John Cleese: How creativity can be applied to business

As an entrepreneur, creativity is the name of your game. And who better to hear from than the king of creativity himself, Mr John Cleese. Yes, that’s right. John. Cleese. You’re welcome. 

Where do we begin? 

John’s (Mr Cleese?) talents are boundless - actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and author. The co-founder of the infamous Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the creator and star of Fawlty Towers has taken the time to look back on his writing processes and accomplishments as a series of creative experiences to share and inspire. And he’s distilled his thoughts into a short (an hour long read), beautiful guide he’s cunningly entitled ‘Creativity’. 

Even if you have no desire to break into screenwriting, John has lived a lifetime of creativity and there is so much that we mere business folk can learn from him, including his secret process. 

“You have to create a space where people don't come in and interrupt. And you have to have a sufficiently long period of time for your initial agitated thoughts to settle, so that you can then play, and play in a very relaxed way, not cudgelling your brains and furrowing your brow, just thinking, I wonder if, what would happen if, and why did I suddenly think of a hippopotamus? That sort of thing.”

So grab a cuppa and let John’s wisdom guide you. This one really is a corker to kick the season off with. 

We chat about:

What we can learn from children about creativityOur emotional facilities aren’t helped by modern livingJohn Cleese’s secret processThere’s no such thing as a mistakeThe importance of rehearsalResting for creativity

Links:

Creativity - John CleeseHare Brain, Tortoise Mind - Guy Claxton

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