In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Monica Kang, founder and CEO of InnovatorsBox and author of the upcoming book Rethink Creativity. The conversation covers several themes: the importance of mentorship and in‑person connections over digital interactions; the role of patience in developing creativity and debunking the notion that creative talent is innate; cultural influences on business speed versus patience and how to balance them; personal advice to her younger self about being daring; her definition of happiness as knowing, protecting, and sharing one’s values; a book recommendation (The Triumphs of Happiness) and the key lesson of humility and changing perspectives over time; her favorite quote from The Little Prince about seeing the essential with the heart; and finally how listeners can connect with her via LinkedIn. Throughout, Monica shares practical advice for entrepreneurs, emphasizes the need for deliberate practice, and highlights the centrality of values in both personal and professional life.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Monica Kang with us. She's the founder and CEO of Innovator's Box and the author of Rethink Creativity, coming out in September. So welcome to the show, Monica.
Thank you for having me.
Of course. Grateful to have you here, Monica. We'll dive into the first question. The first one I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Oh, wow. That's a great question. I think best story is some of my relationships I have with my mentor. And the values that I learned from is, you know, we spend so much time online and at the end of the day, it's really the in-person connections that really make a huge impact in how you develop. And so some of my closest mentor relationships who now play a huge role and impact in my business development, who I am as a person, are people that took sometimes 6 to 7 months initially in the digital space of trying to stay connected. But once we met in person, was instantly being able to find that connection and opportunity to grow together as being a better person and doing the business. And I think we forget so much when we spend so much time in front of a computer and in front of emails and texts. And so I always try to keep that in mind. How do I make more time offline with the invaluable people to build those relationships?
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So with my expertise in creativity, I would highlight the importance of how important patience is. We know that you don't become healthy overnight. We know that you don't learn, master something overnight. I don't know why people think creative is just something that's happening overnight. So please get rid of that opinion. There is a reason why certain people feel more comfortable because they practice in You hone that over time. And creativity is different for every person. So someone is more visual doesn't mean everyone else is a visual learner. Just because someone is good with numbers doesn't mean other people aren't. But you gotta find what is right and be patient with your learning, 'cause you will get better the more you dedicate and the more you believe and invest in it. So never forget that piece.
And so just to dive in a little bit quicker there, 'cause I'm just curious on your opinion on this. So like, you know, I totally agree. So I like help people write, market their books, and I've written a few of my own. And the creative process, like especially with the writing, was very difficult for me at first. And then as I started to journal every day, it became a lot easier to like get into writer's flow. So totally agree that it is a practice that you get better at. But do you think that some people could have like, whether it's genetics or something like a natural, like a higher ability of creativity just naturally?
So I think the reason why we got to have that notion is that it is true that everyone is different genetically. We're all genetically different. I think we know that from the fingerprints. That's why we know fingerprint. Everyone has a different fingerprint. Like, we have different organs. But I think genetically what's different is that it's not that it's higher creatively, it's that creative expression is different. And some are more visible in that traditional artistic way of communication, and others have not tapped into it in a long time, as well as a whole bucket of other people who have not been given the opportunity to build the confidence of what their creative insights are. And so some have not practiced their creativity in a long time. We all are creative in different ways and can be more, but those who tend to thrive more are the ones who had a chance to practice, you know, might have been in a space where they got to harness it more and was given that credit early on. But if we have that space to recognize what it is, then we will be able to bring that more out. But we're all creative very differently. It's— the problem is that we think someone is quote, quote, higher creative genetically. The real question is how we are creative differently, not higher creatively. And that's where I think our societal notion has been wrong and misleading for many of us, which I'm excited to debunk and help more people realize how they can focus on harnessing their own creativity. But you got to believe in it. If you don't believe that you can be healthy, then all that exercise does not work out as well.
Yes, that's huge. That's like a whole different way of thinking about it instead of hire creatively, different creatively. So thank you for that. That actually just changed my mindset on that. So boom, there it is. 2 minutes mindset shift.
That's all the work I do.
Yeah, that was awesome. The next one I have for you is what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Being patient about the right things. And I say this because I'm very like, I have two cultures where it pushes me to do fast, fast, fast. I'm Korean American. So in Korean culture, we say the word "balli" in every single sentence, which is like fast. If you had to translate a paragraph of a dialogue, you would hear a conversation where we're saying we have to quickly get to that bus stop to quickly order that food to quickly make sure we get it done. But they don't really mean rush every single time that like notion is always there. And American culture, like, we're all about, you know, half of the people probably eat at their desk because they want to get more things done faster. And I think speed is good because I am an overworker as well. I'm a workaholic. I work a lot, and speed is something that I enjoy. But I need to always remember, especially as a business owner, is you got to be patient about the right things, as in patient about the relationships. Patience about the big picture and impatient about the small details. If something's not working right, you got to be impatient and fix it. But you don't want to be impatient about the relationships. You don't want to be impatient about like your actual value proposition. And I think knowing what you need to be patient for and what not to be is incredible intuition that takes time. But you got to be patient to learn what's right as well. And I think Understanding that is very, very valuable. So that's my advice.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Make more time to be daring. We always think we already know what we think could happen, but we're always less experienced than our future self. So if we have If we still feel the same way we do a few years later, that means we are not giving ourselves enough space to grow and do things differently. And, you know, maybe this is upfront, but, you know, shame on you for not giving yourself space to grow. If you feel like you're the same person, most of us might have the same core values, but I hope that we give ourselves more space to grow. But to do that, you have to keep that into perspective. So that's What advice I would share to my younger self? Be more daring and believe in that. Yeah, be more.
And I could tie in a little bit, but in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Knowing your values and protecting your values and sharing your values.
Knowing, protecting, and sharing your values. I like that. Okay. And what is the best book? You got one coming out soon. What is the best book that you've read And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I love this question because I think having gone through the author journey, prior to that, I've loved and continue to love reading. And one thing that's been on my top list I keep recommending to every single person is The Triumphs of Happiness. It's based on the Harvard Grant Study research. It's one of the longest human history on psychology and human behavior. And it was fascinating because I love reading, but it is still a challenge for me, especially being with my entrepreneur life to read a thick nonfiction book, just straight up. And this, I just couldn't put it down. Like, I had to, like, take time to read it. And I loved it so much. And the reason is because it just reminds you so much of the perspective of truly how complex and simple human being life is. Like, I think we like to overcomplicate things and put value in things over put value in the wrong bucket and forget to prioritize the small things that are actually essential. And so the number one thing that I've actually learned from all the lessons that they talk about was actually how much you change over time and how that changes the way you interpret things. And the writer talks about at the beginning, you know, just a disclaimer, I'm trained to be objective about what I'm doing in the research about human behavior, but I forgot how subjective I was. And he talks about, I'm researching these people who are 10, 15 years older than me. And as they were telling about their stories of their 40s, being someone in their 30s, I'm like, haha, like, I am not going to make that mistake in my 40s. How, how, why would they do that? Until he became in his 40s now writing this book. And I'm like, I should have been ashamed of saying that and thinking of it, because now I completely understand how in the world could some people could get into that situation, because I've actually just experienced that whole thing in my last decade. And so now, as you study these people in his 50s and, you know, 70s, he's I'm more humble because, you know, you just, you only know what you know. And there's so much more we don't know. And you should always, always be mindful of that, especially in everything you do with people. So that's the advice that I always like to carry, particularly even more so since I do work with people and talent. Never make over-assumptions.
I got to check that one out too. That's a And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote is actually from another favorite book of mine. This one is a fiction, and I actually pulled it up because I want to make sure I don't butcher it. And it's, that is, the quote is, "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, and what is essential is invisible to the eye." I don't know, do you recognize the quote, which book this is from?
I don't, tell me.
This is from The Little Prince from Antonio de Saint-Exupéry. Soubrières. Yeah, it's— you've probably heard of the book though, right?
Yes. Yeah.
It's one of the most famous books. It's always in the children's category. But in the intro, he talks about how he wrote it in thinking about adults, children's book for adults.
Got it.
And I collect it because it's a reminder that I've read this book throughout my life multiple times. And it's something that reminds me of that core value again. It's like, what is essential is invisible to the eye. How will you make sure you have that eye to catch that and never forget your values? So it like kind of connects back to my other things, like how do you keep in mind your values? Because it always gets busy. There's always crazier things happening in your life that will be out of control. But doing things that will sacrifice who you are, is it really worth it?
Yes, this, this was a beautiful episode. That's how I would describe it. So Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find you online?
The best way is I am a big LinkedIn user, so I would love people if they can just reach out on LinkedIn and connect. Love always meeting with new people, so hope to connect with you folks. And just make sure you put a blurb though, because I then I get the context of how people is reaching out and not just putting a random request. And I like to share some meaningful things when I get inspired. So love to share some positivity and hear some of your positivities as well.
Thank you so much again for coming on. We appreciate it.
