'Creativity Has No Ceiling'

Want to improve your business? Advertising legend David Droga has the answer: Add more creative people to your leadership ranks.

- By Jason Feifer

David Droga is a CEO. But for a long time, he chose to go by a different title: Creative Chairman. This wasn't one of those cutesy titles, like Chief Fun Officer, that founders and CEOs have been giving themselves for years. To Droga, the title reminded him of his purpose. He rose to prominence with the advertising agency he founded called Droga5, where he became the most-awarded creative at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity-and where, he admits, he didn't need a specific job title at all. "I named the company after part of my name," he says, "so I could have called myself 'head schlepper.' It didn't matter." But he picked Creative Chairman to make a point about where creative people belong in the business hierarchy: "Creativity has no ceiling," he says.

The way Droga sees it, creative people are often overlooked in business. Yes, their talents are appreciated. Their work is monetized. But C-suites are rarely filled with creative types, and creative types rarely advocate for themselves as leaders or drivers of business. Droga wants that to change-which is why, when the global professional services company Accenture acquired his company Droga5 and made him the head of a $16 billion digital communications arm called Accenture Song, he originally kept his Creative Chairman title (eventually handing it over to a colleague this February). Now he uses his megaphone to push for more leaders like himself. Here, Droga explains why creatives should be major decision-makers-and the mistakes they often make while trying to get there.

Why aren't more creatives in leadership roles?