Herding Tigers

Careful strategic leadership helps creative people unleash their full potential.

People often compare leading creative people to herding cats. Herding tigers is a more apt analogy, because you can’t control a brilliant creative person as you might a pet. Skilled creative employees are powerful people who respond to specific, strategic leadership. Many people struggle to lead creatives after promotion to a leadership position because they try to lead their former peers without having a clear strategy. 

Strong leaders do more than meet goals and deadlines – they empower teams to reach their full potential by:

• Helping stakeholders better understand the mysteries of the creative process.
• Tactfully managing the egos and insecurities of creative people – sometimes playing the role of coach or therapist.
• Juggling different subjective expectations from both stakeholders and clients.
• Cultivating the right mind-set and embracing positive rituals.

Creative people thrive on the right mix of stability and challenge.

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