Creative Leadership Observatory: Art & Creativity to Leadership

Hello readers, this is blog post 3 on the Creative Leadership Observatory! This week, we listened to a TED talk and read an article from Michael Jones’, which I care to share my thoughts on, as his insights really hit home for me this week. Michael Jones was a leadership/business consultant and educator, while also a hobbiest piano player. He loved to play piano, and started creating and writing his own music, and through his own creative flare, was successful in creating his music. His main point then in his TED talk when speaking about creativity, is to follow, “the lives we ought to live, instead of the lives we thought we should live”.

This point really hit home for me, because currently I am coming to terms with the fact that I lost my job last week, and not sure what my career has in store for me now. My career as a clothing designer thus far has been successful, rising to the top of the corporate ladder into an executive role. However, executive roles are hard to come by, so I’ve been thinking that this is maybe an opportunity for my career to take a new path. Jones’ points has got me to thinking about that life I “ought to live” instead of the life I “thought I should live”.

The question I began to wonder, is what could this life I “ought” to live entail? I would like to think that I can use my creative skills and my leadership skills to contribute something to society with more purpose than making clothes did. The reality is, that working in industry has shown me to not be as “creative” as I would like. My experience working in industry fashion, is that we aren’t spending enough time thinking, brainstorming, and asking questions, as Jones aptly pointed out. Rather, in an industry setting we are too busy trying to meet deadlines and lowering costs, that we don’t have the time or monetary resources to ask those creative questions.

Is this really the career I wanted? Pushing products out the door because we don’t have time to brainstorm? No, rather, I can take my creative practice of thinking and asking questions, being curious, and playing in the practice (as Jones suggests) into doing something with more purpose. As a creative leader, I hope that’s why this loss of a job, is not really a loss at all, but an growth opportunity for the future.