“The question isn’t, ‘What’s the answer?’”

John C. Jay, the Creative Chairman of Fast Retailing, one of the largest apparel brand holding groups which owns UNIQLO, Theory, and Helmut Lang, among others, tells me in my conversation with him not too long ago.

This phrase came up as we were discussing whether creativity is nurture or nature. “It has to be both,” says John. “There has to be a spark of some sort of creativity in you but at the same time, it is incredibly hard work. It takes your full-time attention and you have to constantly relearn.”

For those who might not be familiar with John C. Jay, look no further than Nike. During its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s as the world’s best advertiser, John was behind some of its most iconic campaigns and marketing initiatives. The readers of Graphic Design USA voted John as one of the 50 Most Influential Art Directors of the Past 50 Years and in 2011, Fast Company included him in its 100 Most Creative People issue. Another press called him “a living legend.”

Despite a career that anyone would envy, John reveals that he comes from a very humble background. His family immigrated to the US from Asia and he didn’t speak English until he was six. They didn’t live in their own house until he was fourteen. The first time he got on an airplane was when he was a sophomore in college.

“They didn’t say, ‘Go to this museum,’ or ‘Go see that exhibition.’ Creativity, they didn’t know what it was.” His parents were busy putting food on the table. He wasn’t taught to be creative.

Curiosity and critical thinking

“Every month, I would write to the editor of GQ Magazine,” John recalls his days in college. After entering Ohio State University, John discovered graphic design through his friend. From there, he started writing letters to the editors commenting on each month’s topics and designs.

“I was naive. I was stupid. I didn’t know anything.”

To his surprise, the editor of GQ wrote back to one of John’s somewhat random but persistent letters and told him to come visit the GQ office in New York City. He took that as a sign to move to the city upon graduation and started working in publishing, designing covers and layouts. But it wasn’t GQ. Instead, it was engineering and law magazines that he started out with. Those subject matters were complex and visually less intuitive.

During his college studies, many of his professors were European professors with rigorous Swiss Design roots who gave their students open-ended assignments. This forced John and others to think critically about the problem at hand.

“I really had to understand the text that I was dealing with,” John speaks of the early part of his career, referring to legal and engineering content. Even though he works in fashion, which puts way more emphasis on how things look than sound or read, going into publishing first had a profound impact on his career as a creative. It made him think more.

Wisdom from a living legend

40+ years of experience do give one the kind of wisdom that many can appreciate. I’ve known John for close to fifteen years now and every time I spend some meaningful time with him, there is always something to learn.

1. The question is, “What is the question?”

As Creative Chairman of a global corporation, John spends his time traveling between Tokyo, New York, and Portland. The teams in various countries are often eager to know what they should do. In the context of business, one’s job is to make something successful and there is little room for experimentation. It’s easy to say “Don’t be afraid of failure,” in theory. In reality, you are expected to do the job well and not fail. Naturally, teams want to know what answer the boss might be expecting.

Instead, John encourages interrogating the problem at hand first. “The question isn’t, ‘What is the answer?’ The question is, ‘What is the question?’”

As a creative and business executive, it’s not rare that I find my team (myself included) trying to solve a problem that may not have been the right one to begin with. It’s important to keep reminding yourself what problem you are trying to solve throughout the process.

2. We are all equal

“Once you put a dollar on the table and there is a competition among 50 people for that dollar, that’s when racism, bigotry, and biases raise its head. It’s oftentimes beneath the surface.” Here, John shares with me an episode.

The day John accepted a job at Bloomingdale’s and a friend of his, an Asian architect, also got a job at a notable architecture firm in NYC. A common acquaintance of theirs upon hearing this said:

“Damn it! Those f**king Chinese are getting all the good jobs in the city.”

At that time, there weren’t that many Asians working in creative professions in NYC. “There were only two of us.” When John talks about this incident, he comments that it’s good and bad that he remembers this detail. It’s clear this made an impression.

While he brings this up as a reminder that racism is all around us, it’s important to remember that one shouldn’t be deterred by racism.

“Wait a minute, they all put pants on one leg at a time. We are all equal.”

3. What is the one card up your sleeve?

John has more experience than almost anyone I know. He also has an unparalleled network of friends and influential people. Those things combined, it’s no wonder he’s one of “The 50 Most Influential Art Directors of the Past 50 Years.”

Towards the end of our conversation, without my prompting, he offers a glimpse into what has made him successful. “There are a lot of people smarter than me, better educated than me, certainly richer than me, and more talented than me. But I have one card up in my sleeve.”

What comes after isn’t his experience or network. Nor it’s his skill or luck.

“They can’t outwork me,” says John with absolute confidence and a spark in his eyes.

In order to succeed, one has to have a lot of things around them. But the most fundamental and primal quality of one’s success is knowing what your secret card is.

Last word: Develop a habit or skill that you are so confident that you can beat anyone with.

I highly recommend this two-part series of my conversation with John C. Jay. These are some of the most popular episodes of my podcast. Please listen and follow the show.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-creative-mindset/id1669660940

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CCKng04AT7jF2E3jHPcWZ