In this episode we discuss how our guest helped the secret agents become more creative. We look at specific strategies to navigate personal change while empowering and using your imagination. How do you become more imaginative? What are the keys to sparking imagination and creativity? How do you use creativity to get through challenging setbacks? We discuss all of this and much more with our guest Beth Comstock.

Beth Comstock is a business executive and author with a deep history of leading large companies to success through innovation and new opportunities. Beth is currently a director at Nike, the trustee of The National Geographic Society and former board president of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum. She is the author of the best-selling book Imagine it Forward - Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change. She has worked in top leadership roles at GE, NBC, CBS, and her work has been featured across the globe.What is the imagination gap?How does our quest for certainty end up killing possibility?We often fail to use our imagination to move ourselves, and the world, forwardWhat did a chance meeting with the CIA have to do with navigating personal change and using your imagination?We want a risk free world, a risk free life - but it doesn’t existRisk is the will to act on imagination The 5 key elements of sparking imaginationIn today’s world - we have to “Get good at change"How to handle change and the disruptive pace of change in todays world Do you have your own process or practice of adaptation?What does it mean to have a practice or process of adaptation?“Going on threes” - after you see something a third time, use that as a trigger to follow up and learn more about itTake back 10% of your time for these contemplative routines Pick up a magazine you would NEVER read and read it on a plane - expose yourself to radically new ideas The future is here, its just not even distributed yetYou have to put yourself out there to discover new ideas - “mushroom hunting” "Get outside the Jar” - getting outside creates a whole new perspective In a world where we often choose our filters based on what we already believe - its even more important to expose yourself to new and different ideaWhat is social courage and how can you create it for yourself?The power of small challenges and change to help build your skillsWhat do we do when gatekeepers limit us from what we want?Most of the time people give up on an idea when they hear No one timeThe power and magic of “No is not yet” - no is an invitation to come back in a new way Building up resilience and persistence when we really care about our ideas How do you build bridges instead of walls? Your critics can become your best advocates if you treat them the right way“I’m gonna work to do better, but I need your help”What problem are we trying to solve? Are you aligned with the people you work with on solving the same problem?Often times we try to protect ourselves, our ideas - even our own egos - by trying to hide from negative feedback - but it’s often essential to fueling creativity and getting to the best ideas and solutionsIt’s so easy to delude ourselves, to think things are they way we want them to be, or they should be, instead of the way they are - acknowledging reality is a vital step towards creating results Constraints are very powerful for fostering creativity Homework: Ask yourself what’s one thing you want to move forward on? Ask yourself what’s holding you back and write a permission slip to yourself “I give myself permission to do this."

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