Meet Drew Clausen of Midtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Clausen

Hi Drew, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
At a high level, I lead an in-house creative team at Insight 2 Design in the Kansas City area. Our company specializes in outdoor camping and lifestyle products for various brands, including CORE Equipment, which is one of the fastest-growing outdoor brands in the U.S.

While my background is in graphic design, I’ve developed a deep passion for thoughtful leadership and find immense joy in helping others recognize and grow within their own strengths. Beneath the surface of my day-to-day work, I’m a highly observant person, fascinated by the way people think about and experience the world. This curiosity has been a common thread throughout my personal and professional growth. From my days playing little league baseball to my early career, I’ve always embodied the classic Midwest mindset of being diligent in my work while also closely observing the leaders around me and how they were received in different moments. I am using the things I observed, as well as the way I was made to feel in various moments every day as I navigate the world.

For a long time, I struggled with feeling like I didn’t fit the stereotypical image of a leader. As an introspective and introverted person, I carried a sense of shame over not fitting the mold of what I thought a leader looked like. The real breakthrough, however, came from a place entirely disconnected from my 9-to-5 career.

Outside of creativity, I developed a passion for fitness and yoga in particular. Committing to a 200-hour yoga teacher training program proved to be truly life changing, reshaping my self-perception and confidence. Growing the ability to lead a yoga class that was authentically “ME” and filled with creativity as well as vulnerability changed my trajectory. It helped me see that the very traits I once believed held me back were actually my greatest strengths, and these things resonated with other people!

My general philosophy here is really summed up by a piece of wisdom someone once shared with me about my late grandfather Ron. “He rarely spoke, but when he did, people listened because they knew what he had to say mattered.” That’s the kind of person I strive to be in every sense.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When it comes to life, I don’t believe any road leading to something meaningful is ever smooth, and mine certainly hasn’t been.

My entry into leadership came at a time of immense challenge, as businesses and individuals navigated the uncertainty of a post-pandemic world. Like many, I found myself thrown straight into the fire, forced to quickly learn how to lead in a moment of fear and instability. These moments were extremely testing, and took a lot out of me early on. It’s not something where I think there is a silver lining, but it certainly forces you to find yourself quickly.

More broadly, one of the growing challenges for any creative professional is the always increasing demand for measurable accountability within our profession. Every dollar spent must be justified, and while I deeply believe in creativity as a solution to many of our challenges in big and small ways, its impact is often difficult to quantify. But, the aspect of it not being quantifiable is also what makes it powerful. People are rarely moved to action by analytics, KPIs, and buzzwords.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
In regards to my work, I’m believing more and more that I find most of my success in being a jack of all trades. As I mentioned before, I come from a graphic design background, but as I’ve grown in my career I’ve grown into a generalist who excels in setting a high level strategy across marketing disciplines and seeing how the pieces come together.

A thing I’m learning that sets me apart is that both in my work, and in life I’m very interested in effective communication. In design, it is very easy to hyper focus on individual elements, and aesthetic at the expense of the idea you’re trying to communicate in the first place. I think I excel first in keeping my eye on the ball of what is important for this work to say, but beyond that for communicating well in the process and being someone who is enjoyable to work with. If we always have to pull teeth to get anything done, it starts to defeat the purpose of doing the work in the first place. Within my current position I’m especially proud that I’ve become a person who can work with anyone here to solve a problem and be effective under any level of circumstances and external pressures.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to me is integrity. That means doing the right thing, for the right reason in any situation and doing what you say you’re going to do. Personal integrity is the root of trust, and without it anything else that we value becomes compromised.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drewclausen.myportfolio.com/
• Instagram: @drewinganddrawing
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drew-clausen-798b4440/