Stepsero · 2026-05-31 · 17 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
34 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Zoranev Cevic Pringle, senior research scientist at Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice, challenges the widespread misconception that creativity belongs only to art, design, and R&D. She defines creativity as the intersection of originality and effectiveness - something new that actually works in context - and argues it's accessible to professionals across all functions, from sales to operations. The episode explores why so many professionals stay stuck at the "I wish" stage rather than acting on ideas, identifying two core risks: capability uncertainty (can I do this?) and social risk (how will others judge it?). Pringle emphasizes that creativity is a choice requiring courage, but one that organizational leaders profoundly influence through the signals they send about what's valued and safe. She discusses how leadership training can address the gap between explicitly valuing creativity and unconsciously defaulting to familiar, safer options during uncertain moments. For operations, sales, and business development professionals feeling their work is mechanical, this episode provides actionable frameworks for recognizing creativity in non-traditional roles and practical strategies for moving ideas from thought to action.
Creativity requires both originality (something different from what's been done before) and effectiveness in the specific task or situation. Being original alone can result in bizarre ideas, while being effective without novelty is just repetition. True creativity combines both dimensions.
Capability risk - uncertainty about whether you have the skills to pull it off - and social risk - concern about how others will judge or react to your creative idea. Both create psychological uncertainty that makes creative work feel risky.
Leaders create signals and environmental cues about what's expected and accepted through their decisions and reactions. Even when they explicitly claim to value creativity, their actual choices - especially quick decisions under uncertainty - often default to safer, familiar options, which discourages employees from attempting creative ideas.
People outside your immediate circle bring different perspectives, experiences, and knowledge from different environments. Their diverse viewpoints can broaden your perspective when exploring new ideas, while close colleagues provide support and refinement once you're already building something.
Start by sharing the idea with someone you trust in a safe relationship, in a low-stakes environment. This helps you get the idea out of your head, hear how it sounds aloud, test the waters with reduced social risk, and then decide the next step with more clarity.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode offers a handful of serviceable points - the dual-risk model (competence vs. social risk) and the weak-tie/strong-tie distinction for different creative phases - but they are standard creativity-research concepts dressed up conversationally, with little novel synthesis per minute and significant filler between ideas.
There are two big kinds of risk in creative work. One is, well, can you do it?...And another kind of risk is social risk.
it is really helpful to reach out to people who are on the outskirts of our social networks. Why? Because we don't talk a lot to them and they do not talk a lot to us.
The episode recycles well-worn territory - psychological safety, weak ties, leaders saying one thing and doing another - without any contrarian or first-principles framing that a curious B2B operator wouldn't already have encountered; the 'creativity is a choice' hook is the book's premise but isn't developed into genuinely surprising arguments.
even when people explicitly say, profess their value of creativity, sometimes in their choices, especially those quick choices, in those times of uncertainty, they go for a safer or more familiar option
In English, there is even a word that started as a, uh, adjective, creative...And it became, uh, a noun
The guest holds a legitimate senior research position at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and has authored a book, giving her real academic credibility; however, she is a researcher rather than a practitioner who has applied creative frameworks at scale inside B2B organisations, limiting direct relevance for operators.
senior research scientist at the Yale center for Emotional Intelligence and the author of the Creativity Choice
There is evidence that a, uh, broad range of people can do this. There is also evidence that we can learn to be better at it.
Almost no concrete data, named studies, company examples, or metrics appear in the transcript; research claims are cited vaguely ('wonderful research done that shows') and the only time-reference is an offhand 'since, you know, 1982', making the episode almost entirely abstract.
we have wonderful research done that shows even when people explicitly say, profess their value of creativity, sometimes in their choices...they go for a safer or more familiar option
departing what has been done since, you know, 1982
The host sets up topics competently but never pushes back on a single claim, requests a specific study, or asks a follow-up that creates productive tension; he even pre-signals he already knows the answer to a key question, and the conversation stays firmly in PR-friendly territory throughout.
And it's a bit of an informed question because I know that you spoke about this in the past
Zorana, it's such an honor to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for making the time.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Most of us have said it at some point: "I wish my work was more creative." And then stopped right there. In this episode, Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice, speaks about what keeps professionals stuck at that wish, and what it really takes to move beyond it. Zorana challenges the idea that creativity belongs only to artists, designers, or people in R&D. Drawing on the science of creativity and emotional intelligence, she explains why creativity is not a talent you either have or don't, but a set of choices that anyone can learn to make. Our Guest: Zorana Ivcevic Pringle Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D. , is a Senior Research Scientist at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of The Creativity Choice. Her research explores how people build creative confidence, manage the emotions that accompany ambitious goals, and turn ideas into meaningful accomplishments. Drawing on the science of creativity and emotional intelligence, she studies why promising ideas stall - and what helps individuals persist through doubt, resistance, and uncertainty to bring their ideas to life.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Speaker A: Welcome to Stepsero, a podcast for professionals who want to feel less overwhelmed by the complexities of modern work. One conversation at a time. Today my guest is Zoranev Cevic Pringle, senior research scientist at the Yale center for Emotional Intelligence and the author of the Creativity Choice. Most professionals say, I wish I were more creative at work, but never go further. In this episode, we explore why there is and what to do about it. We also define what creativity is and explore the risks and courage involved with creative work. Let's get into it. Zorana, it's such an honor to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for making the time.
Speaker B: Thank you for having me, Matteo.
Speaker A: Um, you're a senior, uh, scientist at Yale and the author of a book called the Creativity Choice. Now, I'm clearly out of my depth here, so I will need you to help me for the next 15 minutes or so. I believe there are many, many misconceptions about creativity, especially the way it can be applied to everyday work. And, uh, I think there's many misconceptions and misunderstanding about how creativity can manifest itself, let's say in white collar jobs. Most people are very confused about it. They still see it as something abstract in a way. So let me kick off this conversation, if that's okay with you, with, um, this specific angle. We tend to believe that creativity belongs mostly to art, R and D, design. And anyone who doesn't really work in a similar capacity feels, in a way, left out. What do you make of that?
Speaker B: That is a common belief in our culture. In English, there is even a word that started as a, uh, adjective, creative. To be creative, to do something that is creative. And it became, uh, a noun. So a, uh, creative is considered to be a person who works and contributes exactly to the areas that you have mentioned. And I think that's a very limited view of creativity and that is really not helpful because often people have that I wish I could be more creative in my job and, and in reality they really could.
Speaker A: This is a very practical angle that you're touching on. I come from sales, business development. I know many people in my circle, ex colleagues, who would exactly think what you just mentioned. I wish my job was more creative. I wish I could apply more creativity to what I do every day. Sometimes work can feel dull or operational or mechanical in this way. How do you exactly define creativity? And how do you see something that professionals would think of not being creative? How can we actually turn it into something a bit more creative?
Speaker B: It is a great place to start talking about creativity by defining it. And, uh, creativity scientists actually very much agree on what creativity is. Although you often hear, well, creativity is hard to define. Scholars are very clear about what it is. It is something that is in the same time, original, different in some way from what has been done before, and also, um, appropriate for the task or for the situation or effective in some way. So just being original can get you into the. Into being bizarre. That is not creative. Just being effective for a situation, well, does not have to be creative. It can be just repeating something that has been done before. So creativity is a combination of both something new, something original, and effective working in a desired way in your, uh, context.
Speaker A: Interesting. And you get this question a lot, I'm sure, But you call creativity a choice. I mean, your book, the creativity choice gives it away. Does it mean it is accessible to everyone and it's just a matter of choosing to be creative?
Speaker B: Sort of. So when, uh, I say that creativity is a choice, I mean that we have an agency and we have to positively, affirmatively say something beyond I wish so to act and to say, let's turn ideas into something concrete. Let's take what is in our head into the real world. There is evidence that a, uh, broad range of people can do this. There is also evidence that we can learn to be better at it. So it is not something that you are either born with or without, but it is not just say yes. It is not a matter of you only have to make a decision. Lots of different things have to come in place for you to be able to make that decision. Sometimes people don't make that decision for good reasons, because where they work, it would not be considered a good thing to be creative. Uh, they might get even punished for attempting it. So, so I'm not saying to the people, if you are not doing something creative, it's your fault. I am saying there is a possibility to make that choice in more contexts that might be perhaps obvious.
Speaker A: I'm thinking, you know, looking at, say, job descriptions these days, um, employees are asked to be more and more. I guess the word is entrepreneurial. We talk about thinking out of the box. We want to challenge the status quo. These are the terms that I see get thrown around. Talk. Do these fall under the domain of creativity?
Speaker B: Yes. Uh, these terms like thinking outside of the box, thinking entrepreneurially, being proactive in coming up with innovative solutions, These all fall under the umbrella of creativity. So think whenever there is something that is different from what has been done before, uh, and that is addressing a problem or having A desired effect in your context, that is creativity, does that take courage?
Speaker A: And it's a bit of an informed question because I know that you spoke about this in the past, but I'm curious to hear it.
Speaker B: I think it does take courage. Creativity takes courage because they are inherent risks to creativity. Creativity comes from situations that are uncertain. And psychologically, when something is uncertain, we experience it as a risk. There are two big kinds of risk in creative work. One is, well, can you do it? Do you have the skills? Can you figure out if you don't have the skills at this time, but you are going to learn it along the way? Can you rise to the occasion? And that is not obvious because you are by definition trying something that you haven't done before. And another kind of risk is social risk. How are people going to take this? When we say a wish, you are implying that there are structures or that they are preferences in your job because of what your boss said or what your job description is or what you have seen other people do that are implied. So social judgments. And that is the social risk of creativity. So if you are going to not just wish that you could do something with your ideas, but actually do something with your ideas, you have to make that positive, courageous decision of, um, well, I am going to do it. Not because it is not hard, not because it is comfortable, but. But in spite of the risks and in spite of those uncertainties.
Speaker A: Uh, so I think it is fair we established that creativity can be, pass me the term, tough, uncomfortable, risky in a certain way. It is also definitely not just about making art or just about making music. Let's talk about the responsibility that, for example, leadership, leaders, bosses have in fostering a creative environment. You mentioned that corporate, on certain occasions, professionals may feel they could get punished if they tap into creativity. What kind of responsibility do leaders have to promote creativity at work? And do they have any responsibility in that matter?
Speaker B: Uh, leaders very much influence everything about our experience at work. So all those thoughts we have in our minds of, um, I could do this or I shouldn't do this, those are based on something. They are based on what we have seen people be rewarded for or people being ignored for. And that becomes our own consideration when making those choices. And leaders are, of course, the most influential aspect determining what our experience of work is. So what leaders do is that they create an environment. They create, um, signals. They give us signals of what is expected and what is accepted. When leaders say and show in their own decisions that they value creativity, where they support ideas that, that are Taking a risk that are original, that are uh, departing what has been done since, you know, 1982, then they are giving you message that this is expected and this is what they value. When they ignore or criticize harshly, shut down ideas or suggestions that are attempting to do something different, uh, and original, you get a different message. You get the message, well this is not something that is accepted here. It is not even safe to make that suggestion. And then you stay at that I wish in your head and you don't even utter it.
Speaker A: Do you feel that at any point creativity has a seat at the table? When we talk about leadership training, for example, do we ever speak about creativity in that context? Because I assume that a big part of these blockers that uh, leaders impose, their themes are also put there unwillingly. Right?
Speaker B: I agree with you that these subtle messages, the messages of um, accepting or rejecting creativity are not done consciously. It is not that the leader sits and says, no, I do not care about creativity. Quite to the contrary. Usually leaders are going to explicitly say that they value it. But we have wonderful research done that shows even when people explicitly say, profess their value of creativity, sometimes in their choices, especially those quick choices, in those times of uncertainty, they go for a safer or more familiar option. And so they demonstrate their preference in um, a way of showing their behavior, not just showing their uh, their, their explicit value. And I love that you are mentioning leader, uh, training because that is something that we can talk about in leadership training. That is something that can be built so we can make leaders aware of this tendency in times of uncertainty to slip into something that is more familiar or more feels safer. And uh, uh, we can also train specific skills that contribute to creativity in combination that can then have an effect of building those conditions that make people say, I have an idea, I wish to make a contribution and then take the next step of um, um, sharing them and working towards building it.
Speaker A: We touched on leaders. What about colleagues and peers? So I know that there is an element of environments, um, social environments shaping creativity. Is it helpful in this sense to leverage the people within your circle, within your team, to somehow uh, enhance, um, foster creativity at work?
Speaker B: It is creativity social. And we think of creativity as social, especially when we discuss teams and teamwork and collaboration. But creativity is social even if you are the only one doing a particular task. And that seems counterintuitive. But ideas are not coming out of a vacuum. They are not coming from divine inspiration. They are coming from your knowledge, your experiences, seeing connections that other people perhaps have not seen. And uh, they are coming from combining ideas that were somewhere in the existence before to do that. Well, we live in the social world, so in those times when we are thinking of new ideas, when we are exploring new perspectives on a problem, it is really helpful to reach out to people who are on the outskirts of our social networks. Why? Because we don't talk a lot to them and they do not talk a lot to us. They are coming from someplace different, from a, uh, different social environment, from having different other colleagues. And they are going to have different perspectives. So their perspectives can broaden ours, but at different times, when we already are working on something, we are in the middle of that process. We are building the prototype, or, uh, we are building, improving something there. Our most immediate and closest colleagues can be a source of support because they are going to say that. And how about also this.
Speaker A: That makes so much sense. So, Rana, we are heading towards the end of the conversation, but there is one thing that I believe would be still quite practical to discuss. And, uh, probably the perfect closing to this conversation. We mentioned that sometimes professionals are stuck at this I wish phase, right? And, um, if someone has been sitting on this idea at work and they just cannot quite get it out there, they cannot say it out loud, what's the one thing that you would tell them that could help them get unstuck?
Speaker B: Uh, there are different kinds of unstuck and there are different kinds of stuck. Sometimes being stuck is because you are building something and you reached the end of a particular route. Uh, you have to restart or go two steps back and try a different approach. And then there is stuck in that wishing land. I have an idea, but I am not sure whether I can share it, whether it is safe enough for me to engage with it. Um, if we are talking about the first kind of getting stuck, stepping back from what you are working on, reaching out to different people, uh, and, uh, trying to look from a different perspective to the nature of what you are working on, can help you find the new route. If we are talking about being stuck in that, should I make a decision or should I not? Um, perhaps starting with sharing it with somebody who is. You're asking a question of whether it is safe, finding somebody who you are comfortable with, or, um, a relationship has that element of safety, and starting to share it there can help you get out of your head, see your idea, uh, how it sounds in a safe environment, and then consider the next step.
Speaker A: Serana, uh, thank you so much for taking the time for helping me shed some clarity on a topic that I believe is widely underrated and misunderstood. And hopefully we can do this again at some point soon. Thank you very much.
Speaker B: Thank you, Matteo.
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