Secret Leaders

John Cleese: How creativity can be applied to business


Listen Later

As an entrepreneur, creativity is the name of your game. And who better to hear from than the king of creativity himself, Mr John Cleese. Yes, that’s right. John. Cleese. You’re welcome. 

Where do we begin? 

John’s (Mr Cleese?) talents are boundless - actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and author. The co-founder of the infamous Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the creator and star of Fawlty Towers has taken the time to look back on his writing processes and accomplishments as a series of creative experiences to share and inspire. And he’s distilled his thoughts into a short (an hour long read), beautiful guide he’s cunningly entitled ‘Creativity’. 

Even if you have no desire to break into screenwriting, John has lived a lifetime of creativity and there is so much that we mere business folk can learn from him, including his secret process. 

“You have to create a space where people don't come in and interrupt. And you have to have a sufficiently long period of time for your initial agitated thoughts to settle, so that you can then play, and play in a very relaxed way, not cudgelling your brains and furrowing your brow, just thinking, I wonder if, what would happen if, and why did I suddenly think of a hippopotamus? That sort of thing.”

So grab a cuppa and let John’s wisdom guide you. This one really is a corker to kick the season off with. 

We chat about:

  • What we can learn from children about creativity
  • Our emotional facilities aren’t helped by modern living
  • John Cleese’s secret process
  • There’s no such thing as a mistake
  • The importance of rehearsal
  • Resting for creativity
  • Links:

    • Creativity - John Cleese
    • Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind - Guy Claxton
    • --

      Sponsors

      Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders

      Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders

      Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders

      --

      Newsletter

      Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/

      You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      Secret LeadersBy Leaders Media

      • 4.5
      • 4.5
      • 4.5
      • 4.5
      • 4.5

      4.5

      20 ratings


      More shows like Secret Leaders

      View all
      Disruptors by Rob Moore

      Disruptors

      115 Listeners

      The Property Podcast by Rob Bence and Rob Dix from The Property Hub

      The Property Podcast

      62 Listeners

      The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett by DOAC

      The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

      8,618 Listeners

      The Money Podcast by Rob Moore

      The Money Podcast

      22 Listeners

      The Entrepreneur Experiment by Gary Fox

      The Entrepreneur Experiment

      13 Listeners

      James Sinclair's Business Broadcast by James Sinclair

      James Sinclair's Business Broadcast

      3 Listeners

      The High Performance Podcast by High Performance

      The High Performance Podcast

      607 Listeners

      Dodge Woodall by Eventful Studios

      Dodge Woodall

      55 Listeners

      HUNGRY. by Dan Pope

      HUNGRY.

      5 Listeners

      Simon Says by Simon Squibb

      Simon Says

      13 Listeners

      Bad Money by Kindling Media & Vespucci

      Bad Money

      22 Listeners

      Big Fish with Spencer Matthews by Global

      Big Fish with Spencer Matthews

      51 Listeners

      Great Company with Jamie Laing by Jampot Productions

      Great Company with Jamie Laing

      292 Listeners

      Business of Sport by Charlie and Harry Stebbings

      Business of Sport

      11 Listeners

      UNTAPPED by High Performance

      UNTAPPED

      26 Listeners

      The Room Where It Happened by High Performance

      The Room Where It Happened

      4 Listeners