doug smith training

Is your team creative? When you need to solve a problem, does the team create lots of possibilities? Rather than lock in on what is already in motion, what if you found something completely new, completely different? Possibilities open us up. Curiosity gets us closer to what we haven't been able to see before. Answers to deep questions, solutions to problems, resolutions to long-standing conflict, innovative products and services -- all come from opening the door to possibilities.  Create more possibilities, create more success. -- doug smith

What makes something creative?  Is it distinctive? Are new ideas involved? Could it be considered disruptive? Does it bring joy, inexplicable joy, to you without knowing why? Some people might think of creativity as magic -- it explodes from inspiration like a spell you can never tell is on the way. It shines, it radiates, it presents itself beyond anyone's control. Or does it? Creativity certainly does pal around with inspiration, but it is much more than that. Creativity requires practice, skill development, work. It's not something like being left-handed that you are simply born with and enjoy. Unless you consider everyone is born creative and we either develop it or not. Creativity has so much mystique, and so much appeal, that people love to claim it. I'm in favor of claiming your creativity, but it does take more than that. If you see a company or initiative and it has "creative" in the title, do you automatically assume that it is creative? I'm not so s...

You don't need excuses for failing when you use the creativity to succeed. art business music education governing leading writing What if your MAIN ingredient is creativity? That's good news because you've got plenty of it. But, you might have to dig. Well? Start digging! -- doug smith

Creative leadership finds new ways to assemble your most vital and high performing teams. -- doug smith

A short video from one of my top influences in leadership development, Tom Peters.

Chaos may spark creativity. Order makes it useful. -- doug smith

The rejection of our creative work says nothing about its value. Not everyone will get it. We won't all understand. It can take many iterations, many attempts, even many years for people to embrace the creative output that we produce. It's still valuable. Hold onto your creativity and then let it go -- let it go INTO your work. Let it go INTO your life. Let it go INTO your soul. Rejection is just a point of view. -- Doug Smith

Hidden within every problem is a creative solution. -- Doug Smith

Our creative best makes everything else better. -- Doug Smith

Creative performance keeps the performer AND the performance fresh and fascinating. Stay creative! -- Doug Smith

Do you think about creativity everyday? When we think about creativity everyday it spurs us into action, it develops a sense of wonder, it prods us into moving out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. We can even reach a state that is so creative we forget that we're thinking about being creative, we simply create. New things, better things, wonderful things. Better leadership, better communication, better problem solving. Better living. Stay creative and you won't ever regret it. It makes us brighter, makes us smarter, makes us more alive. What are you doing to develop your creativity today? -- Doug Smith

How young do you feel? Not how old are you but how young do you  feel ? How we feel about ourselves has much to do with how healthy we  are . Why not feel young? Why not feel younger than we are? Here's how I keep feeling younger - thru creativity. Making things. Writing things. Drawing things. Coming up with new solutions to old problems is creative. Finding reasons to BE happy (rather than otherwise) takes a certain level of creativity. Talking with others can even be creative. Instead of falling into a habitual pattern in your next conversation, try asking some creative and provocative questions. Questions like: What would you do if you had to trade places with your least favorite person? What are three ways you can think of to make your strongest relationship even stronger? What problems have you not thought of yet that could change your life? How many rooms should you have in your dream house? You get the idea. Keep it fun. Keep it curious. And, keep...

Where do you test your best creative ideas? Not all creative ideas are the same. Some require a sort of close inspection with careful boundaries and controlled conditions, otherwise they will become impossible to work with or change into something we hadn't counted on. But not all creative ideas are like that. Some creative ideas benefit from a quick planting and careful observance to see how they're doing but are left to grow on their own. We tend to them, we remove obstacles and aberrations, but we let them grow naturally. Some creative ideas need a garden and some need a laboratory. If no one can get hurt, if you you've got lots of time, and if you want the unexpected to be welcome, plant your creative ideas in a garden like atmosphere of freedom and spontaneity. If the risks are high, the conditions are dangerous, and the talent is exposed to sudden change keep a laboratory-like grip on your creative conditions. Focus your attention on them but don't let...

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe What would we do without creativity? Life would be so much less colorful. Songs would not be sung. Pictures would not be painted. And leaders would use the same old strategies that irritated people before. Creativity helps us grow. Creativity IS growth, and we must never stop growing. Creativity is a necessity. The next time someone implies that you don't have enough time to be creative, ask them how they'd feel without the things that make life worth living - joy, celebration, examination, and love. Yes, even love - for how much can we love without getting creative?  What creative work of art (or commerce!) are you working on today? -- doug smith doug smith training: developing creativity

Are you truly ready to achieve your goals? Do you have the resources, the team, the initiative, the energy to achieve even your toughest of goals? Or, are there problems standing in the way? Problems are not a bad thing. Yes, they are annoying. Yes, they can be energy draining. Yes, they get in our way. But they are paths to creativity. They are reasons for compassion. They are motivators for courage. And they are barometers for clarity. Figure out what you need to solve and then get started. If the goal is important, the problem is just a way to get there creatively. Sometimes we need to solve our problems before we can achieve our goals. Maybe today's one of those days... -- Doug Smith doug smith training:  how to achieve your goals Front Range Leadership:  Training Supervisors for Success