Whether you're a junior designer looking to climb the ladder, or you're a Creative Director yourself, read on to see what these four CDs have to say about making the most of the role.

1. Inspire your team.

"I feel like my job is to inspire people, and to understand that these designers aren’t just “hands.” I’ll come to the table with a page or two of research that’s meant to be a creative thought starter. Just loose things to initiate a thought process without saying "This is what I want you to do.""

- Mikey Richardson RGD, Creative Director/Partner at Jacknife Design

2. Embrace the discomfort of rediscovering your career identity.

"When you become a Creative Director, it can be a bit weird and uncomfortable because you’re not getting acknowledged for the work that you originally trained to do. I started to ask myself, “What am I becoming?”. Part of the journey was acknowledging that fear of the unknown and being okay with it."

- Matt Coyle RGD, Executive Creative Director at Cineplex

3. You don't have to think inside the lines.

"One of the best pieces of advice I received from Bruce Mau was to think like an artist, not a designer. That was an 'aha' moment for me. It's about merging both crafts."

- Laura Stein RGD, Creative Director at SID LEE in Toronto

4. You're only as good as your team.

"You want to make sure that the people you hire are engaged, they’ll stand up for their work, they have good ideas, and they have a sense of what it means to work within a business. Business is important to my team, because without the business, we don’t exist."

- Erin Craig RGD, Creative Director, Trade Publishing at Harlequin, a Division of Harper Collins

5. It's possible to let your team make mistakes and protect project integrity at the same time.

"It's important to let your team make mistakes. That's obviously easier said than done because you don’t want to lose a client relationship or really screw something up. So, you build in a plan that helps to mitigate the risk: build in longer timelines, create more frequent check-ins, pair them up with a more senior designer with more experience. All of these options are better than just stepping in to take over."

- Mikey Richardson RGD, Creative Director/Partner at Jacknife Design

6. It takes time to become a great Creative Director.

"Nobody goes to school to become a Creative Director. Everyone goes to school to learn a craft and pick up skills, and you tend to learn [the more business type] of stuff on the job. Making this side of the role as good as it can be takes a lot of time and effort."

- Matt Coyle RGD, Executive Creative Director at Cineplex

7. To stay motivated, never stop learning.

"Focusing on always learning is a great way to keep motivation up. Everyone has a hunger to know more, to create more. Being able to say "What can we learn from this particular situation?” is really important."

- Laura Stein RGD, Creative Director at SID LEE in Toronto

8. Learn to rethink a project without having to reinvent the wheel.

"Getting to the bottom of whether or not it’s the idea that’s rejected or if it’s the execution of it is really important, especially when on a tight timeline. You can get a lot of fresh and new ideas from concepts that you’ve already presented."

- Erin Craig RGD, Creative Director, Trade Publishing at Harlequin, a Division of Harper Collins