In a world where the place you were born, the amount of money in your bank account, and the level of melanin in your skin can determine the precise path you are expected to follow, you may need inspiration and strategies to discover how you can make the most impact.

In our book Creative Hustle: Blaze Your Own Path and Make Work That Matters, we examine how to transcend the limits that hold people back in their lives, including both limits set by others and by ourselves. As a species, we have always been creative problem solvers. While it may seem counterintuitive, this proclivity can weaken as we age, because many institutions in our society discourage us from acting on the robust imaginations we had as children. Dreaming big is often belittled as “unrealistic” or “naive.” Yet if we want to break out of the status quo to build a more beautiful world, we need to hone that childlike creativity and couple it with our entrepreneurial instincts. This is not light work. It demands that we establish strong principles, collaborate with diverse networks of people, and build our own sets of creative rituals.

To help guide you through this process, we offer inspiration and lessons from notable creative problem solvers who have merged their own passions and values with their professional goals, such as Academy Award-winning writer/director (CODA, 2022), Siân Heder. These stories will help you identify your own path and hone the practices you will need to reach your goals.

We see creative hustle as the engine to fulfilling and surpassing one’s goals. It’s about living a life of integrity that taps into core values, relationships, and behaviors to contribute to the world in meaningful ways. Creative hustle is about dreaming big in every direction. Let’s deconstruct the phrase to get deeper into its meaning.

Read the full article about how creativity drives innovation by Olatunde Sobomehin and sam seidel at Stanford Social Innovation Review.