Joel Ertsgaard

Joel Ertsgaard is one of my closest senior creative colleagues. Literally, the guy lives right down the street.

Joel and I have caught up at various times over the years to share a beer and notes on creative leadership. But it wasn’t until the start of the pandemic that we began our backyard beers sessions (a prequel, perhaps, to this reconnect roadshow). '

Joel is currently creative director at F5 and before that design director at REI. The man has successfully jumped from B2C to B2B creative leadership, and chatting with Joel reminded me again why he’s had such success in his creative career. A couple nuggets;

First, Joel knows the importance of fostering a healthy creative culture. Creative work takes courage; sharing your nascent ideas, getting them shot down, and maintaining the confidence to keep dreaming them up. Joel is the kind of creative leader who truly cares about his team and has learned the art of positive critique that makes the work better while building self-confidence on the team.

Secondly, Joel is constantly curious about improving the process. We spent more than a few minutes on his latest quest; to find an objective measure of the quality of creative work. The closest I have seen are the four criteria that The ADVERTISING Club of New York uses for the ANDY Awards; idea, bravery, craft, and reset/innovation.

Finding an objective measure for such a subjective thing (creative quality) is no small feat, but for a unique problem-solver like Joel, a genuine artist now steeped in the world of data-driven creative, I have no doubt he will find it. I am excited to learn what it is in our next backyard beers session. Until then, thank you Joel!

#leadership #success #creativity #innovation #design #thankyou