YOU ARE CREATIVE and have immense leadership potential!

Seriously, it’s true! Now I know most of us don’t always feel like we’re creative or that we’re great leaders. But the truth is we are all innately creative and given the right situation, we all have the ability to lead. 

Now before I lose you, let me explain what I mean when I say creative and leadership potential.

• Being creative isn’t just about composing music, designing, and creating art. Being creative is being able to use your imagination and come up with original ideas to create something new. 
  
  
• Leadership potential simply means that we all have within us the ability to lead when given the opportunity.
  
  

Now you may be wondering, what exactly does this have to do with innovation? Well, the answer is everything. Understanding and believing these two principles is the foundation to being innovative and building cultures of innovation.

How do you tap into your creative and leadership potential? 

So how do you tap into your innate creativity and reach your leadership potential? Well, I have three steps to share with you.

Step 1) Start believing you are creative and that innovation isn’t only for experts!

Don’t believe me? Think back to when you were a child. You asked questions. You let your curiosity take you to new and unfamiliar places. You watched, you listened, you learned. You saw a strange word in a book and said it aloud. So what if you mispronounced it? So what if you fell down when you first tried to walk? The people around you liked your efforts. They even encouraged them. As a result, you found yourself in a fail-safe environment.

But somehow, once you entered formal education, most of your innate creativity and wonder went into hiding. You started to fear the snickers that followed your failed attempts, so you stopped trying. You kept quiet until you knew you could give the “right” answer. Along the way, you lost touch with your innate creative self.

But don’t worry, it’s not too late! You can start unleashing your creativity (see Step #2).

Step 2) Explore Your Creativity

It’s easy to think being creative means you have to be a great artist, musician, or writer. Thankfully, those are just a few ways you can be creative. You're also exercising your creative muscles whenever you make something original, think up a new way of doing a routine task, or inspire others to act or think differently.

Take a moment to think of a time when you were creative (refer to the new, expanded definition I just shared) What was it like? How did you feel? Did you even realize you were being creative? 

See, it’s settled, you’re creative! Now let’s talk about your immense leadership potential.

Step 3) Identify Your Expertise

What are you an expert at? If you think nothing, I will flatly disagree. Everyone's an expert at something. If it isn’t being a concert pianist, it might be your an expert driver, waffle maker, or shoelace tier. Take a second to identify your craft? 

Now imagine you're teaching this to someone who doesn’t share your same level of expertise. How do you feel while teaching? Even if you don’t classify yourself as a leader, do you feel like a leader at that moment? Let me share a quick story.

My mom never saw herself as creative or as a leader. As a gifted quilter, however, she understands what works and what doesn't. She “gets” which fabrics and what combinations click. But if you ask her if she's a leader, she’ll say, "Me? Oh, no!” Over the years, several wanna-be-quilters have asked my Mom to teach them quilting. I've seen her rise in that environment. She leaves her timidity behind and confidently teaches her students how to quilt. In these moments, she is a qualified and confident leader. 

What about you? When does your expertise empower you to be a leader?

What Happens When You Start To Believe You’re Creative and Have Leadership Potential? 

I truly can’t stress this enough, you’re innately creative and have immense leadership potential! When you act out your innate creativity, leadership rises out of you. And when this happens innovation emerges and you start to change the world. 

Keep inspiring creativity! 

- Karen