Creative Caffeine

Sophia had spent weeks refining her proposal. When she bounded into the meeting room, she was bursting with excitement. This customer feedback system could revolutionise their product development! Though she was a junior employee, she was thrilled that this idea had occurred so clearly to her. 

"This could cut our iteration time in half!" she explained enthusiastically. Her boss leaned back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and sighed.

"Look, sophia, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we've always done it this way for a reason. Let's not fix what isn't broken."

The familiar phrase landed like a bucket of cold water. Her shoulders slumped as she gathered her materials, wondering why she'd bothered. As her motivation for her role seeped slowly from the bottom of her shoes, she wondered, “Is this a place I can really thrive?”

Sound familiar? Can you recall yourself saying this to a team member recently?

I’ve been through this or witnessed a similar situation many times...

Whether you are travelling to a holiday destination, taking a year-end break at home or simply pushing through to the new year, listening to a podcast is a great way to unwind. 

Here's our holiday list of a range of different podcast episodes around the topic of creativity to pique your interest and feed your curiosity. They are a great companion for a car journey, a walk or a dishwashing session.

#		Podcast	Episode	Duration	Date
1		Feel Better Live More	Creativity, Authenticity & How to Live A Meaningful Life with Rick Rubin	17:35	Jun2024
2		AI Explored with Michael Stelzner	Using AI to Expand Your Ideas and Creativity with Helen Todd	52:36	Nov 2024
3		Ideas That Matter, Vusi Thembekwayo Podcast	Imagination	14:28	Apr 2021
4		The Mel Robbins Podcast	Unlock Your Brain’s Hidden Power: 6 Tools to Boost Focus, Confidence, and Creativity	1:11:02	Nov 2024
5		Creative Confidence Podcast	The Role of Human-Centered Leade...

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 engaged us to dev...

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 from Hogan Lovells. Wh...

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 create safer and more supportive environments for o...

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 creative landscape. Let’s zoom in ...

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 out and not gro...

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 creative thi...

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 can face suffering in a way that ennobles rat...

 “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 an architect helped me to...