In a business obsessed with showing everything in the best possible angle and light, the most indispensable quality for a Creative Director isn’t vision —
it’s brutal honesty.
Honesty when the clock is ticking, the shortlist is lifeless, and, to quote Marie Kondo, nothing “sparks joy.”
Honesty with your team, as starry-eyed juniors pitch their “Titanium Cannes Lions winner” that’s stunningly off-brief.
Honesty with production, when their quick fix nails the deadline and budget but guts the idea’s soul.
Honesty with the client, when their decision risks setting their brand ablaze in the wrong way.
Honesty with your own ego, when your team delivers something sharper, smarter, better than the idea you wrestled with at 3 a.m.
Because at the heart of it all,
a Creative Director has one mission: quality control. And where there is no honesty, there is no quality.