Things I wish I knew in school — Part 2
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Since my previous post, the world is quite different. What a mess.
However, I’m not going to go into that. You had enough of it already.
Here are the following five things that I wish someone told me in school. I think these points are most valuable for people either in school or early in their careers.
To get to Part 1, you can click right here.
6. People get director titles because of hard work and proven success
I know that some of you also know that this is not always the case. In our industry, it sometimes seems that you can just say you’re an art director, “fake it til you make it”, and boom, you’re it.
I have been frustrated when I’ve seen people that are mediocre at doing the work, but good at talking themselves up, move faster up the ladder than the people that are wired to talk less, and instead focus on improving their craft.
I’ve also received applications for internships where the fresh-out-of-school-individuals want creative director titles (they get instantly declined).
Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think that’s the right way to do it.
Please accept that early in your career some things simply take time. Instead of trying to talk yourself up too early, focus your energy on making the most out of your current situation and learning.
Find a good mentor, enjoy the ride, and patiently put in the work.
The title will come.
7. Really understand the concept of feedback
The fastest way to improve is to get tons of feedback, from people that are better than you, and then work on improving based on that feedback.
I know, getting constructive (and negative) feedback hurts. When I got my first “this is not good enough,” it stung worse than a teenage breakup.
But with time, it got easier, and I started realizing that I am not my work and that just because my work wasn’t good enough at that point, it didn’t mean that it would stay that way. When I got to that stage and started seeing each review as a learning opportunity, I started getting much faster at improving myself.
A simple way to make sure that people give you more frequent (and honest) feedback, is to always ask for it, with questions like:
- Do you have any feedback for me? I would like to improve for the next time.
- What did I do well? Can you tell me specifically why you think it was good?
- What would make it even better? Is there anything you’re not satisfied with?
- Why is it not good enough? What would you do to improve it?
- For the next time, how can I do things differently to make our working relationship better?
By getting into a habit of asking these types of questions, you show that you have a growth mindset and invite them to be honest with you when they give constructive criticism.
8. Work on shortening your communication
No one will buy into your ideas if they don’t understand you. Plus, people with decision power are busy people. So help the people you want to influence by getting your ideas across in as few and brief sentences as possible.
If you’re a creative writer, being expressive is great, but when it’s about team/client communication using complex language can get in the way of what you are trying to say. This is especially true if you work internationally as the shared language might not be the native tongue of the team members.
I love a good and short email, where someone is to the point, communicates what they want from me, and convey’s their personality all in a few paragraphs. It takes a lot of practice to do that.
Side-note: I don’t have any proof of this, but I think there is an inverse correlation between the seniority of someone and the number of written words they use. Many CEOs I communicate with only use the subject line in the emails or short Whatsapp messages to express what they want.
As you can see, I’m still working on shortening my writing myself… What could I have cut out of this text?
9. A prototype is worth more than a thousand meetings
Building on 8. Showing someone is more powerful than telling someone. At Your Majesty, we use prototypes all the time to explain our concepts and ideas. So go and find your favorite way of making prototypes and start tinkering.
Mine is paper sketches for very rough ideas, and keynote for making things move.
10. Having a specialty is not needed, but it will get you easier into places
I got declined internships at Fantasy because the hiring person thought I wanted to do too many things. The person interviewing me asked, “So… are you a developer, a project manager, or a designer? We’d prefer a developer who only wants to do that specifically.”
This was in the 2008 crisis, and I had just expressed that I was schooled as a developer who knew some design and wanted to explore becoming a creative producer.
I think companies get more risk-averse in uncertain times and therefore prefer hiring functions where they know what they will get out of a person, rather than betting what they might become in the future.
Being multidisciplinary has led me to where I am today, so don’t despair if you don’t feel that you identify with a particular role. Also, feel free to reach out to me if you need advice.
If you are looking for an internship or junior position right now, in the times of Corona (Dammit, I thought I could stay away…) communicating a single discipline or a clear focus early on might get you that foot in the door. Once you get in, you can start showing your multifaceted talents and skills to branch out.
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