I ask my guests “what does the word creativity mean to you?”
We talk about creative expression and creative thinking, and how those show up in business.
In this episode I talk to Adrian Ashton, untypical enterprise consultant.
We discuss creativity, innovation, consulting, business practices, strategic planning, time management, problem-solving, storytelling, visual prompts.
You can find this episode on Substack or on Spotify.
You will find Adrian on most social media platforms, as an author on Amazon, and can visit his website/blog: https://www.adrianashton.co.uk/
Go back to Creative Conversations to find out about other episodes.
Transcript
The Transcript is available on Substack (web version) – click here to view it.
Further thoughts and reflections on this episode
I wanted to find out what my podcast guests learned from our conversations – so I asked them. Below are Adrian’s thoughts.
What did you learn by appearing on the Creative Conversations podcast?
I ‘learnt’ (uncovered and reminded myself?), that creativity is an important tool in helping us feel safe. And if we don’t feel safe, we’re never truly growing or living.
Do you have any wisdom or thoughts you’d like to add to the topics we discussed in our conversation?
I’d probably emphasise my closing thought about the importance of knowing what your motivation is to be creative. Without motivation (of any kind – it’s not my place to judge), creative acts will be hollow, lifeless, and not achieve or contribute anything; they’ll be like a parasite: taking up energy and time that could have been used by others. In that framing, this lack of knowing what your motivation is, highlights the risk (and possible reason why) that so many people don’t feel they want to engage in creative activities?
My reflections
There was a lot in this episode, so it’s hard to know where to start! I think that Adrian brought all sorts of interesting ideas and concepts into the discussion, many of them supported by his props. (Scroll down to see all the ones he mentioned in the conversation…) He sees creativity from the point of view of someone facilitating discussions and helping people move forward in their businesses – and has a unique (creative) way of looking at many of their challenges. It was a fascinating conversation!
What do you think?
Did you have any insights into your own creativity while listening to this? Adrian and I would love to hear what you learned and whether it’s inspired you to do anything yourself. You can contact me here to let me know.
Excerpt of the podcast episode, as shared on Instagram