The Creative Leader

Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association, wisely stated:  “Every mind is a room packed with archaic furniture.  Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.”

The paradox within this quote is… the more experience we gain as leaders; the more crammed and cluttered our minds become.  We know that we need to maintain our “edge” in order to thrive as creative leaders, but sometimes, the flow of new ideas just seems to elude us.  Why does the once free flowing fountain of new ideas and solutions sometimes slow down to a trickle? 

For starters, you have a multitude of responsibilities, which can generate a multitude of emotions.   Worry, anger, and stress are all negative emotions that can creep up on even the best leaders.  This is where the trouble starts brewing.  These emotions slowly work their negativity and begin to shut down the part of the brain needed for creative thinking and can even start to shut down logical thinking.  Eventually, you’re left with the emotional part of your brain working at peak performance while the creative portion of your brain closed down for the night.  Unfortunately, left unchecked by the creative portion or the logical portion, the emotional brain can make us say things we regret or can cause us to make bad decisions that need to be corrected later on.  We’ve all experience this at least once, and it can be embarrassing and humbling.

Creatively flows best when you are happy and unruffled.  Have you ever woken up at 3 am and suddenly have the answer to a difficult problem just pop into your head?  Or maybe a great new idea seemed to wake you up?  This is because your brain finally took a much need rest and the creative portion of your head put up the “Now Open” sign.

Humans are exceptionally creative beings, but if you find your creativity blocked, try a few of these ideas:

·    First, step away from the computer… way away.  Get away from the source of stress (whatever it is) for a while.

·    Remind yourself that you need to toss out any negative emotions, and then do something physical while you give your mind a rest.  Take a walk, go to the store, workout, etc…

·    Do something inspirational, something that you haven’t done for awhile, such as browse a bookstore, go to an art gallery or museum, visit a botanical garden, etc…

·    Do something that will relax you.  Go to a movie, get a message, sit in a hot tub, read a book, meditate, etc…

·    Do a self check and make sure the negative emotions have been swept away!

Great leaders should be skilled problem solvers and adept at sourcing new ideas…. So relax, stay positive and remember with confidence that negative emotions will shut down the area of your brain that you need to be successful.   Let the creativity flow!