Over the years, I’ve come to realize that creativity isn’t something reserved for visual artists and entertainers. It doesn’t solely belong to designers, marketers, or “the creative team” either. Creativity in its purist form is found and belongs everywhere — even in places like operations, finance, and the skilled trades. A recent moment of collaboration helped me to experience this theory firsthand.
I observed someone — a colleague I deeply respect — take one quick look at a room full of fashion creators and shoppers during an activation we helped execute together, her keen eye for detail and inspirational obsession over implementing processes and procedures led my friend to notice a gap in the activation we had all worked so diligently to support. A suspenseful moment of silence drilled through my heart as I waited for the office Queen Bee to finish her assessment of the environment. Once her thoughts were completely collected and her intentions clear, The Queen rattled off a pitch-perfect event concept that solved the area of opportunity in real time. No hesitation. No whiteboard session. Just clarity and confidence. Go off, Queen!
“Wait, how did you get there so fast? What was the process? Tell me everything!”
It was important for me to hear the Queen’s process because that’s the kind of leadership I want to cultivate — for myself and others. That moment reminded me of a few nuggets I’ve picked up from mentors, co-workers, and failures throughout my leadership career. Did I already say failures? Yea, lots of those. I want to share these learnings with anyone at the beginning of their leadership journey, perhaps, or those, like me, who are just trying to balance structure with creativity.
Here are three simple lessons I learned from observing the Queen Bee build a creative solution to align the missing pieces of our project that day.
1. Survey the Land
If you're not present, then you're really not solving for anything. The best ideas come from people who notice things — who scan the room. They are constantly assessing the energy of the space, paying special attention to those smaller moments that have a monumental impact on the customer and team member experience. That means letting go of distractions, including the impulse to hyper-focus on one person or issue for too long (something I definitely do at times). Leadership requires perspective. A former boss called it “head on swivel” because it is our job to identify gaps and missed opportunities before the customer. Surveying the land might help us better anticipate our customer’s needs.
2. Understand the Brand — Deeply
Your ability to problem-solve creatively hinges on how well you understand the brand and culture of the company you’re working for. It’s no longer enough to simply understand an organization’s mission statement or the details of a job description. My most recent leadership role taught me the importance of understanding how the brand makes people feel. Once you are living in the brand’s culture with an authentic and uniqe perspective, the storytelling will feel more connected. When you’re of the brand, not just in it, you can move quicker, take smarter risks, and unlock more innovative ideas — because they’re rooted in something real.
3. Ask: What’s In It for Me? (WIIFM, But Make It Generous)
This was the game-changer. The Queen saw our opportunities not as a logistical flaw, but as a missed opportunity to serve the customer. She intuitively asked: “What would I want from this experience? Why doesn’t this feel right?” And that mindset — of using your own instincts and ego for good — unlocked a solution that served everyone in the room.
Ego in leadership is one of my favorite topics to discuss. However, what she did was not ego in the negative sense. That moment was about using your lived experience, your empathy, and your imagination to create something better. Dare I say more creative?
Leadership can sometimes feel like you're running a marathon wearing a weighted vest — exhausting, character-building, yet energizing and thrilling at the same time. The resistance that’s shown up throughout my career built muscles I didn’t know I needed. And now, as I look ahead to new opportunities, I’m taking all of those lessons with me.
Leadership is storytelling. Leadership is creative problem-solving. And leadership, more than anything, is noticing the moment and choosing to act.