Kivo Daily Interview
Nir Bashan is a world-renowned creativity expert who has helped business leaders to unlock their creative potential to improve profitability, increase sales, and make their work more meaningful. He has also worked on numerous albums, movies, and advertisements, winning a Clio Award and receiving an Emmy nomination for his creativity.
Tell us your name and a little about yourself.
My name is Nir Bashan. I founded a consultancy called The Creator Mindset® that helps companies become more creative. I have taught thousands of leaders and individuals around the globe how to harness the power of creativity to improve profitability, increase sales, improve customer service, and ultimately create more meaning in their work.
I am also an author who has spent the last two decades working on a formula to codify creativity that led to McGraw Hill Professional publishing my book, The Creator Mindset: 92 Tools to Unlock the Secrets to Innovation, Growth, and Sustainability.
What exactly does your company do?
My company helps businesses across the globe stay relevant, creative, and ever adaptable to change. Especially in today’s tumultuous climate, I help embed creativity in all aspects of the organization to maximize the “band of time” in which a product or service will stay relevant. I also deliver keynotes and address leadership and staff with webinars and in-person sessions on how to become more creative in business.
What were the biggest challenges you have faced and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges I recently overcame was the publishing of my book. It took 7 long years. There are hundreds of thousands of people who want to publish business books each year, but only a handful make it. For me, setting a big vision creatively, and then setting up a roadmap filled with little obtainable victories instead of big ones enabled me to overcome the challenge and finally get published.
What piece of advice do you wish someone had given you at the start of your career?
Patience. I can be very impatient. I wish I learned how to be more at the moment and not rush through things when I was younger.
Who are your biggest influences and people you admire and why?
I think the easy answer is Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. But I champion the everyday creative business — the everyday creative heroes. Because creativity is so deeply ingrained in who we are, down to the DNA level, no two businesses express creativity the same way. It’s the creative dry cleaner who has a novel billing model of an all-in-one monthly fee, no matter how many times you come in. It’s the creative disaster restoration franchise that has a novel customer service approach of an a-la-carte menu to give consumers more control. And it’s the creative multinational manufacturing firm that knows it’s in the business of trust, not manufacturing.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?
I have been lucky to have some great people who mentor me along the way. But perhaps I have been even luckier to have some horrible advice, mentorship, and bosses along the way. Because here’s the secret: sometimes you can learn far more creatively from failure than you can from success.
What do you see as your greatest success in life?
My greatest success is teaching business professionals how to think differently about their product or service. It’s just so hard for us to take an honest look at our product or service, but we need to in order to stay relevant and innovative. Just because it worked yesterday is no indication it will work tomorrow. When looked at analytically, we expect patterns and predictability to last forever, then we’re disappointed when they don’t. But when we view our product or service creatively, we see what can be, not what is.
Few would have predicted the COVID or equality crises of today just months ago. But viewing your business from a Creator Mindset will enable endless adaptation to any market force and enable you to not only survive in the current climate but to thrive.
Please list your social media URLs
http://www.nirbashan.com/
http://www.thecreatormindset.com
@nirbashan | insta
@Nir_Bashan | twitter
nb@nirbashan.com | email