The Creative Identity Crisis
A CEO had built three companies and pioneered industry standards. Mentored countless innovators. So why did she freeze when I asked about her creative interests?
"I'm not creative," she said firmly. "I'm a systems person. My ex-husband was the creative one—he painted. I just... built things."
We let that sit for a moment.
Then I asked, "Built things from nothing? Envisioned what didn't exist? Made the impossible happen?"
Her expression changed. "Ohhhhh."
The Great Divide
Somewhere we decided creativity belonged to "artists" and business belonged to "practical people." We put imagination in one box, execution in another. Many people spend years in only one box.
But consider:
Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO, didn't just open coffee shops—he created an entire culture around coffee
Sara Blakely, Spanx founder, didn't just make underwear—she reimagined how women feel in their clothes
James Dyson, the industrial designer and inventor, didn't just fix vacuums—he rethought how air moves through 5,000+ prototypes
Were they business people or artists? The question misses the point.
What Burnout Reveals
"My breakdown was my breakthrough," a former CFO told me. "When I couldn't do another spreadsheet, I started doodling in meetings. Turns out I'd been thinking in pictures all along, just translating them into numbers."
Often it takes exhaustion for creativity to break through our professional armour. When we're too tired to maintain the divide, something authentic emerges.
Another executive discovered poetry during stress leave: "I wasn't trying to be creative. I was trying to explain what was happening to me. Words weren't enough, so they became poems."
The Identity Shift
The transformation isn't really about becoming creative. It's about recognising you always were. That CEO who "just built things"? She's now designing community spaces that bring people together. Same creative impulse. New expression.
"I spent forty years thinking I wasn't creative because I didn't paint," she reflected. "Turns out I was painting all along—with businesses instead of brushes."
Beyond Labels
What if you stopped asking "What could I do to become creative?" and started asking "How does my creativity show up?"
It might be in your strategic thinking. Your problem-solving. Your ability to see connections others miss. Your gift for bringing out the best in people.
The creative identity crisis ends when you realise it was never a crisis. Just a misunderstanding about what creativity looks like.
Still think you're not creative? Let's find where your creativity has been hiding in plain sight.
References:
Howard Schultz - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Howard-Schultz
Sara Blakely - https://www.forbes.com/profile/sara-blakely/
James Dyson - https://www.dyson.com/community/about-james-dyson.html
Ready to go further?
These resources offer valuable perspectives, but nothing replaces a thoughtful conversation about your specific situation.
Have a resource that's helped you? I'd love to hear about it. Drop me an EMAIL.