This Will Be the Worst It’ll Ever Be
Creative Leadership in the Age of Acceleration
When we spoke with students in Antwerp recently, many of them preparing to step into the creative industry for the first time and later with experienced marketers and brand leaders in LA and Portland, one thought kept coming up in my head. I’d first heard it on a podcast, but it stuck:
“This is the worst it’ll ever be.”
At first, it sounds like a warning. But it’s more of a reminder, a sort of provocation. Because if the tools we’re using today represent the most limited, early-stage versions of what’s coming, then the future won’t just be better, it’ll be faster, more powerful, and more deeply embedded in everything we do.
That acceleration doesn’t just change how we work. It changes who gets to work, how they enter the industry, and what becomes valuable along the way.
Tools vs. Experience
For young creatives especially, the traditional routes - internships, junior roles, slow progression through structured teams are becoming harder to rely on. Many will arrive with strong creative instincts and fluency with generative tools, but without the grounding that comes from navigating real-world dynamics: collaborating across disciplines, managing feedback, handling ambiguity, building trust inside a team.
That kind of experience can’t be automated. It’s what teaches us to listen, to read the room, to understand timing all the soft edges that shape good creative work and even better leadership.
The tools might democratise expression, but they don’t replace lived experience. And in a world where automation closes the gap between idea and execution, what becomes scarce and therefore more valuable, is perspective.
This isn’t just a conversation about what tools can do. It’s about how we choose to use them and who chooses to lead through them.
From Operator to Author
We’re in the middle of a shift, from execution to authorship. Where the old model rewarded technical skill and production craft, today’s tools remove much of the friction between vision and output. Whether you’re a trained designer or someone with a compelling idea, you can now generate visuals, concepts, treatments or entire campaigns with very little technical lift.
That changes the playing field. It challenges the assumption that only certain people are allowed to make things or that you need permission to start. The line between professional and non-professional is getting thinner. The myth of gatekept creativity is falling away.
But if the tools expand access, they also raise the bar. Because when anyone can make something, what matters most is why you made it and how well you understand what resonates.
The bottleneck has shifted. It’s no longer production. It’s perspective.
Clarity Is the New Edge
In a world of infinite content, clarity has become a creative advantage. The people who stand out aren’t just creating more, they’re creating with intention. With taste. With a point of view that cuts through.
And that’s not limited to creative directors or strategists. It applies across the board - founders, freelancers, marketers, artists, interns. Tools like AI aren’t replacing creativity; they’re multiplying the impact of people who know how to use them well. The skill now is in making choices. Knowing what to leave out. Being able to edit, shape, and stand behind something because it’s rooted in who you are, not just what the algorithm can do.
That’s authorship. And it’s becoming the difference between noise and signal.
The Floor Is Now. The Ceiling Keeps Rising.
This moment, what we’re living through right now, isn’t the peak of creative technology. It’s the base layer, the floor.
The ceiling is still climbing. Every new tool, every version update, every integration raises it higher, closing the gap between imagination and execution in ways we haven’t fully grasped yet.
Which means if your creative value is defined by operating the tools of today, you’re standing on ground that’s shifting fast. The opportunity lies not in how well you can use the tools, but in how clearly you can direct them.
What’s emerging isn’t a need for more operators. It’s a space for authors. People who can set direction, make meaning, and bring coherence to increasingly fluid systems.
Leadership Looks Different Now
Leadership today isn’t about control. It’s about composition. Not the top-down kind that tries to manage every output, but the kind that knows how to hold a centre of gravity inside complexity. That knows how to set the tone, connect the dots, build momentum and give others room to grow. Especially at a time when the old paths are breaking apart and new ones haven’t been fully drawn.
It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about having a compass. And being able to move with a sense of direction even when the map keeps changing. That’s what people are looking for in teams, in creative leadership, in brands. Not perfection, but perspective.
The Tools Will Keep Evolving. So Should You.
This pace of change isn’t slowing down. The tools will get better. The friction will keep falling away. And that’s not something to be afraid of it’s an invitation to evolve with it.
The real risk isn’t being replaced. It’s standing still.
The people who are pulling ahead aren’t the ones who’ve mastered every technical skill, they’re the ones who stay curious. The ones building their own systems. Remixing ideas. Reframing speed and ownership on their own terms. They’re not waiting for someone to tell them they’re ready.
This isn’t about becoming an expert in every new platform. It’s about staying rooted in your voice, and knowing how to use the tools to amplify it, not hide behind it.
The Real Question
At its core, creativity is still a challenge to default thinking. It’s still about seeing differently and helping others see differently too. And in a world where tools can produce endless variations of anything, the real creative act isn’t making more.
It’s making meaning, so yes, this may be the worst it’ll ever be. But that’s exactly the point.
Because everything from here gets faster, more fluid, more unpredictable. And those who move with it, not just producing, but leading with perspective will be the ones shaping what comes next.
The floor is already here. The ceiling’s still rising.