One place we can find inspiration for leading originality, diversity, and high variance is in creative and artistic environments. For many years, as consultants, we have worked among both leaders and their creative teams. We’ve conducted interviews, taught, trained, discussed, and made observations. In this article, we share our knowledge on the subject.
Our assumption is that if you can succeed in leading the “mavericks” and the unique originality in this sector, you will be well-equipped to lead diversity and inclusion in other sectors as well.
First and foremost, we must conclude that leadership in the creative industry is something special, and for several reasons. The first is that environments in the creative industry are very value-driven, meaning that the people you interact with make decisions primarily based on intuition and emotions.
Most employees identify with their work. For example, in the Royal Ballet, as Marie Haugsted Mors, Vice Principal of the Danish National School of Performing Arts and former artistic process consultant at the Royal Ballet, states: “Their work life is their lifestyle; they identify with their work, and they are emotionally connected to it. Therefore, there is a lot at stake. This applies not only to the dancers but to many other employees as well. A coordinating conversation or a decision is more than just a conversation or decision. The artistic level and the audience’s meaningful experience will always take top priority.”
If you are performing, you must be focused on yourself. At the Royal Ballet, the level is international and extremely high. The competition and ambition are enormous. A condition of the job is that you are always “on,” being directly evaluated by the audience and critics.
Performers need to excel, to be original—perhaps even brilliant, as Christian Rank (Miso Film, former head of DR Drama) expresses it:
“They put themselves out there, with no desk to hide behind; they are their performance. So before we accuse them of being self-centered, we must remember that their conditions require them to be ‘on.’ This makes them focused on their own performance and the artistic level.”
When we understand this emotional connection to the work and the preoccupation with personal performance, it becomes clear that leadership is necessary to succeed with a film production or ballet performance.
If you want to succeed as a leader in this environment, according to Marie Haugsted Mors, you must:
If, by nature, you cannot meet the artist with understanding and acceptance, according to Mors, you must practice this, as she elaborates:
“It’s an advantage that I enjoy working with artists. It’s crucial to enjoy working with many different kinds of people and to embrace great diversity and, at times, the eccentric. I appreciate the originals.”
It’s important to set boundaries and establish ground rules that allow for the extraordinary. The boundaries must be clear enough to provide direction but not so rigid that they stifle the artists. The purpose of all boundaries is to enable the artist to express themselves. The goal of the boundaries is to liberate the artist and unleash their artistic potential.
Creating the framework for a team to succeed is what we call process management. As a leader in the creative industry, you must see yourself as a process leader. How do we get people to collaborate, and how do we guide them from point A to point Z in the best possible way?
Boundaries can include rules for how we communicate, resolve conflicts, hold meetings, give feedback, etc. As a leader, you need to uphold these ground rules and avoid compromises.
With new generations entering the workforce, this may become even more apparent. Identity exploration can directly hinder craftsmanship. If they don’t experience leadership, they may get lost in discussions, focusing on the individual rather than the shared goal. The younger generation is also very aware of when their personal boundaries are crossed—making vision and ground rules even more essential.
Creative individuals often see themselves as self-directed soloists, but they still need a community and direction. Leaders must facilitate this paradox by creating a shared vision where performance and collaboration go hand in hand. When people are value-driven, they sometimes need help finding a common value to collaborate around.
Christian Rank explains that soloists need a community, but they also find it difficult to be in one. When they are part of the community—and this requires careful balance—they stand on the edge of it because they are soloists. Their drive comes from competition, which fuels their performance. They are like nomads: they want to belong to a community, but without committing too much to it.
As leaders, we often want to ensure that everyone is deeply rooted in the community. However, it may be a condition that one cannot be a soloist and deliver the necessary performance while also being fully immersed in the community.
We are often afraid of losing originality and the particularly creative individuals—and this fear is not unfounded. As a result, we may become hesitant, which is problematic. We let go of the ground rules, and then it is no longer the vision that governs, but the soloist. As a leader, you must facilitate this space.
At the same time, most creative individuals see themselves as self-directed; they believe they don’t need leadership. However, we would argue that they do indeed need leadership.
They need to take their performance somewhere, and it has a purpose—perhaps to create a film that moves people, giving the production a vision. The vision needs to be translated into more than just “moving people”; it must be articulated in terms of their craft, and they should be praised and recognized for their specific contribution. These are two crucial leadership tasks.
In a 2021 interview with Jacob Feilberg, Kasper Holten, theater director at the Royal Danish Theatre, stated, “If you want the quirky, creative, wild minds, you absolutely need to give them space.”
The originals must constantly be reminded that they are part of something larger and that they are important. If they can see this, you will succeed in leading them.
According to Kasper Holten, there are many practical things that need to be in place to succeed in theater, but in reality, it is most about employees believing in the project—not just in the individual production but in the purpose of the entire organization. He explains:
“If you, as a leader, cannot deliver a convincing narrative about why what you’re doing is important, it becomes extremely difficult to develop talent and recruit and retain good employees. It’s the sense of purpose that fuels the employees.”
How you lead originality and creativity is also relevant in other sectors. As we mentioned at the beginning, most companies want to foster diversity and inclusion because we know it drives innovation. But originality must be managed, which might make your job as a leader more challenging — but also much more enjoyable.
Here are a few good pieces of advice:
