Integrating Creativity and Professional Skills for Innovation

Unlock Your Mind's Hidden Power. Lateral thinking isn't just a skill—it's an art. An art that can transform the mundane into the extraordinary, converting straightforward tasks into innovative masterpieces. But how do we sharpen this skill? 📍 First, challenge the status quo. Start with questioning everyday norms and assumptions in your field. Why do we do things this way? What if we flipped the process entirely? 📍 Second, embrace constraints. Limitations are often seen as barriers, but they can actually fuel creativity. Set boundaries for a project and watch unique solutions emerge. 📍 Third, diversify your input. Read books outside your expertise, listen to podcasts that challenge your worldview, and talk to people with different life experiences. New perspectives breed new ideas. 📍 Fourth, practice reverse thinking. Take the desired outcome and work backward. This method can unveil surprising pathways you might not have considered. 📍 Lastly, allocate time for brainstorming – without judgment. Create a safe space where all ideas, no matter how outlandish, are welcomed. This freedom encourages thinking beyond conventional boundaries. Implement these steps into your daily routine and watch as your lateral thinking skills flourish. Unleash the creative powerhouse within you. Eager to boost your creativity and innovation? Start by integrating one of these steps into your daily routine this week and share your experience. Let's inspire each other to think differently.

I was able to spend time with Samanntha DuBridge, VP of HR (Benefits, Culture & People Experience) at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Here’s what we learned: Samanntha launched her career in Healthcare. She received degrees in that field and secured employment at a large HMO before transitioning into Pharma. But then she arrived at an inflection point, and realized that she wanted to take on a different type of challenge. Her sister worked at a high tech company and invited her to a company picnic where Samanntha spent 30 minutes chatting with the CHRO. Ultimately, that chance conversation resulted in an interview opportunity. She was offered a role on the benefits team. Samanntha didn’t have benefits experience, but the CHRO saw that she possessed transferable skills including her healthcare knowledge. It speaks to the importance of sometimes overlooking an individual's past titles, and focusing more on how their prior responsibilities can drive readiness to capitalize on the opportunities ahead. Samanntha has always been open to trying new things, and sometimes takes on projects that are less popular but needed for the business. When asked how she views challenges in the business world, she stated “I’m a very optimistic person, so I don’t really see the hard things as obstacles to overcome. I think of it as a puzzle and work toward figuring out how to put it all together”. I’m always on the lookout for HR leaders who are infusing innovation into the workplace. Samanntha had two examples to share: (1) she’s brought the agile methodology, a method typically perceived as functioning only within software engineering, into the HR organization at HPE, helping refute the perception of HR being slow-moving and building the muscle to meet business needs quickly. (2) she’s created and launched The Innovation Quest, which is an annual global innovation contest where HPE employees can submit ideas, go through multiple levels of judging, and ultimately get those ideas reviewed by the executive team. Employees who win get funding for their ideas, driving bottom-up innovation and creating a culture where creativity, resourcefulness and commitment prevails. Samanntha’s parting advice? Be a strong partner to the business and to your fellow HR colleagues, and remember to listen. Listening is the ultimate tool for unlocking insights and cultivating a team that prioritizes compassion, which translates to long term success for the business and people involved. A special thanks to Samanntha for sharing her time with us. Make sure to give her a follow here on Linkedin! #humanresources #benefits #totalrewards #hr #leadership

I was fortunate to be a founding member of the innovation lab at PayPal and we learnt a lot along the way! most importantly that cultivating innovation is essential to navigating the digital landscape. It requires a foundational shift in our corporate culture. Here are some ways to build and nurture a workplace that drives digital transformation: - Encourage Curiosity: Promote an environment where questioning and exploring are valued. Innovation begins with curiosity. - Invest in Resources: Equip your teams with the necessary tools and continuous learning opportunities to turn innovative ideas into reality. - Normalize Risk-Taking: Support a culture where calculated risks are encouraged, and learning from failures is as celebrated as achieving success. - Enhance Collaboration: Encourage diverse teams to work together, leveraging different perspectives to ignite creative solutions. - Demonstrate Commitment: As leaders, our actions must reflect our innovative values—showing commitment through active participation and support. - Acknowledge Creativity: Regularly recognize and reward creative efforts to motivate sustained innovation across the organization. - Build Networks: Stay engaged with industry leaders and outside thinkers to bring fresh insights and practices into our fold. Fostering a culture of innovation is a commitment to continuous growth and adaptability. #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #BusinessCulture #Leadership #Growth

Case Story 09: Building Resilience with Creativity, with Blue Courage (2023) When I signed up to become a designer, I didn't expect this career would take me to places like this one: teaching creativity and innovation to police departments. This program is co-organized by the SFPD Leadership Development Institute and Blue Courage. These incredible institutions teach a wide array of development tools that empower police officers to do better for themselves and, in turn, for society. When I meet police officers, sergeants, and commanders, many don't see themselves as creative individuals. As a society, we're still associating creativity with frivolity. I define creativity as the belief that there is more than one solution to a problem. By this definition, everyone has the capacity to be creative. Creativity is essential to triggering our sense of curiosity, proactivity, and productivity, giving us purpose in the lives we lead. Policing is hard these days. The last few years have shaken up the system (which needed some serious shaking up) but rebuilding from the mistakes of a few has proven to be quite challenging. Let's add to this the pandemic, overwork, mistrust from the general public, funding challenges, societal issues like addiction and homelessness, economic uncertainty, endless bureaucracy, politics, and we have a very complex equation to solve. So in order to be productive again, we got to brainstorm, write, draw, connect, tell stories, laugh out loud, debate, build, break down, rebuild again, encourage, and open our collective imagination to possibilities rather than limitations. We got to tackle serious systemic problems: 1. Addiction and homelessness 2. Staffing and recruitment 3. Limited access to technology (due to privacy and politics) 4. Getting the officers' voices heard These are problems that go beyond policing. They are a reflection of changing times and a failure to evolve. These problems also apply to education, healthcare, hospitality, climate responsibility, and many more aspects of our lives. I've always believed that design is the most powerful discipline because it teaches us to think beyond the status quo, exercise our imagination, think in systems, prototype, and test ideas until one proves to enable change. Here's a quote from a Sergeant who participated in the SFPD workshop: "It was a HUGE soul cleanse. I never put creativity as a strong trait for myself, but Phnam changed the way I think about creative productivity." I look forward to taking these issues to the next level and transforming cities into safe, beautiful, and thriving environments for all. #creativity #workshops #innovation #police

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® has become a favorite tool in my Creative Integration™ toolkit - the use of creative methods in corporate L&D. This facilitation methodology creates a new way for teams to communicate on a level playing field; so all ideas make it to the table. In my leadership development programs, when we get teams thinking with their hands, here’s what I notice: ✨ Hands-on learning activates a level of engagement and retention you simply don’t get from traditional methods. ✨ Building together gives everyone a voice—it's not just the loudest (or most senior) person who gets heard. ✨ Ideas take on physical form, making even the most abstract challenges something we can see, touch, and solve. ✨ The process speeds up trust and connection, which shows up in better alignment and faster decisions. And there’s a real business case, too: miscommunication costs even small companies hundreds of thousands every year. Creative tools like LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® open up new channels for sharing, listening, and building understanding. #creativityisgoodforbusiness #leadershipdevelopment #teamdevelopment

I found this while on an afternoon stroll through Esalen. It beautifully summarizes my key learnings from this past week. Innovation doesn't happen during planned meetings or zoom calls. It happens through collisions of people who care about similar problems, and who have the freedom to ideate together. Our job as leaders is to create a culture where creativity thrives and is celebrated. Here are a few ways we can all work towards creating more innovative cultures: 1) Share your mission. Be loud. Be clear. Be consistent. In order for our team members to innovate, you need to give them something to care about first. Employees at mission driven companies report higher levels of engagement, higher retention and higher levels of innovation than companies who don't have a clear purpose or mission. 2) Focus on outcomes not outputs. Employees who have greater freedom on how they get their work done tend to report better overall outcomes and higher profits than companies with more rigid frameworks. Align on overall targets and objectives and let your team figure out their own ways of achieving them - you may be surprised at how good the results are. 3) Acknowledge and celebrate failures as learning moments. One of the best leaders I've worked for held space in each weekly team meeting for "F*ckups of the week" - a practice I have since emulated within my own teams. In order for creativity to flow, employees need to know that it's safe to make mistakes. A culture where failures are celebrated as learnings is one where creativity can thrive. 4) Create room for collisions. If you haven't been living under a rock, then you know the importance of hiring diverse talent and have done so. Groovy. The next part of the equation is amplifying the power of your diverse workforce by creating opportunities for these employees to engage with each other. I'm not talking about switching to being in the office 5 days a week. While that might yield positive results, it might also do so at the cost of employee wellness (this is not a ding on RTO - it's right for some companies, just not all). Instead, try creating quarterly employee summits where you openly discuss current business challenges and welcome all voices and ideas to be shared. If you have other thoughts or ideas on cultivating innovation, I'd love to hear them. #innovationculture #leadershipcoaching #leadershipdevelopment #esaleninstitute #humanpotential

If your innovation pipeline only includes ideas from R&D or marketing, you’re missing half the game. Some of the best innovation I’ve seen came from the least expected places: legal, procurement, ops. Not because they were trained in creativity but because they were closest to the friction. They live in the constraints, see the inefficiencies, and crave a better way. Let’s be real: Most orgs unintentionally shut them out. Innovation gets often treated like a VIP lounge for the so-called creative types. When it should be a business function with open doors and a clear playbook. So, what actually works? → Challenge-based innovation that invites contributions based on real business needs. → A scoring system that values relevance and feasibility, not just flash. → A process that empowers any team to surface ideas and a mechanism to execute the best ones. Great ideas don’t show up neatly aligned to your org chart. And your innovation process shouldn’t either. #SystematicInnovation #CrossFunctional #InnovationLeadership

𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 “We lack today people who love what it is that they do. They are very professional, they’re well trained, they read data, but they don’t love it." Sir John Hegarty Creativity is making something unique and useful and often produces innovation. Creativity expands beyond the self into the other. The willingness to accept failure is essential for creativity. Research indicates that our collective creativity has been on a steady decline for decades. This decline has implications that stretch beyond individual capabilities, affecting businesses, education, and the broader economy. We're Too Busy for Creativity The Torrance Test, a standard measure of creativity, indicates declining scores since the 1990s. This test, a better predictor of real-world success than traditional IQ tests, suggests our ability to think outside the box is waning. Why? Over-scheduled lives and excessive time spent with electronic devices. We're too entertained and busy for creativity to flourish. Businesses Are Losing The strength of the American economy rests on openness to new ideas, attracting bright minds worldwide and harnessing their creative energies. Businesses without innovation suffer from a lack of dynamism, unable to differentiate or attract customers. Without inspiring new ideas, products, or services, companies become stagnant, losing customers to competitors' novel solutions. What We Are Taught High stakes testing in the U.S. since the 1990s stifles creativity. Schools, pressured to improve test scores, prioritize rote learning and sideline subjects like arts and physical education. This focus curbs students' curiosities and passions. Creativity's Nuance True innovation requires a deep understanding of practical implementation and the complexities of running a business, rather than relying solely on abstract notions of creativity. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 Strike a Balance: It isn't about choosing between data and creativity; it's about integrating the two. Data should guide brands in understanding their audience better. Creativity should create mental and emotional connections. Embracing Risks: Start-ups and established brands need to step out of their comfort zones. For start-ups, it's about making a mark in a crowded marketplace. For established brands, it's about distinctiveness, differentiation, and staying relevant. Reimagine Data: Use data as a foundational tool instead of dictating every decision. Let data provide the framework, then infuse creativity to bring campaigns to life. Finally, circle back to data to measure, refine, and optimize. Creativities Essence: What made iconic campaigns memorable? It wasn't just data; it was a deep understanding of human emotions, culture, and experiences. It's time to bring back that essence, using data as a tool, not a crutch.

Growth and impact hinge on three pillars: Productivity Digital technology. Meaningful human experience. As a creativity strategist, I’ve noticed that many companies easily master productivity and technology. Yet, integrating meaningful human experiences can be a challenge. The most successful workplaces emerge when leaders prioritize human connections, both internally and client-facing, setting the stage for: ✅ Efficiency and innovation ✅ Technology that empowers human connections ✅ Strategy built on experiences that matter to people This isn’t just an ideal—it’s achievable. The secret ingredient? Intentionally building the creative capacity of your teams! Designing solutions that genuinely resonate with people involves using technology to augment rather than overshadow the human aspect. Maintaining focus on impactful experiences is crucial, even while striving for high productivity. #Creativity #Strategy #HumanCentricDesign #Innovation #FutureOfWork

So many organizations are missing out on the incredible creative potential that lies within their teams. Ignoring this can lead to: ❌ Stagnant organizational growth ❌ A workforce lacking fulfillment and motivation ❌ Decreased adaptability in our fast-paced world ❌ Growing vulnerability to more innovative competitors As leaders, we have a crucial responsibility to shape the environment in which our people thrive. We must provide them with the opportunities and the space to tap into their creativity. This involves: 👉 Creating a safe space where it's okay to fail, learn, and grow. Celebrate failures as stepping stones to success and highlight the lessons learned along the way. 👉 Trusting our team members to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Empower them by providing the autonomy to explore their creativity. 👉 Embracing the diverse perspectives within our teams and creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and heard. By taking these steps, we not only unlock the creative potential within our teams but also cultivate a culture of constant growth and adaptability. The most innovative ideas often bloom in the spaces where people feel free to think outside the box. #UnlockCreativity #CreativePotential #LeadershipLessons #NoFailTrust