The proverbial young creative and wizened judge both exist at your company. Let’s talk about how to break the cycle and unleash the young creator.

Why is it, on every reality TV show, the youngest chef, designer, or creative always beats out their seasoned competitors with flashes of creativity? Inevitably, the contestant oscillates between first place and second to last throughout the entire season, before falling just short in the finale. At some point, they will have a moment of crisis and they will break down, with the show’s host rushing over for that episode’s requisite dramatic moment. The young contestant always takes a creative risk, in part because they don’t know it’s a risk and in part because they never learned “the right way”. This novel technique is equally likely to be dubbed genius, as it is possible to end in catastrophe.

Now, imagine if you coupled this contestant with the show’s battle-tested judge to create the next cake, dress, floral display (yes, there is now a flower arrangement reality competition)? How badass would their creation be? Here’s the kicker: the proverbial young creative and wizened judge both exist at your company. Let’s talk about how to break the cycle and unleash the young creator.