“Working Out” Your Creative Mind in a White-Collar World

Lorraine Schneider
Nov 7 · 7 min read

Leveraging Creativity as a Solution to Systemic Problems

I’ve always liked to think of myself as creative. Not as creative as an artist or a musician but above-average creative for a white-collar worker. After all, I had done a little bit of painting and a little bit of music as a child, followed by some theater and improv in college. And nothing got me more excited on my solo trip to NYC than to visit as many of its world-renowned museums as I possibly could.

But playing a musical piece that had been composed by somebody else was different than me coming up with the melody in my head, just like acting out a scene that someone else had written for a theatrical world they envisioned was not the same. If anything, though, what these experiences gave me was an appreciation for art and creativity. To think outside the box.

Photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash

From attending a summit on storytelling to going on my first mission with the Field Innovation Team and now working for The Walt Disney Company, this year has been filled with opportunities for me to become more creative. Rare are the white-collar hiring managers who ask job candidates for their creative background. Yet, all of us — no matter where we work — face issues that have prevailed for years, if not even decades. Think about the organization you work for right now: What are the top issues that have not been solved (or attempted to be) for a long time? Here are some big questions that I’ve been thinking about in the last three years working as an emergency manager:

  • How do you make people care? Time is precious and people’s attention span is limited. So how do you help populations realize that they’re better off being prepared for a disaster than ignoring it until it’s too late?
  • How do you ensure organizations invest in mitigation and preparedness? Research clearly shows that cities, companies, and public-sector organizations could save millions, if not billions, of dollars following a disaster if they just spent money preemptively rather than correct their mistakes and shortcomings once it’s too late.

Granted, these are big questions that are not going to be solved by one single person at one time but these questions break down into smaller ones and even smaller ones that affect my day-to-day job. More importantly, these questions have the characteristic that they are going to follow me everywhere I go in emergency management. From public sector to private sector, from small nonprofit to large business, the large questions and problems persist.

So how do you solve systemic issues if not with creativity?

Problems wouldn’t stay problems if you could easily solve them. Not systemic ones at least or ones that keep you up at night or make you want to leave your current job only to find a new one that has similar problems. Brand new approaches are needed; a new way of thinking. But how do you get yourself there? How do you leave all pre-existing notions behind and force yourself to think differently? The answer is through expanding your creative abilities.

In an attempt to find solutions to answers, here are three ways I’ve been able to “work out” my creative brain to become a better problem-solver:

Earlier this year, I attended the first-ever Storyteller’s Summit, a one-day masterclass on creating action-inspiring content. It emanated from the idea that storytelling drives change in human behavior. Together with other public sector workers from across emergency response, climate change, immigration, humanitarian aid, etc., I listened to expert storytellers from the world’s biggest creative industries present on the art and craft of “creating messages that inspire the general public to take meaningful action on timely issues.”

This event marked a unique opportunity to share ideas, learn from, and network with people, who white-collar workers traditionally never get to interact with. My personal highlight was listening to Misha Euceph speak. A podcast producer and host, she served as the producer on the widely-acclaimed KPCC podcast The Big One: Your Survival Guide. In the months leading up to the summit, I was enthralled with the podcast’s ability to discuss earthquake knowledge and preparedness tips in a factual yet riveting manner for the lay person. In my mind, this creative medium was part of the answer to making Southern California residents care about disaster preparedness.

Co-Founder of HRDWRKER, JJ Anderson, speaking at the 2019 Storyteller’s Summit

This forum does not need to have anything to do with your work. This is something you do just for yourself. This summer, alumni and current cast of my college theater company came together (both online and in person) to awaken our creative minds. Our summer writing salon was composed of weekly motivational emails from our leaders, discussion boards, and breathwork/meditation sessions. We were forced to sit down and dedicate time just to creating. For most, it included writing plays and scripts. For some, it meant finally writing Medium articles (you guessed it, that was me!) or making music.

At the core, this group served as a safe space for sharing thoughts, removing mental barriers, and identifying one’s fears. Creativity is inextricably linked to vulnerability. With creativity comes risk and with risk comes courage but also the possibility of failure. After much introspection I realized that I had put off writing for a long time because I was scared to write something people could disagree with, in particular if those people were my peers in emergency management. Once I came to that realization though and felt the inspiration from other writers and the support from those close around me, I was ready to take the leap and now with every new piece, it becomes easier and easier.

Last month, I had the opportunity to work with a dozen disaster technologists, public information experts, and problem-solvers from around the U.S. and Canada. Together, we represented the Field Innovation Team (FIT), a volunteer organization that “brings together leaders from robotics, community justice, design, technology and beyond for impact oriented collaboration.” As such, we participated in a full-scale disaster exercise based on a 9.0 earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone in the Pacific Northwest.

FIT’s job during the exercise: To come up with real-time solutions to disaster response challenges. The first part of day one, I went down the completely wrong path of coming up with a solution to a challenge in the long-term (“in order to prevent this issue from ever happening, the City of Redmond can do x, y and z”). What I was supposed to do was to come up with solutions applicable for right in the moment. The challenge was already unfolding in the simulation. There was no advanced planning. I was thinking and thinking. My brain started to hurt. The problem seemed so hard to crack that every ounce of creativity I thought I had in myself flew out the window. That is until Desi, FIT’s founder, master problem-solver and overall superwoman, turned to me and said: Lorraine, if you need to use carrier pigeons to drop off information to remote locations when all of our infrastructure is down then do that!

Now, this is not the solution I ended up going with but it flipped a switch in my brain. “Crazy” and “ridiculous” are not part of FIT’s vocabulary because they have made far-fetched ideas come to life in the past. How? They have lifted the mental barrier instilled in the human brain that tends to limit us to only pursue what we know and have already experienced. Once that barrier is gone, the creative process can step in and take its free course to produce something brand new.

(And if you think carrier pigeons are out-of-the-box thinking, so are all the goats used across California in recent years to help combat wildfires!)

The Field Innovation Team at the 2019 Cascadia Rising Solutions exercise in Redmond, WA

This past weekend, my wife, who is a videographer, asked me if I saw the world through the lens of systems or stories. My answer came naturally: I come to understand the world through its political, societal, judicial, and historical systems. She said she can only see the world through stories. Of course, there is no right or wrong answer to the question but the question alone challenged my thinking once again.

Creativity is a process with no real beginning or end as our brain continually processes new information and strives to come up with new solutions linking up old information with new information. Just like physical health, creativity requires constant exercising. To help me stay sharp (and to have fun), I joined Disney’s employee improv group last week; I am helping the founder of the Storyteller’s Summit plan for the 2020 iteration of it; and I can’t wait to get back on the road with the FIT!

I am still a long way away from reaching the creativity level I wish to have. I still don’t know the answers to the questions I listed above and I doubt I’ll ever train my brain enough to fully see the world through the lens of stories alone. My strong perfectionist, rule-abiding tendencies as depicted by my Enneagram (type 1) are all counter-indications to my potential as a creator. But my biggest assets on this quest for creativity? My curiosity to learn new things, my determination for constant improvement, and my passion for the career I chose.


Do you want to join or support a team of volunteers that creates cutting-edge disaster solutions in real time? Check out FIT!

Do you work in the public sector and wish to learn from experts in storytelling from the creative and entertainment fields? Stay put for the 2020 Storyteller’s Summit!

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Lorraine Schneider

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LA-based Emergency Manager | Community Preparedness Trainer & Enthusiast | @LorraineSchnei

The Startup

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