Episode Summary

You built a content machine. Now leadership wants magic.

In-house creative teams were designed to move fast and save money—but today’s business leaders want more.
They expect:

• bold brand-building
• cultural relevance
• strategic insight

…from teams still treated like internal vendors.

So what separates in-house teams that thrive from the ones that get quietly downsized?

According to Pete and Juan Carlos, it all comes down to culture.

In this episode, they pull back the curtain on the rituals, truths, and team dynamics that unlock trust, talent, and transformative work.
From unspoken disabilities & superpowers to under-measured impact, this is the playbook for making your team irreplaceable.

Key Takeaways

• You can’t process your way to magic. Culture is the real operating system of creative teams.
• Creative “problems” often signal cultural misalignment—not lack of talent or effort.
• Superpowers and struggles both matter. Great teams make space for the whole human.
• Conversation isn’t overhead. It’s where clarity, courage, and creativity begin.
• When CMOs and creative leaders align, in-house teams stop surviving—and start leading.

Passive Listening to Active Thinking
Use these prompts to reflect solo—or spark deep conversations with your team:

• What does your team optimize for—volume, speed, or belief?
• Where is your team using process to avoid conversation?
• What’s one unspoken “disability” on your team—and what would it look like to support it?
• Are your current metrics proving value—or hiding it?
• If you left tomorrow, what would be missing: deliverables or culture?

Pete Johnson & Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, Co-Founders at LOVE+RESPECT

Pete and Juan Carlos have led iconic creative teams at LEGO, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Saatchi & Saatchi. Now, through LOVE+RESPECT, they help brands transform their in-house teams into culture-driven, business-moving creative engines. With a mix of radical candor and real-world experience, they bring humanity, honesty, and high performance into the heart of creative operations.

🔗 Links & Resources

Pete Johnson on LinkedIn
Juan Carlos Gutiérrez on LinkedIn
LOVE+RESPECT

Episode Summary

What if creativity wasn’t just something a few people do—but the way your entire company thinks, decides, and works?

In this episode, Ivan Pols argues that the most effective organizations don’t isolate creativity—they operationalize it. As Chief Creative Officer at what3words, Ivan has helped build a culture where story becomes strategy, feedback is infrastructure, and creativity isn’t confined to a team—it’s expressed across the company.

We explore why “creative” is a word that often hurts more than it helps, how to build creative systems rooted in story and shared language, and what it means to protect friction and curiosity in the age of convenience and commoditization.

Key Takeaways

• Creativity isn’t a department. It’s a decision system, a culture engine, and a business advantage.
• The label “creative” often limits people. Real creative work happens when everyone contributes.
• Brand story isn’t just marketing—it’s the internal algorithm that drives decisions and direction.
• Friction isn’t the enemy—done right, it sharpens thinking, focus, and collaboration.
• Creative operations can evolve from asset delivery to cultural architecture.

Passive Listening to Active Thinking
Use these prompts to reflect solo—or spark deep conversations with your team:

• Are you building a creative team—or a creative company?
• What labels are limiting your team’s ability to think creatively?
• Does your brand story help your people make decisions—or just decorate your decks?
• What creative decisions are being made in your org—without creative input?

Ivan Pols, Chief Creative Officer at what3words | Co-Founder, Truth & Spectacle

Ivan has led global creative work at agencies like Ogilvy and adam&eveDDB, launched viral campaigns like Diamond Shreddies, and now serves as the creative heartbeat of what3words. At the intersection of design, systems thinking, and brand storytelling, Ivan has helped build a company-wide creative culture where everyone—from engineers to finance—is part of the creative process.

🔗 Links & Resources
Ivan Pols on LinkedIn
what3words
Truth & Spectacle

Where would more friction—or better feedback—make the work better?

Episode Summary

Chris Varela didn’t find creative ops. It found him—twice.

The first time, he realized the work he was already doing had a name: solving friction between marketing and creative, protecting his teammates’ time, and building systems that made the entire process more efficient, more effective—and frankly, more fun for everyone involved.

The second time, his company realized it too. After years of Chris operating without a title—quietly translating between functions and elevating how work flowed—Workday came to the conclusion that this wasn’t just helpful. It was a role. A needed one.

In this episode, Chris and Nish explore how creative ops functions often start unofficially—through the instincts, empathy, and persistence of people like Chris. They also dig into how titles unlock collaboration, how AI is helping scale creative ops work, and how others can navigate that same journey of recognition.

This episode is a guide for anyone who suspects they’re doing something important—but unrecognized. And for anyone who wants to help their org see the work more clearly.

Key Takeaways

• You might be doing creative ops already—whether or not your org (or you) knows it yet.
• Often, people recognize the impact before they recognize the role.
• Operating between marketing and creative is messy—but that’s where value is created.
• Getting a title doesn’t change the work. But it does change who asks for your help.
• Chris’s story is a blueprint for turning invisible influence into visible leadership.

Sometimes the first step in creative ops is helping your org recognize the role—by showing the impact you’ve already made.

From Listening to Thinking: Is It Time to Name the Role You’re Already In?

Use these prompts to reflect solo—or open up space with your team:

• Are you doing creative ops work—but calling it something else?
• If your org had to describe your value in one sentence, would they get it right?
• What’s one system or workflow you’ve shaped—even if unofficially?
• Who could benefit if your work was more visible, more named, more understood?
• How could your story help others name their own role—or help your org see what’s missing?

Guest: Chris Varela, PMP | Manager, Marketing and Creative Operations at Workday

Chris Varela didn’t set out to lead creative ops—he just kept solving the right problems. First, he realized he was already doing the work. Then, over time, his organization came to the same conclusion.

In this episode, he joins Nish to unpack the hidden path into creative operations—and what it looks like to help your company understand the role only after you’ve already been living it.

🔗 Links & Resources
Chris Varela on LinkedIn