#24 Creativity — A Safety Problem, Not a Training Problem
A child wants to paint on the wall. The wall is not for painting. A child paints a black flower, and an adult explains that flowers are not black. Nobody there means harm. That is where, I believe, many children learn what they may make and imagine, and what not.
A friend of mine says he is not creative at all. He can repair almost anything: the car, the boiler, a chair nobody else would touch. He does not call that creative, because in most heads creativity lives next to art. A software engineer who finds an unexpected way through a problem does what a painter does. The word is narrower than the thing.
If you run a company that wants to stand out in competition, this is your problem too. Where teams feel safe enough to show unfinished thinking, creativity goes up, and it can be measured. Since AI tools like ChatGPT arrived, there is a new reason to care: ideas from the same tool grow more alike, so the unfinished, odd, human idea is the one you cannot buy. Who may show it is decided...
Recent Posts
Categories
All categories
KNOWLEDGE THAT WORKS IN PRACTICE
This is not a place for buzzwords. Or for theories that don't hold up in real life. Our blog is a space for leaders and professionals who are looking for genuine answers to genuine questions: How do I lead better in a hybrid environment? How do I communicate in a way that actually lands? How do I use AI meaningfully in my daily work? How do I build resilience in my team?
Every article in the Digital Leader Program blog is designed to be directly useful – with insights, methods and examples you can take straight into practice.
TOPICS THAT MATTER TODAY
Leadership in the digital age: How is leadership changing when teams work remotely or hybrid? What do new leaders need – and what do experienced managers need to relearn?
Human Skills under AI influence: Which human capabilities become more important as AI takes over routine tasks – and how do you develop them deliberately?
Hybrid work in practice: Concrete tips, rituals and tools for productive hybrid collaboration – what actually works, and what doesn't.
Culture Design and team dynamics: How do you build an organisational culture that attracts, retains and energises people?
Communication and feedback: The capabilities that separate average performance from real high performance.
FROM PEOPLE WHO WORK IN PRACTICE
Our articles are written by Andre Ottlik and our team – people who work in coaching sessions, workshops and training every single day. What you read here is not copy-pasted from academic studies, but knowledge drawn from lived practice.
And occasionally we feature contributions from external experts sharing insights from their own fields – such as the piece with Pascal Baumgartner on hybrid meeting optimisation.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
How often are new articles published?
Regularly. Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn to make sure you don't miss new content.
Are articles available in German too?
Yes. Many of our articles are also available in German – particularly on topics relevant to German-speaking leaders and organisations.
Can I suggest article topics?
Absolutely. Write to us or bring it up in a conversation – we welcome input from our community.
How can I go deeper than the blog?
Our workshops, coaching programmes and the podcast "3 minutes max." go further and support you systematically in your development. Browse our service pages or book an initial consultation.
Author
Andre Ottlik
Author
Andre and his Team are the authors of Digital Leader Programs Blog Posts
