Creative Caffeine

As we navigate Mental Well-being Month, I've noticed an abundance of advice flooding our social feeds and inboxes. While many solutions are being shared, I want to focus on what we've discovered through years of working with both corporate teams and individual clients: creativity isn't just a nice-to-have skill—it's a fundamental tool for mental well-being.

The unexpected connection

When organisations reach out to us, they're typically focused on business challenges:

•  "How do we spark innovation in our teams?"
• "Why are our people resistant to new technologies?"
• "How can we break down silos between departments?"
• "What's holding back our team's initiative and autonomy?"

What consistently amazes me is how addressing these challenges through creativity unleashes something far more valuable than just business solutions.

Beyond business results

Take Charl van Staden's team at Merchant Captial, a specialised financial services company. Merchant Capital initially...

The creative power of multidisciplinary teams

Do you tend to stick with ‘your kind’ in the workplace?

Birds of a feather flock together. This is often true both of avian creatures and of working professionals. We tend to stick with our own kind, preferring to work and fraternise with colleagues we relate easiest to, within our own profession, department or even our own specialisation. This is understandable and is explained by neuroscience which shows how unfamiliar territory can trigger fear and uncertainty.

Yet working with people from different disciplines is where the creative gold lies... in mingling with, learning from and being open to dissimilar and unfamiliar perspectives.

A non-lawyer wins Europe’s Most Innovative Legal Practitioner Award

Every year the Financial Times index features ten individuals for Europe Innovative Lawyers Awards. I was interested to see that this year, in the latest European report, the winning individual is Marion Palmer...

Creativity isn’t just for artists and tech startups; it’s the secret sauce that keeps businesses competitive. Today, whether you're drafting contracts in a law firm or analysing financial markets, creative thinking is your best ally. 

But don’t just take my word for it—look at the Paris Olympics. Here are five ways the Games are turning creativity into gold, with lessons that are sure to inspire.

1. AI-powered athlete safeguarding

Imagine being a top athlete, only to be pelted with online abuse after a tough day. Enter the IOC’s AI bodyguard. This digital knight scans social media for abusive messages and flags them for removal. Athletes also have access to a chat service on the Athlete365 platform for quick advice on social media and anti-doping. Think of it as having an AI-powered PA who’s always got your back. 

For businesses, it’s a reminder: Use tech to protect and support your team.

Ask yourself: How might we leverage AI to...

In a world where Siri can schedule your meetings and algorithms can compose music, it’s natural to wonder: is AI going to take our creative game to the next level—or leave us in the dust?

I was not surprised to read that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) was the hottest topic among the 15,000 delegates at the recent Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France. When it comes to creative trends in marketing and innovation, the dazzlingly fast development of AI capabilities is certainly weighing on many minds.

What’s your take on this?

Are you worried that the robots are coming for your creative mojo?

Or are excited at the ‘digital magic’ this new tech could open up?

AI image wins global photography award

Whether you work in science, finance, law, education, technology or any field besides, the advance of technology and the increasing need for creativity is impacting your workplace.  

Gen AI is certainly shaking up the...

The crumble of black seeds I hold in my palm are supposed to produce the best granadillas in the country. Large, juicy, and sweet with the perfect amount of tanginess. I’m eager to propagate my favourite fruit.

Yet, a year later, I have nothing.

So many seeds but no fruit. Not even a leafy vine.

Was I swindled by the kindly nursery worker at the garden centre?

No. The seeds were truly fantastic.

The problem is… I didn’t water my seeds.

Simple science.

Stuck in the same patterns of thinking and behaviour?

Not experiencing the growth you desire?

You may have a watering issue.

I can relate!

Like with my seeds, the desire for fruit is just wishful thinking unless I water my learning with action.

Learning new things but doing nothing about it is like putting seeds in a pot in your room and forgetting about them. The seeds may draw some water out of the soil, or perhaps someone else may water them, if you’re lucky. The most likely scenario is your seeds will dry...

It's not often that I set an intention for the year and stick to it.

By the third month, I'm usually marching off on a tangent and by the fifth month, I may even have forgotten that I had intentions in the first place.

This year was different. In early January, both Celia and I captured our aims for the year as part of a vision-boarding exercise with the lovely Isa Gesseau at IbiArt. 

The word that emerged for me was SOAR. When the word first popped into my head, I thought, "Lord let that word not be spelled sore."

Sadly, it has turned out to be a terribly painful year for many people, not least of which for the citizens of Ukraine, Israel and Palestine. Our hearts are indeed sore as we think of the terrible suffering so many people have endured and continue to endure.

Rather than causing us to give up on humanity, geopolitical warfare and our own unstable political climate in South Africa have spurred us on to work even harder. It's clear that the world needs...

As the last whistle blew in the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final, South Africans everywhere erupted in jubilant celebrations.  Relief from the nail-biting championship flooded the nation and, despite the many challenges South African citizens face, the win reignited hope. The joyful mood has ignited 'possibility thinking' and people are filled with gratitude and courage in facing the country’s future. “If we can do this, what else can we achieve?!”

It is easy to find joy as winners of a major sporting event. What about finding joy in the daily grind of life? What about war and death? The Book of Joy by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu opens with these words by Tutu: “We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy... Discovering more joy does not, I’m sorry to say, save us from the inevitability of hardship and heartbreak… Yet, as we discover more joy, we...

 “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

This probing question is not just for youngsters. In our Creative Thinking Workshops, we hear people in their 30s, 50s or even 70s ask themselves the same question. A sense of stuckness leaves a yearning for more responsibility, new scenery, a new role, a side hustle, or a different career altogether.

They are asking,

“How can I use my creative thinking to design a life where I can thrive at any age?”

I too asked myself this question several years ago as I contemplated a transition out of a long and fulfilling career as a professional architect. I had spent two and a half decades studying and practicing architecture. It had been a satisfying journey but I was ready for a change.

Could my training and experience in design thinking help me craft a new path? Can life can be approached like an architectural design problem?

The answer was a definitive 'yes.'

I found many of the practices and principles I learned as...

Last week I stepped out of my comfort zone by attending a fashion show at the Norval Foundation Art Museum in Cape Town. I have never been a fashionista (sadly somewhat of the opposite!), but when I entered the show and drank in the atmosphere filled with anticipation and a sense of glamour, I felt swept up in the excitement. As the lights dimmed and the music began, the audience gave a collective gasp at the exquisite models sauntering down the runway wearing magnificent creations by South African designer Kat Van Duinen.

The experience was exhilarating and encouraged me to delve a little deeper into the world of fashion. Here are some of the fascinating characters that I “met” during my explorations and three lessons they teach us that will boost our creativity.

1. Be true to yourself

Designer Kat Van Duinen, whose stunning work we enjoyed at the fashion show, explains that when she started her career she often felt very self-conscious about the clothes she...

When I first heard the title of the book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, it immediately resonated with me. Perhaps it has already captivated you as well. This year I feel that I am moving a little too fast. How can it be April already? So much has happened so far this year and everyone I speak to seems to be operating like a person with their clothes on fire.

I think this gif captures the mood of the year so far very well.

A potential client said recently: "We just don’t have time to be creative."

I thought: "You don’t have time not to!"

Hurrying is a state of mind. It is that foreboding sense that your huge to-do list is towering over you, casting a cartoonish monster shadow over your day. Everything must be done quick, quick, quick. Even as you are doing a task, you are thinking about the next task to be done. As a big-city dweller, I pick up this same sense of urgency from the people around me. I imagine it is the same in most big cities.

Signs to look out...