Creativity: Real-World Problem Solving
Future Competences for Leaders and Changemakers
Future Competencies for Leaders and Changemakers is a series designed to help you develop the critical skills needed to address today’s most pressing challenges, navigate complexity, inspire action, and drive meaningful change. It highlights essential skills and practical exercises to strengthen them—including those that are often overlooked or not yet fully recognised for their value.
Skill #1: Futures Literacy: The Art of Making Use of Tomorrow
Skill #2: Being: The Most Underrated Future Skill
Skill #3: Inner Development: The Bridge Between Business and Personal Growth
Skill #4: Deep Listening: The Future Demands an Ancient Skill
Skill #5: Breathing: Regulating Your Day with Simplicity
👉 Skill #6: Creativity: Real-World Problem Solving
Skill #7: Meaning: The Competitive Advantage of Creating Purpose
Only a few of you know I spent my teenage years in the Swiss Mountains. While the scenery was stunning, my experience with education was far from motivating. The traditional academic path didn't speak to me, and creativity was seen as secondary to more conventional pursuits. I wasn't exactly the "model student" — especially since I was captivated by the arts and crafts. My passion for creativity was dismissed by some as laziness, especially when I decided to pursue art and design at university.
Career counsellors told me there was no place for art-focused education they knew about. But I didn't let that stop me, and I found far more than what I was hoping for. Creativity led me to discover a world of possibilities, not just on a canvas but in observing the world, connecting dots that weren't obvious, and developing innovative solutions. This journey was a personal revelation, and it's a lesson that's now backed by research: in today's rapidly evolving world, creativity and innovation are no longer just "nice-to-have" skills—they are essential.
Why Creativity Matters Now More Than Ever
We live in an age of rapid change. The pace of technological advancement and industry disruption is unprecedented, forcing businesses to rethink how they operate and innovate. In the face of automation, jobs are evolving, and human work is shifting toward tasks that require creativity and problem-solving. Research indicates that our time on creative thinking will only grow in the coming years.
But here's the burning question: What makes an idea truly creative? Here are at least three key criteria:
Originality – It must be fresh, new, and unique.
Surprise – The idea should defy expectations, offering something unexpected.
Utility – It must be practical and valuable to others (to me, the most important factor).
Creative ideas are not simply flights of fancy—they need to solve real-world problems and create impact. This is similar to my art education, which wasn't just about mixing colours but about learning how to approach challenges with a problem-solving mindset.
The Neuroscience of Creativity: It's All in Your Brain
Contrary to the myth that creativity is a mysterious talent, it results from specific brain networks firing in sync. Here's how it works:
The Default Mode Network generates spontaneous, free-flowing thoughts, connecting seemingly unrelated ideas across time and space1.
The Salience Network filters through these ideas, evaluating their relevance and potential2.
The Executive Control Network refines promising ideas into practical and actionable ones3.
This process mirrors our thinking: System 1 is intuitive and free-flowing, while System 2 is deliberate and focused4. Creativity requires a balance between the two—a synergy of spontaneous insight and focused refinement.
Developing Your Creative Muscle: It's a Skill, Not a Gift
Here's the good news: Creativity isn't reserved for a chosen few. It's a skill you can develop with practice and dedication. So, how can you strengthen your creative muscles?
Individual Strategies
Build cognitive agility: Get comfortable switching between open-ended exploration and focused, problem-solving thinking.
Seek novelty: Look for new perspectives and fresh sources of information. Expose yourself to new experiences—whether it's reading books outside your usual genre, talking to people from different walks of life, or stepping out of your comfort zone.
Plan for incubation: Let your mind wander! Taking breaks and allowing time for your brain to relax often results in sudden, breakthrough insights.
Embrace ambiguity: It's normal to feel uncertain when starting something new. Avoid rushing to find the "perfect" answer. Let the solution evolve over time.
Strengthen your creative self-efficacy: Build confidence in your creative abilities by setting small, achievable goals. Celebrate progress and welcome constructive feedback to continue growing.
Team Approaches
Creativity thrives in a collaborative environment. Here's how to foster a culture of innovation within teams:
Assemble diverse teams: Diversity of thought leads to richer ideas. Create teams with different skill sets, backgrounds, and perspectives to spark innovation.
Foster psychological safety: For creativity to flourish, team members must feel safe taking risks, making mistakes, and challenging each other's ideas.
Establish open communication: Encourage honest, open discussions where every voice is heard, and ideas can be freely exchanged.
Include "discovery connections": Collaborate with individuals who connect different networks within the organisation to broaden your access to new ideas and solutions.
Impact for Organisations and Beyond
Organisations that prioritise creativity develop cultures where innovation can thrive. This means viewing every employee as a potential innovator and providing the space and opportunities for everyone to contribute their ideas. In turn, this can drive your organisation's future and keep it ahead of the curve in a competitive market.
Developing creativity isn't just about thinking outside the box. It's about integrating creativity with other essential skills like resilience, adaptability, and emotional intelligence. Strengthening these abilities together can make you more adept at navigating change while unlocking new levels of creative potential and innovative problem-solving.
Full Circle: From the Swiss Mountains to the Modern World
Looking back at my own journey from the Swiss Alps to where I am now, I realise that the creative thinking I honed to navigate my unconventional path has become one of the most valuable assets in today's economy.
There were times when the world around me didn't make space for creative pursuits, but I pushed forward anyway. That's what creativity allows us to do—it enables us to see possibilities others miss and connect dots that seem unrelated. It gives us the optimism to reimagine problems and find solutions where others only see roadblocks.
In a world where disruption is constant, creativity isn't just a "nice-to-have" skill—it's essential for survival and success. The good news is that, with the right mindset, anyone can develop this skill. No matter where you start or what others tell you about your potential, you can cultivate creativity.
The future belongs to those who can envision it differently. So, start building your creative muscle today—whatever your Swiss mountain looks like, it's waiting to be climbed.
With love from rainy Zürich ☀️☔,
Graziella
If you know someone who would benefit from these strategies for strengthening their creative muscle—or if you'd like to inspire your team to do the same—please share this article. And if you're in need of a facilitator, trainer, or coach, reach out. I'll have more availability coming up soon.
A study by Ben Shofty, MD, PhD, published in Brain, highlights the role of the DMN in creative thinking, particularly in generating spontaneous, free-flowing thoughts during mind-wandering tasks. Another article emphasizes the DMN's involvement in mind-wandering and divergent thinking, suggesting its role in connecting unrelated ideas.
Neural Dynamics During the Generation and Evaluation of Creative and Non-Creative Ideas: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11042297/
Studies demonstrate that the ECN is involved in refining ideas by providing cognitive control mechanisms such as working memory capacity, fluid intelligence, and response inhibition. A review by Roger E. Beaty et al. highlights the interaction between the DMN and ECN in creative cognition, suggesting that the ECN helps refine promising ideas into practical ones through executive functions like goal-directed memory retrieval and internally-focused attention.
Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2002) introduces several key concepts that explain how our brains process information and make decisions. Among others the Two Systems of Thinking:
System 1: Fast, automatic, intuitive, and emotional. It relies on mental shortcuts and past experiences to make quick decisions. Examples include recognizing faces, understanding simple sentences, and driving on an empty road.
System 2: Slow, effortful, logical, and conscious. It involves deliberate thinking and is used for complex tasks like solving math problems, focusing attention, and making deliberate decisions.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.