Think Differently: Interview with Author Maria Brito
I recently went one on one with Maria Brito. Maria is the author of the new book How Creativity Rules The World.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Maria: I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela in a super conservative family and although I was an excellent singer and performer, my parents forbade me from pursuing a career in entertainment or the arts. So, I ended up moving countries and graduating from Harvard Law School.
The truth is that while my time at HLS was magical, I didn’t want to be an attorney. I bought into the stories of “dependable careers” and safety that my parents planted inside my head, and I foolishly believed.
What came after, when I started practicing law in NYC, was what I call “the dark ages” of my life: countless hours, all-nighters, lack of creativity, lack of diversity, boring routines… I honestly didn’t think I’d survive the misery of that life. Until one day, 13 years ago, I decided to quit to open my art advisory.
These have been the 13 best years of my life. I built a seven-figure business from scratch with minimal overhead.
I owe this shift to my ability to use creativity thinking to differentiate myself from what existed in the industry and to stand out from all my competitors. Even though I had been in barren territory for so long, I still knew I was deeply creative.
Adam: What do you hope readers take away from your new book? How can anyone develop and access their creativity?
Maria: For the past few years, LinkedIn has been scanning the information shared in the network by 800 million professionals searching for the skills that were most in-demand in relation to its supply. The number one in-demand skill turns out to be creativity.
Last year, the World Economic Forum called creativity “the one skill that will future-proof you for the job market.” Interestingly, Adobe also interviewed five thousand adults in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan, which showed that only one in four people believed they were living up to their creative potential and four in ten said that they didn’t have the tools or access to the tools they needed to become creative
I know this book can be transformational in bridging that gap.
It provides a lot of concrete historical passages, data, studies, and science, that back up the fact that being creative and innovative is not rocket science and it’s not a God-given talent either. At the end of each chapter there are exercises and prompts to get people working on their creative-thinking skills.
Everyone already has all the tools; they just need to be developed.
Being creative is the most important business or career skill anyone can possess. And it’s not just one thing. It’s an amalgamation of habits and attitudes like risk-taking, authenticity, curiosity, autonomy, etc. And of course, while these things are simple, they take work and daily commitment.
Adam: How can entrepreneurs apply art to become better entrepreneurs? How can leaders apply art to become better leaders? What advice do you have for those with minimal, if any, exposure to and understanding of art, and what advice do you have for those who are art aficionados?
Maria: It's important to never confuse artistic talent with creativity. If you know how to sculpt or paint that’s artistic talent. But if you are a visionary, someone who can bring ideas of value that are relevant and original for the times we are living, like Steve Jobs did, that’s creativity.
Entrepreneurs that aren’t creative can make a lot of money and what not, but they will eventually disappear, or their businesses will shrink, because part of being creative is having an ability to predict the future and to stay relevant. Artists who are successful are excellent at that.
There’s a myth of the starving artist, but I disprove that in my book. Artists are in fact the greatests entrepreneurs.
When Pablo Picasso died in 1973 his net worth was $500 million (that’s almost $3 billion today) and by the way, he was born in a very humble family, nobody handed him anything. British contemporary artist Damien Hirst has a net worth of almost $400 million. And this guy isn’t running a hedge fund or a private equity firm.
People can starve in any profession if they don’t know how to market themselves or their businesses or how to choose the right messaging or pivot at the right time (all creative skills).
Entrepreneurs and artists are pretty much the same: they start with zero, a blank canvas, an idea, and they make things happen from scratch.
For the most part, artists run very nimble operations, so profits are really high. Artists aren’t constrained by the rules of reality – they envision something, and they go and make that happen whether it is a painting, an immersive installation or a film. It’s the same for entrepreneurs who have conviction and vision.
Exposure to contemporary art is important because it informs a cultural dialogue with the present and it helps to open yourself up to possibilities, to develop a different point of view (nothing creative comes from being in an echo chamber where everyone recites the same words to one another).
Exposure to art history helps in allowing for perspective and to show us that some things never change. If you study the life of Leonardo da Vinci, for example, you will see that his habits and attitudes were pretty similar to those of Elon Musk. 600 years separate them, but the attitudes and habits are the same.
More importantly is to cultivate the ability to think and act like an artist and that’s part of what my book tries to convey.
The cornerstone of creativity in business is to be able to think differently and I bet that not many executives, managers and business owners are looking at art history or at contemporary artists to find solutions to many of their business challenges.
My book is a gateway to do that.
Adam: How can leaders create a culture that fuels innovation and creativity?
Maria: By looking at the margins and intersections. By going outside their industries.
It’s great to be an expert and to know your industry inside-out and you should, but nobody who has disrupted an industry comes with a purist outlook. In fact, most disruptors are outsiders. Once someone has been in the same industry for too long, they start developing blind spots.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Maria: Good leaders guide people for the betterment of society. The most effective leaders are those who can impact others with positive actions and those who can communicate their vision with extreme clarity.
Those who walk their talk. Leaders who surround themselves with people who are better than they are so they can execute their vision with the best possible team. Leaders who are nimble. Leaders who are attuned to the present but have a foot on the future. And obviously, creative leaders rule the world.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Maria:
Be extremely generous with your knowledge and resources.
Pay close attention to developments outside of your industry and even more attention to the margins.
Develop empathy, without this skill it’s almost impossible to be an effective leader.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Maria: It’s always better to give than to receive.
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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