121. Exploring and Developing Creativity with Your Kids with guests Shelli Baltman and Fiona Stevenson

Hello and welcome to the Family Brand Podcast. My name is Chris. I'm a husband, a father, and an entrepreneur.

My name's Melissa and I am a wife, mother, former nurse turned real estate investor.

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This show will help you take a stand for your family and to raise your children by design, not default. All right, everyone. Welcome to this week's Family Brand podcast episode. You are in for a real treat because I have Shelli Baltman and Fiona Stevenson, who I would say have become great friends of mine through an awesome mastermind community the 3 of us belong to. I'm so grateful to Fiona and Shelley because in this mastermind cohort, we were just launching Family Brand and I basically offered, hey, I want to take some families through this. And Shelley and Fiona raised their hands virtually and said, yeah, we'd love to be part of the first Family Brand cohort. And so it was so cool. They went through version 1.0 and it was such an honor to work with them and their families and help them create their value. So Shelley and Fiona, welcome to the Family Brand Podcast.

Thank you so much.

So thrilled to be here.

Yeah. So I, I just wanna share with you a little bit of Shelly and Fiona's background professionally. It's, it's amazing. They own a boutique agency called The Idea Suite, and I would say that the mission of The Idea Suite, Shelly and Fiona, is to unlock creative potential in people and businesses and culture through innovation. Is there anything you else you would add to Absolutely right.

You know, some of our clients, you know, come to us and they're like, this is the best day I've ever had at work. And we love that. We're all about giving our clients amazing experiences, but obviously we have a business outcome. But more than that, we wanna give them an incredible experience and show them that each and every one of us is creative and can come up with amazing ideas.

Which is counterintuitive sometimes, right? Like clients who work with a lot of big corporates, And they sort of, you know, they'll say at the beginning, well, I'm not creative. You know, maybe we should invite some of the young people or some of the creative people. And we actually remind them a lot, just one of the kind of exercises or icebreakers we do is to ask them, who's the most creative people you know? And they often mention their kids, right? It's like, oh, my son or my daughter does this, or, you know, does art or can, you know, take a, take a cardboard box and turn it into 100 different things. And, and then we ask them, well, were you a kid once?

Mm-hmm. Yes, you were.

And so we all were creative, right? We were all kids once, and I think we all sort of over time filter ourselves and decide that we're not this or we're not that. And so, a lot of what we do in workshops is try to bring out that sort of play, kind of unleash the inner kid, and suddenly the most kind of serious business people are coming up with amazing innovative ideas and get really excited about that.

That's awesome. And it really is a limiting story that it's a story that's not true. You know, I talk a lot about this in my consulting work that, So much of our lives is made up of the stories we choose to believe. And it's a story that really, first of all, isn't true. It's a story that though we use to really kind of limit our identity of, oh, I'm not creative. And that's really just a story, you know? And one of the things that's really cool about what Shelly and Fiona have done, as I would say, you know, mothers, entrepreneurs, leaders, parents themselves, is they were like, man, I want to make sure that children understand the same creative, unique, innovative problem-solving skills. Like what greater skill, you know, to some degree, could you give a child than to teach them to think like an entrepreneur does, which is creatively and innovatively. And so they wrote this really amazing, really fun book, really cute book called The Greatest Helmet of All Time. And the subtitle is Using Our Heads for Creative Problem Solving. And so, yeah, like just share with like, how did the idea, you're doing this amazing innovation work. And really unlocking creativity. And I would say challenging leaders to be creative and realize they are as part of their identity. How did you come up with the idea of like, we should teach this to kids, we, we should write a book about this, you know, for our families?

A few things kind of came together. So first of all, I think we have this fundamental belief that the world's changing so rapidly that you can't train your kids for their careers like we used to. You can't train a child to become a doctor and that's it, or to become a lawyer and that's it, or an accountant or whatever it might be. Actually, in today's world where things are changing and evolving so rapidly, the best thing you can train them to do is to be adaptable and creative and to come up with ideas based on the experiences they have. None of us know what the future's going to be like. So that was one thing. The second thing is we often at, you know, cocktail parties or coffee dates have people ask us what we do. And so one of our fundamentals was trying to explain in a really straightforward, basic way what it is that we do for a living and how we approach innovation. Because like, what is innovation? Well, we use a really simple 6-step program. This is the exact same process that we use with our clients. And we thought, what better way to kind of put those 2 things together and help kids become more innovative, help the adults in our lives to understand better what we do by kind of pulling those 6 steps together into a story about some animals who are trying to create a better helmet. And that's basically what we did.

And it actually, it's funny, we had this amazing session. It relates to the family brand and the values back in, I think it was September of this year where we were looking at, okay, what do we wanna focus on? There's a million things we can do. Let's revisit our mission and our values. Are they still right? And as we talked about unleashing the potential, the creative potential of people and businesses, we thought, you know, what's our giveback? And we're really looking more and more at how do we extend that mission to underserved populations? And so, you know, as we kind of explore all of our charitable giving, how do we do that? How do we use our skill and innovation to benefit different communities? And then we thought, hey kids, like funny enough, that's actually sort of an underserved community in that I don't know a lot about school curriculums, but I don't think based on what I'm seeing from my kids that they've evolved, you know, dramatically in the way that business has evolved. So, I don't, Innovation and entrepreneurship is a big part of what they learn. And we know, I mean, there's going to be a lot of problems, right? Innovation is about spotting problems and coming up with creative solutions. And the world's, you know, those problems are not going away and new ones are going to come. And the faster this generation can learn how to identify problems, to come up with solutions and implement them, the better for honestly our whole world.

Yeah, I love that. And I think, you know, One of the things I want to talk about, because I think sometimes it could get lost on this idea of, oh, so you're talking about just teaching people how to be creative, or you're talking about the importance of creativity. Yes. And I think there's something much deeper that's yes. And we really want to teach people that they are creators.

Mm-hmm.

Like what, like what does that mean as an identity? Like I'm a creator, you know, because one of our family values is Smiths are creators. Which, yes, creative, but also like you're a creator, you can create anything. And having that identity and that belief. And just the other day, you know, and I even think it starts to impact language and like words matter. So the other day we were dropping off our junior high, you know, age son to the junior high drop-off and then our kindergartner and first grader at the kindergarten, first grade drop-off. And then our 5th grader at the 5th grade drop-off. And sometimes we'll drop our 5th grader off with our kindergartner and 1st grader, but she has to walk farther. She's like, I don't want to get dropped off where Tripp and Indy drop— get dropped off. And so I challenged her and I said, hey, rather than using your words to tell me what you don't want, why don't you use your words to tell me what you do want?

Mm-hmm.

She's like, I would like to be dropped off at the other drop-off. And I go, done. That's a small problem, but it's like, can we teach children that Man, you can create and you can solve problems. Yeah. Will you speak to that a little bit? Just that maybe the deeper identity around like creation and being a creator as an entrepreneur, that it's, it's, it is about creativity. And, but I think you're talking about something that's creativity and something deeper.

Well, I was just going to say, I'm really relating with your story. Creativity is a huge value in our family and one that I find now with social media And as my kids, you know, moved on to being exposed to screens and things where, you know, I say to them a lot, you need to create more than you consume. And like, not that consuming isn't great. I mean, especially like reading the great books, you know, obviously that's important as well. But like, I want them to think about the balance. Are you just sitting and kind of being a passive recipient, or are you also creating and experimenting? And then exactly the example that you talked about, it's, are you just complaining or are you looking to change? So you can complain once because that is the sort of, of great innovation, the finding that pain point. But then are you gonna change? So are you gonna either come up with a solution that changes it, or are you gonna change your attitude about that problem? 'Cause I don't just want this cycle of complaint.

And teaching a methodology, this is the other thing. So even grownups think that creativity is like some innate skill or some like Einstein-based approach where you have this eureka moment and like, oh my God, Well, only geniuses have eureka moments once in a blue moon. That's not how the vast majority of innovation happens and the vast majority of good ideas happen. You have to have a process. You have to know what your problem is. You have to understand things about the problem, which is what we call insights. You have to look outside for inspiration and other places where similar problems have been solved. That's inspiration. Then you have ideas. And the point is you can have ideas with lots of people. There's not like any rule that says you have to sit in a room by yourself and have good ideas.

Right.

So, we teach that, then it's like iteration. So, you take your kind of half-baked idea out into the world and get lots of feedback and fix it and change it and improve it before you implement it. And so, by teaching kids a like very methodical process, which of course in reality never works that straight line, it never works in a straight line way, just like entrepreneurship that takes a lot of ins and outs and backs and forth. But once you understand both as a grownup and as a child, that there's a method to go through, there's a process to go through that really helps them to feel ownership and capability level around, you know, their innate ability to create and their ability to kind of go out and get the resources they need to make something happen and to make a change in the world. If we think we have to be a genius and we just have to be creative and come up with the best idea, that's a recipe for disaster. So let's not kind of hold our kids or ourselves, by the way, To that kind of standard. Let's really, each of us know like what to do to get from here to there.

I love it. And so for one, it, it's probably been clear, but if it's not clear in the book, right, The Greatest Helmet of All Time, you know, Shelley and Fiona lay out the 6-step process that companies pay them lots of money for and hire them to come execute inside. So it's, it's amazing. And to be able to teach your children, hey, there is a method. Like, if you're ever stuck, if you're ever discouraged, if you're ever lost facing any kind of challenge, like follow this method and it will lead you. And when I was, you know, sharing it with my kids, it was like, and guys, first and foremost, what I want you to know is you are the type of person in your DNA and as your identity that can solve problems.

So good.

Like just that belief, like you see so many adults that are just like, well, I just, I was dealt this hand and like, I have this problem and I just, you know, it is what it is. It's like, no, it isn't what it is. Like, it, you know, we can do something about it. And so I love that in that, in the book, again, I've said this already, but I just love that there's this inherent message too about helping kids and adults maybe change a little bit the way they see themselves. Like, maybe I can solve problems. Maybe I can.

Yeah. When my son comes up with, because they do, when kids come up with suggestions, good or bad, Whenever he comes up with one and it's actually decent that we use, which he does come up with now and again, even when he was really little, I always praise his creativity. I say, what a great idea. Of course, that's a great idea. Yes, let's do that. And you are so awesome at coming up with great ideas. And that belief and kind of belief in his own capability has really become part of who he is.

Yeah. And what a powerful, like, so one of the things I've said for a long time is I really feel like one of my, there's a lot of important jobs, but one of my most important jobs as a parent, as a father, is to teach my children that they are creators who can create anything they want in their lives. And it's 100% their responsibility to do it. So it's both. I'm not going to wait for someone else. No one's coming to save me. You know, it's like people will help me, but if it's to be, it's up to me. You know, and I think that took me a long time in my life. It was a long time before I realized Oh wait, like if I want things, I can just go create it. I could just go find a problem out there in the world, figure out how to solve it and add value. And you would think that that'd be more obvious to more people, but I think there's way more people who just don't believe that about themselves. They don't believe that they're the type of person who can. So you've pointed out a little bit already, but I guess, yeah, what have you seen as the benefits or why do you think it's so important to teach our kids that they can be innovative, that they can solve problems?

Well, I think first of all, I mean, we touched on it a little bit in this discussion, but when you are creative and when you are kind of like not just victimized by a problem, but you're actually starting to own a solution, that builds confidence and resilience and adaptability because problems keep coming up. So that, I think we're really just excited because those are life skills. That people need to have. You know, we also try to teach through the book and like reassure people. It's kind of like what you said, putting that pressure because there's pressure when you say, you know, you can do it. That, that can be a little bit scary too. And what we try to say is the process, you need to trust the process. So when we're working with a big client, you know, we can get a little scared at points. Wait, this is a big brief. You know, they're paying us a lot of money to craft this. Are we gonna do it? And we now have executed this process across hundreds of projects and we know it works. So, there's a little bit of like, we got to trust the process. The process is going to work, but also that failure is built into the process and is a natural and expected outcome. So, he, in the book, you know, when you get to that point of like ideating, you come up with a bunch of solutions, you downselect maybe the 10 or, you know, 5 solutions you want to pursue, then you're out testing them. And that's all about— You know, embracing failure, embracing feedback where, oh, this doesn't quite work because that gives you, you know, data that you can use to optimize your solution and make it better. And also naturally, a few of the ideas are gonna fall to the bottom and a couple are gonna rise to the top. In the end, you only need that one, you know, one or two or whatever it is, like winning solutions. And so part of what the book talks about and part of what we teach people and try to get them to relax about is failure's natural, failure's great. It's the feedback loop.

Mm-hmm.

Pressure off.

And I think one final thing is, you know, in this book, these animals come together to create a helmet that works for lots of different animals with horns. And ultimately, you know, their idea gets purchased. And, you know, not that we wanted to make the outcome all about money, but we did wanna help kids feel like no matter what their circumstance or economics are, that they have whatever it takes to be successful in whatever way they define it in life. And that creativity is a viable option. Entrepreneurship is a viable option for a career. You know, you don't have to follow a path like everybody else. You can do something that's uniquely you and that speaks to who you are and the problems you see in your world.

Yeah, no, I love it. And, you know, as you were both speaking, I thought we can either teach kids to try to have all their problems go away, which is impossible, or we can just empower them How to solve them. There's a process, there's an approach, there's a method. And look, the problems are never going to stop, but that's okay because you have a framework and a belief in yourself and a method you can use to approach it. And so I just think it's tremendous. I totally agree with, with both of you that one of the greatest gifts we can teach our children is the ability to be creative and think and have the confidence that they can solve problems and innovate. And I love that there's a 6-step process in the book. It's a really cute book. It's a really fun book. Your kids will love it. So where can they go and purchase the book?

So they can find it on Amazon in multiple countries. You can also head to our website. It's theideasuite.com. And there's a kids book tab that has not only links to buy the book, but also some coloring pages and some fun illustrations just so that kids can start to interact with innovation in an age-appropriate manner. We say the book's for, you know, ages 5 to 10, but it's funny, we sent it to a lot of people, a lot of our clients as holiday gifts. And they would come back and say like, actually my teenager loved this, or, you know, my wife loved this, or my husband loved this.

That's awesome.

So, uh, we always say, you know, the best processes are kind of simple, right? Even when we're teaching innovation to clients, we're not trying to make it complex. We're actually trying to make it like super, super simple. And that's what the 6 steps really is about.

That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I know that the work you do, I've gotten to experience a little bit of it at the professional level. Love the book and I'm just for anything that empowers kids to believe in themselves and believe that they're creators and that they can, they can do hard things. Like they can make a difference in the world and all of that is highlighted through the book. So thank you both for coming on.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you very much. And thanks for my family values because they've made a huge difference to us as well.

Yeah, no, I love that.

Okay.

Talk to you soon. Bye.

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