One thing I'm always wondering is, "How do leaders create an environment where creativity can thrive?" David Kelley once told me how he learned to always start a group meeting with a warm-up. "It lets everyone know that thinking differently is valued here."

A few fresh answers have popped on the radar recently, for the benefit of fellow practicioners.

I’ve already mentioned how my friend Philippe hung Michelin’s “Customer Innovation Lab” sign upside-down, just to make a statement about the value of thinking differently in his part of the business.

An amazing founder I interviewed recently told me how she starts her daily team stand-up with a 'creativity prompt.' "I want my team to know they're free to bring all sorts of ideas into the conversation. So we go out of our way to foster a creative mindset at the start of the daily stand-up. Every day, I have a different team leader facilitate a short activity for the whole team. For example, the other day, our head of design had everyone think of a color, grab five things from their workspace that matched the color, arrange them in an interesting composition, and then post a photo to the team slack. It took all of one and a half minutes to do, so it didn't really 'waste time,' but even if someone's afraid of the inefficiency, I'll say that I could see glimmers of some of the ideas in the sales meeting later in the day." She spoke of the importance of getting her team in a "ready position."

A leader of an enormous global service organization deliberately chooses a new zoom background every day - with an inspiring quote, a goal, or a funny picture. "It signals my values to the team, and gives me a chance to think about what my goals for the day are. It also starts really interesting conversations with folks about their values and goals." (as someone who's been in ~5 meetings with him over the last 4 months, I can attest that they always spark unexpected conversations across our global gatherings.)

A CEO of a venture-backed start-up told me how each morning, she won't let herself open the team slack or whatsapp channels until she's engaged a creative act that she shares with the team.

With all the pressure on efficiency and results, is it any wonder folks don't feel like they have space to nurture their creative skills? Leaders have an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the value of creative thought and fresh perspective by carving out space for themselves and for others. One global sales leader told me just earlier today how important it is to create this space from the very beginning of a new employee relationship: “I just hired a new senior leader, and I told him right off the bat, on his first day at work, ‘We’re going to try a bunch of stuff, and a bunch of stuff is going to fail. That’s ok.’ He was so relieved of the pressure he was feeling to come in having the answers. But I don’t want him to have answers. I want him to spend some time wandering, discovering questions we haven’t thought about asking yet.”

Isn’t that a novel idea? Actively seeking to preserve the “outsider’s perspective” of a new hire?

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