The chief product officer and head of Adobe’s Creative Cloud reflects on what he’s learned about leadership from being an entrepreneur, an angel investor and an “incrementalist” who is obsessed with helping creatives be more productive.
Years of working with creatives, and being one himself, has taught Scott Belsky the value of one word: compromise. “The creatives I admire most are able to compromise a bit of their very essence to be organized and execute their ideas,” says Belsky, who says he founded the social media platform Behance to help people organize and ultimately monetize creative work.
After selling the platform to Adobe in 2012, Belsky left to become an early-stage investor and advistor to startups such as Pinterest, Twitter, Sweetgreen, and Uber before coming back to Adobe in 2017. Along with overseeing Adobe’s creative products and services, he also runs Adobe’s global design team and made Forbes’ recent CEO Next list as recruiters say his mix of skills and experience makes him a rare find for potential top jobs.
Belsky joined us to talk about his career, advice and philosophy for leading creative teams. “Every creative bold journey is about flag-planting and road-building,” says Belsky, who’s written two books. “A prototype is worth a hundred meetings.”
Adds Belsky: “The longer you lead, the more you realize it’s not about you.”
For more, check out our conversation above.
