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Business leaders love to talk about innovation. But for all the energy poured into frameworks and strategy decks, most teams rarely experience what innovation actually feels like. Real innovation is uncertain, emotional, iterative, and profoundly human. Thats why Cliff has spent the past several years guiding organizations through songwriting experiencesyes, literal songwritingto unlock the emotional and relational capacities that innovation demands. And as someone who works at the intersection of story, leadership, and transformational design, Tony sees this as more than a clever workshop: its a reorientation. The same skills it takes to write a compelling songlateral thinking, storytelling, empathy, collaboration, and creative risk-takingare the ones we need to build bold, resilient cultures. Songwriting teaches us more than how to think differently; it teaches us how to be different together. Innovation Is an Emotional Skill Innovation is often framed as a technical challenge. But research suggests the opposite: its emotional first. According to McKinsey & Company, organizations with the highest innovation scores also rank highest on soft skills like trust, emotional intelligence, and psychological safety. Meanwhile, Gallup data shows only 29% of employees say theyre expected to be creative at work, and just three in ten feel they have the chance to do what they do best every day. The problem isnt a lack of ideas. Its a lack of environments where risk, play, and expression are welcomed, let alone expected. This is where songwriting changes the game. In the space of a single facilitated session, teams cocreate something meaningful from nothing. They navigate ambiguity, listen closely, reframe messagesand yes, make something that sings. Not because theyre professional musicians, but because theyre immersed in a process that demands trust, presence, and creative momentum. The Seven Innovation Skills, As Told by Songwriting Too often, we treat creativity as a side activity. But songwriting isnt an extra. Its a mirror for the innovation journey itself. Heres how it maps directly to seven essential innovation skills and why it works: 1. Lateral Thinking The Metaphor. Innovation means getting out of the obvious. Writing metaphors trains the brain to think sideways, to turn literal ideas into poetic ones. Its not just a creativity hackits a neurological shift. Stuck thinking begins to loosen. 2. Creativity The Verse. Creativity isnt magic; its a method. Writing verses requires sequencing, voice, and structure. Its storytelling in rhythm. For teams, this becomes practice in shaping ideas with intention and clarity, something we should emphasize in narrative strategy sessions. 3. Communication The Chorus. A chorus carries the emotional center of the song. It must resonate, repeat, and land. Similarly, every great innovation needs a core message that sticks. The chorus teaches teams to distill complexity into coherence and find the line people will remember. 4. Empathy Observation. To write lyrics that land, you need to observe deeply. Whats unsaid? Whats felt? Songwriting strengthens the skill of attunementthe ability to read emotional subtext, a fundamental asset for human-centered innovation. 5. Collaboration Cowriting. Cowriting is the innovation lab in miniature. Theres friction, refinement, and co-ownership. Innovation isnt about consensus. Its about staying in creative tension long enough to find something better than anyone could create alone. 6. Risk-Taking Vulnerability. Sharing lyrics out loud is deeply vulnerable. Singing them? Even more so. But when teams experience structured creative risk in a psychologically safe space, their tolerance for ambiguity expands, and their courage grows. 7. Diffusion Performance. A song doesnt live until its shared. Performing it completes the arc. Like any innovation, its not enough to build somethingyou have to deliver it. Performance transforms creativity into connection. It makes the work matter. One Teams Transformation When Cliff leads a songwriting program, participants are never told beforehand theyll be writing and performing a song. Why? Two reasons. First, it avoids the anticipatory resistance that creative work can trigger. Second, the moment they discover whats coming, it unlocks a kind of flow stateone where fear and distraction give way to full presence. At a recent offsite for a Fortune 500 company, one participant, a former prison warden, started out stone-faced and silent. But when the group chose 80s metal ballad as the genre for their song, he lit up. Not only did he contribute lyrics, but he also sang lead vocals at the end. His transformation from skeptic to center-stage performer reframed how his team saw him and how he saw himself. Culture as a Creative Practice In our work, we both see this truth: innovation isnt just a process to manage. Its a culture to curate. And culture doesnt change through mandates. It changes through meaning. It changes when teams gather around a campfire, share a personal story, or sketch the opening lyrics of something no ones ever made before. Thats why we design offsites around nature walks and story circlesnot because theyre trendy, but because theyre necessary. Creativity needs conditions. Songwriting creates them. When leaders make space for art, ritual, and emotion, theyre not just encouraging creativity. Theyre building the emotional infrastructure innovation requires. Your next strategy session doesnt need more slides; it might just need a chorus. We dont teach songwriting to turn executives into musicians. We teach it because songwriting is a shortcut to the human skills of innovation. Its experiential, connective, and brings people back to what it feels like to make something that matters. And more than anything, it reminds teams that creativity isnt far away. Its already in the roomwaiting to be invited in.
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E-Commerce
Neri Karra Sillaman is an adviser and speaker who was recently recognized on the Thinkers50 Radar list for 2024 as one of the top 30 emerging management thinkers. She is an adjunct professor and entrepreneurship expert at the University of Oxford, and founder of Neri Karra, a global luxury leather goods brand that has been manufacturing for leading Italian labels for over 25 years. A former child refugee, she brings a powerful perspective on resilience, cultural innovation, and ethical business to her work. Her insights have been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, and Fortune. Whats the big idea? Its no coincidence that immigrant-led businesses have better survival and long-term success rates. Common threads of the immigrant experience tend to naturally strengthen the necessary skills to build a thriving business. Qualities such as personal resilience, commitment to a greater purpose, and authentic community building give many immigrants an edge as entrepreneurs. Below, Neri shares five key insights from her new book, Pioneers: 8 Principles of Business Longevity from Immigrant Entrepreneurs. Listen to the audio versionread by Neri herselfin the Next Big Idea App. 1. Start with who you are, not just whats missing Most entrepreneurs are told to scan the market for gaps to fill. But immigrant entrepreneurs often do something radically differentthey begin by looking inward. They build businesses rooted in their personal stories, cultural legacies, and lived experiences. When Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp, remembered the fear of phone surveillance in Soviet Ukraine and the costs of calling his family from America, he didnt just see problemshe envisioned a solution. WhatsApp became a free, ad-free, encrypted service that now connects nearly three billion people. This principle of inside-out entrepreneurship isnt just more humanits more resilient. When the origin of your idea is deeply meaningful, your motivation is more sustainable. Youre not chasing trends. Youre building what only you can build. 2. Necessity is the fuel of endurance Immigrants often dont start businesses because they want to. They do it because they have to. This is what I call necessity entrepreneurship. Companies started by immigrants tend to grow faster and survive longer. Necessity isnt a disadvantage. Its a source of grit. When youve fled war, rebuilt your life from nothing, or supported your family with little more than hope, you develop a drive that doesnt quit when things get hard. This endurance often makes immigrant-founded businesses outlast their peers. In fact, companies started by immigrants tend to grow faster and survive longer. In a world where 90% of startups fail, that kind of staying power is worth paying attention to. 3. Community is the business model Long before stakeholder capitalism was a buzzword, immigrant entrepreneurs were practicing it. Many come from collectivist cultures or grew up relying on informal networks of support. That mindset shows up in how they build companies. Take the story of my own business: we got out of a refugee camp in Istanbul thanks to a distant relative who took us in. Today, her children are my factory manager and accountant. We didnt just build a brandwe built a family business, sustained by trust. Community is not a nice to have. For many immigrant founders, it is the secret to longevity. They succeed because they lift others as they rise. 4. Build with legacy in mind, not just profit Immigrant entrepreneurs tend to have a long-term lens. Perhaps its because theyve witnessed how quickly everything can disappear. Or because theyve felt the weight of whats been lost and the responsibility to create something that endures. Companies that last are the ones rooted in purpose. Luis von Ahn, founder of Duolingo, grew up in Guatemala, where access to education was limited. He didnt just build a tech company; he built a free tool to democratize language learning worldwide. Thats what legacy looks like. Profit is important. But the immigrant entrepreneurs I interviewed showed again and again: the companies that last are the ones rooted in purpose. 5. Connection is the true currency of success Success stories are often told in isolation, but nobody does it alone. Immigrant entrepreneurs understand this better than most. Theyve seen how invisible networksfamily ties, community trust, shared experiencecan shape their futures. In the book, I write: Forests appear to be made up of individual trees, but each one thrives only because of the vast, interconnected root system below. Thats what Ive found in immigrant-led businesses, too. Whether its a factory built with childhood friends or a mentorship that changes everything, the unseen connections are what make a business resilient. Theyre also what make it human. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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E-Commerce
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. That means campaigns about anxiety, burnout, depression, and trauma will pop up in schools, offices, billboards, and magazines across the country. But few of those campaigns will mention a force that fuels all of those conditionsa force so normalized, it hides in plain sight. That force is Car Brain. Car Brain is an affliction that causes people to justify or ignore antisocial behavior that involves an automobile. It’s when someone who respects others in nearly every context suddenly becomes selfish, reckless, or even hostile just because a car has become part of the interaction. Once you start looking, youll see it everywhere, online and IRL. Car Brain is a dangerous but normalized condition that needs a spotlight during Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a kind of cultural psychosis. Its why someone who would never shove an elderly person out of the way has no problem speeding past a crosswalk while an elderly person inches across the street. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} Car Brain is why so many Americans experience a constant state of low-grade anxiety, sensory overload, and chronic stresswithout realizing its rooted in something deeper than work or home life. Its rooted in their daily environment, which has been designed around machine speed instead of human need. Every day, more than 100 Americans are killed in traffic crashes. Far more survive with catastrophic injuriesamputations, traumatic brain injuries, permanent disability. These arent all “accidents.” A high-speed collision on a downtown street that changes a group of peoples lives forever isnt an oopsies. Most severe crashes are the logical result of antisocial choices baked into a car-first culture: Speeding through school zones because you’re late for work. Running red lights because it was barely red. Parking in a bike lane because they can just go around. Failing to yield at crosswalks because didnt I already tell you, Im late for work! These common and seemingly minor decisions have enormous consequences. What starts as personal entitlement often ends in someone elses hospital stayor funeral. The emotional weight of a car-centric world Mental health experts know that your surroundings shape your mood and behavior. Environments that are loud, fast, and disconnected from human interaction put us into a constant state of alert. Whats the dominant environment in most American communities? Roads that prioritize automobile travel and an ever-present sense that one wrong move could be deadly. Children cant safely bike to school, so they get chauffeured insteadlosing both independence and physical activity. Seniors become prisoners in their own homes if they can no longer drive. People in poverty are forced to spend thousands of dollars they dont have just to participate in society. And all of us find ourselves stuck inside vehicles that make us more anxious, more aggressive, and more isolated. The dependence on personal vehicles leads to thinking of them as an extension of ourselves, or at least a vital part of our lives. So any perceived inconvenience ignites Car Brain, causing us to commit or justify behavior wed otherwise condemn. In any other context, these antisocial behaviors would be signs of a serious problem: Yelling at someone who walked slower than you in the grocery store. Swinging nunchucks at a crowded playground. Storing your spare fridge on a public sidewalk. But do all of that with a car? And suddenly its just the price of modern life. Thats the power of Car Brain: its so culturally embedded that it looks rational. Speeding, running red lights, tailgating, parking in bike lanes, parking in bus lanes, parking on sidewalks, blaming dead pedestrians for not being dressed like Christmas treesthese are all harmful cultural norms that need to be shamed and met with severe consequences. Theres an unspoken belief that driving is natural, necessary, and morally superior. Its why cities spend millions expanding roads while underfunding buses. Its why congestion is treated as a crisis, but 40,000 annual road deaths are met with a shrug. The most dangerous part of Car Brain is that we dont see it for what it isa mass delusion that enables harm, excludes millions, and degrades mental and physical well-being. The path to wellness Mental Health Awareness Month shouldn’t just be about personal coping strategies and mindfulness reminders. It should include a reckoning with the systems that make us sick in the first place. The alternative is to design neighborhoods where walking, cycling, and taking transit arent signs of poverty or punishment, but signs of liberation. That requires us to stop treating streets as high-speed pipelines for cars and start treating them as places of connectionplaces for living, meeting, playing, and being human. Be ready to confront your own Car Brain, which whispers that anything slowing down a driver must be wrongeven if that wrong thing is a child trying to cross the street. Admitting what were capable of will make it easier to stop excusing antisocial, dangerous behavior just because it happens to involve a motor vehicle. The first step in healing is recognizing were all breathing the same polluted cultural air. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"","headline":"Urbanism Speakeasy","description":"Join Andy Boenau as he explores ideas that the infrastructure status quo would rather keep quiet. To learn more, visit urbanismspeakeasy.com.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.urbanismspeakeasy.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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