What does heart-based leadership have to do with my creative potential?

What does heart-based leadership have to do with your creative potential? 

“Creativity comes from the heart. I don’t think there is any other way to lead than leading from the heart”

– Carlos El Amar

Tell me, as a creative leader, how important is it for you to contribute to “making a difference” in society, or in other words, making positive contributions for greater good? 

So far I have asked this same question to more than 120 top creative leaders from around the globe. More than 98% declare that, for them, it is important (30, 4%) or very important (68%) to contribute to “making a difference” in society. 

Yet this is not always easy to achieve. To create is to bring something into existence. To manifest what once was in the realm of the intangible, the universe of infinite possibilities: your imagination. To be creative is to be able to envision what it could be. Creativity is a capability that allows us to play with reality and transform it into something different, something new, something more. 

Creativity is made out of ideas. Ideas are thoughts, emotions, beliefs, aims, and purposes. Ideas change and transform the world every day. Yet ideas, the raw material of creativity, are intangible, made of thin air. They are delicate, potential incipient realities that need to be cared for, they require attention, energy, time, and actions to be born, and to become.

Pick up anything around you right now. Whatever you like. Observe it for a moment. Do you realize it? Everything around us is made out of creativity. No matter what it is, someone imagined it first and made it happen next. 

What is more, someone did the first version of it, the next person got inspired and transformed it into what is now, the latest prototype. Again, and again, and again. Combining and recombining. Inspiring and re-inspiring us. Yes, I refer to humanity. The world in which we live is the result of a chain of millions of years of collective co-creativity. 

It might be easier to understand this undertaking using Matt Ridley’s iconic image that places side to side an Acheulean hand ax from half a million years ago made by Homo Erectus, and a modern computer mouse, made “of the idea of plastic, the idea of a laser, the idea of transistors” combined to make up the latest technology, as Matt Ridley shares in his popular TED talk.

I started this series of posts arguing that we are all leaders. I am closing it by claiming that we all are creatives. Creativity is human nature. There is a creative wizard inside each and every one of us. We are creative beings that (more or less consciously) imagine and create our daily life, time and time again. 

Watch out and read carefully! In this post, I will reveal how we make it happen: how we co-create the world we live in and all the creative work, projects, products, services, and enterprises that inspire us to continue imagining, dreaming, transforming, and creating the future in the here and now.

Creativity is a process, a journey between two points of existence: an imagined idea (A) and the realization of that idea (B). What is the indispensable ingredient that bridges these two points? What is that ‘something’ between your imagination and your ability to bring ideas to life?

Energy. Truth is that everything is made out of energy. That is what Einstein made so popular with his famous equation E=MC2: Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Or using more simple words: energy and mass (matter) are interchangeable; they are different forms of the same thing. This is, the universe is made of a vast, infinite, amount of energy. 

The creative process works like this: the creative leader (you) channels energy into visualizing what is possible simply by imagining it. Then, you gradually shape and nurture it into existence.

Through your values, purpose, and intention, you focus more of the available energy. This guides your team and aligns your organization’s purpose to activate effective execution.

By discussing what you want to create, sharing your vision, and clarifying the value and relevance of your aspirations, you continually infuse your ideas with more energy. This process can attract more people (and energy), helping to collectively bring your vision, your idea, to life.

Do you recognize it? You are in the ethical chamber of the heart (you can refer to previous posts in this series if you would like to clarify what I exactly mean by that). 

You (the leader) and your team need to keep believing in your vision to take further action. At this point, emotions come into play. We are now in the emotional chamber of the heart and here, as you already know, it is all about energy modulation. It is about holding on and navigating the ups of excitement and the lows of frustration. Creativity is like a bumpy road to paradise. 

Throughout the creative process, embracing emotions is essential. They are the gateway to human connection and high-quality interactions, and they also provide valuable information that guides decision-making.

“What you are putting out there. As a creative person. It is very attached to emotions.”

– Carlos El Asmar 

As a creative, you already know that taking risks is essential to move from average to exceptional creativity. Your fears, dreams, loves, aspirations, aversions, and attachments all come into play, influencing your actions. Your emotions, along with those of your team, are the energetic forces that drive you and keep you moving forward in the creative process.

As you and your team continue working together, the quality of your interpersonal relationships determines the success of the collective creative process and shapes the quality of the creative energetic field. At this stage, the energy in the room becomes palpable. Are there positive or negative vibes? This isn’t just a common expression but a scientific fact.

The creative energetic field is composed of the electromagnetic resonance of every heartbeat among team members, quite literally. The more aligned the beliefs, values, purpose, vision, and mission, and the higher the quality of emotions, the greater the quality of available energy. Trust, respect, vulnerability, care, and mutual support all contribute to building the synergy up.

“There are people that are on a different frequency (FM vs AM) and that makes it difficult to connect and relate with them…. Inside the room with different people energy can be built-up, can be broken up, can converge, or can divert. There’s a need to manage the energy…. The best way to manage the energy in the room is to acknowledge the energy in the room. The best strategy to manage energy is transparency and honesty.”

– Carlos El Asmar

We are in the biological chamber of the heart. Under the influence of fear, energy is blocked. Under the influence of love, creativity and inspiration flow. What science tells us is that our emotions modulate our hormones, our nervous system, and our ability to make connections in the brain. What we perceive and see out in the world depends on what we feel about it all. 

The truth is, that high-performance creativity is made of love. To love is about being open, receptive, and welcoming to the possibilities of life and existence from a position of universal trust and respect also for those things we do not even understand. 

To create is to be open to the field of possibilities. It is about observing, absorbing, uniting the dots, combining, and recombining hopes. The more open, the less judgemental you are, the more possibilities can be considered, included, excluded, and recombined. That is what research in positive psychology confirms. 

If you want to be more creative, open your ears, open your eyes, open your mind, and open your heart. Creativity is made out of the unconditional love for diversity. This same love, for what you do, drives your creative potential. 

Curious about what comes next in the creative process? What is your intuition telling you? 

Take a moment to listen to it, the subtle voice of your heart. You’ve heard it before, though you may not always have followed it. Intuition is a form of direct knowing. You’ve likely connected with this wisdom at some point, yet perhaps dismissed it because it couldn’t be rationally explained or presented to others, even though it was clearly felt within yourself.

Let’s keep observing with childlike curiosity. We are now entering the spiritual chamber of the heart. 

Before we proceed, I have a question for you: Are you one of them? You, the one transforming intangible energy potential (ideas) into tangible results (creative pieces, campaigns, projects, products, and services) through co-creative processes and teamwork.  You, the creative leader, the master orchestrator of intuitions and energies, are you a leader of the heart?

Now you are beginning to grasp it all. From idea to execution, your creative leadership competence hinges on your ability to manage heart-centered energy. Aligning your ethics, emotions, biology, and spirituality allows you to harness your creative leadership power to its fullest potential. This means making things happen, no matter hell or high waters. 

We have reached the pinnacle of the creative process—the celebration. When you feel the team spirit and are part of something larger than yourself. Contributing to this collective effort brings a profound sense of fulfillment that resonates from inside out. It’s at this moment when you amplify the energy of your heart and send it back to the universe, enriched with the elevated vibes of the meaning of life. 

Tell me, when was the last time you experienced that? Do you recognize it? Do you also see what I see in that? Yes, there is a natural resonance between creative leadership and leading from the heart.

In practical terms, leading from the heart entails focusing and fueling the leader’s creative energy by means of intentionally acting from a genuine feeling of “love” and with a selflessness attitude that aims to generate a positive impact in the world. This approach includes expecting the best of others, being open to outcomes, and being ready to learn. It’s about personal growth while supporting others to also do the same on their end. 

“As a leader, you have to ask yourself: Are they doing what they love? Are they loving what they’re doing now?” 

– Carlos El Asmar

Let me emphasize once again: leading from the heart is much more than a nice poetic metaphor. It is something “real” with tangible implications for your leadership and creative outcomes. Your capacity to lead effectively, foster engagement, ignite collaboration, and drive performance depends directly on it.

Leading from the heart is not about tactics, strategies, tips, or tricks; it’s about understanding. It’s not a leadership style but an experiential truth rooted in genuine human nature. The truth is that every single person is a leader of the heart in its own uniqueness and authenticity.

As Carlos said, “Oh my God, I’ve been doing this without not even knowing.”

Remembering how to bring creative energy into focus, how to modulate it, how to transmit and receive it, and how to amplify it for the greater good is what leading from the heart is all about.  

This is what we remember and better understand as we walk the Journey to the Heart, as you’ve already experienced through reading this series of posts. Let’s use this chance to loop back to what Carlos told us when we started this path: 

“Marie, I think there are lots of leaders that lead from the heart, but they don’t know that they’re doing that. And the thing is, when you become aware of it, it gets you to a whole new level of creative leadership”. 

Wasn’t he right? 

This series of posts is a call to you, creative leader of the world, to respond to whatever challenges might come your way consciously unleashing the creative power of your heart. By acknowledging and aligning your ethics, your emotions, your biology, and your spirit. In this way, together we will be able to imagine and materialize a better and more peaceful world for us all. 

To be one of them, a leader of the heart, is a conscious and intentional choice. That is why I like to say it out loud: I choose to lead, to lead from the heart. 

And you, now that you better understand it all, let me ask you one more time: what’s your choice? What kind of leader do you want to be? 

Power to you! 

If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

With my heart, 

Marie

Part 1: “A leader of the heart: Are you one of them?”

Part 2: “Am I a Leader? Are you also one?”

Part 3: “Am I an Exceptional Creative Leader?”

Part 4: “Do I lead from Heart?”

Part 5: “Am I talking poetry or am I talking business?”