Nurturing Creativity: The Synergy of Mentorship, Upskilling, and Education in the Creative Industry
Learn how mentorship, upskilling, and education shape the creative industry, with insights from seasoned professionals guiding the next generation of talent toward success.
Mentors. They’re (the God-sent) individuals who come into your life and open doors to various perspectives and pathways you didn’t know existed. They’re the individuals who’ve been through it all and know the industry like the back of their hand, have tips and tricks up their sleeve, and see great potential in you to grow – farther than they did. And best believe, if you have the right mentor – you're going places.
In a journey through the corridors of creative wisdom, Communicate spoke to six industry leaders who shone a light on the value of upskilling, mentorship, and education in the creative industry.
Nirmal Diwadkar, CEO of Colors Art Institute, Shehzad Yunus – award-winning creative leader, Beno Saradzic – Emmy-nominated cinematographer, Tonnit Thomas – award-winning design leader, Stuart Harris – award-winning branding leader and Karen Gallego - renowned illustrative calligraphist, unveiled their treasure trove of insights.
What are the advantages of mentorship as a learning method?
Nirmal Diwadkar: Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Not every Newton has the good fortune to be able to stand on the shoulders of giants. But the ones who do, are the ones who end up living an extraordinary life, more often than not. You can be taught how to master negotiating a football. Or shoot a goal from any angle. But to learn how to win the game, based on your strengths, abilities, challenges, and the situation at hand, you need mentorship. WHO mentors you could well be the difference between winning and losing in the last few seconds of the game. Personally, I have had the good fortune of having more than one mentor in my professional career in two of the finest organizations in advertising – LOWE and TBWA. In the process of learning from them invaluable lessons of how to be better at my craft, I also learned – more importantly – so many life lessons for which I shall ever be grateful. If I have to pick one quote that sticks, it would be the advice I got when I was promoted to head the organization. “Do the right thing. And do it well”. It is the best advice I received on how to be a good leader.
Shehzad Yunus: Mentorship is profound. It's not just knowledge, it's a shortcut to mastery, fueled by experience and deep connections. It's like adding rocket fuel to your creativity. Their guidance not only sharpens your skills but also opens doors to invaluable insights and industry secrets. Mentors provide a shortcut to success, offering personalized advice and wisdom honed from years of experience. With their support, you don't just learn—you leapfrog obstacles, uncover hidden opportunities, and ultimately, craft campaigns that captivate and inspire. Sadly, I didn't have the kind of mentor I needed and had to learn from my own experiences and my own mistakes. I learned new tricks, found ways to work smarter, observed people, and immersed myself in insights.
Tonnit Thomas: "If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself." - Albert Einstein
I think that mentoring is an incredible way to explore new ideas and different perspectives that you might not have come across in your university or workplace. It's a great way to think outside the box and learn continuously. The best part is that mentoring can have a significant impact on your professional career. It can boost your self-confidence, self-awareness, and leadership skills, making you a better version of yourself.
Stuart Harris: Mentors offer guidance in the same way that coaches look after their athletes. The end goal is to see their students succeed in whatever field they are pursuing, providing critical feedback, insights, and lessons aimed at moving the career path forward. When I was in college, an awards poster was hanging in the campus studio. The design of that poster really spoke to me. I made an appointment to see the creative director of the agency that created that artwork, and when I finished my studies, he became my mentor. Years later when I resigned, he gave me a copy of the poster that first inspired me to learn from him.
What advice would you offer to aspiring young creatives seeking entry into the design and creative industry?
Nirmal Diwadkar: Be in the company of the best creative minds as much as you can. Nothing is more inspiring than mingling with bright, talented, curious creative minds. Artists can inspire music. Music inspires poetry. Poetry inspires cinema....they all shine in the company of each other. Creativity is infectious. One spark can light up a thousand fires. Any door that opens such an opportunity is the right door to set foot into. Grab that opportunity with both hands and don’t let go!
Beno Saradzic: To build a strong portfolio - when you're not working for a client, be your own client. It does matter in which creative field you're trying to make it - always create, and have your work seen if you want to be seen. Never stop learning and remain curious and hungry. Follow blogs, and social media groups, read books, and know the trends. The art landscape is changing non-stop, even when, and especially when you're asleep. Network and connect with like-minded individuals, there's a giant mountain of knowledge to be gained from people around you. Be a master of the tools you use for your work, and understand the theory and principles, the history, and the masters in your field. Remain inspired, surround yourself with things that add positivity to your life, and be open to critique, learning from it. Find your own unique voice, become your own brand, and learn business basics, how to communicate what you do, with your clients and employers, and learn about pricing and business acumen. Most importantly, never stop having fun and continue enjoying the journey.
Karen Gallego: To achieve authenticity, one must be attentive, light-hearted, and eager. A creative mind stays hungry for more, experiencing things a thousand times over. Every endeavor, from the initial university project to the final one, should be approached with meticulous detail, quality, and discipline. Regard each project as though it could alter your professional trajectory, propelling you to become a benchmark for others. Challenging your mind and creativity will bring forth the unique details that set you apart from the rest of the world.
How essential is it for employers in this region to provide upskilling or reskilling opportunities to their staff?
Nirmal Diwadkar: It is a natural process of reinventing oneself to stay not just relevant, but significant and competitive. It isn’t critical just for the individual. It is a critical necessity in the process of evolution for the employer, the company, and indeed the progress of the industry at large. If one cannot stay a step ahead of the curve, one can surely make a conscious effort to keep pace with life’s various reconstructions. In the professional world, or outside of it, complacency will only lead to redundancy. No employer genuinely interested in the growth of his/her business will ignore the importance of the professional and personal growth of his staff. The more knowledgeable, up-to-date, and skilled the team, the brighter the company’s future.
Beno Saradzic: I'd say it all depends on the ambition and goals of the employee or an individual navigating the employment landscape. If you're planning to move vertically within your existing organization, upskilling your existing skill set adds more value to your CV. Upskilling raises your profile, allowing you to move faster on your career trajectory. This benefits both sides. Reskilling on the other hand moves you laterally, enabling you to move to different roles or functions in your current role. Both skill expansions are very much beneficial in the short and long-term pursuit of professional career satisfaction.
Tonnit Thomas: Employers in the GCC region should prioritize offering upskilling and reskilling opportunities to their staff. This is essential to ensure that they remain competitive, adaptable, and prepared for the constantly evolving job requirements in Gen AI. Reskilling programs are vital for today's workforce due to the constant technological changes. This is important to ensure key talented employees remain competitive, adaptable, and better equipped to meet changing demands. These programs can help businesses improve productivity, reduce hiring costs, enhance employee engagement and retention, and build a more skilled workforce ready to adapt to industry changes. Therefore, upskilling and reskilling programs play a crucial role in equipping employees with the skills needed to fill critical roles within the agency and address gaps in the workforce.
Should professionals in the education industry establish a closer relationship with the creative industry to narrow the gap between classroom syllabi and industry practices?
Nirmal Diwadkar: We all want the creative industry to get richer with talent, don’t we? We want to set the benchmark higher with every passing year, in every award show, in every real-life assignment, for every single project. I believe we can develop fresh young talent into better professionals faster if the relationship between education and the professional world is tightly knit together. Nurturing talent is a responsibility, which starts with the education industry and continues in the professional world. The evolution of one’s creative talent never really stops. Doesn’t it become critical, then, that the two industries learn, borrow from, and collaborate with each other closely for the betterment of the next generation? They must willingly guide each other on how to make things better for all young talent entering the industry.
Shehzad Yunus: Absolutely! In the ad world, trends move faster than a hashtag on fire. Can dusty syllabi keep pace? Heck no! Education needs a creative injection – think gamified learning, real-world briefs, and guest lectures from industry rockstars. Let's bridge the gap before our graduates enter a landscape they haven't even seen in textbooks. Knowledge is power, but relevance is king. It's time to rewrite the rules.
Beno Saradzic: There's little point in learning stuff if it can't be applied in the real world. All too often, students are encouraged to memorize information that is based on abstract facts, packed in a dry and outdated manner that is disconnected from the way the creative industry operates. There's simply too much useless information disseminated in conventional art schools. Bureaucracy, administration, and resource cuts of art schools all negatively impact the learning and creative spark the students so badly need. Art education needs to be rethought from the ground up and brought to 2024.
How can internship programs in design and ad agencies be improved to accelerate the exposure and growth of newly recruited interns?
Nirmal Diwadkar: First, build a solid, well-thought-through mentorship program. Then build your internship program. Make sure you have people who have the ability and the experience to coach. Train them to get really good at it. Having a top-notch mentorship team would be the most critical step toward building a solid, relevant, and result-oriented internship program. After all, who you learn from impacts what and how much you learn. Any organization that gets this aspect right will ensure having under its roof the finest talent consistently.
Shehzad Yunus: Here's the most important tip: Don't intern them, ignite them!
Oh, and a few other points that should help:
Ditch the coffee runs, and throw them in real projects. Let them see the fire, not just fetch the matches. Don't pair interns with age. Pair passion with expertise. A data whiz mentored by a storytelling guru? Boom, growth unlocked. NEVER baby them. Give them real problems, and messy briefs. Watch them rise like phoenixes from the ashes of their comfort zone. Don't just critique, co-create! Feedback fueled growth, not fear. Make it a two-way street, not a one-way lecture. Lectures induce yawns and they are already getting a heavy dose of it at the uni. From killer concepts to nailing that latte art, acknowledge their wins. Don't treat them like temporary help, treat them like future colleagues. Network events, industry talks, and portfolio nights open those doors and show them the possibilities. And never forget that interns aren't cheap labor, they're raw potential. Invest in them, ignite their passion, and watch them become the future stars of the industry.
Stuart Harris: In an ideal world, all agencies would follow an internship program aimed at accelerating the growth of newly recruited talent so they can hit the ground running. In the real world, with real deadlines, this is very difficult to achieve. Allowing an outside educational facility to take on some of that responsibility - through courses designed specifically to fill in some of those much-needed gaps - can save time, improve work-flow, and create better, overall results.
Karen Gallego: Observe, listen, and believe in the perseverance and emotions of someone who lacks experience and is just beginning to explore an unfamiliar world. This is how we initiate the cultivation of new talents within modern minds, transcending boundaries and turning motivation into social impact.
What factors influenced your decision to pursue teaching and mentorship, and what motivates you in this role?
Nirmal Diwadkar: I got a taste of teaching when I was a visiting lecturer at Cairo University, thanks to TBWA - the agency I was heading at that time in Egypt. Of all the wonderful experiences I have had in my career, that was the most satisfying one, by far. When I spoke with Vitthal Deshmukh - founder of Colors Art Institute and Clement Derock – founder of École Intuit Lab, I couldn’t resist the temptation to say yes to reliving that experience through this wonderful new opportunity. If we want the industry to prosper, we must play our little role in trying to do what we can. Mentorship is a great way to give back to the industry that gave me so much joy over so many years.
Shehzad Yunus: I have had an incredible career spanning 25 years. I got to work on the most iconic brands, be part of many global campaigns, brought home the region's first few global awards back when nobody expected us to win awards. I had practically ticked every wish on my list. But it was the absence of a great mentor during my early days and have worked with people who were more interested in personal glory than in uplifting those around them that pushed me towards mentorship. I felt it was time to reveal the tricks that helped me greatly and share my mistakes so that my mentees don't make them. When Colors Art approached me, I felt like my prayers were finally answered. We are not teachers here, we are all mentors. Instead of planting seeds, we want to cultivate gardens. Instead of guiding them down well-worn paths, we want to help them forge new trails. Instead of imparting knowledge, we wish to ignite understanding. I cannot wait to surround myself with minds eager to change the world.
Beno Saradzic: I enjoy teaching because I realized that it helps me become a better artist. Something fascinating happens in your brain when you give information. Your own knowledge becomes reinforced while sharing experiences and insights. It also enriches my own creative journey. Teaching is also a great networking opportunity within my own community. I feel that mentorship maintains the continuity of knowledge that was passed down through generations. We learn and pass the knowledge on to the next person. It's a satisfying thing to do, it is noble and very cool.
Tonnit Thomas: I firmly believe in the power of giving back, and that's why I decided to spend some time teaching and mentoring. With over 26 years of experience in advertising and the creative industry, I feel it's time for me to share the knowledge and wisdom I've gained with the next generation of talented creative professionals. By joining hands with The Colours Art Institute in Dubai, I have found the perfect opportunity to contribute to the creative industry in our region and inspire others to follow their dreams.
Stuart Harris: Teaching is immensely rewarding on many levels: I get to work with new creative talent, and I get to see them achieve success in the things they care about. I also get to work with other like-minded creatives. These are people operating across widely different aspects of the industry who have an interest in teaching, a passion for their area of expertise, and are looking to move the industry forward in some small way. Hopefully, we can do that together.
Karen Gallego: More than teaching or tutoring, it is about being able to expand the mind to unimaginable experiences. It is being able to share, create, and learn all together. At the end of the day, we all end up being mentors in what we are passionate about doing, and that is what I feel when I can teach what I have learned over time. Here we build creativity and communication from curiosity, testing, playing, and taking the time to dream.
Colors Art Institute, a design institute that focuses on career-relevant learning in the creative industry, recently introduced several courses that these industry experts will lead. Founded by Vitthal Deshmukh and led by Nirmal Diwadkar, Colors Art Institute’s mentors will pave the way for their mentees to become the industry's next superstars.
