171: Natalie Nixon on Rethinking Productivity and Redesigning Work

Overview

What if the future of work isn’t about technology but about being more human?

That’s the question at the heart of my conversation with Dr. Natalie Nixon, creativity strategist and author of Move, Think, Rest: Redefining Productivity & Our Relationship with Time.

Natalie believes we’re not in a technology revolution. We’re in a human revolution. In this new era, imagination, curiosity, and creativity aren’t luxuries or “nice-to-have.” They’re strategic advantages. But to access them, we have to rethink how we work and how we rest.

Of course, what is simple on paper can be harder to embed into our daily work and life practices and Natalie shares suggestions for embracing cultivation over productivity, how creativity helps us navigate and sustain our ambitions, and why we need to embrace our uniquely human capabilities of creativity and imagination as AI advances.

Listen below or on your favorite podcast player.

More About Our Guest

Dr. Natalie Nixon is “the creativity whisperer to the C-Suite.” As creativity strategist and the CEO of Figure 8 Thinking, she helps companies catalyze creativity's ROI for inspired business results. She’s the author of Move. Think. Rest.; the award-winning The Creativity Leap; is ranked in the 2024 Thinkers50 Radar; and Real Leaders named Dr. Nixon one of the top 50 keynote speakers globally. She’s been featured in Forbes, INC and Fast Company. 

A hybrid thinker with a background in cultural anthropology, Dr. Nixon worked in the fashion industry for a division of The Limited Brands in global sourcing. She was then a professor for 16 years and the founding director of the strategic design executive MBA program at Thomas Jefferson University. 

Dr. Nixon received her BA from Vassar College, and her PhD from the University of Westminster. She’s a trustee of the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and is a lifelong dancer, swimmer and doodler.  She’s the proud stepmother of Sydney and lives with her husband John in her hometown of Philadelphia.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why we’ve entered the Imagination Era and what that means for how we work and lead

• The shift from productivity to cultivation and how it changes everything

• How slowing down expands our creativity (why “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast”)

• The “Motor” framework — Move, Think, Rest — and how it helps us do our best, most sustainable work

• The role of intuition, play, and rest in building truly creative, human-centered cultures

Learn more about Natalie Nixon:

• Figure 8 Thinking

• Instagram: @natwnixon

• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned

• Move. Think. Rest. Redefining Productivity & Our Relationship with Time

• The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation, and Intuition at Work

• Get the first chapter of Move. Think. Rest.

• Why slow is the new fast

• Growth: A History and a Reckoning, Daniel Susskind

• Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, John Medina

• Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, Yvon Chouinard

• The Subconscious Mind of the Consumer (And How To Reach It)

• Introduction-“Chaordic systems thinking” for learning organizations

• Cultivating Leadership

Thanks for Listening!

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