Creative Leadership Is an Inside Job

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.” — Georgia O’Keeffe

When I say “leadership,” I couldn’t be further from political headlines, hierarchical ladders, or the alpha-performance model that often comes to mind. The kind of leadership I believe in, and coach clients into, is not about titles. It's not about charisma an it is not about control.

It’s about creating the world we need, a world rooted in purpose, justice, and joy.

This is the kind of leadership that lives in the triple bottom line: people, planet, purpose.

It’s leadership that disrupts inherited toxic systems, heals what’s broken, reimagines what’s possible, and yes, begins inside.

Turn Your Curiosity Inward

You’ve probably heard of emotional intelligence. But have you explored your aesthetic intelligence? Your operational brilliance? Your relational fluency or visual language?

There are so many ways to be smart. And yet we spend so much time trying to mold ourselves into a shape we were never meant to fit.

If you’ve ever felt:

• Like you’re not creative because you don’t paint or write...

• That you’re not a “real leader” because you don’t command a room...

• Or that you’ve somehow missed the memo on how to be “well-rounded”...

  
  

Then welcome. You’re not alone, and I wholeheartedly invite you to shake all of that off.

The Myth of Being “Well-Rounded”

Somewhere along the way, we inherited a false belief: that being a good human, a good professional, a good parent means being good at everything.

But that’s a myth. And worse, it’s a trap.

What if instead of trying to be well-rounded, we let ourselves be sharp, honoring our edges, our points of brilliance, our creative weirdness?

Feedback Is Not a Map

After nearly three decades in workplaces, including years in HR, I’ve come to believe this radical truth: feedback is more about the giver than the receiver.

We’re taught to be open to feedback, to welcome it graciously. But discernment is crucial.

As psychoanalyst Carl Jung said, “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” Feedback is often projection.

I once heard a recruiter say a candidate had “gone rogue” because they didn’t take the job offer the recruiter thought was “perfect for them.” Translation? The candidate made a self-honoring decision, and that disrupted someone else’s expectations.

In another situation, a boss fired a team member for being "too empathetic." But the real story, revealed later by the unraveling of the entire organization, was that the leader lacked empathy themselves.

In both cases, individuals were penalized not for poor performance or bad judgment, but for making decisions or embodying values that challenged someone else’s narrative.

When you make a choice rooted in your own clarity, it can make others uncomfortable, especially if they haven’t done the same work themselves.

But here's the truth: You are not responsible for managing someone else’s projections.

You are responsible for your alignment. For staying close to your values. For honoring your intuition, even when it’s inconvenient or misunderstood.

The more you ground yourself in that inner gravity, the less you’ll be shaken by someone else’s storm.

Creative leadership is not about being universally liked. It’s about being internally aligned.

And sometimes, your clarity will unsettle those who benefit from your confusion.

What If You’re Not Living Your Life?

Sometimes, we live lives that look beautiful from the outside, but aren’t true to us on the inside. We’re praised, even admired. And still, something feels off.

Too often, it’s only in hindsight, or after heartbreak, that we realize we were living someone else’s story. And tragically, we all know of people who seemed to “have it all,” but were quietly suffering.

This is why creative leadership must start within.

For those of us who’ve experienced trauma, we know the feeling of fragmentation. Of being cut off from our needs, our bodies, our instincts. Reconnecting with ourselves is not just self-care, it’s revolutionary.

Leadership Starts With Naming

Naming your needs. Your dreams. Your patterns. Naming what’s been normalized but never felt right. Naming what you’ve inherited but no longer choose.

This is inner leadership.

It’s the difference between what’s normal and what’s been normalized.

Many toxic patterns persist because we’ve adapted to survive them. But surviving isn’t the same as thriving.

Creative Leadership starts within but why

External approval is fickle. The algorithm changes daily. The boardroom has its biases. And the public? They’ll crown you one day and cancel you the next.

So, what holds you steady in the midst of this?

It’s your inner gravity.

That deep, grounded sense of self that doesn’t sway with every trend, opinion, or quarterly report. The calm center that knows who you are, what matters, and why you’re here. It's not loud. It doesn't need to be.

Brené Brown calls it “strong back, soft front, wild heart.”It’s the kind of leadership that’s anchored in self-trust.

This isn’t about never doubting yourself. It’s about returning to yourself more quickly.

Regrouping with clarity instead of spiraling in confusion. You become more convincing, more magnetic, because you’re first convinced.

If you don’t trust your own voice, why would anyone else?

Creative leadership, at its essence, is about bringing into the world something that doesn’t yet exist, but you believe it should. Maybe it’s an idea. A system. A new way of relating. Something others can’t quite see but feel when you speak it aloud.

That kind of leadership sometimes requires the ability to say:

• “Let me think about this.”

• “We need more time.”

• “This doesn’t feel aligned.”

• “Let’s pause & consult before we decide.”

  
  

And say it with presence. With integrity. Without guilt.

When your decisions come from a place of internal alignment, you’re not rattled by urgency, pressure, or politics. You stop reacting, and start responding.

It’s not clarity that makes you calm. It’s calm that helps you find clarity.

Our brains think best when we’re relaxed. When we feel safe. Stress, urgency, and fear trigger the amygdala, the fight-or-flight center of the brain, and narrow our thinking. Creativity shuts down. Options seem fewer. Leadership becomes reactive.

As negotiation expert William Ury writes, “Go to the balcony.” Step above the noise, the pressure, the panic. Inner gravity is that balcony. It’s where vision lives.

Because when you lead from there, you don’t just make better decisions.

You become the kind of leader people trust to consistently make them.

What Strengthening Your Center Looks Like

Here are some ways to begin:

1. Mind Mastery Is Non-Negotiable

Learn to witness your thoughts, not worship them. Your mind can either anchor or hijack you. Use mindfulness, journaling, coaching or therapy to untangle the mental noise, inner critics from your true knowing.

2. Curate What Enters Your Field

This is emotional hygiene. Be discerning, ruthless, even, about the energies, expectations, and influences you allow in. Turn down the volume on judgment-heavy spaces. It’s not only okay, it’s wise to identify your core people, the ones who know your values, respect your path, and have earned the right to offer feedback. Everyone else? Their opinions can be observed, but not absorbed.

3. Create Instead of React

Creativity is not a luxury, it’s part of everyone's life. Birthright. Whether it’s painting, dancing, photographing, or gardening, create for you. Georgia O’Keeffe painted bones and desert flowers because they spoke to her. Not because the art world asked her to.

4. Practice Self-Agency

Instead of “What should I do?” ask “What do I choose to do?” Reclaiming the pen, even in tiny moments, is how we rewrite our narrative.

5. Stay Close to True Connection

Find your people. The ones who reflect you back to yourself with clarity and care. Leadership can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be isolating.

For the Women Who Want to Feel Free

If anxiety is running the show…If joy feels too far away…If you’re always “performing composed” while crumbling inside…

Know this: you are not broken.

Your center is not gone, it’s just buried. Under shoulds. Under shame. Under decades of being told to shrink and smile.

The work of creative leadership is not about becoming more.

It’s about becoming home to yourself.

“I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” — Georgia O’Keeffe

This Is the New Leadership

Not power over. Not performance for. But power with yourself. And presence to the moment.

It’s not flashy, but it’s freedom. And it’s yours.

Curious about how to strengthen your own inner gravity?

Let’s explore together. You’re invited to schedule a free discovery session [here].

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Hi, I’m Monika, Strengths Coach and facilitator. I help individuals and groups cultivate resilience, emotional intelligence, and well-being through strengths-based coaching. Passionate about transformative and creative leadership, I empower leaders to drive meaningful change within themselves, their organizations, and beyond.

I hope you’ll visit often, and I look forward to connecting and working together!