Recently, I found myself in a particular situation while applying for a position at an advertising agency. The person in charge of the group’s Creative Direction, instead of responding to my application, accused me of plagiarism in one of my projects and advised me not to lie in my job search. Obviously, the accusation is false, and I sent them proof of my involvement with the campaign, WhatsApp conversations with the director, the producer, and the clients; even a copy/paste of the script I had written for that campaign; their response after that was null; no apology, no clarification, just nothing.

This has made me think a lot about the ego of creatives, especially in Mexican agencies. How suddenly we take on the role of an unattainable God of the ultimate creativity of the universe, who cannot be questioned and who, almost always, feels superior to others.

I remembered at the beginning of my career, when I started as a trainee, how I had to fight against that ego of creatives to make my way. An art director, for example, came up to me out of nowhere and told me to stop wearing shoes to the agency because that’s not how creatives dress. I’ve always thought that if you have to dress a certain way to be «creative,» you’re really not. A person with ideas can dress in a tuxedo every day or in a potato sack and still have ideas.

On another occasion, I went into the office of the VP of Creative at an agency where I was working to tell him that I was resigning from my position because I had received a better job and economic offer from another agency. The person in question kept his eyes glued to his laptop, never looking at me, and just said «When are you leaving?» «Good luck.»

Thus, I can tell more than one story from all the agencies I worked at in Mexico. I, surely, also played this «diva» role as I rose through the ranks, but I must say that being creative doesn’t make us better than others, much less look down on them.

Right now, I’m reading the book «The Creative Act: A Way of Being» by Rick Rubin. It talks about the joy of being creative beings and how holistic it can be to have an idea, and above all, to share it with others. I firmly believe that when one has the honor of putting the word «creative» in their title, it adds more than just a capability, it brings a gift and a responsibility to help guide ideas to connect with people.

Let’s stop being the stereotype of Kanye West mixed with Don Draper, who only goes to indie music festivals and has the spirit of María Felix within. Let’s be more human beings who have the gift of having ideas to connect with humans in any of the creative disciplines.