Observations From Inside the Work

I am not starting this to teach. I am starting it to pay attention.

Creative work, especially inside large organizations, moves quickly. Decisions pile up. Conversations blur together. You solve one problem and immediately move on to the next.

Writing is how I slow that down.

This is a place to record what I am noticing while I am still inside the work. Not theory. Not trends. Observations about creative direction, leadership, and the systems that shape how design actually happens.

Why Write This Down

Most of what matters in creative leadership is not visible in the final output.

It lives in conversations. In decisions that never make it into decks. In compromises that protect the work even when they are invisible.

These are the things I want to examine more closely.

Writing forces clarity. It exposes weak thinking. It makes patterns easier to recognize.

This is less about having answers and more about asking better questions.

The Perspective I’m Writing From

I work inside large, complex organizations. I collaborate across disciplines, regions, and priorities. I manage creative work that has to scale and endure.

That context shapes how I think.

I am interested in how design functions when it is embedded in systems. How leadership shows up in small, unglamorous moments. How taste develops over time rather than through novelty.

I am writing from experience, not abstraction.

What This Is and Is Not

This is not a manifesto. It is not a playbook. It is not advice delivered from a distance.

It is a running record of what it takes to do this work well and sustainably.

Some entries will be technical. Some will be reflective. All of them will be grounded in the reality of creative work as it actually exists.

Why Now

There is value in documenting work while it is still unfolding.

It is easy to rewrite history once outcomes are known. It is harder, and more honest, to write from the middle.

This is that middle.

What Comes Next

I do not know exactly where this will go.

What I do know is that paying attention has always made me better at the work. Writing is how I make sure I keep doing that.

If nothing else, this will be a record of how I was thinking while I was here.