As a core creativity coach and psychotherapist, I’ve discovered that highly creative people have the innate ability to instinctively tap into the deep resources of their core creativity. This allows them to adopt more flexibility and more creative thinking in their career and personal lives.
If you’re a leader, a manager, or an owner of an organization, you can benefit greatly by nurturing your capacity as a core creative leader and then promoting the practice organization-wide. Core creativity comes from the very center of our being — the depths of our unconsciousness — that awaken innovative possibilities. Tapping into core creativity helps with conflict resolution, encourages feedback sharing, and promotes creative problem-solving.
I coached a small business owner who struggled because sales didn’t come naturally to her. We worked on developing her core creativity, which included adopting new ideas and honing her skills to the point where she now enjoys this essential business activity. She’s also no longer afraid to admit where her skills and knowledge are lacking because she now knows it’s possible to go about refining them. She’s an example of someone who has adopted a core creative leadership mindset to help her develop habits for resilience, innovation, and reinvention.
In 2015, Forbes published an article, “The Rise of Creativity as a Key Quality in Modern Leadership.” It reported that “The last two decades have seen nearly all businesses embrace innovation and creativity as central missions, at least at a high level, with leaders expected to serve as imaginative guides.”
Do you believe that you’re at this level of leadership? To find out take this Core Creative Leadership Quiz.
Core Creative Leadership Quiz
- Do you see your conversations as a creative opportunity? Yes No
- Do you respect, appreciate and encourage those around you? Yes No
- Do you have the tools to tap into your deep creative resources? Yes No
- Are you capable of listening to the suggestions of others and can you accept or build upon their ideas? Yes No
- Do you hold a vision of growing people as you creatively lead? Yes No
- Do you believe that creative leadership leads to more productive outcomes? Yes No
- Do you lead from a fluid, flowing mindset — what I call “Open Mind”? Yes No
How to Interpret Your Answers
- If you chose 7 yeses – Congratulations you are a core creative leader!
- If you chose 5 to 6 yeses – Bravo! You are very close to becoming a core creative leader. What final step can you incorporate to take you all the way?
- If you chose 3 to 4 yeses – You are learning how to be more creative. What tools can you employ to help you access the state of Open Mind and your inner resources?
- If you chose 1 to 2 yeses – You are starting on your path to become a core creative leader. Are you ready to take your leadership skills to the next level?
- If you chose 0 yeses – Take heart and congratulate yourself for being open to developing a new set of leadership abilities.
To deepen your core creativity leadership skills, begin by developing a mindful meditation practice. Meditation allows us to listen and pay attention to what we might otherwise overlook — whether it’s a fresh idea or a new way of perceiving a situation. It enhances our creativity and helps us to let go of emotional reactions so we can be more open to new experiences. Take a 5-to-10-minute break in the middle of the day to meditate, clear your head, and tap into your core creativity.
Other ways to access core creativity are by exploring the arts, walking in nature, and practicing mindful movement — such as martial arts, tai chi and yoga.
Many artists, philosophers, creative leaders, and thinkers throughout time have intuitively used mindful awareness to deepen the connection to their inner resources. Core creativity opens us to the exciting possibilities that are available when we open the mind and stimulate creative responses.
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