Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents – Details, episodes & analysis

The 47th episode features Dr. David Gonzalez, a global expert in talent management, cultural strategy, and leadership development. David is known for blending creativity with actionable business strategies and has worked with the Center for Creative Leadership, groundbreaking startups, and multi-national corporations. David holds a Ph.D. in Human Performance Improvement and a Master's in Creative Studies from the Center for Applied Imagination.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

Listeners will discover practical strategies for fostering creativity in both personal and professional contexts. David shares actionable insights on cultivating a creative mindset, building employee engagement, and overcoming barriers to innovation. He examines the role of culture in encouraging bold ideas and shares strategies for helping children lead creative lives. 

David’s Book Recommendation

David recommended Jordan Peterson's "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" to help us "untangle the entanglement we all experience at different points in our lives, which limits our vision, creativity, and possibilities."

Tune in for a deep dive into deliberate creativity, the impact of organizational climate on innovation, and the synergy between AI and human ingenuity. Don’t miss this discussion of the intersection of technology and creativity and tips on leveraging AI tools to complement human thinking.

The 46th episode features Dorte Nielsen sharing her fascinating journey from the advertising world to becoming a leading researcher and educator on deliberate creativity. She is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and founded Creative Thinker in Copenhagen. With a background in advertising and a Master's Degree in Creative Studies from the Center for Applied Imagination, Dorte has dedicated her career to understanding the neuroscience behind creative thinking and bringing deliberate creativity into educational and professional settings. 

Discover Dorte's insights on the power of connection-making, the role of metaphor in the creative process, and how to think more creatively. She emphasizes the importance of training the brain to make better connections as a core driver of creativity and shares insights on how developing this skill can unlock our innate creative potential. 

Dorte's work bringing deliberate creativity into universities teaching creatives and primary schools, from math to history, showcases the transformative impact of teaching creative thinking across the curriculum. This holistic approach can benefit learners at all levels. Learn about her book "The Secret of the Highly Creative Thinker," a practical guide to creativity translated into 11 languages and sold in 65 countries.

Dorte's work and passion for cultivating deliberate creativity have profoundly impacted schools, corporations, and beyond. Tune in, and Dorte's expertise will provide practical strategies and inspiration for unlocking your creative spark.

Our 37th episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features William Shepard, a thought leader who worked closely with Sid Parnes and many greats in the field of Creative Problem Solving. 

Bill's first exposure to Deliberate Creativity was in 1972 when he provided technical and logistical support at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI), which impacted him personally and professionally. He later obtained a Graduate Certificate in Creativity from the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State, and served as Director of CPSI and its programs for 18 years. 

Bill masterfully walks us through how the history and evolution of the field of Creativity have changed from the beginning to the present day. He describes traveling around the world with  Sid and Bea Parnes and working with many of the seminal thought leaders of Creative Problem Solving, such as Ruth Noller, Paul Torrance, and Edward DeBono. He discusses his own emotional breakthrough as he found the side of him that could be creative and the tools to do it deliberately. 

Don’t miss this discussion of how he uses the principles and tools personally and professionally for individuals, teams, organizations, and executive coaching. As the Group Vice President of the Creative Problem Solving Group – Buffalo (CPSB), he worked on projects with leading firms worldwide. For him, the most personally and professionally rewarding activity was training individuals within organizations to address problems and challenges better. Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 36th episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Jane Fischer, a Creative Change Facilitator for individuals and groups who focuses on the tools of applied improvisation and Creativity. Jane is a creative trainer at the Creative Education Foundation with over 25 years of experience developing and delivering educational sessions and 20 years of experience as a professional improv comedy performer. 

Jane was involved in the Applied Improvisation community for many years in her hometown of Jamestown and was introduced to the Center for Applied Imagination by a graduate in this group. The program was so transformative that she described her life “BC – Before Creativity” and “AC – After Creativity.” One surprising benefit of the Graduate Certificate in Creativity from the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State, was the inclusion of Creative Leadership in the curriculum. She credits this degree with helping her to empower her workplace and make everything “exponentially better” for the people who worked for her. 

Jane discusses how she uses the improvisational mindset to help teams and organizations experience Creativity. She incorporates exercises and activities from the world of improv, and participants learn how to balance divergent and convergent thinking while finding new and exciting possibilities. One of her favorite success stories involved a person who considered improv fluff until she could practice it and experience the impact it can have on collaboration and communication skills. 

Don't miss this chance to laugh while you also hear insights from a respected leader who  has a vision for the future of the creativity community, where we will continue to convert people and help them make their “own meaning with creativity.” Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 35th episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Karina Loera, MS founder of Strategik Minds LLC, and a faculty member for the Masters in Innovation Management at Universidad de la Sabana in Colombia. Karina discusses how she sees Creativity transform the entrepreneurs she works with to grow their businesses. Her other passion is teaching and seeing her students increase their organizational impact by mastering the creative problem solving process. Born and raised in Mexico City, teaching in Colombia, and living in the USA for eight years, she shares insights on how culture impacts our creativity mindset and the tools she uses to create common ground. 

Karina left behind a high-powered marketing career to achieve a Master's in Creative Studies and Change Leadership at the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State University. Her work at the Small Business Development Center gave her an understanding of how entrepreneurs represent the creative person because they constantly face uncertainty. Working with a startup company and now in her own business, she understands how the creative process can help solve daily problems entrepreneurs face.

Karina helped organize the Masters in Innovation Management at Universidad de la Sabana in Colombia and teaches a class on innovation management to give students the tools and resources to develop and ensure innovation is happening in their organization. She shares the thrill of reading their dissertations and describes the many success stories her students have achieved. Learn about Karina's Creative Flow, training people, and imagining the experience she wants participants to have in her class.

Don't miss this discussion of the future of creativity and the insights of a multicultural leader. Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 34th episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Roger Firestien, Ph.D., who has proudly trained more people to lead the creative process than anyone else in the world. He is a Senior Faculty member at the Center for Applied Imagination at SUNY Buffalo State, President of Innovation Resources, Inc., and Author of Create in a Flash: A leader's recipe for breakthrough innovation.

Roger discusses how he came to creativity through music and a desire to help his students become more creative and enjoy their music lessons more. Research led him to the Center for Applied Imagination, where he was the seventh person to graduate with the degree. He discusses his work facilitating, teaching, and creating resources such as offering a breakthrough lab for clients facing a challenging problem to solve. You will feel his passion and fire as he describes a legendary career: "It's just extraordinary to have been in this business for 40-plus years and still just having a blast.”

Roger describes three success stories that stood out in his long and impressive career. Working with Clorox, the team solved a problem that plagued the company for 70 years in 15 minutes. He helped Mazda Motor Manufacturing USA combine creative problem-solving with quality techniques, resulting in the plant coming up to speed faster than any other plant in the automobile maker's operation. His work with the New York State Economic Development Council, the Western New York division, helped Buffalo, New York, secure a billion dollars in economic development funding. Now Roger works at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine, teaching residents and medical students to ask creative questions to get better diagnoses.

Roger is a prolific author and shares a preview of his new book that will be coming out in the Summer of 2023 called "Solve the Real Problem." His creative flow is writing, and he shares his knowledge in his courses, free videos, and numerous books.

Don't miss this discussion of the future of creativity and the insights of a leader who has positively impacted the field of Creativity in many ways. Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 33rd episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Liz Monroe-Cook, Ph.D., a consulting psychologist in organizational applications who is one of the foremost authorities on leveraging polarities. She earned an MA in counseling, and Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Michigan State University, and a Graduate Certificate in Creativity from the Center for Applied Imagination.

Liz leverages polarity and combines it with Creative Problem Solving in her work with individuals, teams, and organizations and is a frequent presenter at conferences worldwide. The creator of Polarity Thinking was Barry Johnson, and he has been a great source of inspiration in her life. She shares how polarity thinking helps her clients address both sides of an organizational issue and move from "one-sided creativity" to "whole-picture creativity." She made it her mission "to introduce polarity thinking to the creativity community and bring deliberate creativity, approaches, and tools to the polarity thinking community. "

A book recommendation to extend the learning on this topic is Liz's chapter (Ch 9) entitled  "Polarity Thinking and Creative Problem Solving" in Polarity Practitioners. And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma; Volume Two: Applications. Amherst: HRD Press, 2021. Volume 1 is Foundations by Barry Johnson.

Liz's first exposure to deliberate creativity was attending the Creative Problem Solving Institute  (CPSI) while working in Qualitative Research. She will attend this conference for the 33rd year and describes its benefits for new attendees and those who have participated for many years. She is on the Board of Directors of the Creative Education Foundation and has received their Distinguished Leader and Leadership Service & Commitment Awards.

Learn about Liz's views on the importance of helping teams and organizations embrace discomfort and bring emotions into the process in a productive way to the outcome. The discussion of the future of creativity provides an optimistic view on bringing in ideas from different cultures and using  technology "as a tool rather than a barrier."

Don't miss this discussion of finding creative flow in incubation and leveraging polarities as analogous to a grandfather clock. Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 32nd episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Michael Ackerbauer, Ph.D., a business transformation leader in the IBM Client Engineering organization who received his Ph.D. in Creative Leadership for Innovation and Change from the University of the Virgin Islands. He shares his recent dissertation research on team creativity preferences and social style behaviors, as well as insights from helping numerous teams apply the creative process. 

Mike discusses how he uses FourSight and Creative Problem Solving to help explain how teams interact and how they can improve. With over 20 years in the field, he focuses on teaching people about creativity and the creative process, and his work at IBM involves helping teams develop a reusable creativity process. 

Learn about his views on the future of creativity using artificial intelligence to augment human imagination and be more efficient, not to replace human creativity. He feels the focus must be on helping people become open and aware of their innate capacity for creativity and their own versatility to work with others. 

Don’t miss this discussion of creative flow in rock balancing, researching, and writing from a thought leader who excels in research. Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 31st episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Teresa Lawrence, Ph.D., PMP, the subject matter expert on integrating Creative Problem Solving into Project Management. She is the president of International Deliverables, LLC, and provides professional services in creativity, creative problem-solving, and project management. She is a certified Project Management Professional and received a Graduate Certificate from the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State, and a Ph.D. in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education from the University at Buffalo.

Teresa shares insights from her career working with many organizations and teaching over 80,000 people how to apply creativity in ways that are novel, useful, and on-demand. She describes the importance of instilling an understanding in her participants of where they are in the problem and then helping them select the best tool to move them forward. She is passionate about helping the people she works with become empowered and skillful in problem identification so they solve the problem, not the symptom.

While she points out the many misconceptions about creativity, Teresa shows how creative problem-solving is an evidence and performance-based process. She describes two success stories, one with a nonprofit organization hiring a new executive director and one with a large healthcare IT company. These impactful examples demonstrate how a facilitated process using the right tool at the right time can impact the entire future of an organization and save millions of dollars.

Don’t miss this discussion with a change agent doing impactful work in service to others while living a richer, more alive, and rewarding life. Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.

Our 30th episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Nathan Schwagler, a Military Design and Innovation Facilitator at the US Space Command. He also worked as an expert-level facilitator of Military Design and Creative Problem Solving programs for US Special Operations Command, Dept of Defense, and International NATO allies. As the founding co-director of Innovation Labs at The Dali Museum, he designed programs and facilitated organizations. He received an MS in Creativity at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State, and an MS in Entrepreneurship from the University of South Florida, where he worked as a Creative-in-Residence and Instructor.

Nate shares how his introduction to Creativity began when he came across a flyer and explored the halls of the International Center of Studies in Creativity and found an environment that looked “unlike anything he had ever seen before in his life.” He worked in diverse circumstances by finding champions at organizations as varied as the Department of Defense and the Dali Museum. His success stories span working with one of the largest breweries to helping a leader develop a whole of government approach to designing national security.

Nate discusses the exciting future of Creativity in Extreme Environment Research and using “AI (Artificial Intelligence) in creatively serviceable and optimized ways.”  His creative flow is found on the billiard table or climbing stairs for exercise.

Don’t miss this discussion of big ideas and opportunities to take deliberate Creativity to space and beyond.Find our podcast today on all of your favorite platforms.