Part II of my talk with Gary Goldsmith, Makers plus Mentors founder and former Chair of Creative Direction at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. We pick up where we left off Monday, speaking about Gary’s aims in teaching…
Gary Goldsmith:
I always tried to infuse our program with people who I thought were current, contemporary and important for the students to be exposed to. I looked at myself as the curator of their influences.
An example was Dave Dye. Dave agreed to teach and was an excellent teacher. He brought his vast global knowledge of the business/high taste level and coupled it with challenging assignments and an ability to critique and connect with the students.
AD AGED:
And the better those influences are, the better the people do.
Gary Goldsmith:
Absolutely. I think that was one element of why our program
was so successful. But the other element was something that I found missing in many other programs. We looked at our job as not just teaching them, coaching them and pushing them to be better.
We looked at our job as creating pathways to help them enter the industry at the best possible places.
AD AGED:
And that's where the mentoring came in.
Gary Goldsmith:
Yes, that’s part of it. So instead of a person having to send their book to a great agency like Wieden & Kennedy cold, we would have them meet with one of our former grads who worked there. That grad would review their book, make comments, give advice and usually show it to a few more people there. Once everyone thought it was ready to submit, they’d submit it.
So our students were not only being mentored by me and our instructors. They were being mentored by people who already worked in the places that they most want to work. And as I found out, not only are our alums happy to see the newbies that come out, they really enjoy the notion that they’re going to play a role in helping someone follow in the path that they were able to take.
AD AGED:
That's the way it really works. I mean, getting through the gauntlet, unless you're just singular or in some way you're wearing the gorilla suit or whatever, you know, stunts, have to do is really kind of impossible.
Gary Goldsmith:
Yes, that's right. That’s a key thing. And that's something that's often missing with many of the students I talk to who have been in some of the other programs, even very good programs.
And what I have found, in almost every case, was that it wasn't that those programs didn't want to do that, but that they didn't necessarily have the contacts in those agencies to do that.
So yes, first and foremost you have to make really great work. Without that, nothing else matters. But when you do make great work, you have a big advantage if you have a mentor that can put you in a position for the right people to see it.
AD AGED:
My knee-jerk supposition when I heard about Makers & Mentors was that you added mentoring because the senior level at agencies has been wiped out in many ways.
Again, it's hard not to sound negative. But the people you used to be able to hang with and learn from, either by association or by actual tutelage, that seems to be gone now, according to my experience at agencies.
I wondered if that was the impetus behind mentorship, that you're looking for that kind of fatherly figure in a sense that that you know and it’s kind of as if a hundred years ago people stopped seeing religious leaders for help that's when psychiatrists came in so you know is there is there kind of a parallel now we all need whether it's encouragement or guidance or some sort of affirmation from someone, if you can find someone older than you, from someone older than us, you know, we all need that and it doesn't exist in agencies. So that was my initial thought, but yours is much more, it's much more directive in a way.
Gary Goldsmith:
Well, yes, I agree, but the connecting with mentors on the outside is only one part of it. The other role of mentoring is more as you describe. And that’s the mentoring that I did and our teachers did.
It’s about getting to know each persons strengths and weaknesses, about knowing how to push them but push them in a way that’s productive and inspiring, not demoralizing. It’s about helping them set their goals, understand the sacrifices that have to be made and get prepared to transition from school to their careers. And if you’re in a leadership position and your students are putting their trust in you, you have to be willing to take some responsibility for their well-being and their career.
AD AGED:
Responsibility for their well-being in their career. Because, you know, they're counting on us to prepare them.
Gary Goldsmith:
Absolutely. We have to prepare them in terms of teaching/inspiring them to do the best possible work they can do, but it doesn't end there.
The other part of it is preparing them for the industry, preparing them for “real-life”, preparing them for the disappointment we all sometimes experience and giving them the knowledge and the tools to thrive and succeed.
AD AGED:
You know, it's funny, when I was still, you know, in the traditional business, my probably best friend in the business was Rob Schwartz, you know, who was CEO of Chiat/Day. And I would often, not often, twice a year, which is often, I would say, oh, you really should meet Nika. You should really meet Bill. And he was always, I mean, Rob happens to be a super nice guy.
Gary Goldsmith:
Yes, he sure is.
AD AGED:
But what and I'm really shy about asking for favors, but what I realized or what I what was this idea that when you're older, and you don't have to be, I'm 68, don't have to be say 68 when you're older, could be 38, young people are a currency. And not to be mercenary about this, but it's like, you just don't see young people. And you kind of get despondent, like where's the next generation coming from I don't see people who know what Doyle Dane was anymore.
You know, so there's kind of a richness to introducing these young people and kind of, if you're a prospector, in a sense, finding them because they become the glowing, like the ferment of decades and the people who taught you and all of a sudden this person's a product of a hundred years of tutelage somehow. That's right.
Gary Goldsmith:
I completely agree with you. And all of us who have the privilege of teaching and mentoring get to feel the joy and satisfaction that come after all the late night critiques, early morning panicked phone calls, and the difficult but necessary tough love conversations that lead to the end result of seeing someone get exactly the job they want to begin their career.
We will continue with another installment next week.
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