Interview with Danielle Dailey, Creative Director
"[you] can’t share every bump in the road without demoralizing everyone and causing panic."
‘Word to the Wise’ is a Client Interview Series. I have had the privilege of working with many extraordinary creative leaders over the years and this is my way of sharing snippets of their experiences. Not just because they are inspiring but because they are relatable.
Danielle Dailey is a freelance creative director, writer, mama, wife, volunteer, and dog mom. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she believes in fresh air, curiosity, and the convergence of cultural stories. She loves people who take their work but not themselves seriously, laughing a lot, and that rare but pure feeling of getting a correct answer on ‘Jeopardy!’ that none of the contestants got.
Before going freelance, Danielle worked at Publicis Sapient as their Global Creative Director where she led strategic, people-centered journeys with our 30-person in-house creative team.
You have had a long and fruitful career as a Creative Director. How would you describe your experience to someone interested in this direction?
In a word: non-linear!
There’s not exactly a traditional path to CD in the first place (though some agencies still do the designer/copywriter to senior to ACD to CD route).
But I strongly encourage folks to jump at other chances when they come up. I was with one company for a long time, and the relationships I built there afforded me stints in internal comms, content and thought leadership, client work, and in-house marketing. Others jump around companies to the same effect. I’m positive these opportunities make for stronger creatives because they force us to live and work through different lenses.
What brings you the most joy or meaning in the work you do, and what keeps you motivated during challenging times?
It’s cliché, but it’s all about the people. In feast or famine, on any scale, if I can make someone’s day better or life easier through the work I’m doing, I get a sense of joy or contentment.
What advice would you give to someone trying to find their path and make an impact in a meaningful way?
Grow where you are planted. YOU can be the one who brings beauty or joy or order or whatever you value to any situation. Start with one person, project, or process. Don’t wait for the ideal conditions.
As a working mother, how do you find a sense of alignment between your personal life and professional endeavours?
Working motherhood, and I imagine working parenthood in general, forces empowers you to get real clear about your values, real quick.
But if I’m being honest, putting this into action took a long time for me. I was the only working mom in my office when I had my son. The working dads all had stay-at-home wives. Parents often talk about how they’re forced to be more efficient at work because they need to leave for various family activities. But I tried to do it all, or fake doing it all. And I burnt out.
What I had to realize is that it was about both my time and my energy—mental, emotional, and physical. It was about knowing what is worthwhile to me in life and (mostly) not feeling guilty or apologetic about that.
In my life, that meant:
I refused to be a “butt in a seat” for show if I wasn’t needed, but I would not let a teammate down by not getting my part done
Accepting that my advancement path would slow down when I chose not to travel, which in my situation was critical to face-time with key clients and executives
Refusing to accept being stagnant or not learning, even if this didn’t translate directly to a promotion or even my work in the moment
Speaking up about things that I didn’t want for the world my children are inheriting, whether that was in the way the company was operating or the work we were creating
In retrospect I can align these all to my personal values pretty clearly: it’s important to me to create value in work and life, to be creatively and intellectually stimulated, to behave ethically, and to prioritize time with family. But it was much more organic and, again, non-linear than that.
Pardon the plug, but it would’ve been a lot easier if I’d had you in my life back then!
What personal beliefs or philosophies guide your approach to challenges, relationships, and success?
For challenges, relationships, and success all in one? I’ll give you two guiding philosophies:
Leave things better than you found them
Experiences are more important than things
How do you like to give feedback and why do you think it’s effective?
One thing I think a lot of people don’t understand is that giving feedback on work is a very different endeavor than giving feedback on a person (skills, behavior, etc.).
For individuals on my team, I like to ask directly how they prefer to be recognized. Try it—it’s a fun question, especially in a group setting. Some like public praise, others tangible rewards or private recognition. Then do it!
When it comes to tougher feedback—well, I still hate it. I can’t help it; I want my team to be happy. But I know that feedback is a gift, one that I personally hunger for, so I try to be as direct and factual as possible, with examples to illustrate the issue and a conversation about how it affects the work or the team.
Feedback on work also needs to be direct. Too many creative directors don’t know what they want till they see it or, worse, know what they want from the start but let the team play a guessing game. I find it best to talk about the gap between the expectations that were ideally set out clearly from the start, and how the work should evolve to meet them. If I set out the problem, I want my team to come up with the solution. But if they want more guidance, I give it.
What do you think is the most important leadership attribute in today’s world?
VISION!
Knowing where you want to go and how your team or organization can uniquely get there, then creating shared ownership of that future, is a special and all-too-rare gift.
(As an aside, I used to think it was transparency, but that’s not as easy as it sounds. Internal comms taught me that leaders can’t share every bump in the road without demoralizing everyone and causing panic. I still highly value honesty, and I think context is essential to a job well done, but not radical openness.)
Is there an artist, podcast, substack, or book you’ve recently enjoyed that you’d recommend?
Oh yes! Many of these people are omnichannel in my life, so I’ll just drop some thinkers/writers I’m obsessed with:
Suleika Jaouad for artistic inspiration
Nedra Glover Tawwab and Pooja Lakshmin for self-care and boundaries
Glennon Doyle for living a better, truer life and being an activist
Anne Helen Peterson for examining our culture in fun but important ways
I just noticed these are all women (and all Americans), and this is not intentional. I recently purged some content that was pushing me into an “optimize everything!” mindset, and that happened to include a lot of men. Send me some Aussies!
It’s been a while, but when you reflect on our coaching sessions what has been your biggest takeaway?
Like I said above, I wish I’d met you earlier in my career. Everyone should have an Amelia for life and work.
Our conversations started with learning to identify my values and how those can (and must) show up in my day-to-day decisions as well as my goal-setting. This gave me so much clarity.
But ultimately what you taught me was that everything I need is already inside. I don’t have all the answers, but I have the intuition and the curiosity to build the relationships and ask the questions to get what I need. Turns out it is not my job—or anyone’s job—to know everything!
I still refer back to our worksheets and especially my notes from our discussions often, and I’m so grateful for our time together.