The fine balance of creative ego
When you do anything creative, ego has a very key role to play. You need to believe in your own ideas with enough strength to push them forwards, and continue to believe in yourself when bad feedback comes your way. But you also need to be humble enough to accept that sometimes your idea isn’t right, and that the bad feedback is occasionally accurate.
In this post I’m going to explore the pros and cons of a creative ego, as well as showing you how to control yours to deliver the best results.
So you think you’re something special, huh?
If you’re reading this, the chances are you work in some kind of advertising job. Maybe you’re a fellow creative who enjoys my dry insights, or perhaps you’re a potential client who enjoys my work. (This way, please.)
Either way, you do what to do because you think you’re good at it. Being a creative isn’t a job you can just turn up and plod through. You have to be switched on every day, inspired all the time, constantly trying to do things differently. That takes mental willpower, and it takes a lot of ego.
You need to believe your ideas have merit. If you don’t, they’ll never get signed off or made. They’ll just be scribbles on a piece of paper that ends up in the bin, and your career will quickly falter. A creative without an ego is like a car without an engine - all the right parts, but none of the oomph to make it go.
But too much oomph and you can end up driving right off the road.
Treat your ego with caution
We’ve all worked with people who think they’re the dog’s bollocks. And sometimes they are. But even if you’re the absolute best at what you do, being cocky about it doesn’t win you any friends. Too much ego will see your ideas get rejected for a whole other reason: people simply won’t like you.
A creative director that puts their own ideas ahead of everyone else’s will quickly lose the respect of their creative team. A manager that takes the credit for their team’s work will soon find themself managing no-one. A CEO that brags about doing all the hard work themselves will be running their business into the ground.
You need enough ego to do your job well, but not so much that no-one ever wants to work with you.
Ego can blind you to the truth
You ever looked at a brief and thought, “I can do better than that”? You might be suffering from too much ego. I know I’ve been there myself, seeing what the client wants but delivering something I think is better. It rarely worked. I used a system where I’d pitch three ideas: one that was safe, one that I thought was bang on, and one that they’d never go for in a million years. 99% of the time they’d go for the safe one, because it was what they’d briefed in.
If you always think you know best, you’ll ignore what the brief actually asks for, or even worse, what the target audience actually cares about.
That will result in bad ideas with bad feedback, which your ego will tell you to ignore. It’s a painful cycle.
If you keep pitching ideas that you think are better than what the client wants, the client will eventually start working with someone else who just does what they ask for.
How to get the best out of your ego
So what I’ve done here is say that you need an ego to be good, but that too much ego is bad. GEE THANKS ASH, REALLY HELPFUL.
Well fear not, it gets better. My ego sits at a constant 60%. I’ve learnt how to use it to make good work happen, and put it aside when something else would work better. By following these simple tricks, you too can be both good at your job and likable as a human being.
Trust the experts
I’ve been lucky to work with some incredibly talented people throughout my career, and the best ideas always come from listening to them. If someone has X years’ experience doing a certain kind of work, they’ll probably know how to do it well. Don’t let your ego get in their way.
Ask the audience
A good idea in a studio can be a shit idea in the real world. Do your research while you’re thinking and find out what people actually think, not what your ego tells you they think.
Treat your ego like a tool
The same way a hammer is good for some jobs and a screwdriver is better for others, your ego should only be used when it’s necessary. Learn how to put it away, and if you feel it coming out, take a deep breath and stay quiet.
Develop a sense of humour
A big ego who can take the piss out of themselves? A useful asset, a fun guy to have around (hopefully). A big ego who takes themselves too seriously? A bit of a prick, to be honest.
Take feedback on board
A former colleague used to tell me my work was ‘A bit too Ash’. I used to take it as a criticism, but it wasn’t. Now I know how to dial it down when needed and ramp it up if appropriate. It’s not only made me a better copywriter, it’s made me a better person. Learning how to listen to feedback and evolve from it can stop your ego from being a monster and turn it into a valuable skill.
Worried this entire blog post was written about you?
Maybe you’re right. Learn from it, you’ll thank me later.