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Creative Leadership Through Difficult Change
June 26, 2023 Brand Leadership Business Growth Career Growth Creative Agency Design Leadership Strategy
Guest Speaker

Nicole Parente-Lopez

Executive Creative Director, Intuit Brand Storytelling and Experiences

Nicole Parente-Lopez currently serves as Executive Creative Director of Intuit Brand Storytelling and Experiences. She leads multidisciplinary creative teams to deliver cohesive end-to-end global brand and marketing experiences, galvanizing Inuit’s employees, customers, and shareholders around Intuit’s mission and vision. Earlier in her career, Nicole worked with a diverse range of clients; from corporate to educational, to fine arts and publishing. This path has given her a broad view of the power of design at every level and angle, which is her driving force daily.

Navigating change is all about having the right mindset.

This episode of Real Creative Leadership discusses how to think strategically about progress. Because the reality is: it takes time. Adam’s guest Nicole Parente-Lopez, Executive Creative Director of Intuit Brand Storytelling and Experiences, suggests that falling in love with the strategy behind change is how you embrace it. And by celebrating the small wins along the way, creative leaders can help their teams stay engaged, even during complex evolutions.

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Adam Morgan
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REAL CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

Season: 4 

Episode: 4

Episode Title: Creative Leadership Through Difficult Change with Nicole Parente-Lopez

Guest Title:

Nicole Parente-Lopez, Executive Creative Director, Intuit Brand Storytelling and Experiences

Adam Morgan: 

Change is hard, but it’s also part of business. And when it comes to creativity, sometimes change is the very thing that inspires bold new ideas. Today we’re gonna dig into the importance of collaboration, out-of-the-box thinking, and the disruption needed to inspire creative teams — especially during times of change.

I’m joined by Nicole Lopez, executive creative director of Intuit Brand Storytelling and Experiences. Nicole leads multidisciplinary creative teams focused on brand experiences that are memorable, innovative, and that form true connections with internal and external audiences. Nicole, welcome to the show.

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Thanks so much for having me, Adam. I’m really happy to be here. 

Adam: 

I’m so excited that you’re here too. We’ve had such a great background talk before on all the things that we are all the same on, all the passions we have about this business, and so it’s so exciting to find a kindred spirit.

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Kindred spirits, for sure. Yeah. 

Adam: 

Yeah. All right, well, let’s start out. The audience doesn’t know you, so why don’t you first start with just telling about yourself and what you’re all about and what you do. 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Sure, no problem. I’m Nicole. I’ve been in the design industry for over 25 years now in a variety of roles and disciplines. I’ve worked in corporate brands, educational brands. I’ve worked in fine arts, I’ve worked for publishing. You name it, I’ve probably done it in a variety of disciplines. I’m currently, as you mentioned, at Intuit. I’ve been here for eight years, leading the brand storytelling and experiences design team. And it is incredibly rewarding work reaching broad audiences across the world. 

Adam: 

Well, let’s talk about the kind of work that you’re into. Yeah. Uh, tell me more about what gets you excited and your perspective, especially on creative leadership, because that’s what this 

show’s all about. 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Sure, no problem. I wake up driven every day by storytelling work. Like I said, I’ve had a career story career with a lot of different disciplines and a lot of different types of work, but for the past 15 years, it’s really been all around brand and storytelling, and that opportunity to form and maintain true connections with different audiences through design is just endless space for creativity and self disruption. It moves really fast and the work never, ever gets old. 

I’m also driven by coaching and leading creative teams. I’ve been in four different meetings today, workshop meetings with four different teams where there’s a group of creatives just buzzing around rooms, so excited about this nut that they are collaborating to crack.

And when we’re all aligned on the same outcomes, and the teams are really driven to do great work, it’s such a beautiful journey.

Adam:

For today’s topic of how do I still create through change, everything you just explained is so perfect. We’re gonna get into the brand and all the change, and I’m actually going through a brand refresh right now as well. It seems like these are always happening, so it’s great to get good advice there. But also your coaching stuff. We want to turn the corner near the end of this interview and talk about how we help individuals or how we help with our careers during times of change. In today’s environment, it’s times of change. I’m sure many are feeling it, that it’s post-pandemic, but there’s a lot of things happening in the macroeconomic environment. So we want to get through all those things. 

Intuit’s gone through a really interesting history, and there’s a lot of change with acquisitions and rebranding and all of that. So talk to me about how that impacts creative storytelling. Does this chaos create problems or opportunities? 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

It’s full of opportunity, Adam, honestly. All of the change that Intuit has gone through, all of the growth and acquisition and evolution that Intuit has gone through has only fueled the storytelling that we do.

Intuit has just turned 40 this year. So 40 years young, and just hitting our stride, and it is seriously in a new phase of growth and evolution. Super exciting time for the company, and you can feel the energy in the building and just throughout the organization. And because of that energy, our storytelling work has just become so much more dynamic. There’s just so much more story to tell. So, uh, again, it never gets old, and it’s always, always very fun. 

Adam:

Well, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the rebrand. Any of you out there who are going through some sort of a rebrand or a redesign or a new design system, whatever that may be, 

it’s really important to hear how others go through that process. So, tell us what happened first. I know we talked about research. I wanna hear about research and how that played a part, but tell us maybe the journey of going through this research. 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Sure. About a year and a half ago, there was a point that we just looked at how we were showing up to the world and we said, “Huh. This isn’t a reflection of who we are internally, what we’re putting out there in the world, visually.” And from a storytelling perspective, it just wasn’t who we were feeling internally. So we really took time to reestablish our identity, to better reflect who we had become. And I had the honor of leading through the visual design of the new identity, leading through the change of that. And yeah, it was super, super rewarding. 

Adam:

What are the first steps you did when you had to really think deeply about it and go back and figure out who we were and what we did? Is that just internally a bunch of people getting together and saying, “What do we stand for?” Were there brand attributes that you were trying to lock onto? What were some of the early steps that helped you figure that out? 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Research was a huge part of this change once we identified the project. Before that, it was all internal-led. We just looked, and we knew that we’re really close to ourselves, obviously, and we know the brand really well, and we felt as an organization it was time for a shift. Once we identified that we started our internal and external research. 

Adam:

Internal and external. Tell me more about that. Like you just went around and interviewed a lot of different people, and tried to get a sense of what people believed the brand stood for?

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Sure. 

Adam:

And then externally, was it customers or random people off the street? Where did you go after? 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

So one of Intuit’s core company values is to stay deeply connected to our customers. We’re customer obsessed, right? So we’re talking to customers all the time, whether they be consumers, or small businesses, or self-employed. Their feedback and perception is really critical to the success of our innovation internally.

So we ate our own dog food there. When we were working on this rebrand project at the beginning, we conducted a series of interviews with our most senior leaders first, across the organization. And the reason we did that was twofold. First because these leaders have their fingers on the pulse of all the different core audiences. Because we’re so customers obsessed as an organization, they’re talking to the audience and customers all the time. So they have a deep understanding of who our customers are. They also have a deep understanding of, and a perspective of, where we’re headed as a company.

So we were able to garner so much insight from just even talking to our senior leaders across the organization. Certain things like what our current perception is and what they desire our down-the-line perception of the company and brand to be. We learned more about how the leaders felt about the 40 year journey that Intuit has been on, and the deep connection to the roots that we have built throughout that journey. And we also gained new insight on how our customers’ needs are changing and who our customers are changing into themselves. 

Adam:

I love hearing about all those insights you uncovered. Tell us you translated those into creative? How did all of those insights from executives and from customers translate into something new?

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

So one of the core ones that was really interesting to us was that as a 40 year old company, the people we talked to really felt pride in how we’re still around. So it was really, really important to keep that in mind as we were working through the design process. Like, we’re not throwing everything away. This isn’t a net new start. It’s actually just a meaningful shift in evolution in how we show up. 

Another interesting insight is that we uncovered that Intuit is really a brand of “ands.” Yes, we are a forward-thinking and innovative technology company. But we are also, like I said, we’re customer obsessed. Um, we are human and authentic too. So there’s a duality there that’s really rich territory to play with. When you’re developing a new brand identity, how do you develop an identity that instantly conveys a dynamic and progressive technology focus while also maintaining a human-centric side that’s approachable and caring? So that was just really, really fun to tease out and play with. 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

And I want to really emphasize what you just said is so critical. I’ve been in many different brand exercises where it’s like we just figured out what the brand attributes are, right? Maybe there’s like, and I don’t know why there’s always four, why are there always four?

I don’t know who started that trend, but maybe three. Okay. I don’t know. But there’s always the brand attributes, and then there’s always the “we’re this, we’re not that,” or we’re trying to put some context on it. But I’ve noticed in some, it just stops at those attributes.

And the problem around that is it can just start to be so corporate, because many people use similar attributes, and it’s just so hard. So I really like finding the unique ones, and where you talked about the emotions, I think is what’s unique. That’s special. So that’s something that I’ve been pushing on as well. It’s one thing to say we stand for X, but how do we want the audience to feel about that? Really drilling in on those emotions and then helping that guide [things]. 

Because you could have a homepage on your website that could be the same message — it’s easy to get crisp on the message — but you could share it in a dozen different emotions. So maybe tell us more about how you know the right moments to use which emotion. Where did you pick what? And after you landed on that, what did you do with it? 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

We landed on five [attributes], which is fun. We understand that collectively, they all make up who we are. Right? So Intuit equals these five attributes. Through storytelling, we dial up one or two or dial down the other three to dial in the right emotional range and tone depending on what type of story we’re telling. And that’s how we flex the system. And it’s been working so far. We have so many conversations around this in any of the work that we do. Like what emotional tone are we trying to hit with this piece? And because of that, which traits do we need to dial up or down? 

Adam:

Yeah. That’s so interesting. I know we’re getting along in time here, and we could just keep talking and talking about a rebrand and how it helps with the company. But I want to kind of shift gears a little bit and say, okay, so there’s a pattern that we’ve kind of just been talking about when it was time to create awesome stories in a time of change. It was all about really assessing what the situation was. Figuring out what are the paths where you could go down? It’s just classic creativity, right? Looking for new ways of looking at a problem. Landing on some things that we really think ring true and then creating stories and experiences around that.

So how do we, now that we’re talking about people’s careers and their personal goals and their personal change and their personal paths of wherever they’re going, what advice would you give about how do you manage difficult change within your team or difficult change within your own personal life and still find ways to get good creative?

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

One of the core tools I use is just practicing active listening. Throughout my career, I’ve gotten better and better and better at just listening first before reacting to anything anyone is saying. So if you establish yourself as an active listener, you’re putting the other person’s point of view or the team’s point of view first. So you’re finding that common ground to problem solve together, right? So you put yourself in a position to guide through the problem solving or go through problem solving together versus dictating solutions. And I find that it works both for individuals and teams to establish that empathy right away. It goes a really long way. 

Adam:

Oh, that’s good. So that’s kinda like the active listening is the equivalent of doing all that research and looking for those insights and finding the common grounds with customers.

But this time, it’s someone on my team. Whatever the problem is, whatever the situation, just really listen and, and show empathy. I know it goes a long way. I’ve had moments where just even saying sorry, I think, makes a big, a big difference. 

But that’s managing down. Tell me more about other audiences, like managing up. How is it different when you’re coaching senior people? 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Yeah. Yeah. So when you’re managing down, it’s all about leading a team with a clear vision, being available for them, being available for when they have questions or just wanna brainstorm, and setting up employees to do incredible work. And then recognizing them when they do. Right? So that’s managing down. 

Managing up is, in my perspective, a completely different ballgame. It’s all about proactive communication, being solution oriented, and being prepared to influence with new perspectives — coming up with the new idea and sharing that new idea holistically when you’re managing up. And one thing I’ve learned, especially in such a large, large organization, is that what’s equally important to up and down is actually managing across. So, managing across is all about clear communication and often communication and collaboration. And I find with a healthy balance of all three of those, you find success as a creative leader.

Adam:

One of the big questions from the teams or others is like, with all this change, it’s easy to just get grumpy and say, oh, this is just gonna make things worse, and our work is gonna be worse and the creative is gonna suffer, and whatever it may be. But how do you spin that around and create a moment where you can have change and look for those opportunities without losing your creative soul.

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

I find myself day in and day out falling in love with any given strategy — well for the business for sure —  but also for any project that we’re working on. And I instill in my coaching to my teams that they fall in love with the strategy too. I make sure they really understand the opportunity at hand and just really, really feel it in their hearts. Like what we are set out to do, and what outcome we can achieve, and what the impact can be for any given audience. And I often get told that my energy is palpable, that people could feel how excited I am about the project at hand. And I think that that goes a long way.

I also encourage that we zoom out and try new things often. Like we don’t wanna hit the same nail with the same hammer over and over and over again as a storytelling organization. That gets redundant. And honestly, the audience, they start hearing the same message over and over and over again. Glazed eyes, we don’t want that. So we’re just zooming out all the time to try new things. And in order to do that, you have to stay inspired and stay connected to the world around you. We’re a pretty large team. So we are sharing inspiration all the time with what we see. I think hiring diverse talent obviously goes a long way.

Adam:

I like what you said about looking around and just falling in love with the new flow or the new system. My journey started out like coming up with a creative concept for a big campaign was the most important. That was the ultimate. But the world has changed around us, and things are different. It’s now more content creation and content flow. And especially if you’re in b2b, feeding that engine in that machine is just a huge thing. So looking around and saying, okay, maybe it’s not the big campaign, but it’s storytelling in a different way. Maybe it’s long form storytelling in a big ebook or something. 

Or maybe it’s, as leaders, looking at someone if you’re not in the craft every day, and asking how are you still loving it? You said the word strategy, which was interesting. How am I looking at bigger, macro things for the whole team and building that environment or building opportunity for creativity to grow and still lose, not lose your creative soul. You know what I mean?

There’s so many things as creative leaders that we can focus on that are creative and exciting and emotional and fun. That may not be the things that we thought of at the beginning of our career. Sure. For those who are like, oh, I don’t wanna go into management because I love the craft. Like just change your perspective of what the craft is. I think there’s an interesting anecdote there. 

Last question. For someone who’s new to creative leadership, how do you advise someone to become a better leader when they’re managing difficult change?

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

Again, lifelong lesson learner here, but change takes time, and it’s a collaborative process. And through that collaboration, I find it really important to always stay true to my intentions and to reflect on the small wins regularly. Because often when you’re going through change, you feel like you’re running in circles, right? It just feels like you’re chasing your tail and nothing’s happening, and you get frustrated. But if you reflect on those small wins, what you’ll realize is actually you’re spiraling up. It is going up. You are making that change. It just takes some time. It’s not gonna happen overnight. So what I’ve learned is to be patient, be diligent, and just be steadfast and you’ll get there. 

Adam:

Oh, that’s good. I love it. Change is progress. Yes. It’s not going down. So that’s fun. Well, great. Thanks Nicole. It’s been such a pleasure having you on the show today, and it’s been a great discussion. You have some really good advice on how to deal with these different moments that I think are really awesome.

Maybe as just a closing, please tell listeners, you know, where can they find you or follow you or, or keep up with your career online? 

Nicole Parente-Lopez:

LinkedIn is a great place to follow my career. I want to write more on Medium than I actually do, but if I tell the world maybe it will kick me in the pants a little bit. So I do have a couple articles there as well.

Adam:

All right, well thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you. We’ll talk soon.