“The work is only as good as the client is brave. You’re only as good as your teams. And your best work is always still ahead of you.”

These three learnings, shared by multi-award-winning Creative Leader Jo Wallace, at Creative Equals flagship RISE conference, held at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London today, provided the bedrock of an uplifting discussion designed to ensure that the latest legacy of the Coronavirus crisis is not women’s creative careers. 

In a wide-ranging interview with Creativebrief’s Editorial Director Nicola Kemp, Wallace addressed the myriad of data points showing that the ‘great resignation; is disproportionately impacting women. Her message to women on the brink of leaving the industry was heartfelt and simple. “Don’t go,” she said, adding “We need your perspective, your experience, your minds. I can understand it but that stat [on the disproportionate number of women leaving] but it really saddens me.”

Research from Creative Equals shows that 91% of female consumers feel advertisers don’t understand them. Seven in 10 women go further to say they feel “alienated” by advertising; these are perspectives and people that the industry simply cannot afford to lose. 

Answering a crowd-sourced question from Twitter on what advice she would give to women starting their careers in the creative industries. Wallace urged the audience to simply ‘be yourself’ 

“Remember that you are unique in your thinking. And if you do find that you are in the minority, then this is exactly why your opinion is so important. So voice it,” she explained.

The future of inclusive leadership

With inclusive leadership high on the conference agenda, Wallace shared her perspective on the most undervalued skill in creative departments: empathy.  She explained: “By that, I mean the ability to understand and share the feelings of our audience. Despite much talk, the stats show that creative departments still don’t reflect the diversity of the population. And without those differing perspectives and insights – be it based on gender, age, ethnicity or background – how does this industry expect to create work that truly connects to more than one segment of the audience?”

Wallace, who is also the Founder of Good Girls Eat Dinner, a non-profit networking event series, keeps her creativity and curiosity on high alert by employing active listening. Sharing the creative clout of eavesdropping, she explained that she gets her creative inspiration from everywhere. She said: “There’s the obvious places like social trends and art galleries. But I mostly get inspiration from listening to real people’s conversations. It’s seriously enlightening to overhear what matters to people and how they express that.”

Creating the conditions where creativity can thrive 

Opening up on how she gets the best work out of her teams Wallace shared a simple truth. As she told the audience: “The one thing I definitely do is to really push to get the best work out.” Adding that all of the most impactful campaigns she has led “required going above and beyond in order to get them out into the real world.”

On the perennial question of the impact of awards on the industry when faced with the conundrum of Impact or awards Wallace was firmly on the side of Impact. “Aim to make a campaign that has an impact and then, maybe, the awards will follow. But I’d rather create a campaign that has true impact for a client and in people’s minds than one that wins awards but does nothing in reality.”

Breaking the bravery barrier

On the most important ingredient for compelling impactful creative work Wallace was clear: Bravery brings the magic. She explained: “Hundreds of brilliant ideas are presented every day. The one thing standing between them and their potential to change a brand's fortune is bravery.” In essence, she shared the challenge is if a client is brave enough to run an idea that people will genuinely notice and care about? Or do they want to run something ‘safe’ that won’t rock the boat but no one will notice?

Bravery is a word which has been so overused by the creative industries that it risks losing its meaning or importance as the lynchpin of both effective, meaningful work and inclusive leadership. 

The brave path is rarely the easy path but is essential to inclusive leadership. Wallace, who successfully took the Daily Mail to court and won, may not have heard the applause and credit given to her by WACL president Kate Waters at a recent event, but across the industry, Wallace has received plaudits for being both a true leader and an inspiration to others through taking a stand. 

Speaking about what she has been through Wallace said: “I’m not going to lie, having such utterly hideous lies written about me – which then attracted death threats - is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”

Rather than simply spouting a silver lining, or a self-help quip about how women can simply build more resilience, Wallace shared her honest point of view: “I’m really glad that a lot of people seem to have taken some hope and inspiration from my journey and my win against the Daily Mail in court. It will never make it ok - or excuse what happened - but as the saying goes: ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’”

With a big juicy new creative role on the horizon, it’s clear that not only is Jo Wallace’s best work ahead of her; but she has made an impact on the industry at large.  The ripple effects of her inclusive leadership and commitment to change mean that this forward-facing and hopeful ethos will continue to inspire the next generation of creative leaders.