How to ignite the creative spark

What lessons can your company learn from one of the world’s most creative and innovative companies? Lyn Heward, former Director of Creation, President and COO of the Creative Content Divisionof Cirque du Soleil challenges every individual and company to go through what she calls ‘the seven doors’ to enhance creativity, motivate high performers and foster innovation.

“This is my challenge to each and every one of you – because you too can make a difference in your organisation, your team and most particularly in your life,” she says.

The seven doors

1. Great expectations: Life is full of creative opportunities, which you must engage with regularly in order to live up to your potential.

2. Surrender to your senses: Shake off your old habits, surrender to your senses and live as many new experiences as possible.

3. Treasure hunting and creative transformation: Look beyond the job description and the obvious attributes of a candidate and discover how an investment in human potential can create a transformation and transform not only the individual, but the job itself.

4. Nurturing environment: The nurturing environment, both at the workplace and at home, provides just the right setting for personal growth and fulfilment as well as teamwork, risk taking and collective creativity.

5. Constraints, challenges, differences and consumer expectations: Constraints like budgets and deadlines challenges cultural differences and consumer expectations. Rather than being cultural hindrances, they are among the many catalysts that can drive a creative process.

6. Risk taking: do you ever get burned? Risk taking is an essential part of the creative process and the antidote to corporate stagnation. Research and development is not a waste of money or a big mistake, but the long, often winding, road to successful innovation.

7. Keep it fresh: The passionate creative leader never loses sight of the vast human potential surrounding him, keeps fresh ideas flowing and shares success with everyone involved.

Read more insights from the 2014 World Business Forum keynote speakers.  http://business.nab.com.au/tag/world-business-forum/>

NAB was recently privileged to sponsor the World Business Forum in Sydney – two days of inspiration, collaboration and provocation by some of the world’s leading business innovators. These insights were generated live on the day by NAB and were informed by the guest speakers’ presentations.