By Scott Harris
We hired a new creative director at Mustang Marketing this week. Now, new hires are often treated the same way as the early days of a pregnancy — keep it a secret until you know everything is OK. Don’t send a press release for at least 90 days, be cautious as you introduce this person to your key clients, etc. I certainly understand that, but sometimes it can be hard to stay quiet.
Sometimes, a few days into the relationship, you just feel great about the way it’s rolling and you want to let people know.
Hiring new staff members, especially for a senior position like creative director, is an important decision — particularly for a small company, which Mustang Marketing is. How will the new person impact company culture? What will your staff think? What will the clients think? How long before you know if you’ve made the right decision, and in fairness, how long before the new hire is convinced that he or she made the right decision? These are all fair and important questions.
And beyond that, with a new creative director, you wonder how differently you might begin to do things. Will they have new ideas, new ways of approaching creativity and productivity? Candidly, there’s always a little concern. Will they point out things we’ve been doing for years as antiquated, or even simply wrong? While it is good to improve in any area at any time, it could also be a little embarrassing.
So, while I think we’ve been doing a great job, here’s to being open to new ideas. While I miss our previous creative director and the things he brought to the job, here’s to something different. And finally, while I understand the “keep it quiet for 90 days” approach, here’s to throwing caution and tradition to the wind and welcoming aboard Ward Woods, our new creative director!