InnovaBuzz Podcast
Nir Bashan, The Creator Mindset
In this episode, I’m really excited to have as my guest, Nir Bashan, a world-renowned creativity expert. He has 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. Nir has spent the last two decades working on a formula to codify creativity. His book, The Creator Mindset: 92 Tools to Unlock the Secrets to Innovation, Growth, and Sustainability, was released in 2020.
In our discussion, Nir talked to me about:
The How of Creativity and that everyone is born with unique creativity
Why we should talk more about our failures
The relationship between empathy and creativity and how they work together to build deep relationships and communication
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
Show Notes from this episode with Nir Bashan, Author of The Creative Mindset
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
Creativity is a process.
Creativity is the fabric of our survival. It is the very reason we are all here today.
Optimism and joy help people become more creative.
Everything exists in a certain band of time, and it is our job as business owners to maximise that band of time for as long as possible.
The things that worked yesterday are not an indication of what will work tomorrow. We need to continually evolve and look at our products, services, and careers, and tweak them in such a way that allows for innovation, creativity, and growth to happen.
Having a creative mindset is crucial.
The Trinity of Creativity
Concept — the satellite or highest-level view of your idea.
Idea — the middle-level view. You can see what is going on but not every detail.
Execution — what you do — your career, product, or service
Understanding what your product really does in the market is very important.
Creative thinking is seeing the world as it can be and not for what it is.
Start asking yourself some really powerful questions of what could have been if you had done something differently.
The market is completely changing. The world is not linear anymore. Putting a product or service is no longer just a transactional thing.
Reframing the way you see things and reframing the questions you ask is an incredibly important tool for creativity.
Business owners need to talk about their failures more often to help the new class of entrepreneurs.
Failures are going to happen, and how you view it is tenfold more important than what it is that you will end up doing.
Looking at things positively costs nothing yet it opens up a bunch of opportunities that looking at it negatively will never ever do.
Optimism allows us to use our innate creativity to solve problems.
It’s OK to complain. It feels good and natural, but if you want to solve the problem, you have to stop thinking about what went wrong and start thinking about what you need to do to fix it.
Maximise your mistake utility. Instead of trying to get it right all the time, look back for a minute to see what went wrong and think about what you can do so that it won’t happen again. Amazing opportunities come when you make mistakes.
Ego is one of the things that stop innovation and creativity from happening.
Consumers are sensitive to brands that admit their mistakes. Show a bit of empathy and be honest when you’ve made a mistake. Admitting faults is a great creative tool to use.
Admitting mistakes ties into empathy. Allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to give your customer or co-workers a chance to empathise with you.
Vulnerability is a market differentiator.
Relationships are the most important thing that we have in business today. Finding a way to connect with people is paramount.
There are no more linear relationships today. Everything is tangential. What you say and do lives on in different tangential ways.
The Buzz — Our Innovation Round
Here are Nir’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
#1 thing to be more innovative — Listen better. Resist the urge to talk once in a while. Listening yields amazing creative value.
Best thing for new ideas — Writing a book.
Favourite tool for innovation — Google and books
Keep project/client on track — Communication. Understand that it is a relationship and do everything you can to make sure that the relationship stays strong.
Differentiate — We are all born to be creative, and the way you practice creativity will never be the same with another person. You will always be different if you are true to who you are as a creative person.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Nir through his website.
Suggested Guest
Nir suggested we have a conversation with Emily Balcetis, author of Clearer, Closer Better: How Successful People See the World.So Emily, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Nir Bashan.
Links
Books
Cool Things About Nir
He was one of the youngest professors ever selected to teach graduate courses at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
He’s a Clio award winner and Emmy nominated writer.
He has 8 toes.