Our Creative Director has been with us for eight years and is a perfect culture fit, but as we scale, his seat now requires heavy data-driven performance marketing accountability. He admits he hates analytics and just wants to focus on design. How do we handle this GWC issue without making him feel demoted?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your Creative Director is a Right Person in the Wrong Seat. He has the Core Values fit, but he does not GWC™ (Get It, Want It, Capacity to do) the newly expanded seat that requires performance analytics. If you try to force him to do both, he will burn out, and your marketing results will suffer.

You must separate the seats. Do not change the person to fit the seat; change the seat to fit the needs of the business, and then find the right person. In this case, you need to split your marketing structure. You need a Performance Marketing Director seat that owns the data, analytics, and strategy, and a separate Creative Director seat that owns design, brand voice, and production.

Sit down with him and explain that the business has grown to a point where these two functions must be split to ensure success. Show him the new Accountability Chart. Offer him the Creative Director seat, which aligns perfectly with what he actually wants and has the capacity to do. He will report to the new Performance Marketing Director or your Integrator, depending on your structure.

Be direct and transparent. Frame this as a strategic division of labor that allows him to focus entirely on his unique ability. If he is a true Core Values fit, he will appreciate the honesty and the relief of not having to manage metrics he despises. If his ego cannot handle reporting to a new leader, then you have a different issue to address, but keeping him in a seat he does not GWC™ is not an option.