PRINCIPLE NINE:
Great leaders help other do their best work
Creative leadership isn't about having all the answers.
It's about helping others grow, contribute and become the best creative versions of themselves.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The work isn't the only thing you're growing
I've been lucky to spend my career around people who were
better at something than I was. Some taught me by example. Others pushed back
on how I thought. A few just trusted me enough to try something nobody had
tried before.
At Stanford, that mindset shaped how I approached the legacy
industry awards. Instead of submitting another pile of work, I worked with the
talented people around me to rethink how the stories could be told, turning
award submissions into carefully edited, professionally produced pieces that
made the work easier to understand and harder to ignore. The recognition
mattered, sure. But what mattered more was watching what happened when people
got the chance, and the confidence, to show their best work.
That lesson stuck with me. I eventually built and led a
creative organization at Yale from the ground up. The work got bigger. The team
got stronger. My role changed along the way. I didn't need to be the one with
the best idea anymore. I needed to build an environment where good ideas could
come from anywhere. That meant listening. Giving people room. Knowing when to
push and when to just get out of the way, and every so often reminding someone
their idea was better than they thought.
I've been shaped by people throughout my career who
understood leadership isn't about collecting followers. It's about building
more capable people around you. That's the part of creative leadership I care
about most. The work ships eventually. Awards gather dust eventually. But when
someone you helped gets more confident, more capable, more willing to take the
next step, that's the work that actually stays.
What this taught me...
Give talented people room to own the work.
Raise the standard while making people believe they can get there.
If the team can make good decisions and produce exceptional work without you, you've done something that lasts.
