Calling All Female Creative Directors

But while I don39t want to pretend like I39m particularly qualified to speak on the issues that women face in today39s workforce I did have some thoughts reflecting upon the immeasurable value that female voices have brought to our organization and the power that anonymity can play as we aim to lose the bias that too often can stop these voices being heardOn this International Women39s Day I39d like to share an open letter to all female creative directors in the worldDear Female Creative DirectorsampgtThere39s no more essential component to marketing and creativity than the diversity of thinkers At BeenThereDoneThat our mission is to harness the world39s best thinkers to solve the world39s biggest problems The only way we can do so effectively and at scale is to aggregate a community that our clients embrace and are drawn to even when they remain anonymousThat39s the power of anonymity It doesn39t matter where the ideas come from the emphasis is placed on the ideas themselves The more unique perspectives and experiences we have to coalesce and draw from the better we39ll be able to deliver the highest quality of work to our clientsI often like to reference the quotblindquot audition that orchestras implemented in the late twentieth century aimed to minimize sexbiased hiring and the number of female musicians The practice was an indisputable success increasing the number of women in symphonies by more than 20 percentIn the 1970s Stephanie quotStevequot Shirley launched Freelance Programmers as a vehicle to bring more women into the workforce and technology specifically Two hundred and ninetyseven of her first 300 employees were women who exclusively worked from home consulting clients and creating industryleading standards to develop and test software Their work was simply judged on the work itself not who was producing itIn some ways we39ve replicated this concept in our own business model curating an anonymous community so our clients can effectively only hear the music of our ideas and not be impacted by the voices presenting themNot only does anonymity allow for a greater number of diverse minds to express their ideas but our thinkers are able to supercharge the model of bravery going for bolder and more creative ideas that they might not otherwise suggest if their name was attached The model filters out the bias but it39s also designed to challenge be that our team the brief or the clientOf course anonymizing women is not the ultimate solution we39re searching for to ensure they39re drawing in a larger spotlight The goal is to completely remove the bias But the exercise underscores the importance of why greater gender equality is needed to advance the work we39re all doing on a daily basisThe last year has been a strain on all of us to say the least But on the positive end I will say that the pandemic has opened our eyes to what the future workplace can resembleThe pandemic has required us to become more accommodating to the different lifestyles we all lead regardless of gender or race Our employees can more easily integrate work into their own lives based on the particular demands or constraints that have traditionally restricted contribution be that based on their time their location their anonymity or anything else The result A deeper pool of firstclass talent a wider variety of thinking and strategy and an elevated offering for clientsThe lesson here is that it39s never been more important for leaders to recognize when they39re unconsciously limiting contributions based on individual biases of how and when it39s most convenient to be productive for anybodyThe reality is that in today39s world the working day isn39t always about work I often have my most creative thoughts outside of the business of nine to five and it39s essential that we reorient our mindset to accommodate for what life is really like today I trust that in doing so we39ll inherently become more inclusive and be exposed to the best ideas our community has to offerThat means allowing all of us to work in a way that works for us something traditional fulltime jobs haven39t allowed It means offering flexibility to people who have various responsibilities throughout the day and letting them work in windows when you39re not typically onlineBeyond anything else today39s leaders have to commit to diversity of thought which will always be at the forefront of our offering The creative stimulus we yearn for is ultimately brought by the full spectrum of human experiences and we need to do a better job of playing our part and realizing the genuine equality of all thinkersTo all female creative directors we need your help We welcome your feedback and contributions and we39d love to connect with you about joining our communityDavidClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Calling All Female Creative Directors

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David Alberts

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