When people see Taylor Swift, they might see a dedicated songwriter, a record-breaking singer or an engaging performer. They may see a businessperson, a leader, or a marketer. How about a style icon, advocate or simply a kind person?

You could see all those things and you can also see a person approaching their work and life with a creative mindset.

By using the term “creative” to describe her mindset, we are not talking about creative in the artistic sense. It is more about an approach or state of being a person has where they are consciously aware of their responses to situations, and as a result, consciously choose their behaviours to focus on what matters.

Let’s use an example.

In 2019, Taylor Swift found out, apparently on social media, that her former record label sold her masters to a famous talent manager, Scooter Braun, with whom she had a strained relationship. This transaction stripped her of her rights to music she created. As a result, she didn’t have a say in how that music was used and required permission to use music she herself wrote and previously performed. In fact, she wanted to include songs in her Netflix special and perform a medley of her music at the American Music Awards on the night she received an award for Performer of the Decade and was told no on both occasions. The entire situation was incredibly frustrating for her, and her attempts to negotiate getting her music back were unsuccessful.

What did she do?

In November 2020 she began re-recording her first six albums and called them Taylor’s Version. (To hear her describe this decision, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuOogOB7hL0). She acted in line with her values. She was real and courageous and her fans, as well as other artists, got behind her. Since then, she has catapulted into a level of fame that is essentially unheard of. She did what she thought was the right thing to do based on her beliefs and values. She recognized the limitations of the previous situation and figured out a way to break new ground for herself and her industry. She focused on what mattered and made conscious choices on how she was going to focus her time, energy, and resources.

This is an example of creative leadership – consciously choosing actions that matter.

In our work using the Leadership Circle®, we are guided by an inspiring definition of creative leadership which is “creating outcomes that matter most.”[1] In this work, we help leaders identify ways in which they are demonstrating a creative approach in their leadership and ways in which unintended, reactive behaviours may be unconsciously getting in their way.  Many of us respond to situations, especially tough ones, reactively. But with practice, and increased self-awareness, reactive tendencies become easier to see in the moment, and more productive, aligned choices can be made. (We’ll talk more about these later.)

Sometimes all we need is only a moment. Then we can pause long enough to choose a creative approach that helps us bring about the outcomes we want. If there are aspects of your work where you are not making progress that feels right to you, examine your perspective. Creative leadership isn’t about positive thinking, nor is it delusional. It’s far from it. It requires an objective look at the current reality and often, a dose of courage. It may not bring you world fame, billionaire status or guarantee you’ll go down in history but it’ll always take you in a direction that matters. Every time.

[1]– Scaling Leadership, Bob Anderson, and Bob Adams, January 2019