Story & Lesson Highlights with Natalie Nixon PhD of Mt. Airy

Natalie Nixon PhD shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Natalie, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Swimming! I have become a devotee of open water swimming. Well, I do not do not all the time, but I swim pretty regularly in a pool and I gift myself 1 open water swimming holiday a year through a company called SwimTrek. My first ‘trek’ was in Crete, Greece and it was life changing! I am not a fast swimmer, nor am I interested in triathlon. I am more interested in my relationship with the water and all it has to teach me. Open water swimming is like hiking through the water. And o, what a way to see the world!

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a creativity strategist: I help leaders and teams connect the dots between creativity and business results. I made up my job title. I have incorporated the skills I acquired from my background in cultural anthropology; working in the fashion industry as an entrepreneurial hat designer and in global sourcing; and then being a professor for 16 years, steeped in design thinking.

I disseminate my work through keynote speaking, advisory work and writing. My goal is to help organizations shift the ways they view creativity- away from a “nice to have”, to an essential strategic competency in order to consistently and sustainably innovate. My portfolio of work is rooted in my WonderRigor™ theory: that creativity is our ability to toggle between wonder and rigor to solve problems, deliver novel value and produce meaning. Viewed that way people realize that the best engineers, CFO’s, attorneys, plumbers, teachers- and artists- are super creative when they design space and time for wonder and for rigor. We need both.

I’m the author of 2 books: “Move. Think. Rest.- Redefining Productivity and Our Relationship with Time” and, “The Creativity Leap- Unleashing Curiosity, Improvisation and Intuition at Work”; and the editor of Strategic Design Thinking”.

All of my frameworks and tools ladder up to helping people build creativity as a capacity.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
My earliest memory of feeling powerful is grounded in movement and my physicality: running really fast, beating the boys on my block in sprints up and down the street; winning Presidential Fitness Awards in 4th, 5th and 6th grade. I felt free, strong and happy!

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been MULTIPLE times when I ALMOST gave up! I’ll share one.

One was 3 months before I was offered a book deal from Berrett-Koehler to write “The Creativity Leap”. I went through 18 months of rejection, after rejection after rejection. A sea of NO’s. I was very discouraged, I had completely revised my proposal after working with a successful author to learn the proper way to pitch a book idea. Still a bunch of no’s. Responses were either “This has been said already” or, “This is great! But we don’t have the bandwidth to take this on.”

I did not have a literary agent. I knew no one in publishing. I felt like the unpopular girl at the party: no one asked me to dance, and no one cared if I even knew how to dance. Sometimes I felt like I was trying to scale a stone castle wall with a long-nail manicure wearing stilettos: impossible. But then in January of 2019, just as I was thinking that my ideas did not matter my husband cheered me on, encouraged me to not give up, that I had great ideas (he’s biased). And so I emailed 5 people, who were vague acquaintances- most I’d never even met in person- and who were well published. I asked them that if they were comfortable, would they mind sharing the attached book proposal among their publishing network. One of those people was Jim Gilmore, co-author of “The Experience Economy” . He graciously shared my book proposal with the VP of editorial at Berrett-Koehler, Neal Maillet, and the rest is history.

There are so many times in our lives where when we look back we realize that the change was just a few hundred yards ahead. Knowing that, having that inventory of evidence, equips me with the courage til this day to KEEP GOING!!

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
The public version of me is increasingly the real me. I used to hide behind my intelligence because I wanted so much for people to take creativity – and to take me -seriously. I felt the pressure of being a Black woman in the innovation space where there are not a lot of us who are thought leaders- and so I would lead with the theory, the frameworks and the case studies. Now, I increasingly have begun to invite people “backstage”, to share my goofy side, my love of nature, ballroom dance, hip hop dance and swimming, I will show up on stage and on camera sharing personal stories that serve as metaphor for the bigger ideas I am communicating.

The more personable side of me certainly showed up more in my newest book, “Move. Think. Rest.”

I am learning that when we are more personal, we are more relatable, and then people want to lean in and listen to what else we have to say. Go figure! 🙂

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
I am building a system of tools and frameworks to help people and organizations build creative capacity- and the scale at which I envision this having impact – without me needing to be physically present for people to access the content and the ideas and the tools- most likely won’t pay off for 7-10 years.

It’s the long game, and it sometimes feels exciting and at other times feels laborious and tedious. Sometimes I feel like I am groping in the dark and at other times the path is clear as day. I am gaining help from people much smarter than me and expert in what they do in order to make this goal real.

No one gets anywhere by their self!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Sahar Coston Hardy
Aliza Schlabach

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?

Coffee? Workouts? Hitting the snooze button 14 times? Everyone has their morning ritual and we

Highlighter Series
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?

Our deepest wounds often shape us as much as our greatest joys. The pain we

Highlighter Series
Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?

Culture, economic circumstances, family traditions, local customs and more can often influence us more than