Where have all the creatives gone?
An inquiry into the state of creative business and a perceived decline in curiosity among young creatives.
This piece began as a conversation on the way to lunch. It is an unpacking of a very serious issue that has no straightforward answer. I invite you to view it as a mental nudge that might inform your own opinion.
We were walking down the street during our lunch break, salads in hand. Melanie1 was having an epiphany: “It’s as if young people aren’t curious anymore. There’s no drive or willingness to invest time outside of work to explore new platforms or develop new ideas.”
Melanie, an ambitious creative director, was referring to young creatives. We also couldn't help but note that we’d reached the age where we understand what our parents used to mutter about: “those young people…”. But that’s beside the point.
She’s right, though. Young creatives, strategists, makers of all kinds don’t seem to exhibit the same kind of ferocious curiosity we had in our early 20s.
This phenomenon isn’t just about individual attitudes; it reflects broader generational and industry trends. Gen Z, for instance, doesn’t attribute work the same role as Millennials do. Their curiosity finds different outlets, like TikTok and the gaming scene, which prove that beyond doubt.
Additionally, the creative industry itself has transformed. Creative agencies have become as corporate as their clients. Corporate environments are bound by structures, reporting cycles, and processes—the ultimate creativity killer. Boutique agencies may still be creative havens, but they lack access to global client accounts and budgets.
So, the today’s young creative isn’t selected for his creativity or outside-the-box thinking. He is hired for his skill, experience and adaptability to be creative in corporate structures.
He’s learned to produce, often at great speed and under pressure. And like many of us—whether two or twenty years into our careers—he’s learned to cope and adapt. After all, disillusionment is part of our 20s.
Maybe it’s not a lack of curiosity that’s missing, but rather the ambition to excel to a position where curiosity becomes an asset. The willingness to compete against others, and in a sometimes warped political system, for a position of authority and more freedom.
Melanie and I are in leadership positions. We fought for autonomy and independence within the strict confines of our work environments.
As we move up the ranks, we gain more freedom. This luxury and motivation allow us to explore and realize new things more freely.
I can’t remember what came first for me: curiosity or ambition.
[Of course, these are not mutually exclusive. For the sake of this argument and in response to a broader observation, let’s assume they are correlated in some way.]
I launched my first blog in 2007. I did everything myself: text and visual content, frontend design, analytics, and coding (before templates, often crashing the frontend altogether).
In 2013, I sent out my first newsletter using Mailchimp. They were just exploring email automation, and it felt like discovering a new toy.
I’ve had many toys since then, from social media to data visualizations and now GPTs.
These experiments were crucial to my digital education. I gained the skills and knowledge of how to use digital tools and platforms in an expanding ecosystem.
But did curiosity fuel my ambition to rise in the ranks and become my own decision-maker?
Or was it the other way around: Did my ambition fuel my curiosity, and provide the necessary drive?
After our conversation, I couldn’t help but think it’s too easy to blame a particular behavior on an entire generation.
I think our work environments and expectations are shifting so fundamentally that this perceived lack of curiosity or willingness to invest leisure time is just a result of that shift.
I see signs that the corporate structures our business world relies on are crumbling and morphing into something new. Creativity is just one area facing the massive challenge of uninspired employees and work.
It feels like the tighter we hold on to what we know and have learned to navigate, the greater the shock and burn will be when it stops serving its purpose in an age that has moved on. And that age is now.
Corporate creativity is at a tipping point. The creative industry needs to rethink its setup within corporations, and corporations need to make space for it to do so. How companies answer this challenge will shape the way creativity is nurtured and commercialized moving forward.
Melanie’s name was changed to preserve her privacy.