Creativity episodes

Creativity doesn’t come from a job title or working in a certain department. We are all creative but our jobs, education, and society have made us forget. These episodes cover everything from the basics of the creative process to more advanced subjects for creative teams.


EPISODE 78

How improv can make your team more creative

At its best, creativity is about spontaneity, creativity, and collaboration. There are few places where we can all of these on display more easily than with improvisational comedy groups but what can they show us about how to improve our creative process and our teams? In this episode, we will look at what happens with improv that lets the creativity flow, what everyone can learn from it and how it can help your team and its culture.
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EPISODE 76

Why cognitive bias is the real problem with your work

Why is it no matter where we work we run into the same frustrating behaviors in our team, our clients, and even ourselves time and time again? More than likely there are some basic psychological biases we all have that are causing and fueling these problems. In this episode, we are going to look at the 6 different types of cognitive bias that are affecting your work, what you can do to start to fight each one of them and help you understand why all of this is critical to your work, your team and your company.‘
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EPISODE 69

How to fight imposter syndrome

Even the most successful creatives a little secret we all share – from time to time we feel like frauds. It’s called design imposter syndrome and it is a psychological phenomenon where you have a belief that you’re inadequate despite evidence to the contrary. In this episode, we will look at why it is something we all have, the 5 different types of imposter syndromes, and what you can do about it.

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EPISODE 67

How to give better design feedback

Creativity is all about collaboration which is why, whether you are leading a team or part of it, giving great feedback is an essential skill. In this episode, we will look at the two types of feedback, a model to give great feedback and some critical things to always keep in mind.

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EPISODE 66

What to embrace, fight, stop and start to rediscover your voice and create your best ideas.

Everyone wants to let their work have a stronger voice and be more original but we have to deal with self-doubt, group think, and working for companies that demand conformity to a shared culture and way of thinking. In this episode, we will look at what makes up the foundation of originality and then explore the things that you need to embrace, fight, stop and start to rediscover your voice, fight the forces that want to strip your originality away from you and give you a roadmap for how to create better ideas with more originality.

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EPISODE 63

The good and evil of data, research, and brainstorming

Combining data and research with your creative process is a tricky and frustrating thing for too many people. In this episode, we will look at data, research and brainstorming to see how powerful they can be when used correctly, the reasons why they can completely kill creativity when used incorrectly and the best practices you should use so that all these techniques can strengthen your work.

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EPISODE 47

Understanding and applying empathy in your work

Empathy is a simple phrase that’s increasingly popular thanks to methodologies like Design Thinking, but very few people understand it, how to incorporate it into their work or how to find real empathy with their customers. In this episode, we will look at what empathy entails, the things people mistakenly think is empathy, how to find empathy in your work and find a balance between empathy and subject matter expertise.

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EPISODE 43

Understanding and breaking through creative slumps

Creativity ebbs and flows for everyone. We all know that the times when you are struggling to find ideas and feel like you are in a slump are the most frustrating but what can you do to break out of it? In this episode we will look at the different types of creative slumps, the reasons why they happen and some of the things I have found successful to break them.

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EPISODE 41

Understanding and embracing insecurity

There is a lot of nuance and emotion that goes into creativity and part of your success will be determined by how well you understand and control those emotions. Insecurity can play a huge part in helping or hurting your creative process so its something you need to be able to control. In this episode, we will look at the stages of creative insecurity, how social media can affect it and some technique to help you control it.

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EPISODE 37

How to stop executive interference in your creative process

Creative teams are at their best when they are given a problem to solve instead of a solution to be vetted. One of the biggest places where these problems are generated are from company executives who throw out ideas that are taken as gospel to be blindly followed instead of a challenge that needs to be understood and solved. In this episode, I will walk you through the to most common and problematic places where this happens and how you can overcome it to let your team be creative and become more empowered within your company.

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EPISODE 32 

Create game-changing ideas by seeing opportunities before anyone else

The world is always changing around us and as creatives we need to be able to see these changes before they happen because those changes give us the opportunity to create disruptive ideas. But changes don’t always happen to an industry because on a start-up or app. This episode will teach you lessons in non-traditional disruption from tattooing, toys and my work on Apple Watch, as well as how you can learn to overcome cognitive bias to spot these opportunities before everyone else.

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EPISODE 26 

Creativity is a blue-collar profession

Creatives have opportunities right now that we haven’t seen since the industrial revolution and we’re blowing it. This episode is a continuation of Episode 1 ‘Lightbulbs are bullsh*t’ that goes beyond understanding your creative process to look at how to find better insights that will lead to better ideas.

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EPISODE 20 

Insights from my dinner with chef Thomas Keller on creativity and culture

I recently had the opportunity to sit down for bucket list dinner with luxury retail developer Ken Himmel and chef Thomas Keller at Per Se in New York City to discuss their insights on creativity, leadership, building culture, hiring and more.

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EPISODE 18 

The 7 rules for running a better brainstorming

Every company and every team wants to be more creative and have better ideas. But how do you get better? This episode shows you how to frame the opportunity given to you by your creative strategy using ‘how might we’ statements and the 7 rules to run a better brainstorming session.

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EPISODE 15 

My conversation with Ferran Adria, the world’s greatest chef

Ferran Adria has been called the world’s greatest chef. He is certainly one of the most creative. This episode shares the insights on creativity, inspiration and more I learned from my visit to elBulli Taller and my conversation with Ferran Adria, the world’s greatest living chef.

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EPISODE 10 

How to build a creative strategy

If you want to have great ideas then you need to base those ideas in a great strategy. This episode will look at ways to build a better and stronger creative strategy using the power of empathy and 8 questions that will give you the answers you need to get started.

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EPISODE 1

Lightbulbs are bullish*t

Most people believe the myth that ideas are lightbulbs where we get all the answers to the problem all at one. Nothing is further from the truth. This episode looks at insights and tips on how you can be more creative and get a better understanding of your creative process.

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