👨🎨 5RW | You Are NOT Creative
One Idea. Five Reasons. Five Minutes
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TL;DR:
It’s NOT who you are → Creativity isn’t a trait—it’s a practice. Believing otherwise has cost you years of unexplored ideas.
It’s about priorities → Organizations reward optimization over exploration. Creative leaders balance Efficiency, Effectiveness, Evolution—not choose between them.
It’s your mindset → Scarcity thinking makes the three compete. Abundance thinking asks: “What if we thought exponentially, not incrementally?”
You can’t SEEE → Evaluate solutions on all three: Efficient (R/C)? Effective (R/O)? Evolving (R/T)? Creative solutions score high on all three.
Don’t be, Act → Stop asking “Am I creative?” Start asking “How can I think differently?” Your team becomes proactive, collaborative, resilient.
🩲 Why aren’t you naked this morning?
I asked this to a senior banking executive in front of 200 people.
He looked at me, astonished. The room went silent.
Let me back up.
Over the past five years, I’ve worked with amazing companies. From startups to Fortune 500s. Helping executive teams rediscover their collective genius through creative leadership.
And every single time I ask this question, the same thing happens:
“Who believes they are NOT creative?”
A sea of hands.
At this particular bank, a senior executive, whom I named Mr. Marvis. (Yes, like the toothpaste). He pulled me aside before my talk. He whispered, “Be mindful. We’re bankers. We’re not that creative.” He patted my shoulder with a fake, shiny smile.
I was fuming.
So when the hands went up, I zeroed in on him.
“Mr. Marvis. Why aren’t you naked this morning?”
Here are 5RW… 👨🎨 You Are NOT Creative
I — It’s NOT who you are
He looked at me, astonished. The room burst into laughter.
“Did your mom pick your outfit today?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Did your wife?”
“NO!”
“Then, Sir. I’m afraid I have bad news. You might be creative after all.”
The room laughed again. He did too.
“This morning, you imagined an outfit that didn’t exist.
Then you made it real. That’s creativity.”
Here’s what most people still believe: Creativity is frivolous. Artistic. And most of all—it’s a trait. A gift you either have or don’t have.
But creativity, just like leadership, is not a trait. It’s a practice.
It’s something we DO, not something we ARE.
Hiding behind “I’m just not creative” is an excuse. Because creating is hard, it requires commitment, exploration, and a willingness to dip into uncertainty. And that’s terribly scary.
II — It’s about priorities
The problem isn’t that we’re not creative. The problem is what our organizations prioritize and reward.
Modern work is obsessed with optimization. Execute faster. Cut costs. Hit targets. Repeat. Exploration? That’s risky. Uncertain. Hard to measure.
So we choose small, safe incremental steps instead.
We cage ourselves because it feels productive.
Any healthy team or organization aiming for sustainable growth has to balance three fundamental practices:
Efficiency (optimize what exists)
Effectiveness (adapt what works)
Evolution (transform what’s possible)
Most leaders think they have to pick one. Execute or Experiment. Optimize or Explore. They are not wrong. Technically, they are in opposition. But.
Creative leaders know that’s a false choice. You don’t choose. You balance.
The question isn’t “Which one?” It’s “How do we leverage all three?”
III — It’s your mindset
Mr. Marvis jumped in. — We are Friends NOW.
“But what do you mean? That’s Impossible! If…”
“OH, I Love Impossible! Let’s Look into that. Indulge me for a sec.”
“Let’s think, workforce optimization. The ultimate optimization will be having our people work twice as hard for half the pay, right?”
“That would instantly double our profit, right?”
”I guess!”
“Let’s take a vote—who would sign up for that?”
Silence.
“Right. So now we are stuck. We might end up with a half-assed solution no one is satisfied with. It’s a Mindset issue.”
The scarcity mindset pits Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Evolution against one another. You see them as trade-offs. More of one means less of another.
But creative leaders shift to abundance thinking.
They ask: “What if we didn’t think incrementally? What if we thought exponentially?”
What if instead of working twice as hard for half the pay, we worked the same, but produced 10x or even 100x the output? That’s also optimization. Just creative optimization.
Mr. Marvis paused. “So... being creative?”
“Yes, Marvis. Yes.”
The shift isn’t about simply working harder. It’s about seeing possibilities others miss.
IV— You can’t SEEE
Creative leaders don’t choose between the three.
They leverage all three simultaneously.
Here’s how: We must learn to S.E.E.E.
When evaluating any solution, ask yourself three questions:
→ How Efficient is this? (Results/Cost)
Does it optimize what we already have?
Does it reduce waste, improve speed, and lower cost?
→ How Effective is this? (Results/Objective)
Does it adapt to what’s working?
Does it improve performance, hit targets, serve our goals?
→ How Evolving is this? (Results/Time)
Does it transform what’s possible?
Does it create new capabilities, open new markets, change the game?
Most solutions score high on one, maybe two. Creative solutions score on all three.
By considering these concurrently—not sequentially—you develop a broader, more detailed vision. You start connecting dots that seemed far apart. You see patterns; others see chaos.
If you want to to boost your creativity with a 30-Days creative leadership challenge reply to this email or comment “🔥 Challenge🔥” and I’ll send you the details. Info@creativeldrs.com
V — Don’t be, Act
When you free yourself from the misconception that creativity is a trait and something frivolous rather than strategic, everything shifts.
You start challenging assumptions. Disrupting the status quo. Discovering collective genius—not just your own, but your team’s.
You confidently engage in creative activities.
You rediscover creative confidence.
Your team becomes more proactive, collaborative, and resilient.
Mr. Marvis looked at me differently now.
“I guess we must be creative after all.”
I smiled. “You always were. You just weren’t acting like it.”
Here are 5RW… 👨🎨 You Are NOT Creative
Something for you.
If you want to ACT more creatively.
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Every new role brings the same challenges: time, decisions, focus, and complex problems. These Playbooks are the tools I wish I had as a new leader.
1. Own Your First 100 Days → Start strong, set the tone, and build confidence fast.
2. Take Control of Your Time (TMXI) → Reclaim 10–20% of your week and protect deep creative work.
3. Make Better Decisions (DMXI) → Cut through complexity and move from hesitation to action.
4. Solve Complex Problems (CPSXI) → Reframe challenges and spark ideas that drive innovation.