Creativity Is a Leadership Skill You Can Build: Start Here
Nov 09, 2026
Most of the first art I ever saw melted.
My dad was a chef who carved butter and ice into swans or hearts & such for banquets. My mom ran a catering company and decorated elaborate wedding cakes.
I grew up watching people make beautiful things with their hands, usually while trying to sneak a bite of the frosting. And for most of my life, I said the creative gene passed me by.
I never saw the years of practice behind every swan. Neither of my parents had a business card that said "artist." My dad's job was feeding people. My mom's business ran on creativity, and also on marketing, bookkeeping and the planning it takes to pull off a 200-person wedding. Their creativity was part of how they did the work.
At work, we tend to put creativity in a neat box labeled "art" and decide it belongs to a select few roles.
Why Creativity Is a Leadership Skill
Creativity is a Human Intelligence skill. It shapes how you see a stalled project, a stuck team or a problem nobody has solved yet.
Employers know this. In the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, 57% of employers named creative thinking a core skill for their workforce.
Researchers who studied Nobel Prize winners found science laureates were about nine times more likely than typical scientists to have training in crafts like woodworking and metalworking, or in fine arts.
And if you join us for the next episode, you’ll learn how creativity outside of work impacts your work performance, too.
The Story That Blocks Your Creativity
A friend texted me about a fun idea for her soon-to-arrive grandson. Then she wrote, "Yes, but I'm not creative." And that was that.
Most of us tell some version of that story. No time. No talent. No place for it in my job.
Music producer Rick Rubin told Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO that everyone has creative capacity, and that school and social conditioning train a lot of it out of us.
So look for where your creativity already shows up. The dinner you made out of fridge leftovers. The schedule you rebuilt when the sitter canceled. The client escalation you figured out how to smooth over.
How to Build Creativity with the Helm Method℠
Start with yourself.
Aim. Notice the story you tell about your creativity. Mine was "I'm not creative, not like they are." Set the intention to stay open to the idea that you are creative. You don't have to be Picasso or Yo-Yo Ma.
Act. Pick one area to explore on purpose. I took knitting lessons so I'd have something to do with my hands while we watched TV. Eventually I decided it wasn't for me and moved on. That counts. Deciding "this is for me" or "it's not" is a considered action. (And reflecting & moving on is the 3rd step, Adjust.)
Adjust. Your first attempts will be clunky. Nobody's first pottery bowl makes the magazine. Watch for cues all along the way, and give yourself grace while you learn.
Try this: write down one thing you made or fixed that you wouldn't call art. A meal, a spreadsheet, a conversation you saved. Put the note where you'll see it. You're collecting proof.
Watch this week's Mini but Mighty℠ Leadership Lesson on YouTube: Creativity Is a Leadership Skill You Can Build. Start Here.
It opens our new series on creativity, curiosity and problem solving. Subscribe for a new lesson every Friday.
Lead yourself. Then lead others. Be a Boss.
When your managers seem stuck, they may need to build their creativity. Our leadership workshops develop problem solving, creativity and the other human intelligence skills AI can't replace. Learn more at bossatthehelm.com/workshops.