When leaders focus on improving business metrics or return on investment (ROI), creativity isn’t the first tool in an employee’s skill set that comes to mind. But Natalie Nixon, creativity strategist and CEO of Figure 8 Thinking, argues that it should be.
“Creativity is not a nice-to-have. Creativity is a must-have.”
In this Outside the Frame keynote session, Natalie argues that as the boundaries between work, home, learning, and play increasingly blur, controlling creative capacity will be crucial to navigating the future of work.
Creativity is the engine for innovation
There’s a perception that being creative is something only artists do, but Natalie says that proves we don’t understand what creativity is or how often we actually use it in our daily work.
“Creativity is our ability to toggle between wonder and rigor to solve problems, produce value, and generate meaning.”
Once we commit to improving creative capacity, it generates behavior changes that light the way towards innovation. A focus on creativity helps us get better at pattern recognition, interrupts stale mental models, and helps us engage in more collaboration.
Creativity proves soft skills are hardcore
Natalie likes to think of innovation as simply invention at scale. Because creativity is the converter in the process of turning invention into innovation, it brings a tangible return on investment to businesses.
The problem? While the World Economic Forum rates creativity as the second most essential job skill in 2023 and beyond, there’s a gap between the acknowledgment that creativity is crucial and whether we prioritize practicing creativity.
3 ways to shift our mental models towards creativity
Natalie focuses on the 3iCreativity Framework to shift mental models towards innovation. It involves three spheres of action: inquiry, improvisation, and intuition.
1. Shift from certainty to curiosity
Curiosity is the product of an information gap. Natalie reminds us that in this mindset shift, it’s better to notice than to know. Some practical ways to embrace this shift focus on creative abrasion, engaging in lateral thinking, and keeping a resident futurist on staff to ask new questions.
2. Shift from rationalizing to intuition
We often use our intuition or “gut” to drive decision-making without realizing we’re doing it. Natalie says documenting “the nudge” can help us learn to trust it more. Practical applications of this mind shift are normalizing play and mainstreaming sensorial or emotional design.
3. Shift from planning to improvising
This shift, in particular, can be stressful for those afraid of failure. Think of this mindset shift as the difference between a symphony that strives for perfection and an improvisational jazz group. Putting improvising into practice can look like investing in prototypes and pop-up shops.
“Confident inquiry eliminates myopia. Strategic intuition minimizes mistakes. Bold improvisation wanes mulishness.”
