Why creative agency CEOs need not come from creative backgrounds

As an ex-creative director who has been running his own successful consulting business for the past 15 years I find the concept of a creative leader acting as a business leader not such a huge stretch.When I was at Grey Advertising the management identified my business acumen and suggested that I should give up my creative role and step across into account management to learn the “business”. Perhaps that was because the general manager at the time had done that and subsequently went on to become the chairman of Grey Worldwide, ANZ.There are two factors at work in this issue. The first is the perceived under performance of the current agency management and leadership.The second is a growing belief that the way forward is with greater innovation and focus on creativity and who better to lead this than the ECD. The real issue here is the fact the market is dominated by holding companies which deliver growth and financial performance through acquisition. At the same time they have responded poorly to the changing needs of their clients and the downward pressure on fees from procurement.The role of the CEO in this situation is to toe the company line and to try and squeeze revenue growth through any means possible, and subsequently, profitability largely through cost-cutting. (Some could cynically say that making the ECD the CEO effectively halves the two largest agency salary costs). In this culture there is little opportunity for the investment in innovation and creativity beyond delivering a product the advertiser will pay for.Having said that, there are some outstanding creative agency business leaders, in the networks and especially in the independents, some of who were not ECDs, yet they are creative and innovative in their management style.The second point is that creativity is not the domain of the ECD alone. While agencies maintain this to be true, the fact there is a creative department and this is led by an executive creative director infers that this is the only source of creativity.In today’s business environment, business leadership requires creative and innovative thinking to create new visions, manage the business transformation and progression and solve the issues that arise with staff and clients.Sometimes these skills sit with the ECD, if they have the aptitude for it. But they can also be found in many others too. Perhaps a better question is: should creativity be more highly valued in appointing an agency CEO?Because then it opens the opportunity for creative leadership beyond the creative department.The writer is Darren Woolley, founder and global CEO of TrinityP3.Read also: Should more ECDs demand the CEO role?What does a creative director know about running the agency business? How to appoint an agency CEO