9 essential creative practices for brand-builders
Okay, so that statement is a tiny bit of a stretch. These practices aren’t absolutely essential. I mean, your brand (probably) won’t die without them. But, like the best personal creative practices, these activities will help you stay centered and connected to the things that are most important — along with making your work-life a whole lot more productive, more sustainable…and more fun.
Whether you’ve got a team of cohorts or are running solo, here are 9 practices to help you stoke new ideas, do your best work — and forge ahead with building a brand, idea, or company worth believing in.
1. Ask big questions. Take some time to step back from the day-to-day work you’re doing, and look at the world you’re doing it in. What questions are driving you? What are you curious about? What assumptions are you operating under? What do you want to better understand? Who would you like to learn from? Try this: take out a sheet of paper, and write “I wonder…” at the top. Then fill the page with whatever questions come to mind, and see where they take you.
2. Run little experiments. Overthinking leads to paralysis. Instead, think like a mad scientist and brainstorm—then execute—tiny experiments: quick, simple ways to prototype your ideas and test hypotheses. The faster and scrappier, the better. Experiments are fun, and the payoff can be immediate. Bonus: when you’re experimenting, you can’t fail, because every outcome gets you one step closer to a workable solution. Easy win!
3. Gather inspiration from unlikely sources. The 19th-century French physiologist Claude Bernard said, “It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning.” Make a point of looking outside your industry and search out cool things that people are doing in other fields that could spark something new in your own work. What analogous ideas are being shared in music, art, media, food science, architecture, or education that might translate to your project? Try taking a “picking up seashells” approach to this inspiration-gathering: page through a stack of magazines, scroll through Pinterest, or visit the library and see what catches your eye (even if you’re not sure why). Don’t think too hard, and let your instincts guide you. Collect your findings and create an analogous inspiration board with photos, quotes, sketches, and screenshots.
4. Celebrate people, milestones, and big (or small) victories. Celebration is a practice we could all use more of. When you can find a person or a moment to recognize, do it! It’s powerful. It can also be really simple. One example: Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s media company, gives thoughtful Instagram shout-outs celebrating the lives and accomplishments of notable women from across the cultural landscape on their birthdays.
5. Be generous. What do you have that you could give away? How can you be of service to the people you’re serving, beyond what’s expected (or paid for)?
6. Train for change. Change is inevitable, and it’s rarely comfortable. But, here’s the good news: the ability to confidently navigating ambiguity is a muscle you can build. The more you do it, the more familiar it becomes. Astronauts get used to zero gravity, and skiers get used to the cold and snow. It becomes their new normal. Choose to see change as a creative force, and you’ll be better able to move with it and ride the waves.
7. Ask, “How would _____ do it?” When faced with a problem that doesn’t have a prescribed kind of solution, stretch your thinking into new territory by asking how other people or companies might solve it. Combining a distinctive (but less familiar) approach, method or perspective with the specific constraints of your problem can put a new spin on what’s possible. Think: How would Amazon do this? How would Michelle Obama do it? How would TOMS Shoes do it? How about Chipotle, Airbnb, Trader Joe’s, Richard Branson, Volkswagen, Madonna, or Southwest Airlines?
8. Tell stories. Storytelling is inherently a communal, creative act. It brings people together and gives us an entry point into talking about complex subjects. Looking back, stories help us understand and learn from what we’ve just experienced. Looking forward, they’re a way to imagine the potential paths we could take…where they might lead, and what they might mean. By hearing different perspectives and trying out different ways of framing these stories with your team, or even with your customers, you have a chance to see what sticks and what resonates with people. At the end of a work session or strategy meeting, I often ask for one or two participants to “tell the story of…” what the group learned, decided, or discovered — as they might tell it to a person who hadn’t been there. Many times, these off-the-cuff stories clarify and crystallize the heart of an idea or course of action better than anything that’s been articulated before.
9. Get outside. Step away from the screens, leave your office, put your phone on silent, and get out of your regular environment. Explore, observe, and take in the world. Breathe. Take a field trip. Visit a museum. Listen. Walk a route that you normally drive, and take note of all the “new” things you see. Watch the sunrise or sunset every day for a week. Practice simply noticing.
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About the Author: Erin Rufledt helps companies develop their strategic messaging and brings it to life with visual design. She’s the founder of Luminary Lab, a communication design company that works with leaders and companies to align their vision, their brand and their marketing to win more business and clearly communicate about the work they do.
