The Creative Shift

Todd Henry [00:00:02]:

Have you ever noticed how so much of what you encounter today feels vaguely familiar? You scroll through your feed, you listen to a new song, you even walk past a store display, and it all feels like something you've seen or heard before. Not identical, but derivative, a kind of blurry deja vu. This is what I call the vague familiarity of everything. We live in a time of unprecedented stimulus. The average person now consumes the equivalent of 74 gigabytes of information every single day, about five times more than in 1986, according to research from the University.

Todd Henry [00:00:38]:

Of California, San Diego.

Todd Henry [00:00:40]:

And the more stimulus we absorb, the more difficult it becomes to find a spark in any one thing. It all becomes a soup. It's all vaguely familiar. Instead of feeling captivated, we feel numb. Our minds are like overexposed film. The details wash out because there's simply too much light. Psychologists call this hedonic adaptation, the brain's tendency to normalize whatever it's exposed to, even if it was once exciting or novel. What thrilled you yesterday becomes expected today and mundane tomorrow.

Todd Henry [00:01:14]:

Add to this the fact that so many of our cultural touchpoints, like music, film, advertising, even conversations, are built on remixing the familiar, and you begin to understand why so much feels, well, unremarkable. So how do we reignite creative excitement? In the midst of this flood of familiarity? I want to offer three quick ideas, three quick principles. Number one, rediscover the edges, so our attention is naturally drawn to what sits at the edges of our experience. When we spend all of our time in the center, scrolling through the same feeds, consuming the same voices, we grow numb. But when we walk to the edges, we rediscover sparks. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who pioneered the concept of flow, noted that creativity often happens at the intersection of different domains, where two seemingly unrelated worlds collide. If everything feels stale, it may be because you've stopped walking the edges. Go explore domains you know nothing about.

Todd Henry [00:02:19]:

Read a book outside your field. Have a conversation with someone from a radically different profession. At the edges, the familiar becomes fresh again. This is the concept behind what I called a head to head in my book the Accidental Creative. The second principle is this or second tip. Practice attentional minimalism. So neuroscientist Daniel Levitin has shown that multitasking and constant stimulus consume massive amounts of glucose and oxygen, leaving us mentally depleted. When everything is clamoring for your attention, you have no bandwidth left to notice what really matters.

Todd Henry [00:02:56]:

This is why we need intentional practices of attentional minimalism, deliberately creating space for stillness and focused noticing. So whether it's taking a daily walk without your phone, adopting a reflective journaling practice, or simply setting some boundaries around your input, you create the margin necessary for novelty to stand out. Again, this is so important. Sometimes the spark is right in front of you. You just don't see it because you're drowning in noise. 3. The third tip is this. Pursue productive passion, not passive amusement.

Todd Henry [00:03:33]:

Much of our modern input is designed for passive consumption. It washes over us, leaving little residue. But excitement doesn't come from consuming endlessly. It comes from making, from engaging in the world in a way that requires effort. Research from Theresa Amabile at Harvard shows that intrinsic motivation, working on something because it matters to you, not because it's easy or profitable, is one of the strongest drivers of creative output. Progress yields motivation. When everything feels vaguely familiar, ask yourself, what can I make of this? How can I engage actively rather than just consume passively? The act of creating transforms the mundane into things that are meaningful. You stop waiting for inspiration.

Todd Henry [00:04:16]:

You start generating it. Listen, we are drowning in stimulus. We are. And all the tools that we use, all the tech that we use, it's all designed to keep us in that place where we're drowning. Because, frankly, that's how they make money, right? Everything feels vaguely derivative and familiar. But this doesn't have to mean that we're doomed to creative numbness. If you want to reignite your creative spark, just remember, rediscover the edges, practice attentional minimalism, and pursue productive passion. Do these, and you'll begin to see the world not as a blur of vague familiarity, but as a canvas alive with possibility.

Todd Henry [00:04:56]:

And that brings us to someone who has spent his entire career fighting the vague familiarity problem at the highest level of the creative industry. When the world starts to blur, great leaders insist on edges, on focus, and on making, not just scrolling. Andrew Robertson is the chairman of bbdo, and he's long championed a deceptively simple mantra. The work, the work, the work. In other words, attention is earned by ideas that are distinct, disciplined, and deeply human. In our conversation, we dig into how to create work that cuts through saturation without chasing gimmicks, how to protect focus inside of large teams, and why pursuit of craft still matters when speed and volume tempt us toward the derivative. If you resonated with the three principles that I just shared, rediscover the edges, practice attentional minimalism, and pursue productive passion. You're going to love how Andrew turns these into operational habits.

Todd Henry [00:05:49]:

So if you want to shift from theory to practice. Today's episode is for you. This is Daily Creative. Since 2005, we've been serving up weekly tips to help you be brave, focused and brilliant. My name is Todd Henry. Welcome to the show.

Andrew Robertson [00:06:09]:

So many of our clients struggle with how to leverage the creativity of their people, which I believe is there, while simultaneously running really good, really efficient, really well run, operationally brilliant businesses.

Todd Henry [00:06:29]:

That's Andrew Robertson, chairman of BBDO and author of the new book the Creative Shift.

Andrew Robertson [00:06:35]:

Because a lot of the things that make companies really good and really successful, predictable results, operational efficiency, process compliance, executional brains, all of those things require convergent thinking, judgment and editing and discipline that are in many ways not just the antithesis of, but suppressed the desire to create ideas. And yet all of them, all of them know that they need ideas. And by ideas, what do I mean? I mean truly new solutions to existing or new problems in order to thrive. And it's, and that's a tension I've observed a lot of leaders trying to struggle with. And so I wanted to write the book to, to A, demonstrate how important ideas are. B, recognize the reality of what makes it hard for many companies to leverage the creativity of their people. But C, provide some kind of practical approaches that they can use almost to operationalize with the same discipline that they do everything else. The process of generating ideas and the whole thing will have been worthwhile if one company ends up with one breakthrough idea that, you know, changes the business by an order of magnitude or changes some part of the business by an order of magnitude that'll make it all worthwhile.

Todd Henry [00:08:10]:

That is the magic of books. That one book, one little inch thick thing that is really your entire life and your experience and all of that poured into that little inch thick thing can completely transform somebody's life or an entire organization if it happens to one.

Andrew Robertson [00:08:26]:

It makes it all worthwhile.

Todd Henry [00:08:28]:

Yeah, that's fantastic.

Todd Henry [00:08:29]:

Okay, well, so you've had an interesting.

Todd Henry [00:08:31]:

Perch from which to view the changes in the industry and some of these dynamics that you're discussing. What are some common misunderstandings that you think leaders have about creativity in general that lead to some of these tensions between operational excellence and the creative know idea generation within the organization?

Andrew Robertson [00:08:51]:

I'm not, I'm, in a way, I'm not sure they're misunderstandings, actually. I think in some cases they're real understandings that are just hard to integrate into a really operationally driven business. And you know, the fact of the matter is creativity is a messy process. It doesn't follow a well defined series of steps that you can guarantee you're going to generate a certain result. It's unpredictable, it's, it's scary. Ideas are going to be presented that challenge the status quo, that challenge some of the very things that are making your company great at the moment. So it's, I don't think those are misunderstandings. I think they're understandings, I think they're hard often to reconcile with and integrate into a really, really well run, operationally brilliant business.

Andrew Robertson [00:09:43]:

And so it's understandable that the kind of the body memory, the training that an organization has will win in that kind of tussle because it's so strong and it's so powerful and it's so valuable. And I guess if there was one thing that I think is misunderstood, it is that I hear, I've heard over the years. Leaders say, I wish my people were more creative. And I think the misunderstanding is that their people are creative. It's just that the conditions for their creativity to be unleashed are seldom created. So that would be, I think that would be the one.

Todd Henry [00:10:34]:

So one of the challenges that you address in the book is that organizations who do this really well are willing to carve out the space for their people to be able to do exactly what you described to be creative. Because creativity does require space. It requires the ability to think and synthesize and intuit. And often the reason we don't get to those ideas is because we're making the obvious connections, but we're not creating the space to make those intuitive leaps to get to the really valuable places. Did you have a favorite example, from all of the examples you wrote about in the book of how an organization has done this really well?

Andrew Robertson [00:11:08]:

If you take Delta, and they're not a client of mine, so I can, you know, I can talk about them, I think pretty objectively. They have, whatever it is, I don't know, 700 planes that are in the sky at any one time. They have a gazillion passengers and a gazillion and a half bags that all have to be left put on the planes. The passengers are going to be put on the planes. They have weather to deal with. They will. Operationally, running an airline is an unbelievably complicated process. And Delta does an extraordinarily good job operationally of making sure that those planes are leaving when they should leave, landing when they should.

Andrew Robertson [00:11:46]:

You know, everything is clean. Everything's all of the stuff that is required to make an airline work they're extremely, extremely good at. But I think they did something really smart when they were really looking to increase the. The enjoyability of the experience for their travelers by not just looking at the bit that they are responsible for, which is from when you check in to when you get off the plane, that's the bit they're responsible for. They, they did this really clever research where they put Fitbits on travelers and they track their heart rate as a proxy for stress all the way from, you know, a day before the trip to a day after the trip. And because they went about it that way, they intentionally looked more broadly and were more divergent in their approach. They found all these really useful things, which is that actually the most stressful parts of that whole journey from beginning to end are not really the bit wearing in the sky. You would think that, you know, flying in a tube at 35,000ft would be the bit that people were anxious about.

Andrew Robertson [00:13:02]:

Actually, it's not. What they're worried about is what time do I have to leave to the airport. When I get to the airport, am I going to be able to check in fast? Am I going to be able to get my bag on the plane? Am I going to be able to get the seat I want when I get on the plane? Has my bag got on the plane or is it still sitting in the airport when I land at the other end? Have I got to wait and find whether that bags. All of those things create a massive amount of stress. And they figured out that actually one of the greatest ways to create joy is to remove pain. And they then made the leap, which was we already have a lot of the information that can help people with this. We have great weather information. We can tie that to mapping information.

Andrew Robertson [00:13:44]:

So they came up with all these products that they built into their app that, that really take you from your home all the way to the end of your journey, rather than just a bit of the flight. So that you know, your flight is tomorrow at 10:30, we're expecting rain. You should allow extra time. We know where you live. You know, you can take. You should plan on taking an hour and a half to get to the airport. If you're driving yourself or if you want to get a lift, we can organize one of those for you and we can. You can pay for it with Sky Mask.

Andrew Robertson [00:14:16]:

When it comes to your bag, is your bag on the plane or not? What they found was it's less stressful for people to find out that their bag isn't on the plane than it is for people to wonder whether it is or not. That's a like, that's a big, big finding because. And it makes sense. We've all sat in subways and you know, it says four minutes till the next train. That's way better than not knowing whether it's one minute or five minutes. So I just think that was a good example of consciously stepping outside of the realms of the existing operation and all of its efficiency in order to find genuinely new solutions. Which, and this is, I think one of the important points. Once you've really defined the problem, it becomes a lot easier to come up with the answers.

Todd Henry [00:15:13]:

Once you've found the problem, it becomes much easier to come up with the answers. Too often though, we rush past the problem because sitting with it feels uncomfortable. We want quick fixes, tidy solutions, or the relief of checking something off the list. But clarity doesn't come from speed. It comes from precision. When you can name the problem with accuracy, you've already done half the work. Think about it like a doctor's diagnosis. If you walk in with a cough and the doctor simply prescribes cough syrup, you might feel better for a few days.

Todd Henry [00:15:43]:

But what if the issue is pneumonia? That quick fix only masks a deeper problem. In the same way creative pros and leaders often apply surface level solutions. More meetings, more tools, more energy. Quick fixes, quick, not so intuitive answers. Without pausing to ask, what exactly are we trying to do here? Research in cognitive psychology shows that our brains are wired to seek closure. We want to resolve ambiguity as quickly as possible. But the creative process demands the opposite, lingering in the discomfort until the real issue reveals itself. This is why the best innovators are not necessarily the fastest problem solvers.

Todd Henry [00:16:21]:

They're the best problem finders. So here's the takeaway. Before rushing to action. Slow down, frame the problem. Clearly ask what's really at stake here and what would happen if this issue went unresolved. Once you've defined the problem, as Andrew says, the path to solutions becomes not only easier, but far more effective.

Andrew Robertson [00:16:43]:

Once they did that, it was actually much easier to find the answers to those problems because like I said, they already had a lot of technology and a lot of the information that was necessary to do it.

Todd Henry [00:16:55]:

You have, obviously you have led teams that have generated work that's transformed culture, transformed companies. As a result of the ideas that came out of the sessions that you were responsible for.

Todd Henry [00:17:08]:

How do you.

Todd Henry [00:17:08]:

This may be an unfair question, but I, I have to ask. How do you know when an idea is good? How do you know when it's the right idea? Is there a Way to quantify that, or is it more of an, an intuitive hunch that you have?

Andrew Robertson [00:17:22]:

I would say the definition of a great insight is something that is blindingly obvious the minute you see it, but nobody had seen it before. Like when somebody says something, you go, my God, that's so blindingly obvious. How come nobody's thought of it before, seen it before? You sort of don't need to go and research it after that because it's obviously true. It's just not something anybody's seen before. That's on an insight. When it comes to ideas, it is a lot harder. It is a lot harder. We all have intuitive feelings about what is a really great idea or not.

Andrew Robertson [00:18:00]:

The thing that I found most useful in this, I call it thinking like a banker. And it's hard to pick ideas because most of us are conditioned to pursue certainty. Most of us are conditioned to try and evaluate what that idea is going to deliver. And that's really hard to do. And it's particularly hard to do when it's a brand new idea because by definition there's no precedent, there's nothing you can draw on. But I learned this lesson from a banker in Australia. We had done a campaign for National Australia Bank. The campaign was called the Big Breakup and it was on Valentine's Day.

Andrew Robertson [00:18:42]:

NAB broke up with the other banks and it was like they wrote these things, it's not us, it's you, we're fed up in the line, you're cheating, we're going our own way, blah, blah, blah. Really funny, very nice campaign. Rooted in an insight which, which was that consumers thought that big banks were all working in cabos with each other and couldn't get past that to hear about any of the good news that the bank had wildly successful effectiveness. Grand Prix winner, you know, 87% increase in transaction account, hugely successful. And I went to see the CEO of the bank and I said to him, that was a really bold thing you did. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, breaking up with the other banks in public, that was, that was a bold thing to do. He, he looked at me like I got a second head. He said, you're, you're out of your mind.

Andrew Robertson [00:19:34]:

He said, I'm a banker, I'm not trained to be bought. My job is to manage risk. And in order to manage risk, you need to be able to identify it. And he said, everybody on your team was very excited about all the wonderful things that could happen with this idea. And he said I was too, but none of us could quantify that. None of us knew what would happen with that idea. So what I did was I mentally quantified the downside risk and I figured that the worst that could happen is we'd be laughed at for three weeks. We would not lose a corporate client, we wouldn't lose a retail customer.

Andrew Robertson [00:20:16]:

I might have some awkward moments in the golf club, we might be laughed at on late night comedy shows or whatever, but after three or four weeks, another story would come along and take it away. And on the basis that I could live with the downside, I went ahead and I. And I think that all too often when we're judging things, we're trying to get certainty about what it's going to do, which we're never going to be able to get. And the more we pursue that certainty, the closer we're going to get to the average. Because by definition, that's what happens. If instead we look at an idea and we say, you know, what's the best that could happen? Well, we don't really know, but it feels really exciting. It feels like it could be really great if instead of that we also say, what's the worst that could happen? And it's usually not as bad as the unspoken anxiety that it induces. Bit like, a bit like, is my bag on the plane or not? Not knowing is worse than knowing and, and being able to deal with it or not.

Andrew Robertson [00:21:23]:

So if you can quantify the downside risk and then say, can I live with that? If I can't, can I mitigate it? If I can't mitigate it, then we need another idea. But generally I think we should be managing risk, not trying to just, quote, be bold, manage risk and don't pursue certainty because certainty will lead to the average.

Todd Henry [00:21:46]:

Andrew Robertson is the chairman of BBDO and his new book is called the Creative Shift. It's excellent. You can get it anywhere books are sold. Don't pursue certainty because certainty will lead to the average. I think that's something we can all take away from this episode this week. Don't seek certainty in your work. Instead, look at the edges. Pursue productive passion.

Todd Henry [00:22:05]:

And don't just ask yourself about the upside, but ask yourself, what is the real downside? If you'd like to hear my full interview with Andrew and all of our guests, you can do so@dailycreativeplus.com just go there, enter your name and email address, it's absolutely free, and we'll send you a feed where you can listen to every full interview we have. Thanks so much for listening. My name is Todd Henry. You can find my work, my books, my speaking, and more@toddhenry.com until next time. May you be brave, focused, and brilliant. We'll see you then.