Rebel, Reject, Create

What if making your creative process faster makes the work worse?Tiffany Markman is a South African copywriter, speaker and writing trainer who started her business in 2005.Her first paid copywriting assignment came while she was still at school: fixing campaign copy for South African Airways.In this episode of Rebel Reject Create, Tiffany joins David Chislett to explore how she produces creative work on demand—and why her process still begins with a pencil.They discuss the constraints she welcomes, the management she refuses, why clients struggle to unsee mediocre work, and how different surroundings help her think. Tiffany also shares her approach to creative blocks, her obsession with lists, and why unfamiliar experiences and uninterrupted boredom both belong in a creative life.A frank, funny conversation for anyone whose livelihood depends on turning ideas into usable work.Find Tiffany online here:LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-markman/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TiffanyMarkmanYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tiffany_markman X / Twitter - https://twitter.com/tiffanymarkmanMedium (my column) - https://tiffanymarkman.medium.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tiffanymarkman Threads: https://www.threads.com/@tiffanymarkman Substack: https://substack.com/@tiffanymarkman

What happens when creativity stops being fun?Holly Blondin joins David Chislett on Rebel, Reject, Create to explore the frustration, effort and vulnerability behind creative work—and why struggling doesn’t mean you lack creativity.Holly is a creativity and innovation educator and author whose work spans science, design, entrepreneurship and the arts. In this conversation, she draws on her experience working with PhD students and teaching research students in fashion management at Parsons School of Design.We discuss why brainstorming is only part of the process, the emotional challenge of becoming a beginner again, and how existing experience can support a new creative direction without removing the need to learn.The conversation also explores disconnection, the appeal of making things with our hands, and what creativity means in a world increasingly shaped by AI.Holly’s parting advice: stay curious—and give your curiosity room to influence what you do next.Find Holly Online:https://hollyblondin.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyblondin/ https://www.instagram.com/hollyblondin/ Find David online:https://davidchislett.com

Bradley Charbonneau has built a creative life around a deceptively simple principle: make something every single day. In this conversation, he explains how leaving advertising gave him the freedom to create on his own terms, while also revealing how much structure from that world still supports his work. Bradley has published forty books, uploaded more than seven thousand videos and grown a YouTube audience beyond one hundred thousand subscribers, yet he is honest about the difference between financial success and personal fulfilment. He describes creativity as a cycle of input and output, with mornings reserved for making and afternoons for learning, consuming and refilling the tank. The discussion explores habit stacking, creative energy, audience expectations and the value of publishing work that is simply “good enough.” At the heart of the episode is Bradley’s idea of becoming a “mathemagician”: someone who balances routine, measurement and practical effort with intuition, play and openness to unexpected possibilities. He also challenges the idea that inspiration will arrive without preparation. His advice is practical: stop waiting for a dramatic breakthrough, choose a small daily practice and commit to it for thirty days. The magic may come, but only after you have done the math.Find Bradley online:https://repossible.comFind David Online:https://davidchislett.com

Roland Williams is a creative leader, author and innovation specialist whose career has taken him from Coca-Cola’s global headquarters in Atlanta to corporate communications, startups, scale-ups and innovation projects in Sweden.

In this episode, Roland joins David Chislett to explore what leaders must do if they genuinely want creativity and innovation from their people. They discuss the importance of trust, belonging and being seen; why overloaded teams cannot simply be ordered to innovate; and how small changes to meetings can create meaningful space for people to reconnect and think differently.

Roland also introduces the tension between two very different organisational worlds: the changing cultural system in which people experiment and develop new possibilities, and the stable cultural system responsible for budgets, optimisation and implementation. The challenge is not choosing between them, but enabling ideas to travel from one to the other.

Drawing on examples including Gmail, Amazon Prime and his own leadership experience, Roland makes the case that creativity should be treated as a long-term investment in adaptability rather than a short-term initiative expected to produce an immediate, measurable return.

Find Roland Online:linkedin.com/in/williamsroland

David's Home page:https://davidchislett.com

In this episode of Rebel, Reject, Create, I speak with Monique Pelser, a South African artist based in the Cape who works with people of all ages to reconnect with creative practice. Monique has worked with tiny children, teenagers, adults, university-level art students and older learners, helping them explore drawing, play, experimentation and the emotional blocks that stop people from making.The conversation moves quickly beyond “art” and into the deeper mechanics of creativity. Monique talks about shame, the inner critic, fear of error, the pressure to imitate, and the way people begin to censor themselves when they feel watched or judged. She argues that creativity is much more accessible than people think, and that the act of making something — however small, rough or imperfect — can restore agency.This is a warm, sharp and very human conversation about why creativity gets buried, how we can begin again, and why mess, play and uncertainty may be exactly where the good stuff starts.Photo by Martin ParrFind Monique Online:https://moniquepelser.comhttps://www.instagram.com/moniquepelserstudiohttps://www.instagram.com/canister_communityhttps://www.youtube.com/@moniquepelserstudiohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/monique-pelser-550b5627https://www.facebook.com/monique.pelser.94

In this episode of Rebel, Reject, Create, David Chislett speaks with Michael Brian Lee, creative breakthrough catalyst and author of World Innovators Cup.

Michael’s new book reimagines famous innovators as World Cup football stars, using the playful format of trading cards and sporting mythology to ask a serious question: why do we celebrate athletes more passionately than the people whose ideas actually change the world?

The conversation moves from Nikola Tesla as a Serbian striker to Michael’s own creative journey through writing, television, film education and corporate creativity training.

David and Michael also explore why creativity matters in an age of AI, what machines can and cannot do creatively, and why human instinct, taste and unpredictability still matter.

https://worldinnovatorscup.com/

The episode closes with a simple creativity exercise using a pen, revealing how quickly people look for the “right” answer — and how creativity begins when we push beyond the obvious.

In this episode of Rebel, Reject, Create, David Chislett speaks with Professor Mark Deuze, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam and author of a book exploring how creative work can be both deeply meaningful and damaging to people’s health.The conversation looks at the hidden cost of turning creativity into a career. Mark explains why people in creative industries often feel grateful to do the work while also suffering because of it. He challenges the romantic myth of the tortured creative, arguing instead that the real problem lies in the structure of the industries themselves.David and Mark discuss burnout, autonomy, unfair decision-making, fear-driven leadership, discrimination, bullying, mental health literacy, psychosocial safety and the urgent need for sustainable creative careers. This is a sharp, necessary conversation for anyone working in media, culture, journalism, music, film, games, advertising, design or the arts.Find the book here:https://intellectdiscover.com/content/books/9781835951934More about David Chislett here:https://davidchislett.com

In this episode of Rebel, Reject, Create, David Chislett speaks with creative director and designer Rakesh Kanhai about psychedelics, creativity, mental health, and the growing pressure placed on creatives in modern society.After organising an event in Amsterdam exploring the relationship between psychedelics and artistic practice, Rakesh shares his own deeply personal experiences with ayahuasca, LSD, psilocybin, and cannabis — including the dangers of dependency, the importance of integration, and why he believes these substances should never become mere productivity tools.The conversation explores spirituality, addiction, self-reflection, creativity, consumer culture, indigenous knowledge, and what it really means to grow as a human being and artist.This is not a conversation glorifying drugs.It’s a conversation about consciousness, coping, healing, and responsibility.Follow Rakesh on Instagram for more info:https://www.instagram.com/dj_kesh

In this episode of Rebel, Reject, Create, I chat with Dr. Michael Bloomfield — cognitive anthropologist, creativity researcher, and founder of the Komanu Creativity System. Michael shares how his early obsession with music, originality, and genius led him into a lifelong exploration of creativity through anthropology, psychology, and human evolution. Together, we unpack why creativity is not the same as intelligence, why the myth of genius holds so many people back, and why everyday acts of problem-solving may be more creative than we think. Michael also shares practical ways to strengthen creative thinking, from practice and movement to relaxation, and introduces his creativity card system designed to help people unlock fresh ideas and work more intentionally with their own minds.Find more on Michael:https://www.michaelbloomfield.uk/More on David:https://davidchislett.com

Christina Hammond-Aziz is the CEO of Rainmaker Solutions, a firm that helps governments and companies deliver meaningful change by enabling the people inside organisations to design and drive it themselves. In this conversation, Christina challenges the traditional “consultancy” model and dismantles common assumptions about change management — especially the belief that people naturally resist change. Instead, she argues resistance is often created by top-down change approaches that devalue employees’ expertise and contributions. Together, Christina and host David Chislett explore why transformation programmes fail even with great technology, how to reframe change around purpose and impact, and why the future belongs to organisations that build continuous learning, experimentation, and human-centred leadership into their culture.More about Rainmaker Solutions:https://rainmaker.solutions/More about David Chislett:https://davidchislett.com