Creativity Isn’t the Problem. It’s Capacity.
Most companies don’t have a creativity problem. They have a Creative Capacity problem.
This week, I was discussing a potential innovation program with a senior executive. And they asked if I had any creativity exercises I could offer.
“I don’t teach creativity exercises… alone,” I said.
“But we want our employees to be more creative.”
“Oh, I know… but I think they already ARE creative. My goal is to help them know how to apply their creativity to solve problems for your organization, and then I need your help to give them the space actually to do it.”
While that conversation could have gone off the rails, it actually took us in the right direction.
We don’t need more creativity (usually). We actually want applied creativity.
Humans are creative by nature. Watch any five-year-old with cardboard and crayons. Or observe a new hire building their Notion dashboard, Canva resume, or Airtable budget planner just for fun. Creativity is everywhere.
But somewhere between entry-level orientation and the 10-year work anniversary, it’s gone. Stifled. Replaced by meetings, decks, and ‘deliverables.’
And when leaders finally ask for “innovation,” what do they do?
A brainstorming session
An offsite with Post-its
Or a pitch competition judged by executives who’ve never built anything
These aren’t bad ideas. But they miss the point.
Creative Capacity isn’t about creativity. It’s about structure + skill + space to apply creativity.
And most organizations simply aren’t built to support that.
The Myth of the Creative Spark
We love the myth of the solo genius.
Jobs and Woz in a garage. Sara Blakely selling fax machines. Einstein dreaming up relativity while riding a bike.
So when leaders want to ignite innovation inside a team, they try to re-create that spark.
They schedule “innovation time.”
They run design thinking workshops.
They ask people to “think outside the box.”
But let’s be honest…
Most people are already thinking outside the box.
What they don’t have is permission to step outside the box… and build something.
That’s Creative Capacity. And what I found in studying the most innovative organizations is they build this into their systems.
And we’ve been measuring it all wrong.
🔍 What My Research Shows
In studying hundreds of companies through the Creative Capacity research, one finding kept emerging:
“The most innovative companies weren’t necessarily building the most innovative products… they were building the most innovative people.”
Companies like Amazon, Google, Intuit, IDEO, and Atlassian consistently produce intrapreneurs, employees who take initiative, solve problems, and launch new ideas from within the org.
What’s wild?
The only innovation practice with measurable ROI in organizations is intrapreneurship.
Not ideation sessions.
Not hiring McKinsey.
Not running an innovation sprint.
The best companies equip individuals with the skills, support, and space to experiment, then get the hell out of the way.
That’s Creative Capacity in action.
🛠️ Creativity That’s Structured
One of my favorite examples comes from Amazon.
At Amazon, PowerPoint is banned.
Instead, every meeting begins with a six-page narrative memo. No slides. No fluff. You must write, in full sentences, with structure, argument, evidence, and clarity.
And then? Everyone reads the memo together… in the meeting. No prep required. No pre-reads ignored.
Why is that brilliant?
Because it forces people to:
Think deeply
Structure their ideas
Communicate clearly
Create space for meaningful dialogue
That’s not just a quirk of Bezos. It’s Creative Capacity by design.
It’s the difference between asking people to be creative and building systems that require it.
Dan Martell’s Matrix: Buy Back Your Creativity
Last week, I wrote a bit about my friend Dan Martell (who I served on the Startup Weekend board with). Dan wrote a bestselling book called Buy Back Your Time. But I think it could just as easily have been titled Buy Back Your Creativity.
In one of his posts, Dan lays out a quadrant of how people spend time:
$10/hour tasks (busywork)
$100/hour tasks (operations)
$1,000/hour tasks (strategy)
$10,000/hour tasks (vision + leverage)
Most people get stuck doing $10/hour work.
Even smart, talented, creative professionals.
Why?
Because no one taught them how to value their creative time, or how to build a system that protects and amplifies it.
Creative Capacity is about building organizations where employees aren’t buried in email and Jira tickets… but are instead given permission and expectation to move into the $10K/hour zone.
That’s where innovation lives.
AI Isn’t the Innovation. Humans Are.
Let’s talk AI.
Right now, executives are scrambling for “an AI strategy.”
Most of those strategies sound like:
“Let’s cut headcount using AI.”
“Let’s automate more workflows.”
“Let’s build a chatbot or something.”
But the best leaders I’ve worked with aren’t asking what AI can do for the business. They’re asking:
“How can AI give our people more creative capacity?”
Because the ROI of AI isn’t in automation.
It’s in amplification.
Imagine:
A marketing associate who uses AI to cut 80% of their reporting time, freeing them to run experiments.
A customer success rep who uses AI to build internal tools to solve real client problems.
A data analyst who learns Python via AI to automate workflows the IT team never had time for.
These aren’t hypothetical. I’ve watched them happen… in companies that embrace creative capacity.
The best AI strategy?
Train everyone to be a better creative problem-solver… with AI as their co-pilot.
Creativity Is a Loop, Not a Line
One of the biggest myths of innovation is that it’s linear.
👉 Come up with idea
👉 Build prototype
👉 Launch product
👉 Win awards
In reality, the process looks more like:
❓ Try thing → fail
🪜 Tweak thing → learn
💥 Share thing → get input
⚒️ Rebuild thing → improve
🚀 Repeat
Creative Capacity means developing the confidence, capability, and cadence to loop faster.
It’s not just “have an idea.”
It’s “can you build a version, test it, talk about it, learn from it, and iterate?”
That’s why I teach tools like:
Half Baked (build fast, share messy)
Factory vs. Studio (know what mode you’re in)
$100/2-Week Sprints (create constraints for experimentation)
Creativity alone won’t get you there.
You need systems and structure.
So What Does Creative Capacity Look Like?
Here’s what I tell execs and managers trying to build more innovation:
1. Skill-Building, Not Just Ideation
Train people on how to define problems, test hypotheses, and build experiments. Teach them to do, not just think.
2. Project-Based Innovation
Give individuals permission to run small projects alongside their core work. Make it clear that shipping something small is better than talking about something big.
3. Time and Autonomy
You don’t need Google’s 20% time.
You need clear expectations and space for people to pursue initiatives they believe in… without 12 layers of approval.
4. Structural Systems
Don’t just talk about culture. Build structures, like Amazon’s memo rule or Atlassian’s ShipIt days, that force innovation into the rhythm of work.
Final Thought: The ROI of Creative Capacity
Want to know if your company is ready for the future?
Ask this:
“What percentage of our employees have the skills, support, and freedom to initiate a new project on their own?”
That’s your Creative Capacity score.
And in a world where AI levels the playing field, and market cycles reset faster than ever…
Creative Capacity might be the only thing you can still compete on.
Let’s stop asking people to “be creative.”
And start building the systems that allow them to create.