Creativity gets defined to death. The Cambridge Dictionary calls it the ability to produce original and unusual ideas. Business books frame it as the power to generate useful solutions.

All accurate. All boring.

After thirty years in advertising, design, and brand, my definition is simpler:
Creativity is the ability to see the world through a different lens that changes hearts, minds, and perceptions.

The Early Snob in Me

In my twenties, I thought I had creativity figured out. I was a realist in art, which also meant I was a snob. Anything abstract was trash. If it didn’t look like “real life,” I dismissed it.

I was naive. And I was wrong.

There was no lightning bolt moment of revelation. What changed me was people. Clients, coworkers, my kids, and international students at my dinner table forced me to look differently. To see value in ways I’d never considered.

Creativity Is Everywhere

Here’s what I eventually learned: creativity isn’t paint on a canvas or a logo on a wall. It’s a lens. And that lens can be applied to anything.

• Jennifer Doudna looked at DNA and saw a way to edit the future of medicine.
• Lin-Manuel Miranda looked at American history and saw a hip-hop musical.
• Stephen Hawking looked at black holes and found a way to explain the universe.
• Donald Glover looked at entertainment and said, why not do it all, music, acting, comedy, directing, and actually succeed.

These aren’t “artists” in the narrow sense. They’re proof that creativity is a mindset, not a medium.

The Enemy of Creativity

If creativity is about perspective, its enemy is complacency.

The moment you accept “that’s the way it’s always been done” you’ve already shut the lens. Creativity isn’t about being the smartest in the room, it’s about being awake enough to see things differently and bold enough to test them.

So, Is Everyone Creative?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: yes, everyone has the raw spark. The problem is that most people starve it.

I’ve seen people who swore they weren’t creative drop brilliance in a single offhand idea. They just didn’t recognize it. Creativity isn’t a gift handed to a chosen few. It’s a discipline. A way of looking. A refusal to settle.

Why This Matters Now

We’re living in a time when different ideas don’t unite us, they divide us. Perspective becomes ammunition instead of inspiration. That’s the tragedy.

If we could step back and see creativity for what it really is, not a profession, not a hobby, but a state of mind, we’d not only make better art, businesses, and science. We’d actually make better humans.

Creativity is everywhere, but only if you choose to see it. And the choice not to? That’s not neutrality. That’s complacency.

So let me ask you, when was the last time you looked at something through a different lens?
What’s the most unexpectedly creative thing you’ve ever done, or seen someone else do?