Sasan Saeidi, CEO J. Walter Thompson Gulf, Global Vice-President Content Strategy IAA Global and Regional VP IAA MEA, will be speaking at the IAA Global Conference.

Before that, we were curious to get some insights on what creativity means for Sasan, in the below interview:

What does creativity mean for you?

Creativity means something different for everyone. And that alone is creative. But my interpretation of creativity is the act of ideation and thinking that brings new perspectives that have not been seen before. Creativity is bringing to life an idea that was not there before. Its about new perspectives and new expressions. Ultimately creativity in our business is about creating solutions.

If creativity is an unlimited resource, how do you harvest your team's creativity?

By helping them stay true to the environment they are in; by being clear with what I am asking them to do; by creating the right environment and culture for them to feel relaxed and truly comfortable to create ideas.

Could you share a life story (personal or professional life) on how creativity improved the world? It could very well be a story of how an unconventional, "crazy idea" saved the day, a story on how lateral thinking helped you come up with a better solution.

I think anything that today is helping us live; whether technology; basic human needs; utilities and so on was developed because someone got creative. One of the best examples of creativity is when someone uses plastic bottles; fills them up with a solution of bleached water and uses them as light bulbs in impoverished houses that don’t have electricity to light their house at night. That’s thinking that changes the world.

Sasan is a man of Account and strategy, and proud. Before embarking on the current role, he used to be the Managing Director of FP7, part of McCann Worldgroup, leading the Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar teams. Saeidi’s career spans 18 years across strategy, account management, business development and executive offices. He has led teams in North America and the MENA region on a wide range of assignments, both global and regional, for international and local brands across numerous sectors.

Recommended read: Sasan’s lessons from the heart on Account Management

Come meet Sasan at the IAA Global Conference in Bucharest, 24-25 October!