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As creative professionals, we understand the power of an idea executed.

Each idea requires action. Once we take action, we then have the opportunity to learn from the success or failure of that decision. What we learn from this process is that we all have the ability to identify and execute amazing creative ideas that become solutions.

So what keeps us from doing this daily…or even hourly?

“RESTING IN OUR NORMAL”

We get stuck in a certain way of thinking. We fall victim to our previous success and start to “repeat”. We become paralyzed by the fear of failing, not willing to try something totally different that could propel us to success because the risk is too high. But why?

We tend to get caught resting in our normal way of thinking. So, how do we break out of the our normal way of thinking?

• STEP BACK – Take a step back and survey the entire situation. Collect the data. Write the facts, the equation, the variable, and identify the components that we can control. Ask questions and identify the core issues or desired results.
• IMAGINE THE IMAGE – Start to create scenarios and talk them out with our team. This will help us picture possibilities and outcomes. It creates options for us. When we imagine what could be, it forces us out of our normal space and allows our creativity to contribute to the conversation.
• SEEK IDEAS – Create a list of ideas that could help us resolve the issue. Ideas are the life blood of our creative teams.
• IDENTIFY WHAT IS ACTIONABLE – What can we make “TO DO”. Delegate these to team members so the task becomes scalable.
• SEEK WISDOM – When we are needing insight or direction, we have to ask. Ask other creative people and ask people outside of our circles so that they can contribute unique angles to our project, issue, or situation.
• STUDY AND FIND INSPIRATION – Go to where you learn. Blogs, magazines, film, music, books, conversation. Allow yourself to be stimulated and break your normal thought process. Often when going to our stimulators, we need to try something different. Listen to music that you have never heard. Read a new book. Find a magazine you have never checked out. Also, changing our canvas changes our perspective.
• ONCE YOU MAKE A DECISION…GO – Don’t second guess it. Don’t listen to the voices that will chase you towards fear. Make a decision and GO WITH IT. If you fail, at least you will fail with passion, gusto, and by breaking your norm. There are just as many lessons in failure as there are in success.

Are you ready to break normal thinking?

What have you learned that helps break these traps?

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Some of the most common conversations amongst creative people revolve around our leaders, bosses, and co-workers “not getting us”. Duh! We are creative people and that alone makes us a little freaky for the scared status quo. We truly are a “peculiar people” and that’s not a good thing, it’s a GREAT thing. God created us so that we would be able to do things that no one else can. So how do we develop leadership beyond our creative caves inside of organizations? How do we gain respect when people feel we are flakes? How do we help people in our organizations see us beyond just the odd music and trendy attire?

Here are a few traits that can earn anyone respect inside of their organizations:

1. Identify your organization’s vision and what you can contribute to executing the vision and the values…tangibly.

2. Seek the gaps between the vision and the reality. Then, fill them!

3. Demolish stereotypes. Show up on time. Think beyond just our art. Be budget and time consciences.

4. Identify one thing each day you can do or have done to escalate momentum in your department and the organization.

5. When you make a promise, keep it. At all costs. Nothing kills equity faster than over-promising and under-delivering. Start to over-promise and over-deliver.

6. Create the space to focus on what is NEXT, as well as how you can be a better resource.

7. Communicate more and more often. Help your organization avoid surprises. Over-communicate expectations, reality, and everything in-between.

8. Figure out how to delegate. Make a list what you do, then note what could be done by someone else.

9. Identify the silos and bottlenecks. Then, work diligently to break them down.

10. Ask WHY. Why do we do this? Why have we not changed? Why is this important?

11. Approach the day as if you own the organization. If you are an owner, you treat responsibility different than if you are as a worker or a renter.

13. Identify the unusual. The stuff that makes you and your organization different from anyone else in your space. Then, maximize the heck out of those unique things.

14. Understand that excellence matters, but so does shipping. Perfect and not shipped means nothing.

15. Don’t deviate from the mission. Vision and mission are your core. Feed them.

16. Reinforce your culture at every opportunity. Identify it, call it out, and make it known. Then, repeat. Use every coaching opportunity to reinforce culture and values.

17. Trust the people around you that you know share your DNA and have the desire to enhance your organization.

18. Don’t be a lone ranger. If you are doing something and it drifts from vision, quit immediately.

19. Remember it’s an honor to get to create and do ministry for a living. Never, ever take it for granted.

20. Work hard. Simple, but never out of style. A great work ethic earns respect faster than any other possible trait.

This is not for everyone. But it is for anyone who wants to continue to grow as creative leaders and contributors to their organizations.

What would you add to the list?

In his book “The Accidental Creative”, Todd Henry is quoted as saying:
“the love of comfort is frequently the enemy of greatness.” I could not
agree more. Comfort enters our lives when we lose our hunger and usually because we have found success. Success, if not managed well, can allow us to get really lazy.  A major part of our inspiration to do amazing work is the drive and hunger to accomplish or achieve our goals. What are some signs we are getting lazy?

1. We start to believe we have arrived. Success makes us believe we
have done all we can do and have developed a form of accomplishment. When we get comfortable we stop hustling and take for granted the success we have been blessed with.

2. We stop believing there is more to be done. Unmanaged success removes the challenge. When we were hungry, we were challenged by our jobs and opportunities. The minute we stop having vision, we have embraced a posture of comfort.

3. We forget there is someone who is better than us. Every day, someone new is arriving with more talent than we have, who will work harder, and who has better ideas. Being lazy breeds arrogance.

4. We stop listening to the coach. There is always more we can learn, uncover, develop, and be taught. When we stop being teachable, we start regressing – both creatively and as a leader.

5. We forget there is someone who wants what we are taking for granted. When we are hungry, we are hunters. We are chasing opportunity and challenge. We look for things to accomplish. When we get lazy, we become the hunted. We position ourselves in a place where we stop chasing and start being chased.

6. We lose sight of the fact that we are responsible to steward our resources, leadership, and talents. When we stop stewarding, we start grazing. Leadership and creativity are a gift. We are responsible for them and when we stop doing what it takes to manage them, we start to lose the equity we have built.

7. We lose intensity. This one is scary. When we lose intensity, we
don’t have the ambition to make adjustments, fight, and enhance our
worlds. Intensity makes us get up excited in the morning to come face
the challenges because we have vision for what we get to accomplish. A loss
of intensity often can be traced back to a loss of clarity of vision or expectation. Intensity is something we get to control, so we have to make sure we are keeping it high.

8. Rather than creating, we remix stuff we have already created. Simple as that. We start mailing it in and get a little lazy. We trade the excitement of creating for the comfort of completing.

Greatness is special. Greatness makes people leave talking about the things
we create. We have the ability to create really great things if we are willing to do the work required to push for excellence in the last 10%. Everyone starts well, but greatness happens when we plan, execute, and finish with the same passion that we start.

Have you ever noticed yourself getting lazy?
If so, what do you do to break out of that posture?

Leadership is intangible, and therefore no weapon ever designed can replace it. – Omar N. Bradley

Here are a few traits I have learned working for and with some amazing leaders. (with the obvious Christian focus removed):

1. Set the tone and set it with passion and audacity.

2. Avoid drama and create peace.

3. Think positive, but realistic.

4. Lead by serving.

5. Act as much as they talk.

6. Ensure that their words and actions align; own and correct it when they don’t.

7. Plan.

8. Know they don’t have all the answers all the time.

9. Ask questions more than you make statements.

10. Trust their team to do their jobs.

11. Set and articulate expectations.

12. Insist on results.

13. Delegate. Then, delegate more.

14. Give others credit.

15. Listen. Listen. Listen. Then respond.

16. Have compassion, but don’t be fooled.

17. Respond instead of react.

18. Hire talented, young, future leaders and trust them even when they fail…and never stop investing in them.

19. Know their idea is not always the best idea.

20. Never stop learning.

What are traits you look for in a leader? What traits are you attempting to model?

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“Make Art Not Friends”…kind of a punk thing to say.

The funny thing about popular clichés is that they are often true.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch”

“It’s too good to be true”

“Ideas are a dime a dozen”

All true.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone has them.

So, what are we doing to ensure that our ideas will grow beyond clichés?

We have to start by making the decision to be a professional, not a punk -

• Pro’s come to work. They approach their work with focus, intentionality, and understanding. They embrace the necessity to be an owner, not just a renter, of their opportunities.
• Pro’s respect the gift they have received; the gift to get to do what they love as an occupation.
• Pro’s share praise with their teams, but shoulder responsibility.
• Pro’s avoid excuses and complaining. They find opportunity inside of obstacles.
• Pro’s ask “why”, then move to “and”. “Why” – to make sure we are on mission, then “and” – to enhance the ideas.
• Pro’s find ways to control their emotions. They respond instead of reacting.
• Pro’s focus on vision, not division. There will be problems in every idea, but pro’s figure out how to overcome these adversities rather than allowing them to derail the process and momentum.
• Pro’s stay on task.
• Pro’s set expectations, and then meet them. Never over promise and under deliver. It hurts everyone.
• Pro’s fight for what’s right, not just what benefits them.
• Pro’s do what it takes to start, execute, finish, and succeed.
• Pro’s figure out how to not take it personal.
• Pro’s never stop learning. The cost is too high to stop.

What are some of the traits you find in professionals you admire?
You are a professional.
You are committed.
We need you!

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Creative people are liars.

It’s a fact. A recent study conducted by professors from Harvard and Duke University have identified that creative people have a problem with honesty. According to the study that was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the same people who are gifted with looking at problems differently – seeing things others don’t – and have the “intellectual spark to think outside the box” are prone to drift into indulgences like telling lies, cheating, and general dishonesty.

And you know what…it’s true.

Creative people are liars.

The odd thing is, the lies start with us lying to ourselves.

We lie to ourselves when we believe we aren’t good enough.

We lie to ourselves when we believe that God didn’t give us the gifts that make us unique.

We lie to ourselves when we believe we always have to fit in or be accepted.

We lie to ourselves when we believe that the work is too hard.

We lie to ourselves when we believe that our dreams are too big.

We lie to ourselves when we believe that everyone should understand us.

We lie to ourselves when we believe that we don’t have the ability to change the world through the art we are creating.

Stop telling lies.

Stop believing lies.

We are the ones who have been chosen to write this chapter of history.

We are the ones who have been chosen to write this chapter of history. What will your page say today? What lies will you stop believing?

“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” – Oprah Winfrey

The truth is this:
We’re all busy.
We all get tired.
Life is not fair.
Things rarely go as planned.
Stuff does not always work out.

But, the truth is also this: we get to focus on how we approach all situations. It’s hard to find inspiration with our vision filled with negativity, doubt, fear, and worry – especially when we need to be our creative best.

We have a choice in how we approach our lives and our work.

As the creative force in our organizations, it’s up to us to set the tone. If we want our creativity to grow, we have to find the positive in all our situations. And the truth is that there is usually positivity waiting to be uncovered.

So our new truth is this:
We get to tell the greatest story ever told.
We have the honor to do our job or our ministry.
We can get refreshed and refilled by reconnecting to our vision.
While life is not fair, we get to do what we do, and impact the lives of other people.
Things don’t always go as planned, but we have been gifted with creativity that helps us adapt, adjust, and make things work.
When everything fails…we get to come back tomorrow and do it again.

How are you approaching your work, life, and creativity?

We all need to be inspired. Sometimes Monday is the least inspiring day of the week. We hope this helps get your juices going.

What are some things that are inspiring you this week?

Remember when we first started? Every day we did something for the first time. Innovation was not a goal, it was a necessity…and it worked. It worked really well. In fact, it worked so well we found some things we got REALLY good at doing and we shifted from innovating to executing. During that shift, we started to get scared of innovation because innovation and new ideas might change the methods we found that worked. We traded new ideas and innovation for successful execution. It’s an honest situation, but it gets scary. When we stop innovating and ONLY execute, we stop growing creatively.

It’s a fight every single day to avoid this very tempting trap. Never sacrifice great for good. So, how do we make sure we continue to innovate? How do we get unstuck if we have slipped into “execution only” mode?

1. Identify the innovators on our teams. Who are the people who have not gotten sucked into the norm? Lean on them. Usually, they are going to be new to our organization. They tend to be young and not know what is or isn’t acceptable. Some of them may be attendees or volunteers. They have a different lens and filter. It’s key to LISTEN more than we TALK to these people. Empower them to use their voice…it does not mean you’re a bad leader, it actually means you’re a smart leader.

2. Ask Questions About Everything. Questions inspire creativity. Statements cement fear. Why can’t we change this? Why would we not want to try something different. How can we make this better. How will people respond if we adjust this thing?

3. Embrace Teams. If we have ideas we know will work but we don’t have the bandwidth to pull them off, create a team to work on the idea. Pull people from other areas and task them to work together. It will help your creative culture and help get things done. An hour of intentional work will move the ball. Further, people working on projects that are outside of their area will be more creative through the process. This is a great space for testing before an idea gets too costly or too far down the line if it’s not viable.

4. Focus on passion, not job description. If someone is passionate about something, create space for them to work on that idea or project. Just because it doesn’t fit in their job description doesn’t mean they can’t excel at these endeavors. Some of our best projects or ideas will come from passion, not paper.

5. Study Others. As connected as we all are, we can learn from one another better now than at any time in our history. Use twitter, Facebook, internet campuses, podcasts, blogs, and email to find out the HOW and the WHY of people we admire. Technology allows us to be closer than ever. Take advantage of the tools, but don’t stop studying. Always be ready to share what we are learning with our teams. This will also help you identify some unique new ideas that may not be happening in your community or in the world, for that matter.

6. Be Intentional With Creativity. Don’t assume ideas are coming. Change the canvas often. Be intentional with creating space for ideas to be developed. Invest in creativity and culture. It does not have to cost a lot to break the norms of the day. Getting out of the routine will help you get back to everyday innovation.

7. Put Execution Into Vision. I know it sounds like an odd idea to break out of execution mode by executing, but our new ideas will never change our norm if don’t put them into action. As we develop the new things God has for us, we have to be sure they fit into our vision. If they don’t, we are just trying to be cool or different for the sake of being cool or different. That is never successful. Never waiver for the vision, but never let grass grow under our feet by not putting ideas into action.

How do you fight the temptation of executing more than you innovate?