Creativity manifests on the road less traveled, and the people who dare to venture onto it are the people we celebrate. It’s in the hearts and minds of athletes who dedicate their lives to creating better versions of themselves. They’re inspired by the transformative power of sport and we, in turn, are inspired by them.

We’re all born with creative potential. From the womb, we approach life with boundless curiosity. Each day we wake up and make the decision to look at the challenges that lie ahead through a prism of possibilities – or we just press repeat.

Creativity is a state of mind

If you love watching your favorite movie scene over and over again, you can stop reading. We’re talking to the creators, the difference makers, the doers. People who understand that the world is constantly changing. People who follow their inborn desire to play a part in this process – and start each day excited about the new.

The ‘lone creative genius’ represents the thinking of yesteryear. Today, in teams and businesses across the world, it’s recognized that no one person holds all the pieces of the puzzle, that creativity needs to be nurtured and supported throughout organizations. So, we connect and collaborate by offering up our own ideas and building on those of others.

Here’s some food for thought on how to spark and cultivate creative mindsets in your team with insights from members of the adidas design community.

Creativity is about never resting, about always pushing ourselves. It’s about challenging the status quo – even challenging the status quo we’ve created for ourselves – then challenging each other. It’s about creative friction; rubbing up against others and igniting sparks.

This creator mindset doesn’t thrive in traditional hierarchies. Creative leadership comes from everywhere and everyone. It comes from the groundswell; the people and the community. It has to, because creators require a space where they can express themselves, chase their ideas and their dreams.

Creators are defined by a set of principles: First, creators ask questions. Creativity is not about always having the answers but about having the right questions. Second, creators love to create. It’s one thing to have ideas but another to bring them to life. Execution is at the core of creativity. Otherwise, what good is it?

“Identifying my creative personality is an ongoing evolution. It’s dynamic rather than static – more of a journey than a destination.

If there is such a thing as an ‘introvert-extrovert continuum’, I find myself being more introverted at some points and more extroverted at others – depending on my environment.

As creatives, we’re focused on the design realities of today and dream about the design possibilities of tomorrow. Sport, culture, and the creative climate are constantly in a state of flux, and these changes call for different types of creative personalities to come to the fore. Being able to play on both sides of the spectrum has proven to be a definite advantage.

Perhaps more important than any introvert-extrovert distinction is a lesson my basketball coach taught me in my youth. He said, “Hustle beats talent if talent doesn’t hustle.” By ‘hustle’, my coach was referring to dedication, commitment, passion, and fearlessness. Crucially, hustlers come in all different shapes, sizes, and personalities.

“Open-mindedness is critical to the creative design process. It provides a safe haven for creatives to exchange original ideas with optimism and without judgment.

In the work space, it’s important to think about ways to ‘reform the norm’. Thankfully, as part of the Advanced Creation team at adidas, I’m surrounded by strong, confident, innovative ‘What if?’ women who make the seemingly impossible possible.