The impossible takes just a little bit longer – Marci Segal, Creativity Crusader
Happy World Creativity and Innovation Week! I was curious about who founded this, so I looked at the backstory. Marci Segal began studying creativity in 1977 and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if people knew how to use their natural ability to generate new ideas, make new decisions, take new actions and achieve new outcomes to make the world a better place and to make their place in the world better too?”
So, she set off on a quest to make the world a better place for creativity and free people’s thinking to create new futures. It began in 2001, and 23 years later, it’s now a UN International Day of Observance to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and problem-solving.
“We have a day because the UN sees we need to have new kinds of thinking to face the challenges ahead of us,” – the 2030 Agenda & Sustainable Development Goals (worth thinking about how your biz is supporting these.)
Fabulous work by a fabulous woman! Listen to her story and the headline that inspired it here.
So, a request from Marci that we do something new and different today to keep the energy going. Yes, we’re always creative, but it’s nice to mark the day, April 21, and use it to set some goals for the year—this works better for me than new year resolutions as it’s spring, and I’m coming out of hibernation.
Imagine how powerful that creative energy will be if we think about it and do things simultaneously.
How does she express her creativity? “I just live. To me, creativity is just about living.”
I’ll go for a walk later – find somewhere I’ve not been before.
Giving and receiving ideas
New ideas deserve better than to be swatted at as if they are pesky flies.
I like what she said in her TEDx Talk about strengthening and building ideas together. A reminder to give and receive ideas—yin and yang energy, i.e., make time to be as well as do.
When Julieta was small, we had an ‘Ideas Jar’ to leave notes in for things she wanted to do or fix. I’m not sure why I stopped doing this – they made me smile and a creative prompt when I’m not feeling inspired. I’ve bought a waterproof notepad and pencil for the shower so we can keep this going and leave little notes for each other – it’s a bit of fun, and I do my best brainstorming in the shower.
Animals are creatures of habit, too. My mum’s been gardening this week, and she’s got some homeless birds! Now that the big tree (their home for the past few years) has been chopped down, Mr. and Mrs. Bird don’t know what to do with themselves—flapping around the garden, trying to figure it out. I can’t wait to see where they move to next. It needs to be a penthouse apt. to stop the cats from killing all their babies—it’s just too sad!
Lions State of Creativity 2024
Cannes Lions has released its annual State of Creativity. A biggish piece of research (3,000 global responses) designed to help marketers understand the creative landscape with advice on how to drive business growth using creativity.
People are outwardly optimistic about progress and investment, but there’s a communication breakdown. This year, senior leadership was a big barrier to creativity. People felt creativity suffered because of conservative leadership, company politics, and an aversion to risk. Most want to push the boundaries of their creative work, but ‘play-it-safe’ leaders make them feel like they can’t.
When budgets are tight, it’s easy to overlook creativity, but work without creativity is bad for business.
Our findings show that brands predicting higher growth for 2024 are 6x more likely to prioritise creativity, are 4.6x more likely to have a higher marketing spend than 2023, and put more investment into brand building. It’s consistent evidence for the business case for creativity.
Download it here.
Cannes Lions 2024
Not long now till the Cannes International Festival of Creativity | June 17-21. NEW for ’24 is Lions Creators – networking for creators and those in the creator economy on June 18-20. They’ve launched their first pass for the creator economy. Applications open on April 29; you can register your interest here.
What will marketing departments look like? More companies are working with creators these days, even hiring in-house creators for campaigns. Corporate social media handles struggle with engagement, and newsletters are more likely to be read when they come from a person rather than a company.
Writing Prompt ✍️
Wouldn’t it be nice if…?
Leave a comment or email me, and I’ll share your feedback next week. Feel free to leave your name and a link to your website so readers can check out your work.
Nika 🙂
PS I’ve changed the name of this newsletter to Life Work Shift to make it clearer. We had a title brainstorming session last night in Sarah Fay Writers at Work cohort and gave each other some feedback. A few folks said it was too broad, i.e., it works with context (writing & entrepreneurship); otherwise, it’s not obvious enough. I love this group – no impact is an island.
I’m looking for a designer to create a new banner/logo for me – recs are welcome!
Hi, I’m Nika!
I run Firebird, the content consultancy helping entrepreneurs impact the world with their stories. See my services here.
Newsletter Talent Directory! Feel free to add your deets here for collabs.
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Nika Talbot 