The Identity Shift Every Creative Leader Has to Make, with Tyler Mitchell [Full Transcript]

This is the full transcript of episode 14 of Creative Ops Compass, “The Identity Shift Every Creative Leader Has to Make, with Tyler Mitchell.” Tyler is the Director of Video Strategy at Gallagher. In this conversation, we talk about what actually happens when a creator becomes a leader: the shift from measuring your value by your own output to measuring it by your team, why empathy is an operational practice and not just a personality trait, and how Tyler is building a leadership track for his team that doesn’t require taking on management first.

You can listen to the full episode here.

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Intro

Jesse Krinsky: Welcome to Creative Ops Compass, your navigation system for turning creative chaos into strategic impact. My name is Jesse Krinsky. I'm a creative operations consultant and the founder of In Focus Consulting. I help in-house creative teams streamline workflows, improve stakeholder relations, and elevate their role as strategic partners.

Tyler Mitchell: And I think it was that transition for me from understanding my output versus my value and how that has to shift when you become a creative leader. You have to realize that this is now bigger than just you.

Jesse Krinsky: Today I'm talking with Tyler Mitchell. He’s the Director of Video Strategy at Gallagher. Tyler has spent his entire career in-house, moving from product photography to video production to managing video strategy at a $50 billion company. He made the shift from hands-on creator to creative leader about five years ago, and this episode is about what that transition looks like in reality.

A lot of conversation around creative leadership focuses on tools and process. This one is about identity: what happens when your entire professional self-image is no longer the measure of your value. If you're leading a team now, or thinking about it, this conversation will give you a clearer picture of what you're actually signing up for.

THE IN-HOUSE PATH

Jesse Krinsky: Tyler, thanks so much for joining me today. Let's jump into this. You've spent your entire career working in-house. A lot of people will start at the agency world and maybe they'll go back and forth, but you've been client side the whole time. Was that a deliberate choice or did you just kind of fall into it?

Tyler Mitchell: I think originally I fell into it. First job out of college, I got hired as a creative specialist. With big eyes of, I get to go make all these cool things and be the creative, be the artist in the company . Very quickly realized what it meant to be in-house and how, yes, there's that fun side, but there's a lot of other baggage that comes with it. But then as I progressed, I realized that instead of having a fractional moment with some of the creative, you're there for the long-term, right? Like you don't just help with a single project or a single campaign, you help with every project. You're a member of every different part of that process. And that was really appealing for my career as I continued to grow.

Jesse Krinsky: And what kind of work were you doing before you became a creative leader? What kind of creative were you actually making?

Tyler Mitchell: I have a BFA in photography and a minor in design. So I started doing product photography and print layout at Segway. Taking all their product photos for their different Segway scooters and putting them in a layout and then putting that in all the dealerships. And then I transitioned into video, being the guy with the camera. And then kind of continued to grow from there and really became enamored with the video production process. Being a storyteller, being a creator where the picture moved, where there was a voice behind it, right? .

It was easy to see with that print magazine I mentioned, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts I could look at every single photo in there and see the detail and see the effort and see the time. But for most people, that was a throwaway piece of collateral. And then it was understanding that when you created a video, you captured a different emotion. And that message you were communicating landed so much differently. And that was exciting to me to find a way that what I created resonated with the viewer . It had purpose, had legs, right? Had life to it more than just maybe that glossy page or that glossy layout.

Jesse Krinsky: I was a producer and editor for 20 years. And I absolutely understand. I loved that the work that I produced could elicit emotions and could impact people in a way that text or images never quite reached. And frankly, I miss that.

THE CREATIVE LEADER IDENTITY SHIFT

Jesse Krinsky: So tell me about that decision. to become a creative leader? Was it something that you had sought out?

Tyler Mitchell: You know what? It was really something that I saw as the next chapter for me. I started to understand the progression in my career and understood that, that transition from doer to leader for a lot of people is the next step in their career. And for a lot of people, it's also daunting. It's scary. It's really intimidating. But it helped me set a roadmap, right? To say, like. I want to not only create something, I want to create a team of people who create things . And then I got my first team, a smaller team. It was myself and one other, and then myself and two others, and then slowly kind of snowballed into a team of five. And I realized how much I enjoyed the personal side of being a leader, getting to know these people, getting to understand what made them tick, what were their value structures, why did they like to create things, what was their favorite part of creating something, how could I help them do more of that, how could I help them find their next step in their career?

Tyler Mitchell: Being a creative leader gave me this ability to stay connected to the creative, but focused on the people. And that was really important to me.

Jesse Krinsky: I think frankly that moving from a creator to a leader is one of the harder identity shifts that a creative ever has to make. Because you're not just changing what you're working on or how you work, but also how you see yourself and how you relate to the people who you otherwise used to work with, So what was it like for you? Was it disorienting or did it happen more naturally than you expected?

Tyler Mitchell: I think it was very quickly you see all the other parts of it. Like the excitement of being that leader, the excitement of being involved in those processes quickly kind of evaporates to realize, well, now when those things don't work, it's on me. Now when we have that next roadblock or that next challenge, they're looking to me to figure that out. And so there was a certain level of, shit. now I'm here kind of thing. I remember a late night with my girlfriend, now wife kind of being like, my oh my gosh, what do I do? I think I'm too far down this path. Like, Do I want to do this? Do I want to keep kind of building a team and putting myself in a position of management or do I want to kind of go back to the safe zone of I can just make stuff and stay up late by myself and animate or, you know, edit and nobody's bothering me.

Tyler Mitchell: It was a daunting shift, but I think it was also understanding, you know, one of the first people I hired became a good friend of mine. And it was understanding what they were looking for in that career versus what I was looking for and acknowledging that it was different and that it was okay to be different. They didn't need to be me. They didn't need to be looking for the same satisfaction. And I also didn't need to be them. And once I realized that distance between leader and doer and that every team needs that distance, right?. Your manager shouldn't be over your shoulder. They shouldn't be in every single step of the way, but what they should be there is supporting you every single step of the way. And I think it was that transition for me from understanding my output versus my value and how that has to shift when you become a creative leader. You have to realize that this is now bigger than just you.

WHAT BAD LEADERSHIP TAUGHT HIM

Jesse Krinsky: you've had many creative leaders over the course of your career. I'm sure you've seen the good and the bad and everything in between. What are some of the most important negative lessons that you've learned that you did not want to continue on to the next, let's say, next generation to your teams that you're now leading?

Tyler Mitchell: I think that's a really interesting reflection. I think that there's a tendency, especially when you're a leader with a larger team, you're focused on the work, on the output. Obviously so, because that reflects your team's effort, reflects your team's skill, it reflects all these different things. But if you forget about the people making that work, it's far too easy to ask them to sacrifice too much. And if you're that leader asking them to sacrifice, they're going to do it because you're the leader and they want to help. But if you forget about the person making the work and just see the work, you build a team that is not sustainable I've had a lot of different moments in my career where the work I was making became the way people saw me. They didn't see me for the process. They didn't see the time I was putting in, the time I had to put into upskilling, to learning, to doing all the things that made it so I could sit there and do that work. They just saw what I put out. It wasn't fast enough. It wasn't good enough. It wasn't this. It wasn't that.

Tyler Mitchell: And then in that same vein, I think, and this is kind of the other half of it, empathy, right?. What I'm really saying there is that you need to be an empathetic leader. You need to understand what that decision, stakeholder ask, what does that mean for them. And sometimes you still have to go ask your motion designer or your editor or your producer: we've got to do it. But there's a lot of value and power in seeing that person and not that project. And so, yes, you have to ask them to work late or put in extra time on the weekend . But you also have to acknowledge that that's an ask. You have to acknowledge that that's abnormal. You have to say: I know this sucks and I'm sorry. What can we do together to get through it? I will work as the leader to make sure this doesn't happen again. But in this moment, how can we work together to get this delivered on time, to make it look better, to do whatever the ask might be, but Being empathetic and human about the way you do it instead of just forgetting the fact that every change on that video, every change in that project is somebody's time. And most of the time somebody's pride, right?.

Tyler Mitchell: Yes, you should check them off and you should get through it, but you should also acknowledge in the moment and validate that creator, that team member, that this isn't okay, this isn't right. And I'm not expecting this of you every single time, but right now we need to get through it. And I think that that level of empathy and acknowledgement is how you build a team that wants to keep coming back.

Jesse Krinsky: What you just said is, it seems on its surface very obvious and not very difficult to understand or implement. But honestly, the truth is it is something that creatives suffer from constantly. It can be so demoralizing when you have a leader, especially a leader who has not been a creative himself or herself in the past, who doesn't have an understanding or appreciation of how it feels when feedback comes in that seems like it's just tearing apart something that you spent not just a few weeks working on but. because we can get so, creatives can get so emotionally invested, which you want, you want them to feel connected to the work. it, when, depending on how the criticism is phrased, when it comes through, it can feel like a real gut punch. So being able to, to, as you've said, to empathize with them is very, important.

Jesse Krinsky: So the empathy that you're talking about there, it aligns with the larger view that you have with the importance of a creative leader being empathetic towards the team members. And that's great for the individuals, for the creatives. there's another benefit to that as well, which is, it's a benefit to the business, of that kind of empathy. People who burn out, who feel demoralized, they're more likely to leave, right?. And maybe if the job market is not so great, they'll stay a little longer, but if they can get a job somewhere else where they think they're gonna have more appreciation or whatever it is, they could leave. And when they do, that hurts the business because not only are they taking with them the institutional knowledge, but it adds more burden to everybody else on the team because the work doesn't slow down, right?. The more people have to absorb that person's work and it costs money to hire somebody else and to get that person on board . There's the genuine humane reasons to show that kind of empathy and there's a solid business reason to be a good leader in that way, because you don't want to lose good people. It hurts the business.

Tyler Mitchell: It absolutely does. And one of those intrinsic costs, right?. That doesn't get quantified when you have a bad manager until there is a real trend where people keep leaving the team and then finally somebody steps in and says, okay, what's going on with the leader of this team here? But for the most part, the business misses that, right?. And they chalk it up to the normal process, the normal flow. they... decided to go on their way, they decided to walk away, it's okay. But then they notice it when the work isn't as good. They notice it when the story doesn't feel as convincing. They notice it when that polish is gone.

WHAT YOU WISH SOMEONE HAD TOLD YOU

Jesse Krinsky: When you were making the transition from creator to creative leader, what's something you wish a leader that you had had said to you that would have eased the path for you a little bit

Tyler Mitchell: I think it is that whole idea of: you don't have to have it all figured out. Coming from editing and animating you had to understand what you were doing next and where it was going to go. And while being a creative leader, you absolutely have to have that long-term vision . But there is a power in kind of the unplanned, the serendipity that can come along right? Like there's been so many different times where. I have spent an evening, you know, putting together a process plan or a flow chart for how a piece of content should move across our team and the different players who should be part of it. And I'll think: oh, this is great. I worked it through. This is the perfect process. Only to have a conversation two days later with somebody completely different from a different team who says: this is what I do for my team. And I think: that solves it all. Like I just needed that other input. I needed that other frame of reference.

Tyler Mitchell: There's a lot of power in maintaining that flexibility . We don't have to have this all figured out today, but we have to have enough of an understanding and a commitment to the direction that we can figure these things out in between. I still have a plan. I have quite a large plan, but I don't have as many details. I know where we're going as a team. I know what I want to see my team do. I know how we bring value to the company. but then I need to figure out what's happening to get there. And those are the moments that I want that serendipity. I want that flexibility, that room for discovery. Whether it's a conversation with another person who, you know, kind of brings some sort of insight or whether it is going and finding a podcast to listen to, like Creative Ops Compass. I think it's important to maintain that flexibility in your leadership style so that you're not walling yourself off from other places that you could find guidance or information.

Jesse Krinsky: I think that's great advice. I think that's great life advice. When I was a video producer, creating systems around the work I was doing, I would always say: everything's gonna fall apart, I know that, but rather it falls apart within the bounds of a system than just be falling apart and with no foundation beneath it. But I have to be open to, as you said, the serendipitous moments that will change it and then constantly reassess.

DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION

Jesse Krinsky: Among your team now, when you see someone who could be a great creative leader, what do you say to them? Are you direct with them, or do you let them find it themselves?

Tyler Mitchell: That's a really good question. I have somebody on my team right now, I'll speak as general as possible, who could absolutely become a creative leader and really be a powerful one. But it was important to me that that choice didn't get made for them. And what I decided to do was find a path for leadership that didn't involve management to get started. So what we did is we set them up as a functional lead where they are influencing the creative, they're driving projects that are not necessarily theirs. They're coming in and consulting on other projects and pitching ideas and working with junior designers and motion designers so that they're influencing that creative, they're building that ability to advocate for the creative, for the project, for what they need. But they don't have the administrative kind of role of managing timesheets or approving PTO or doing all of the things that takes up a lot of time when you become a creative leader.

Tyler Mitchell: I wanted to build a world where this person could start to shape a leadership mentality without the risk or the burden that falls on you when you become a manager, because I think so much of that bureaucratic kind of administrative side becomes an identity almost, right? Like, well, I'm managing, I'm doing all these things, I'm approving all this time, I'm doing all this work, I'm assigning all this work, where you don't get to actually explore the creative anymore. You don't get to actually kind of be part of those conversations. And I did that because I actually think it's better for the business. And so how could I give this person an opportunity to lead the creative and grow that decision-making skill set, right? Because that's a big part of being a leader: you have to be the person who makes that decision and then sticks with it or is willing to shift. So I wanted to build that world for them. And it's been successful. I think they've done a really good job of moving into that world so far. And I'm excited to see what happens next.

Jesse Krinsky: It's great that you're being so intentional about that, because so often when people end up in a managerial role it's because no one else was there to step up, or they maybe thought that they were ready for it and put their hands up but didn't have a chance to explore the leadership role without being encumbered by this other minutia that you're describing. So Tyler, thanks so much for joining me to talk about this. It's great to hear your perspective on what it means for your value to go from what you create to what you enable others to create. That can be a very difficult change for a lot of people. Thank you.

Tyler Mitchell: Jesse, really appreciate the time, and you know, it's such a rewarding conversation to be a part of. So thank you for the opportunity.

Outro

Let's recap the key insights from today's conversation.

First, the identity shift is harder than most people realize. Moving from creator to leader means changing not just what you do, but how you measure your own value. Your output used to be the work itself. But as a leader, your output is the team, the environment you build, and the decisions you make.

Second, empathy is an operational practice, not a personality trait. Acknowledge out loud that a request is an ask, that working overnight is abnormal, or that 19 rounds of revisions hits a creator's pride and not just their schedule. You may still have to make the ask. But how you make it determines whether your team comes back ready to work or comes back diminished. And there’s a solid business case here, too. The cost of a demoralized team shows up when the polish is gone or when your best people leave.

And third, develop your future leaders before you promote them to a management role. Tyler's on-ramp is much smarter than the typical promotion: he created a functional lead track, where someone builds influence, advocacy, and decision-making skills without having to handle the administrative overhead.

If you found value in today's episode, please subscribe and leave a review. Let me know what creative ops challenges you're facing and what topics would help your team work better. You can reach out through the contact info in the show notes.

Thanks for listening.