Greg Hoffman: Former Nike CMO on How Creativity Can Shape Tomorrow's Leaders

It's an absolute honor and a privilege to be here with you today and have an opportunity to talk about something that I feel is of great importance right now. I also want to give a shout-out to the people without power still — having been without power for three and a half days earlier this week, I had options, and many don't. So my positive thoughts go out to those that are still dealing with the power outages.

But as I said, we're in this moment in time that is both a cultural reckoning and a revolution. As the title of the talk says, I really do believe the world needs cultural creative leaders more than ever right now. We have a creative collective power that can do so much in the world. Some of the things I've asked myself: how can we more evenly distribute all the amazing creative expertise that we have around us? And more importantly, how do we take that and close the distance between the communities that have access to all this creativity and leadership and those that don't? So how do we close that gap? That's what I'll be talking to you about.

As I said, I want to share with you what I believe are the creative leadership characteristics that we will need more of as we move into the future and continue to tackle what's in front of us and create positive cultural impact in the world. I call this creative leadership — harnessing and applying the idea of "equality by design."

I want to start with a moment I had with my daughter, Isla. She's a high school senior right now, an aspiring creative director, and she's gonna be going off to college soon to study design. By the way, I have not told her I'm using her in this presentation, so please keep this between us so she's not mad at me.

[laughter]

In any event, I took Isla down to the protest art murals in front of the Apple Store in downtown Portland. I wanted her to see the important role that artists and designers play — and marketers — as visual storytellers in the moments that we have experienced this year. Through their creativity, they reveal the truth in ways that connect people emotionally to instances of injustice, and in turn compel us to join movements that aim to change them.

It also gave me a chance to directly share my feelings with her on the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as I was born and raised there and attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design not far from that tragedy. While that visit was difficult considering the magnitude of what has happened and what we've all experienced, I definitely came away with an incredible amount of optimism.

Because we have seen — and my daughter certainly has been witness to — an outpouring of creativity across multiple disciplines this year. That creativity continues to stir emotions and unify people towards a common cause, whether that's about racial injustice, healthcare inequities in the face of a pandemic, or getting out the vote. In all those cases, creativity has served as a catalyst — both inviting people into a conversation through inspiration, and provoking both reflection and action. And when I say action: empowering people through education, services, and programs.

So as I said, I believe there's this leadership persona that we need to lean into today and in the future. The most effective institutions, brands, creative leaders, and brand builders will need this to drive the kind of cultural change we're looking for.

Before I go any further, I want to say: when I say leader, I mean all of us — certainly here tonight. Whether you're a leader of one (yourself), a leader of a team, or a leader of a brand. I also want to say, in regards to the definition of a creative or creativity — everyone here tonight is creative. You can all use your imagination. You all have the ability to dream and ideate. You all have connections and a platform. So we're all in this together when we talk about creative cultural leadership.

These are the kind of traits that people can feel when they're around you, through your actions — traits that, when we're intentional about expressing through our craft, can engage and work with others to create that level of change. Some of you tonight are probably saying, "Isn't that LeBron James with the Los Angeles Lakers?" Yes, of course. But I do believe a picture can say so many things, and certainly this one does.

Tonight I'm gonna focus on four characteristics: empathetic, visionary, collaborative, and courageous. And I'll use examples of work that I was privileged to be a part of while at Nike to illustrate these.

The first creative leadership trait is empathy. Empathy is so central to our creative disciplines. Having empathy really allows you to see what everyone may see on the surface, but it allows you to get under that surface and really get a greater understanding of what experience the individual or a community is going through, and what their needs are that oftentimes people cannot see. By doing this, this is where we get to true, meaningful, and beneficial design solutions.

I want to share an example of what "seeing what others see but finding what others don't" looks like. Not long ago, there were no performance hijabs available to athletes to compete in — not even at an Olympic level. You had championship-level fencers wearing a hijab with traditional fabric. If you think about it, within these conditions, that material would get wet, heavy, and stiff, and obstruct your hearing. This is something we can't see, but the athlete is experiencing it. It causes an unfair disadvantage, because the inability to hear leads to being penalized for false-starting. It also didn't interact with the uniforms, which further hindered athlete performance.

Through those traits of empathy — and the all-important dimension of curiosity — the Nike design team introduced the Nike Pro Hijab innovation. By seeing, listening, and feeling the voices and stories of these athletes, they were able to deliver a lighter, softer, and more breathable garment. As you can see here on Zeina, a German boxer — as she said in her own words: "Suddenly I could feel, I could hear. I wasn't as hot, and it felt like my body was able to cool down faster and better." She went on to say that innovations like this really serve as a symbol of empowerment, helping advance the conversation around hijabs and Muslim women in sports.

In this case, you see that idea of creativity and design being more evenly distributed beyond the people that have access to it. So what I would ask you to ponder — something I think about a lot — is: as an individual and as a collective, how do you expand your peripheral vision? Most of us are just looking down or looking right in front of us and can't see the opportunities beyond that. And then, how do you look past the simple observations or assumptions that we might have and truly address the needs of underserved communities?

The second trait I want to share is visionary — this idea of revealing the truth in unexpected ways, of a future within reach. It's the ability to imagine that better future and express it in a way that compels people to build that future with you. As a creative collective, we have a vision advantage, a superpower if you will, because we not only talk about a vision of where we could go — as so many do — but we have the ability to visualize that in really compelling ways.

I want to share an example of what "showing what's possible" looks like. I'm going to go back to July of 2016. There were four athletes that took the stage at the ESPYs, the annual sports center awards show: Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James. They all used that event as a platform to speak out against a growing list of victims of police brutality and racial injustice.

I was only two months into my role as CMO at Nike at the time. While I was watching them, I was incredibly moved, but I also felt I had missed the opportunity to amplify their voices and the cause in that same moment — as Nike so often had done in the past. But I felt we could use that as a catalyst, and we set out to find ways to use the insights within sport to reveal the hard truths that live within our society.

We also drew a lot of inspiration from the vision of Nelson Mandela. He used sport in post-apartheid South Africa — specifically rugby — as a vehicle to unify people across his country, whether Black or white. As he says in his quote: "Sport has the power to unite people in a way that little else does." And that's very, very true.

By starting with that insight, taken directly from the voices of Black athletes, where they said collectively: "Why are we equals on the fields of play, on the courts, in the arenas, in the stadiums — but when we walk outside the lines of sports, we are not equals anymore?" We took that insight, and it was now time to reveal that truth.

Collaborating with the great agency partner Wieden+Kennedy, we launched the Equality campaign at the Grammys in 2017, using the voice of the great Alicia Keys to do a rendition of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," with the words of actor Michael B. Jordan, and most importantly, the artful vision and craftsmanship of the director Melina Matsoukas and the cinematographer Malik Sayeed. I talk about that collective — back to the power of team, so important here.

Now I want to show you the film.

[video plays]

"Is this the land history promised? Here, within these lines, on this concrete court, this patch of turf — here, you're defined by your actions, not your looks or beliefs. Equality should have no boundaries. The bonds we find here should run past these lines. Opportunity should not discriminate. The ball should bounce the same for everyone. Worth should outshine color. If we can be equals here, we can be equals everywhere."

So again, that idea of visionary. What I would ask you to think about here is: how do you find deeper insights within the sector that you live within, and how can you use that to express a truth about society in a profound way? It's something to reflect on — a big question. But I believe that, back to the idea of empathy, half of bringing something to life that can move people on an emotional level is starting from a sharp insight, not just an observation.

The third leadership characteristic I want to express: when it comes to maintaining a cultural movement, I do believe creativity is a team sport. And I know what you're saying — "Here comes another sports analogy." I can't help it, 27 years in the sports industry. But it is true. Building cultural change at scale takes radical creative collaboration. This whole idea of designing systems requires us to work together in more evolved ways. It also takes what I call "playing in the intersection" — crossing paths with brands, technology, and innovations from different sectors to arrive at solutions that have profound impact on people's lives.

I want to share a project that represents the power of radical creative collaboration and the multiplying effect that can happen when two brands join forces to promote a better world.

Back in 2010, the World Cup of soccer was held in Johannesburg, South Africa — a place where over 350,000 kids participate in football almost daily, but they lack the proper facilities, coaching, and safe places to play. South Africa is also a place where HIV and AIDS infects more people than in any other country in the world.

So at the time, we asked the question: how could you use sport — specifically the sport of football — to improve education and services for HIV for South African youths? We started a partnership with (PRODUCT)RED. (PRODUCT)RED partners with brands to create products and experiences that raise awareness to end HIV and AIDS. Through that partnership, we created a concept called "Lace Up, Save Lives." When someone around the world bought a pair of Nike Red laces, Nike contributed money to support programs that offer education and medication on the ground in South Africa. The program was backed up by incredible ambassadors that you can see here, like the legendary footballer Didier Drogba.

But we wanted to take that a step further. We designed the Nike Football Training Centre in Soweto, South Africa. This is a place where 20,000 young footballers each year have had the chance to develop their football talent while at the same time having access to HIV/AIDS education through football, life skills, and programming.

The point I want to make here: from an architectural standpoint, rather than imposing a pre-existing architectural style and material and color palette on the community within Soweto, we involved the local community from the beginning to ensure that the design cues felt at home within the place. The early part of my career, I built a lot of incredible environments — stores, buildings — but I didn't always engage with the local community in the way I think I should have. So what I would say today is: it's really important to work with the surrounding communities to ensure that what you're creating isn't just coming from a place that's void of the culture and sense of place that they live within.

Also, it's not just about designing functional structures for underserved communities. You need to infuse those structures with spaces that have emotion and stories. The community has aspirations beyond just functional needs. It's important to find inspiring ways to fuel those dreams. Storytelling needs to become part of that architecture and environment in a natural way. Through local Soweto artists and stories of legendary footballing clubs around the world, we were able to surround and infuse the spaces with emotion that individuals could feel.

Going further: you have architecture, you have a mode of storytelling, and it's also important to think about how you use design thinking to script the athlete's journey — in this case, whoever the participant of the space that you're creating. How do you obsess those different service moments? Whether it was HIV/AIDS education, jersey and footwear customization, or training for specific football skills — you could argue that the service component is the most important part of the entire experience.

Finally, today this center has gone beyond just football and become a multi-sport training facility. It's a facility that is there to increase female sports participation in South Africa. It now includes a running track, a skate park, a dance studio, workshops that promote Soweto's thriving creative community — and really, a symbol of the power of radical creative collaboration.

I like this idea of leaving a legacy, not just a memory. Creating a temporary event, no matter how successful, oftentimes leaves just a memory. But when you create something with permanence, built to last, built to grow over time, that really involves the community — you truly do leave a legacy.

The questions I would ask you to ponder: what are the intersections that you can play within more? What type of radical creative collaboration can you embark on? All of us have access to such a great network of brilliant brand builders, creators, producers, connectors. How do we unlock that so that there's more access and a better future for everyone? Playing in the intersections.

The final leadership trait I want to talk about is courageous. I think you would agree with me — I believe we're in a time that requires more courage than ever. This is certainly not a time to play it safe, especially within the creative arena that we live in.

To illustrate this trait, I want to use an example that's pretty personal to me. We all watched back in September 2016 when Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem for the first time to protest racial injustice and police brutality. And we also watched, leading up to 2017, that Colin still incredulously didn't have a team to play for.

It was during that time, in the late summer, that I sat next to Colin at a small lunch on the Nike campus. I was able to listen to his words directly. He told me that the protest was not about him — it was what the protest represented. He truly made it clear he was not interested in his own campaign or his own image, but truly in partnering with people that could amplify the message and the movement. That gets back to this idea of courageous: amplifying the voices of humanity, the catalysts of humanity.

I didn't personally know Colin at the time, but I did feel I could relate to the early aspects of his life journey. I too was biracial, born to a white teenage mother and Black father. I too, like Colin, was adopted by white parents. And like him, this part of my narrative is one that's impossible to separate from as I've gone through life.

My point here: based on your life experiences, it becomes impossible to separate your personal self from your professional self. When we talk about diversity in the workplace, it's not just enough to have better representation. This is a moment where you can't ask a Black or brown person to not bring their life experience into the work. I think some of the best movements you've seen over this past year are where not only have people been represented, but they've been allowed to put themselves into the work and live it.

To continue on — let's go back to Colin. Fast forward to the fall of 2019. I go to my friend's studio in New York City, the legendary photographer and humanitarian Platon — someone who has this incredible ability to create a story through a portrait and communicate so many things through a single image.

During that visit, Platon informed me that he was donating his photography of African-American leaders, who were civil rights champions, to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. It was an impressive list of cultural leaders over the past 60–70 years — anybody from Harry Belafonte to Muhammad Ali and Barack Obama.

I first worked with Platon on a campaign for the World Cup in Rio, where I experienced firsthand his ability to take a simple business brief and turn it into something that expressed a higher purpose. At that time, I had simply asked him to capture the Brazilian national team and create the ultimate team lineup. What he did instead — he broke the rules, which I love — he created the world's largest team lineup by capturing what the team meant to the people of Brazil, bringing them into the lineup by celebrating their diversity, individuality, and creativity.

Back to Colin. After hearing Platon talk about the Smithsonian donation, I told him, "It's an impressive list, but you're missing someone." He said, "Who?" I said, "Well, Colin Kaepernick is the most contemporary champion for racial justice, and it wouldn't be a complete collection of civil rights leaders without Colin within it."

Outside of that, we also had a business brief where we were creating a limited-edition Air Force 1 shoe specifically for Colin to launch in December. Knowing Platon, he would be sure to bring something to the product that would respect Colin's cause and sacrifice, and move this project beyond just a shoe and a brand campaign.

The "True to 7" campaign was born. Seven individual portraits of Colin — and seven, not just because it's Kap's number, but because each of these portraits represents seven moments in his life and seven values that he lives. Each showcases Platon's signature ability to reveal the soul of his subject in such a powerful way — turning what could have been a traditional product launch into something much more inspiring, powerful, and permanent.

So again: how do we leverage the incredible relationships and connections we have? I think Summit Junto — what Kat talked about to kick off this presentation — so much of it was about the power of the collective and the relationships we have to amplify what could be traditional solutions into game-changing, world-defining solutions. How can you use your platform and your creative self to amplify the voices of cultural catalysts?

I will close where I started, with my daughter once again and how she is seeing the world today — and the opportunity she has in front of her. It's the opportunity to use creativity to shape the world in a much more positive way. We are in that moment. We have that opportunity. We can further leverage creativity to transform infrastructures, systems, behaviors, and lives — and in the process, develop more creative cultural leaders of tomorrow.

Thank you.

[applause]