The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation, and Intuition at Work

Natalie Nixon, a creativity strategist with a background in cultural anthropology, fashion, and service design, argues that creativity extends far beyond the arts and is essential for scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and innovators across all fields. She contends that in the fourth industrial revolution, a creativity leap is needed to bridge the gap between daily work and innovation. Nixon asserts that creativity is an innate human capacity that can be developed as a competency. She describes it as balancing wonder—awe, audacity, and curiosity—with rigor: discipline, skill-building, and attention to detail. The key practices for increasing creative capacity are inquiry, improvisation, and intuition. Drawing on interviews with fifty-six people from diverse professions including farming, law, plumbing, architecture, perfumery, medicine, education, and technology, Nixon provides examples of how creativity manifests across different types of work. The book combines creativity tools and techniques with real-world stories of innovative people and businesses. Honorable Mention in the 2021 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award. 2020 Porchlight Business Book of the Year Awards winner in the Creativity & Innovation category.