Issue 1

Written By Erin Bane

Welcome to Creatio Journal

This quarterly publication is designed for senior leaders who are introspective about their leadership, intentional about their culture, and are pursuing an inspired vision for their company.

As it develops, my hope is to feature insights about leadership from a wide range of voices. (For instance, what might a nuclear physicist, sports psychologist, architect, or anthropologist have to say about leadership and culture?)

Thanks for joining the conversation.

Stay curious,

Wes

The Work + The Dance

We’re trained for most of our lives to think in linear ways – our schools, businesses, and some of our neighborhoods reinforce it. This is fine when we can know an outcome in advance and then take sequential steps to realize that outcome - even if those steps are hard or we need to hire an expert to help us figure it out. Think of delivering a product, achieving a fitness goal, or planning a trip.

But when it comes to teams, culture, change, navigating the market, innovation, relationships, and life in general - these are anything but linear. And yet, we approach them like they’re linear. When we do, we’re bound to get frustrated or cause confusion. It would be like trying to project manage a marriage – it’s not going to work!

When it comes to working with and leading people, we’re actually navigating two planes at once, whether we realize it or not:

  • The work – which tends to be linear, plannable, sequential, and results-oriented. 

  • The dance– which tends to be interdependent, spontaneous, relational, and messy.

When we’re in sync in the dance, our work is productive and energizing. We experience trust, energy, clarity, alignment, and ease. When we’re not in sync in the dance, the work comes to a standstill: there’s confusion, miscommunication, slowed progress, and we end up resorting to more aggressive tactics to get things done.

One crucial aspect of a leader’s development is the ability to not just think non-linearly but to recognize when progress stalls out and to switch planes to get back on track. The many relational dynamics that show up in the dance can’t be reduced to an easy trick, but one way to get back in sync is by making an observation about the way the conversation is going: “Can we just zoom out for a moment? It seems like we’re talking past each other - is that your experience? Are there any concerns you have that we need to be talking about first?”

Building the presence of mind, self-awareness, and ability to maneuver between the dance and the work isn’t easy, but it’s essential for any leader that wants to keep high integrity relationships in the midst of a growing company.

Ideas I’m Pondering

  1. I recently heard someone say they think of leading in a new role as 4L’s: Listen, Learn, Love, Lead.

  2. “Beauty is the harvest of presence.” - David Whyte

Productive Feeling

Frustration is the experience we have when we’re obstructed from changing or achieving what we want.

If you’re interested in a copy of the Productive Feeling e-book send me a note!

Interesting Reads

Stay Curious

Each quarter I host intimate, multidisciplinary conversations called MindTrusts to explore and reframe big questions about leading through today’s complex world. 

Last quarter I hosted a conversation on the Frontier. 

If you’re interested in the next conversation, just reply to this email and let me know.

Erin Bane
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Issue 2