Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents

Our twenty-second episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Beth Slazak, MBA, MS, a certified humor professional, the Education and Events Manager at the Creative Education Foundation, and the conference manager of the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI). She has an MBA and a Master's in Creativity and Change Leadership from the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State.

Beth shares her work with teachers sharing tools such as empathy maps to make learning more engaging, and describes the experience of CPSI as so much more than a conference. This year is again in person, and there are opportunities to learn foundations in Creative Problem Solving or take advanced immersion classes that are deep dives into topics. One of the highlights will be Massimo Agostinelli from Cirque du Soleil, who explores the concept of bouffon characters with a sense of humor. Some people have attended 40 CPSIs, and they keep coming back for the campfires, networking, labyrinth as well as the learning.

Beth describes her journey as self-actualization, where deliberate Creativity has given her more awareness and a deeper understanding. She studied improv at Second City and the Comedy Sport and a three-year program offered by the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. She uses improv in every training at CEF  and regularly experiences how games can help warm up the brain and help participants practice in a lower-risk way.

Don't miss this lively discussion of what it is like to work in the field of creativity and be in the forefront of teaching at the highest level. We hope to see newbies and old friends in June at the CPSI Conference, where the community gathers to learn and laugh.

Our twenty-first episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Nicole Jones, Owner of Artisans Journey, LLC, based in Charlotte, NC. She is a graduate of the Master's program at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State. Her career included working as a Confidential Criminal Investigator for the Erie County District Attorney, a Detective with the Buffalo Police Department for 21 years, and a forensic examiner.

Nicole shares how her path to creativity was accelerated by some health challenges she experienced. Using Creative Problem Solving to explore alternative healing modalities helped her solve her problem and find a new world view. She now runs a wellness company where she uses multiple modalities to help her clients heal, and creative problem-solving runs through all processes.

Nicole discusses how she was always a clarifier (Foursight Preference https://www.foursightonline.com) in her career as a detective and how her Master's studies illuminated her natural skills in creativity that played a role in her successes throughout her career. One skill that she regularly used in law enforcement was the power of observation, and she tells fascinating stories on how she learned to stop, pause, ask the right question, and hold space for the answer. Now she uses this same skill to ask intuitive questions deliberately.

Don't miss this inspiring discussion of using creative problem solving to look within. Nicole discusses how the future of Creativity lies in our ability to attend to the self within and access what is below the surface. If we can free ourselves, we can be as creative as we choose.

Our twentieth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Shazina Masud, Chief Executive Officer at the Aman Foundation and Sindh Integrated Emergency and Health Services. She is a graduate of the Master's Program at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, SUNY Buffalo State.  In her current role, she leads an organization of 700 people to provide state-of-the-art ambulance and emergency services in Karachi, Pakistan, offering advanced emergency care for people who previously had no access.  She has worked worldwide and applied creative problem-solving in a range of commercial and social sector organizations.

Shazi is passionate about using deliberate creativity in nonprofits and the social sector.  She describes using the Kotter 8-Step Change Leadership Model to successfully restructure the manpower and finances of her organization. In her telehealth call center, her volume of calls went from 3000 per month to 1000 calls per day. She increased the impact and effectiveness of this service by rethinking what was missing and ensuring the organization was dealing with the most critical issues of patients' health.

Don't miss this inspiring discussion of how to use creative problem solving to deal with social issues such as hunger, nutrition, healthcare, and education, by focusing on the people and defining the problem correctly.  She generously shares fascinating stories and leadership insights from her vast experience working with government, partners, and international aid organizations. Shazi is leading the way to increasing the effectiveness of money spent in nonprofits by educating everyone in her organization about creativity and finding new ways to arrive at a solution.

Our nineteenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Carine Chisu, an Educational Innovation Advisor  in Brussels, Belgium, and  Christine Boyko-Head a Liberal Studies and Communications professor at Mohawk College based in Ontario, Canada. Carine owns her own business, and Christine is a playwright with a new book on arts-based strategies in higher education coming out soon.

Carine’s journey began when she realized old business models were coming to an end and decided to understand creativity better with an MS from the International Center for Studies in Creativity. Christine found creativity in arts education while teaching a Master’s level program on integrating arts across the curriculum at Leslie University.

Carine and Christine met in a Zoom session and the COVID pandemic brought them together as “a force of nature” from two different continents. Their collaboration includes workshops and writing a book together.  In their Return on Risk and Return on Ritual workshop, Carine addresses risk and entrepreneurial Creativity, and Cristine discusses how rituals can help participants. Their relationship is based on a shared commitment to Creativity, a passion for the arts, and the belief in human potential.

Don’t miss this fascinating discussion of international experiences and how the COVID-19 pandemic has made global collaboration and distance learning more accepted. Carine and Christine are comfortable teaching online, have developed friendships, and enjoy their time together empowering learners to benefit from the virtual experience. This new reality helps learners find their voice and increases inclusivity.

Our eighteenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features John Frederick, a lifelong educator who created the Center for Executive Leadership at Daemen College (Buffalo, NY). His journey to Creativity started when he received a postcard that changed his life. This postcard was an invitation he accepted to join a research study called the Creativity Project which involved taking a sequence of four courses as a College Freshman at the State University of NY Buffalo State. Two giants in the Science of Creativity, Sid Parnes and Ruth Noller, were just starting a groundbreaking study that ultimately was the first to prove that creativity can be taught and improved using deliberate creativity methods.

John has been an active part of the history of Creative Studies as an educator and instrumental in the field of Leadership. He shares his beliefs about the importance of Creativity as a mindset and that all people can be creative. He teaches his students the importance of different styles of Creativity and how to recognize and honor differences within yourself and others.

As he was developing the Executive Leadership and Innovation program at Daemen, John used Creative Problem Solving (CPS) as a foundational approach. His work reflects a belief that we are all leaders, not just ones with a specific title. By incorporating mindfulness and coining the term 3EO (Keeping Three Eyes Open), he encourages leaders to pay attention with a heightened sense of awareness to what is happening within themselves, others, and the context. John incorporates contemplative education in his work and is a founding member of The Mindfulness Alliance.  He sees mindfulness as part of deferring judgment, a central tenant to CPS and uses a moment of mindfulness before starting a class.

John has attended and led sessions at the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) for over 38 years, including working in their Youthwise program. While most podcast guests have one Creative Flow, John has four:

Don’t miss the fascinating discussion in the episode from a man who has lived the evolution of Creativity and continues to take it to new places in the field of Leadership.

Our seventeenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Clara Kluk, a renowned global leader in creativity, author, and entrepreneur from Mexico. She started as a successful artist in Mexico City and suffered a tragic experience that altered her life forever. She attended a Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) Conference where she met Dr. Gerard Puccio, Chair of the Master’s Degree program in Creativity. She developed a close connection with him and quickly decided to change direction to pursue her MS in Creativity from the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State. She tells the story of her incredible career and life journey, a gift for which she is forever grateful.

Clara started a Creativity and Innovation Company called Grupo Piensa, which grew to become the largest organization of its kind in Latin America with 14 offices worldwide and a team of 140 people.  She describes the successes she worked on with her varied client base, from commercializing the stainless-steel credit card to achieving 12 patents in fuel cells for hydrogen energy to developing new processes for Coca-Cola.  She is passionate about taking the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process beyond the corporate setting, and this creativity and social innovation became the topic of her first book. Her company helped people in poverty start businesses and partnered on social innovation topics, from developing new forms of proteins to harnessing the energy of spoiled bread.

Clara has recently finished writing a manual on ISO 56000 to help businesses manage innovation as a process, set an international standard for innovative practices, and develop master innovation professionals. Don’t miss the fascinating discussion on the future of creativity. She sees innovation as essential to the future of economies and expressed a desire to see the community continue to grow through ongoing study, accepting new methodologies, and nurturing individuals. Her Creative Flow is not when she is working or facilitating a CPS process but evident in her personal life, playing with her grandchildren, and being in nature.

Clara shares great wisdom and humor in this episode while she details her incredible life and work.

Our sixteenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Jennifer Gippel Ph.D. and Paulina Larocca, both living in Australia and graduates with an MS from the Center for Applied Imagination SUNY, Buffalo State. Jennifer delivers research writing workshops, facilitates creative thinking workshops, and won a prestigious award for a recently published paper. Paulina is the author of three published books on creativity and has her own consulting business in creativity training for NGOs and corporations. She leverages a 20-year career as an innovation expert for large multinational drink companies.

Jennifer and Paulina are both passionate about writing, researching, and training on topics related to creativity. They discuss their partnership setting up a platform for writing about the Science of Creativity on Medium.com called Creative Enlightenment. Medium.com is a social media site designed for authors that want to write long-form articles about their area of expertise.  Through setting up this platform (search for Creative Enlightenment under publications), recruiting authors, and holding training, they have grown as individuals and formed a new community.

Jennifer shared how she came to know about deliberate creativity through an online MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) called How to Ignite Your Everyday Creativity and how it opened up a world of thinking. As an Innovation Manager for a large organization, Paulina was curious about the relationship between Innovation and Creativity and discusses how writing her books have contributed to the field.

Jennifer and Paulina share their views on the future of Creativity as a skill and a way to solve big problems such as climate change.  They each describe their creative flow and how they see writing as a way to contribute to diverse points of view, create opportunities to learn more deeply about topics, and share experiences.

Paulina and Jennifer encourage you to be a part of a worldwide community of authors who share their personal experiences on practical aspects of creativity on the medium.com platform. To get involved, contact [email protected] and check out a Master Class they are presenting to make writing easier and stress-free.

Our fifteenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Branko Broekman, a landscape architect and environmental engineer from The Netherlands. He has worked with organizations to amplify the creative mindset in his own consulting and facilitation business for over 15 years.

Branko experienced the power of creative thinking when working as a project leader on the restoration of natural areas at the Ministry of Transportation and Water Management in the Netherlands. A consultant achieved such great results applying Creative Problem Solving that their leadership invested 500,000 Euro in the project. He became fascinated by the process, attending the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI), and coming to earn his MS in Creativity and Change Leadership from the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State.  He believes the same experience should be available in Europe and has worked with the Center to offer the MS Program he studied in Buffalo with an in-person option in Europe. They have already completed the first two cohorts and hope to have the third in 2022.

Branko is a certified Foursight Advanced trainer and works as a certified Master Coach in intercultural Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). He shares many examples of his work in creative leadership projects at municipalities and ministries in the Netherlands. One success story led to one organization creating hubs of part-time facilitators who were empowered to spend 10% of the time working as a process facilitator of creative change throughout the organization

Branko discusses the differences in culture between the Netherlands and other countries and how this impacts the creative mindset. He has been instrumental in training creative leadership and helping others evolve from “efficiency” to “effectiveness “in an organization. He describes his Creative Flow as working with his hands, sculpting, and creating in 3D, which emulates his process for idea development.

Branko shares his deep understanding of deeper and deeper levels of applied Creativity. Don't miss his introduction to the concept of “Nearling” as part of a different dictionary of innovation.

Our fourteenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features Tabatha Mcnab discussing how she expresses her Creativity in food and cooking in so many ways.

Tabatha's creativity knows no bounds. From catering soul food dinners to running a daycare to writing a cookbook, she is passionate about connecting Creativity and food.  She is completing her final semester for an MS in Creativity and Change Leaders at the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State (SUNY).

Tabatha describes how she found a love of food at a young age by cooking and being in the garden with her grandmother.  Cooking for her father at seven years old started her on a path that she continues today as a graduate student with her master's project.  She is working on a 20-30 -page children's cookbook with recipes and more called Tabfabulous Kid Friendly Cookbook. It features a scratch and sniff and touch and feel concept for the fruits and vegetables. Most importantly, it will help them understand nutrition and enjoy making meals.

She shares how studying creativity has helped her personally and alos all of the people she connects with in her professional work and community service. She always incorporates food in unique ways, including a creative cooking presentation and demonstrating creative thinking styles. She wants to earn a Master's Degree in nutrition and a Ph.D. in psychology in the future.

Tabatha sees the Science of Creativity going around the world and being a force for empowering people to be all they can be.

Our thirteenth episode of the Creative Flow: Thinkers and Change Agents Podcast Series features a mother, Hedria Lunken Saltzman, and her son David Lunken.  In this inter-generational discussion, we explore their work and how Creativity has impacted their relationship and family.

Hedria, now 82, is a speaker, coach, writer, and authority in Creativity. She has presented and worked for fortune 500 companies on five continents and has earned her MS in Creativity and Change Leaders at the Center for Applied Imagination, SUNY Buffalo State (SUNY). She also served as President of the Creative Education Foundation (CEF) and wrote the book Square One at 51: What I did the day after I buried my life. David is the principal of Cedarcroft Advisors, where he helps leaders build effective teams and a senior consultant for PI Midlantic, a talent optimization consultancy. He is also on the faculty at CEF and a beloved presenter at the Creative Problem Solving Institute.

Hedria describes her work and many achievements, from traveling to Turkey to start a conference to teaching introduction to Creative Problem Solving at MBA programs across the country. She had a profound impact as an early leader in the field and shares her work with FourSight and how it was her idea to include the "o" in the famous PPCo Tool for CPS. Her discussion of losing her first husband suddenly and how CPS became not just a career but the way she lives her life.

David describes how his mother influenced and inspired him to use CPS from a young age.  While he teaches and uses the CPS methodology in his work, he prefers to frame it to clients in a way that helps to ensure meetings are productive, everybody is engaged, and there is a positive outcome.  He describes working with clients on retreats, team building, and a wide range of projects.

You can feel the love and pride that this mother and son have for each other and how they have integrated Creativity into their family. They describe working with each other and David's other siblings and highlight a recent Zoom session, Hedria led with her ten grandchildren to discuss current social and political issues.  Don't miss this episode to see the impact that Creativity can have across generations of a family.