Creatives can be brilliant at what they do best -- and remarkably naive about the world outside their bailiwick. At Sterling, Williams makes a point of informing his team about the context in which their business lives. Every quarter he talks to them about what's happening in the economy, what's doing in the marketing-services sector, and what trends are roiling the advertising industry. "The more we can connect them to the real world, the more they're likely to understand some of the decisions that clients make," he says. He also arranges for regular applications of inspiration: outside speakers, art and photo exhibits, and social events. "Not an hour-and-a-half dreary lecture," he cautions. "Half an hour. Then, 'Have a drink!' "
Working within a context can also help creatives better sell their ideas. "You can't go into a business meeting and just say, 'Here's my thing. It's, like, totally cool,' and expect it to work," says Brunner. Communication is a skill that few young designers know or appreciate, yet it's the one that can determine whether their designs are accepted or rejected. He spends fully half his creative time writing. So he teaches his staff to be fluent enough in the language of business to be advocates for their designs. "They need to be able to say, 'Here's the business problem, here's what we were trying to achieve, here's the solution.' "
While it's important to keep creatives focused on the task at hand, allowing them time to take creative leaps can lead to big rewards. At Net Integration Technologies, Pennarun has instituted "nondirectional Fridays" to let his programmers work on projects that aren't technically part of their jobs. A voice-over-Internet-protocol server grew out of such a project. Too much of a focus on short deadlines can short-circuit true creativity, Brunner says. "When pressed for time, you do things you know will work because you don't have the opportunity for trial and error." To counteract that creativity-sapping grind, Brunner makes sure his team is also running parallel projects that are more investigations than deliverable projects. Later on, they might fold the results of those experiments into other projects.
The essential difference between creative workers and everybody else is that their work product is a personal expression of who they are. As a result, they're more emotionally exposed than other workers and more vulnerable to criticism. "You're really putting yourself out there," says Williams. While a certain amount of rejection is inevitable, Williams says it's important to explain why some ideas don't pass muster. Otherwise, he says, creatives have no understanding of where they went off the rails -- and no way to improve. "I've watched their fragile hearts die when a client says, 'This is just crap,' " he says. Managers can minimize failure by being very specific about a project's objectives. "Giving boundaries to creatives is not restrictive," Williams says. "It's directive."
Being creative on demand is hard work. It can be intellectually taxing and emotionally exhausting. It can ruin your sleep and tie your stomach in knots. Still, any creative worth his iPod will tell you the payoff is worth the price. Like third-grade teachers everywhere, smart leaders know the value of recess in working off some of that nervous energy. They know the Nerf ball is as essential to the office as a fax, that pizza, applied correctly, goes a long way toward solving gnarly creative problems, and that when inspiration is short, team paintball may be the answer. Brunner once looked on like an indulgent pledge master as his team spent weeks bombarding one another with flying rubber rings. "Fostering an environment where fun isn't viewed as goofing off is absolutely critical," he says. The product still got built.
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