Never Lose Your Creativity

Dexter & Byron Peart

This month I want to speak with you a little bit about creativity. I believe creativity is an important aspect to any business. In fact, I would venture to say that creativity is an essential part of our lives. One of the reasons that creativity is so important is that it keeps you innovative and fresh in your industry. A lot of times when we find our businesses in a slump it is because we have stopped being creative. We have become locked in to one mode of doing business and it starts to impact the profits of your business. You have to constantly get fresh ideas and perspectives on how you can improve the quality of your products and services.

Fast Company does a yearly list of the Most Creative People. While the list is quite lengthy, I want to point out two particular people. First, I want to draw your attention to Dexter and Byron Peart. These Montreal-born twins came up through the fashion industry working for brands such as Diesel and Miss Sixty. Also, they started a distribution business before finally embarking upon their own line of travel accessories in 2007. Since launching Want Les Essentiels De La Vie has attracted a cult-like following among retailers. The brand is known for its fine craftsmanship, intuitive and functional design. As a huge fan of the brand, I was curious to know where these twins draw their inspiration from. I was not surprised to learn that they draw a lot of their inspiration from their travels. The architecture and city life of the places they visit play a huge role in their designs. Lastly, I loved hearing that Dieter Rams inspires a lot of their products. These brothers live by his 10 guiding principles of good design. Ilse Crawford also has been a great source of inspiration. She is known for creating unique environments for the art of living. You should support this brand and I am sure you will love their products as much as I do.

Archana Raghuram is also on the list of Most Creative People. She is known for making volunteering fashionable at the IT services firm Cognizant. She motivated over 50,000 employees, mostly millennials, to dedicate over 900,000 after-work hours to volunteering over seven years to educate and build infrastructure for underprivileged children, train teachers, offer career counseling and much more. When asked why she did this she says” I opted to run the volunteering program not because it was a career path, but because I was inspired by the chance to work toward making a difference in so many young lives.” One thing that really excited me was to learn that she draws a lot of her inspiration from books. When she finds herself in a rut she turns to her love for reading. Reading always causes her to feel calm and relaxed. As a child, she would often watch Cosmos which inspired in her a permanent love for physics. Raghuram expresses gratitude to Carl Sagan for the film Cosmos. Looking back she now understands that he made the subject of physics approachable and beautiful. This is truly a remarkable woman!

In closing, I hope you will take a look at the Fast Company Most Creative People of 2015 list. I love reading the list. So many insights stand out to me that it would be impossible to place them all here. However, they all stir my creativity and inspire me to be more creative and innovative in my business. Without creativity your business is destined to become stale. Keep your business fresh and on the cutting-edge. Spend time daily doing something that inspires you and ignites your creativity. Set up brainstorming sessions with your team and allow time to develop new products, services and ideas to better serve your customers. This is a major key to business success. I can’t wait to see what you create next. Never lose your creativity!

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