Twenty-seven. That’s how many times I gave away a brilliant freelance creative director a full-time job when I was creative director. Twenty-seven times they said no.
It drove me crazy. They already freelanced with us regularly, loved the team, rocked the pants, and (apparently) tolerated me very well. The money was great. What was the problem?
When we finally got to the bottom of it, their response highlighted everything that was wrong with the way agencies develop talent: “I don’t want to deal with clients. I don’t want to run a business. And I don’t want to manage anyone.
In other words, they just wanted to do what they do best: prepare great work.
Within agencies, we have built these rigid departmental structures in which career advancement means taking on more responsibilities that often have nothing to do with what made someone exceptional in the first place.
We are obsessed with everyone doing everything. Do you have someone brilliant at cultural activations? Great, now have them run a 360° creative platform. Do you have a writer who can create the perfect script? Great, give them responsibility for managing 10 people and attending status meetings. Excel at brand identity? Here’s a stack of banner ads to watch out for.
This is not only wrong, it is wasteful. We take our best specialists and turn them into mediocre generalists. And the solution is not complicated: create teams, not departments.
Think about any major sports team. They win because they have players who excel in their position and who complement each other. They don’t force their star quarterback to play defense. They don’t ask a guy who hit 50 home runs and stole 50 bases to pitch. Wait, bad example. You understand the gist.
So why do we continue to do this in advertising?
Instead of building hierarchies where everyone must be a jack of all trades to progress, we should create flexible teams of specialists who are more than brilliant in their profession. Want a great cultural moment? Bring it earned media virtuoso. Need a platform that will define your brand for the next decade? Find the strategist who has done it twenty times. Looking for innovation? Tap the person who launched billion-dollar products.
But here’s the key: don’t make them do everything.
When I finally wrote this CD with a custom contract – no clients, no direction, just pure creative work – they took the job. Years later, after I left, they were still there. Why wouldn’t they be? It was the perfect role for their talents.
The future of our industry is not about creating generalist departments. It’s about building teams of specialists who complement each other. Yes, we need more flexibility. Yes, this involves rewriting some HR policies. And yes, it could make your org chart look messy.
But the reward? Better work. Happier talents. More efficiency. And a lot less super unique polygonal stakes inserted into round holes.
It’s time to stop forcing people to climb a ladder they never wanted to climb. Don’t tell Jalen Brunson he needs to play center to advance his basketball career. Let’s build teams that allow experts to be experts.
The future belongs to specialists. The only question is whether your agency will be smart enough to let them play their role.
