

• Watch this episode to learn about:
• Smart leadership and growth strategies 
• Intelligent workflows for modern creative teams 
• How to integrate the right creative and collaboration tools 
• Strategic decision making, from hiring to resource allocation

Back in 2014, John Johnson never guessed that a friendly chat every quarter would lead to a job as executive creative director at Qualtrics. But here he is six and a half years later, because of the right relationship with the right person. Adam Morgan chats with John about the importance of forming strategic partnerships with people whose perspectives and skill sets complement your own — and how to do it.

Real Creative Leadership is building a community to address the issues, challenges, and benefits of creative leadership. The webinar series is produced by The Stoke Group (@thestokegroup), a full-service digital marketing and creative agency. Our host Adam Morgan (@askadmo) is Adobe’s executive creative director, an Adweek Creative 100, and author of Sorry Spock, Emotions Drive Business. For more information, go to realcreativeleadership.com.