194: Deep Souls with Kathryn Haydon

Pivot Insider and creativity expert Kathryn Haydon is back to discuss her emerging studies of Deep Souls, building upon her background in education and creativity. As she describes in her article, 7 Strengths of Deep Souls: The Thinkers We Need But Rarely Understand:

"Is Everyone a Deep Soul? The underlying traits that fuel deep soul strengths are universal characteristics of creative thinking. Research shows that nearly all of us have an intense combination of these strengths in early childhood, but they get dulled over time—especially during our school years. Deep souls, however, have resisted this dulling. They can't help it. The intensity of their ability to think differently cannot and will not be stopped.”

Listen in as we discuss the seven strengths, and how to best support and encourage the deep souls around you in life and work.

View full show notes from this episode at http://pivotmethod.com/194

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More About Kathryn

Rainer Maria Rilke in 1900 (Wikipedia)

Kathryn Haydon, creativity and innovation expert, founded Sparkitivity to deliver training, workshops, and keynotes that help you future-proof your business and career.

She teaches courageous leaders and teams to apply the science of creativity to grow revenue, cut costs, and add innovative value in a fast-paced world. Her clients span industries, from Bosch and ZipRecruiter to banks, accounting firms, and educational institutions. Kathryn began her career in banking and moved into the science of creativity to understand the structures and practices that support the full contribution of individuals and teams in the workplace and in learning.

She is the author of the award-winning The Non-Obvious Guide to Being More Creative, No Matter Where You Work and co-author of Creativity for Everybody. Kathryn has written and spoken widely on creative thinking, learning, talent development, and the secret strengths of outlier thinkers, including several chapters in edited volumes and hundreds of articles. She is a regular contributor to publications like Psychology Today, and her work has been featured in The Washington Post.

Topics Covered

  • How Kathryn defines Deep Souls

  • These are underlying characteristics that support creative thinking; everyone has a combination, they just get dulled over time

  • How these times of change are affecting deep souls in particular 

  • If there isn’t a category for this type of person they get mis-labeled 

  • Rebels, dreamers, and class clowns; the desire to come up with ideas and original thoughts

  • Convergent thinking vs. divergent thinking

  • The one combined characteristic is they thrive in meaning

  • One of the hardest pieces is how we measure success; current metrics have to do with money, power, popularity

  • Instead we could consider: impact, wholeness, being, constantly living in connection with your values

  • Easier if someone has been understood from a young age; if they have a champion or relative who seeks a spark in them

  • We need people who can maintain different perspectives, are willing to take the risk not to conform

  • The Inertia of No: the tendency to conform, not take action

  • How we can better support the deep souls around us

  • Creative confidence to go forward; the need for polymaths and their type of thinking

  • Patronage, project-based work

Resources Mentioned

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