I once worked closely with the CEO of a huge corporation. He was a typical finance guy - gray hair, suit, glasses, golf clubs. He’d asked me to help him with a presentation he’d been invited to give to a swank gathering of other big-shot CEOs.

"This is the most important presentation of my life and I need your help," he told me. "But we can’t make it too creative."

What he really meant was that he didn't want to do anything too unusual — he wasn't a weirdo artsy guy like me. "Seriously, I am not creative," he insisted.

But as we worked on the presentation, I realized he actually had all the tools of a creator: improvisation, problem-solving, invention, refinement, collaboration, storytelling, and empathy.

He was a financial artist! He just didn't know it.

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I wrote him a first draft, hoping to get his creative juices flowing. But when he came back with a bunch of dry-looking charts, I groaned inside.

This was going to be painful.

But as I looked closer at all the columns and lines, I saw he was telling a compelling story, all with data. His charts spun a rich saga of ambition, hope, and service to mankind that my words alone never could have.

He had found his canvas and his brushstrokes were rich and expressive.

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We need to break out of the traditional mindset that creativity is just for artists and “creative types”.

We should equally celebrate the CEO who tells stories through data, the engineer who invents new technology, and the surgeon who saves lives with innovative techniques.

It's all about making something new, creating innovative systems, and solving problems in fresh ways. Inventing a new dental gadget, slaloming the tax code, or devising a new way to recycle trash — creativity comes in all flavors, shapes and sizes.

Embrace your own unique expression of creativity and use them to make the world a better place. Who knows, you might be the next Renoir of ROI, the Picasso of the Pie chart!

Your pal,

Danny

CEO, Sketchbook Skool

P.S. Did you know that I’m a CEO? No corner office, no executive assistant, not even a business card, but I do love me a Gantt chart. I am carefully watching the new season of Succession and picking up loads of tips on how to do my job.