I recently got back into blogging… again, after taking a considerable pause of five to six years. Even though my (new new) blog is only three months old, I realized that I haven’t only been missing blogging a lot, but that it is also making me a better Creative leader.

Why? Because at their core, both blogging and creative leadership involve story telling. Whether you are telling a story through images, videos, words, textures, scents or a mixture of these, you are taking your audience on a journey. The most important key for a memorable journey is being both informative and entertaining. People hate being bored and they want to get something out of anything they put time or money into.

Whether is being inspired to take action, learning something new or having a delectable experience, give your audience that “something” they are looking for.

At their core, both blogging and creative leadership involve story telling.

As a creative director I very often offer aesthetic guidance and mentorship to my clients, collaborators from other fields / industries, or other designers. I pretty much do the same through my blog and I hope to educate people to be more stylish and invite more art and creativity into their life.

Blogging has made me be more concise, organize my ideas better and have a laser sharp focus on the end goal of the project (or article). I always loved expressing myself through writing and imagery over other communication methods and studies show that reading or seeing something is 80% more impactful on the memory than just hearing somebody on the phone, for example.

Drawing on paper (or my iPad) is also a way to flex my creativity better, as it activates different brain centers than passively hearing or watching something. Should we all go back to pen and paper and ditch technology? In no way, shape or form! But it’s great to integrate “analog” rituals in your arsenal as well, like writing ideas down in a notebook, sketching or looking for synonyms instead of the normal words you always use. It always works for me to bring fresh ideas and break through creative blocks when they arise.

I always loved expressing myself through writing and imagery over other communication methods.

Creative leadership is sometimes taking a subject that is old and presenting it in a different light. After all, that’s what redesigns are all about! Not being afraid to rock the boat and shatter expectations is often what leads to innovation and better products. Question everything and always challenge the status quo. When you are running a blog, sometimes it’s hard to come up with new subjects all the time or to think what to write about, and that’s when turning to your inner compass is what saves the day. What do you know best? What are you an expert in? Many times just turning to your strongest skills and presenting them in a fresh way is exactly what your audience / clients are needing from you.

Creative leadership is sometimes taking a subject that is old and presenting it in a different light.

Do you have any tales about how blogging made you better at your “day” job? Let me know in the comments below and follow me on Instagram for my (almost) daily visual stories: @klangwelt.