Kyle Scheele

If there’s one belief that is holding you back from getting the most out of your team, it’s this one: some people are creative, and some people aren’t.

That belief is based on outdated ideas about what creativity means, where it comes from, and who gets to harness it.

The truth is, creativity is a skill like any other: it can be learned.

In the same way that we teach employees how to track expenses, process invoices, and jiggle the lock just right to get into the supply closet, we can teach them how to be more creative, how to have better ideas, and how to build a culture where innovation is a natural byproduct.

We’ve all said it: “If only I had ________, then I could do __________.”

We’re convinced that the only thing standing between us and our best work is more money, more time, more resources, more buy-in, a better team, a better boss, a better piece of software… the list goes on.

But the truth is, real creative work thrives within constraints.

True creative work exists in the gap between what you have and what you think you need. After all, if you had everything you needed, you wouldn’t need creativity at all.

True creativity showed up when the Apollo 13 astronauts had to make square filters fit round tubes. It showed up when a global pandemic made in-person work a liability. And it’ll show up for you too, once you let go of your misguided beliefs about what true creativity requires.

The first time Kyle Scheele thought about taking his own life, he was in second grade. He was alone, without a friend, and he thought the world would be better off without him.

Then a new kid showed up and Kyle learned an important truth: it only takes one person to make you feel like you matter.

As time went on, Kyle learned more:

- It only takes one person to make you feel like you matter, and it only takes one person to make you feel like you don’t.

- It only takes one person to lift someone up, and it only takes one person to tear someone down.

- It only takes one person to make someone’s day, and it only takes one person to ruin someone’s day.

In time, he learned that almost all of the most meaningful things in life – the things that truly matter, that truly last – are done by one person.