Dustin Pead 10/17/23 Dustin Pead 10/17/23

Maker vs Manager

It’s a difficult tension for someone who has been the one creating for many years to switch gears into a mode of leading creatives. You’ve been “heads down” for so long on the ground level and now you’re tasked with leading your peers. This can cause all sorts of identity crises for a creative person. Here are a few things to keep in mind when making this shift to make it a position you can thrive in.

Dustin Pead 10/10/23 Dustin Pead 10/10/23

Find Your Creative Circles

There are a few reasons why creative people are often seen in public packs. Creatives need a few key ingredients that this type of community provides.

Dustin Pead 10/3/23 Dustin Pead 10/3/23

How To Run A Creative Meeting

We’ve all been there. A client or a department requests a “creative” meeting and you get an invite because you have the label, title, or reputation of being creative. You walk in and begin the game of how long you can sit through this unorganized, unproductive marathon before you walk out or say something you shouldn’t. You just wish someone knew how to run a creative meeting.

Dustin Pead 9/26/23 Dustin Pead 9/26/23

Begin With The End In Mind

One of the things that often keeps creatives from doing their best work is completing their best work. Eventually, they lose focus, get overwhelmed with what’s next, and give up. There’s a way through it, but they can’t see it.

The problem lies before the creation ever began. They never had a plan on how they were going to see this thing through. They rely on their creative whimsy and woo to pull them through and justify the end results not being what they imagined as a turn of mystic events by the creative Gods. In reality, if we can plan the work and then work the plan we will hit the originally intended target more than we are currently.

There’s a simple method to this planning: Begin with the end in mind.

Dustin Pead 9/19/23 Dustin Pead 9/19/23

Know Your Team

It’s been said many times before, both by me and by those much smarter than me, but you can’t lead what you don’t understand. And if you try, no one will follow you. People can smell a fake from a mile away. So the simple math is that if you want to lead your team well, you have to know them well.

Here are three simple ways to know your team better that you can implement immediately.

Dustin Pead 9/12/23 Dustin Pead 9/12/23

Creating A Culture Of Creativity

Creative teams and environments can be so volatile and fragile. Bits of drama, uncertainty, lack of clarity, and an all-work-no-play atmosphere can squash any remnants of creativity you and your team have left. So how do you contribute to overcoming these obstacles? How can you begin to create a culture of creativity like never before for you and/or your team?

Here are my top five ways to cultivate what you desire most.

Dustin Pead 9/5/23 Dustin Pead 9/5/23

Creativity Made Easy

Creativity can be easy. You just have to find a process that works for you and keeps you accountable to see it through to the end.

Dustin Pead 8/29/23 Dustin Pead 8/29/23

Unspoken Expectations

Unspoken expectations lead us to all sorts of frustration, disappointment, and avoidable drama.

Dustin Pead 8/22/23 Dustin Pead 8/22/23

The Problem We’re Trying To Solve

Todd Henry says all the time, “Creativity is problem-solving. Nothing more. Nothing less.”

So simply put: What is the problem you’re trying to solve?

Asking this question at the beginning, middle, and end of your creative project will always lead to greater success.

Dustin Pead 8/15/23 Dustin Pead 8/15/23

Can My Enneagram Number Change?

Dustin Pead 8/8/23 Dustin Pead 8/8/23

How to Get MARGIN

Dustin Pead 8/1/23 Dustin Pead 8/1/23

How To Build and Sustain a Healthy Team Culture

“How?” is my favorite question because I love walking others through a process and seeing the lightbulb turn on. When it comes to team culture, HOW seems to be an almost impossible question. Below is my short list of how to not only build the team culture you desire to be a part of but also how to sustain it. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, “It’s one thing to TAKE a reservation, it’s a whole other thing to HOLD a reservation.” So let’s get practical on how to build and sustain the culture you’ve always wanted.