How to Make Bold Creative Decisions: Tips from Anna Wintour

The legendary Editor in Chief of Vogue offers creative solutions for sorting through a slew of team members' ideas to find the good decisions that will set a brand on the right track. Anna Wintour explains how to make creative decisions.

Who Is Anna Wintour?

Anna Wintour, the Editor in Chief of Vogue magazine, preside over the Met Gala and is a regular on the front row of New York Fashion Week. She is also the artistic director of the Condé Nast media empire, the most powerful woman in fashion, and a role model for business leaders all over the world. Anna's consistent ability to make critical decisions that will shape the media and fashion industries attests to her singular success, which is founded on vision, creativity, and dedication.

What Is Creative Decision-Making?

The creative decision-making process entails collaborative and dynamic problem-solving and brainstorming for possible solutions. As a creative process, the scope of this work may be larger (creating new product concepts to satisfy stakeholders) or smaller (making the final decision on which photograph will accompany an article in a magazine). In either case, the creative decision-making model relies on incubation periods to allow ideas to simmer and convergent thinking to arrive at the best possible decision. Companies' creative decision-making is becoming a standard part of their organizational behavior.

Why Is Creative Decision-Making Important?

Creative decision-making is essential in creative industries such as fashion and architecture, but these skills are required in all sectors to increase the likelihood of a project's success. This decision-making approach can result in "Eureka!" moments that solidify decisions. Creative people have personality traits that promote creative behavior, such as strong motivation, curiosity, collaboration ability, and openness to new ideas. To improve your creative decision-making abilities, hold brainstorming sessions and practice making intuitive decisions.

How to Make Bold Creative Decisions: Anna Wintour's Advice

Anna Wintour is the head decision maker at Vogue, constantly coming up with and sourcing creative ideas, often under time constraints. See how Anna Wintour's creative thinking tips can help you make better business decisions:

1. Courage leads the way. Brands must simultaneously appease audiences while also pushing their boundaries and expectations. "There is always a time when you know you have to break the rule because times and cultures change," Anna explains. "Vogue must set the example. One's audience [or] readers may not always be on the same wavelength. They might be surprised. They could be upset. They might object. They may cancel their subscriptions for whatever reason. But you are leading, not following, and that is an important lesson to remember at all times."

2. Data is important, but it is not the entire story. Research and analytics can provide insights and inform you about what your readers or subscribers want to read. "They can assist you. They can provide you with information. "They have the ability to focus you on something," Anna says. "And they can probably tell you something you already guessed or thought." But, in the end, the vision, heart, and soul stem from the creative talent that puts it out there every day. And because of that passion, your audiences and readers, whoever they may be, will find you."

3. Accept responsibility for poor decisions. Mistakes are inevitable in the creative process, and according to Anna, "it's critical to own those mistakes." Anna, for one, has had to make creative decisions about the cover of Vogue, some of which have been unsuccessful. "Sometimes it's not until they're out in the big wide world that you realize what they mean and what they represent, whether good or bad," she says. "Sometimes... you have to run something you're not particularly proud of, or maybe you just want to try something." It's the same as with any creative process”you have to make mistakes."

4. Understand the larger context of your decisions. A decision is rarely made based solely on one factor. Cultural contexts must be considered when making creative decisions, as well as their specificities. "It's critical to understand how your work fits into a much larger cultural narrative," Anna says. What exactly are you attempting to say? What are you protesting? Your decisions must strike a balance between staying true to your values and defying expectations."

5. Work collaboratively with wonderful people. People with knowledge or interests that you do not have can assist you in forming a diverse team. "You are nothing without a good team," Anna says, emphasizing the importance of assembling an intelligent and diligent group of people who will push the brand to new heights.