POV

Creativity isn’t a luxury or an accident — it’s a core capability for progress. And for CMOs navigating tighter cycles, growing demands, and rising expectations, it’s one of the few tools that scales with pressure.

We often think of creativity as an individual spark. But in reality, it’s a system — one that can be strengthened, shared, and scaled. The creative mind isn’t something rare; it’s something you can mine.

What Is the Creative Mind?

It’s how we connect ideas. It’s how we notice what others miss. It’s the part of us that blends curiosity with clarity and turns insight into something real. Creativity becomes powerful when it’s intentional—when it’s built into the way we lead, solve problems, and deliver value.

Expanding Range: Curiosity as a Daily Habit

Range comes from curiosity. And curiosity is something you can practice. I start every day with a short dive into something unrelated to my immediate work — a moment in history, a piece of design, a bit of science. Then I journal. That act shifts my perspective and makes room for new angles.

Great marketers and leaders do the same. They seek out new inputs, break routine, and give their teams permission to think beyond the checklist. Curiosity keeps the mind wide enough for new ideas to land.

Achieving Excellence: From Vision to Execution

Everything starts with a clear vision. Whether I’m working on a campaign or shooting a film, I begin with a picture in my mind: What do I want people to feel? What do I want them to understand? When that’s clear, the tools fall into place.

That’s how we built a campaign for SanDisk — not by pitching a product, but by showing how top photographers created their outstanding images and organically, how they used SanDisk cards in their work. It won awards and built trust because it was grounded in authenticity. When vision leads execution, results follow.

Excellence is also about refinement. You cut, shape, test, and polish until what’s in your head is matched by what’s on the screen—or in the market.

Business Impact: Creativity is an Operating System

I’ve worked with leaders who treat creativity not as a department but as a culture. They make space for ideas to form and evolve. They know when to measure—and when not to. When creativity is seen as a strategic function, not a wildcard, it drives clarity, agility, and growth.

It also helps CMOs align more naturally with peers across the C-suite—because clear ideas, well-told, travel farther and land better. Creativity isn’t a department—it’s the culture that fuels innovation.

Tools That Extend the Mind

I’ve always loved tools—cameras, lenses, edit bays, and now AI. But tools only matter when they serve a purpose. AI can accelerate research, uncover references, and streamline workflows. But the vision still has to come from us. Tools support creativity—they don’t substitute for it. Tools extend imagination—they don’t invent it.

Where to Start

You already have the creative mind. The key is to build habits that support it:

• Feed it with inspiration
• Focus it with vision
• Support it with tools
• Strengthen it through refinement

Creativity is how we make meaning. It’s how we translate intent into action. And it’s how we shape the work—and teams—we lead. That’s how we mine the creative mind.