CREATIVITY:

’Hope is not a strategy’ keynote from HOW Design Live 2020

This episode is a replay of my main stage keynote from HOW Design Live 2020.  In a continuation of the most popular talk and main stage keynote from HOW 2019, we will look at the debt we all carry that shares our perspective, the barriers we create for ourself and how to find a new mindset to create sustained success. 

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Listen now:

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Last year we talked about
• Every company is dysfunctional• Every creative feels broken inside• Exist Loudly

Some people said that wasn’t as big of a problem as I made it out to be
• I like to be a data-informed creative
• #1 all-time HOW keynote
• #1 2019 social media photo
• Made 8 people cry

But out of that also came a realization that too many of you think that the difference between the stage and those seats means we are different. I want to take a deeper look at what stops most people from stepping up to Exist Loudly.

We all carry debt

We all carry debt and weight with us that affects us every day. Make it personal – talk about my struggles.

Institutional debt
• Our companies
• Our experience narrows our focus
• A small handful of people who love their jobs will always beat hundreds of people working to keep their jobs.

Emotional debt
• Our insecurities
• Our insecurities grow

Professional debt
• Strengths and weaknesses of our careers

We are prisoners of our debt and current incarnation

Definitions

UN: a prefix meaning “not” giving negative or opposite force in adjectives and their derivative adverbs and nouns

DIS: a prefix having a privative, negative, or reversing force. Used with some nouns, verbs, and adjectives for giving a word the opposite meaning.

Become an ‘-er’

ER: refers to someone who performs a particular action or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance.

Take the time to define who you are, who you want to be and what matters to you. Personality tests can help you understand your tendencies – I like 16personalities.com

Your vision should embody who you are – not what you haven’t accomplished

Mine is…
Designer
Innovator
Thought leader
Influencer
Creator
Tastemaker
Crazy One (er)

The UNdeniable mindset
Creates not criticizes
Educates not intimidates
Empowers not controls
Develops not blames
Collaborates not ignores
Inspires not complains

Final thought

Success is a choice

Being yourself is one of the courageous and rebellious acts there is

Let’s end where we began – Exist Loudly