Rethinking Creativity in Business and Beyond
Rethinking creativity has become more urgent than ever. Earlier today, I shared some reflections on LinkedIn about the need to rethink creativity: not just in our classrooms and workplaces, but in ourselves. As I was writing, I realised there was more I wanted to say. This version is fuller, more personal, and written specifically for this community.
This isn’t about promotion. It’s about clarity, helping those who’ve joined or follow Art-Ed Hub understand what this work is really about, and what kind of space we’re creating together.
To those of you who’ve already signed up and supported this journey: thank you. I hope you’ll see yourself reflected in this evolving space. This is the start of something we’re shaping together and your voice matters.
The way we’ve been taught to think about creativity is deeply flawed. It’s often treated as a luxury or something reserved for the gifted few when, in truth, it’s a necessity: for work, learning, and for life.
In a world that’s increasingly uncertain, creativity is one of the few things we can rely on. It helps us stay open, agile, and human. And yet, so many people still see it as something only a few are born with.
That’s what this article is about: reclaiming creativity, rethinking how we value it, and reimagining the way we bring it into our schools, our workplaces, and our own lives.
Creativity isn’t optional, it’s essential; it’s how we solve problems, process experience, and imagine new possibilities. In a changing world, it’s not a luxury. It’s what keeps us adaptable, awake, and alive.
We live in a time that needs creative minds, not just in art rooms, but in boardrooms, classrooms, and anywhere decisions are being made.
Despite this, creativity is still misunderstood. It’s often seen as decoration or something for a select few who can draw well. I’ve spent my life teaching and making art, and I’ve seen what happens when people reclaim creativity, and what happens when it’s been silenced.
Why creativity matters in business and beyond
Creativity is consistently ranked among the most vital skills for the future. It fuels innovation, builds resilience, and supports more cohesive and adaptive teams.
A global IBM study identified creativity as the top leadership quality for navigating complexity. The World Economic Forum also highlights creativity, originality, and initiative as essential skills for the evolving world of work (WEF, 2020).
And yet, creativity is often under-applied or misunderstood in professional settings. In hybrid work models especially, it needs to be reframed, not as a ‘nice-to-have’ but as a tool for insight, empathy, and growth.
That’s where Art-Ed Hub comes in. This work isn’t about surface-level creativity. It’s about reawakening the capacity to question, imagine, and explore. These are not optional extras but central to how we meet the future.
Why so many people don’t think they’re creative
We are all born creative. Research shows that 98% of young children show high levels of creative thinking. By their teenage years, that number drops to 10%.
I’ve seen this drop happen across all the countries I’ve lived and worked in. The same pattern repeats: when I say I’m an art educator, I often get a polite smile, or comments like “I wish I could draw,” or “I was never creative.” What this reveals is not just personal doubt: it points to the low value still placed on creativity at a societal level.
In Switzerland, where I taught for several years, art isn’t recognised as a valid IB subject for university entry. In Norway, where I now live, my children receive minimal exposure to art and design in school. It’s not prioritised. It’s not seen as essential.
And that has consequences. Not just in education but in how we build our homes, design our cities, run our businesses, and relate to one another. When creativity is devalued, we lose our capacity to question, to imagine, and to grow.
What I’m committed to doing
Through Art-Ed Hub, I’m changing the way art is taught and understood. I design projects and tools that make creativity accessible, relevant, and supportive of personal growth.
I work through a Jungian lens, which means teaching students how to work with both conscious intention and unconscious insight. They learn to take risks, notice when a piece needs to pause or shift direction, and reflect on what the work is telling them. The process becomes intuitive, rhythmic, and often reconnects them with something larger than themselves.
The benefits of a Jungian approach
Working with a Jungian lens means approaching art-making as a dialogue with the self. It supports:
- Greater emotional awareness
- A deeper sense of personal and collective identity
- The ability to recognise and explore symbolic meaning
- Confidence in navigating uncertainty
- A reconnection with instinct, intuition, and inner rhythm
Scholars like James Hillman and Shaun McNiff have long championed the healing and revelatory power of creative expression. McNiff (1998) describes the art process as a kind of dialogue: not something to interpret, but something to engage with and be changed by.
I’ve seen this play out through collage. When participants select and arrange images intuitively, they often access thoughts or patterns that haven’t yet surfaced in language. It’s an approach I’ve used in my own art practice and in the classroom. Inspired by the work of Plakoyiannaki and Stavraki (2018), my research showed how this method can support reflection, insight, and new pathways of understanding for anyone, regardless of background.
Perhaps most powerfully, this approach teaches us to co-create. To stop trying to control the outcome, and instead to enter into a genuine conversation with the work. The ego softens, and the unconscious speaks. It’s no longer a battle but becomes a relationship.
For artists who are searching
Sometimes, we outgrow the way we’ve been making. The work feels flat, technique stops being enough, and we know we need to listen differently.
Art-Ed Hub is also for artists, especially those at a turning point. This is a space for co-creation, not performance. We help you move beyond ego-driven making, and into a process where the unconscious has space to speak. Your work becomes a dialogue: it’s about listening differently and making from that place of trust.
Through inquiry-led projects and insight-based prompts, the Hub offers a space to step away from performance and return to process. You’ll find carefully structured provocations that help you dig deeper, explore symbolically, and reflect honestly. There’s room for rebuilding your practice from the inside out.
What this looks like in practice
Art-Ed Hub offers:
- Inquiry-led project threads (six per thread)
- Skills Cards to build confidence and fluency
- Insight Cards to bring Jungian ideas into usable form
- Tailored sessions for schools, organisations, and creative teams
This isn’t a template. We work together to create something that fits your context: whether that’s a class of students, a business team, or a group of friends.
My own experience
This way of working is rooted in my own journey. As an artist and educator, I’ve used art to reconnect with my unconscious self and find a deeper rhythm in my life and practice.
I’ve come to call this The Artuitive Process. It’s about learning to listen to the work, letting it breathe, recognising the need for pause, and surrendering to the unknown. It’s not linear, but certainly rich, honest, and often transformational.
An invitation
If you’re reading this as an educator, artist, business leader, or simply a curious mind, this is your invitation. Creativity isn’t just a skill. It’s a way of thinking, feeling, and engaging with the world. How we value it now will shape how we live, work, and grow in the future.
If you’re an IB educator and joined the Hub for curriculum support, do consider following one of the inquiry threads. The projects were created to support an inquiry-led approach, wielding the privilege of being part of the curriculum development team and my involvement in the new syllabus.
For everyone, look towards rebuilding your creative rhythm, and find a fresh way of approaching making art to bring more meaning and openness into your art studio or organisation.
We can design a project. Tailor a session. Or simply begin a conversation that brings art and growth together.
Art-Ed Hub is here for that, and the door is always open. I’d love to hear your thoughts: this isn’t a finished statement but the beginning of an ongoing conversation.
Thanks for being part of it.
Nikki
Sources
Hillman, J. (1996) The soul’s code: In search of character and calling. New York: Random House.
IBM (2020) Capitalizing on complexity: Insights from the global chief executive officer study. Somers, NY: IBM Institute for Business Value.
Land, G. and Jarman, B. (1992) Break-point and beyond: Mastering the future today. New York: Harper Business.
Malchiodi, C.A. ed., 2011. Handbook of art therapy. Guilford Press.
McNiff, S. (1998) Trust the process: An artist’s guide to letting go. Boston: Shambhala.
World Economic Forum (2020) The future of jobs report 2020. Geneva: WEF.
Plakoyiannaki, E. and Stavraki, G. (2018) ‘Collage as visual data and pathway to data analysis’, SAGE Research Methods Cases, DOI: 10.4135/9781526428762
Zhou, J. and Hoever, I.J. (2014) ‘Research on Workplace Creativity: A Review and Redirection’, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), pp. 333–359.