Rebel, Reject, Create!

My guest today is Dr. Myriam Hadnes — a Amsterdam-based facilitator, podcaster, and “facilitation evangelist” on a mission to make the world more collaborative. She hosts the workshops.work podcast, designs and leads workshops around psychological safety, feedback culture and collaboration, and champions what she calls “unprofessionalism” at work — dropping the mask so humans can actually work together.In this episode:Myriam and I explore facilitation as a creative act: prepared yet improvisational, grounded yet open to the unknown. We dig into psychological safety, not as a buzzword, but as the practical ability for people (including the facilitator) to admit “I don’t know” without going into defence mode. Myriam explains why creativity collapses when our nervous systems are in survival mode, and why nervous system regulation might be the critical skill for today’s workplaces. She challenges common facilitation myths about “bad ideas,” reframes them as prompt and safety issues, and shares simple practices — breathing, stretching, slowing down — that open the door to real collaboration. The conversation ends with her call for “unprofessionalism”: showing what’s behind the professional mask so we can see, and use, each other’s complementary talents.Find Myriam Online:https://www.linkedin.com/in/myriam-hadneshttps://www.youtube.com/c/workshopsworkhttps://www.instagram.com/myriamhadnes/https://substack.com/@myriamhadnes

In this episode my guest is Claudia Thompson — leadership coach and author helping small and mid-sized business owners get out of firefighting and back to purpose. In our conversation, Claudia reframes creativity as everyday problem-solving, shows how to dismantle assumptions, and uses group workshops (with “no stupid ideas”) to grant permission and surface honest insights. We talk reverse brainstorming, the cost of zombie processes, how AI/delegation can return focus, and why many leaders don’t get what they want—because they haven’t decided what they want.Find out more about Claudia here:www.linkedin.com/in/claudiadthompsonwww.instagram.com/claudiadthompsonwww.thebusinessfabrik.comFind out more about David Chislett here:https://davidchislett.com

My guest this episode is Anton Marshall, a Cape Town–based creator, musician, presenter, and all-round maverick. Anton has spent decades on stages and in studios, crafting music, hosting shows, and building projects that put joy and honesty front-and-center. In this episode, he argues that creativity is a daily rebellion against the status quo, unpacks why fear (not effort) blocks opportunities, and shares a practical formula: align your earning with your energy through incremental, compounding action. We get into the NASA “creative genius” drop-off, why school trains shame around being wrong, how to use AI to bolster—not replace—your ideas.There's also a story of shrinking a 5-piece band into a nimble trio to ship a new live show in weeks. The closer? Stop saying “no time”—make a choice and do the next small thing.To find out more about Anton:https://antonmarshall.co.zaTo find out more about David Chislett:https://davidchislett.com

My guest this episode is Hanne Kristiansen — a people-obsessed corporate innovator; ex-Head of Innovation for Kellogg Europe (London, New York, Dublin.She is also the founder of Creative ID, a research-backed framework (with University of Sheffield, since 2008) that maps how creativity actually shows up at work.In this episode: Hanne reframes “rebellion” for big organizations, replacing noisy disruption with stealth reframing that gets traction. She introduces Creative ID and its five styles—Stimulating, Spotting, Sculpting, Selecting, Supporting—showing how generative and enabling creativity combine to move ideas from abstract to adopted. We unpack creative intelligence (preferences over personality), why this matters for burnout and performance, and how each style partners with AI without outsourcing human judgment.Find out more about Hanne here:https://www.wearecreativecreatures.com/And about Creative ID here:https://www.yourcreativeid.com/And find out more about me, David Chislett, here:https://davidchislett.com/

This episode's guest, Arne van Oosterom is the founder of Future Skills Academy, renowned design thinker and facilitator. A self-described school dropout with dyslexia who never stopped learning, Arne has worked across art, music, theatre, design, and strategy. He sees creativity not as a personality type but as a supported behavior. In this conversation, Arne unpacks how psychological safety enables curiosity and experimentation; why labels (designer, artist, engineer) limit our potential; and how humanity cycles from chaos to order and back. He challenges today’s AI panic, arguing the real risk is platform power concentration — and predicts a shift toward smaller, ecosystem-based communities. The episode lands on radical listening: we won’t share the same experience, but we can start from a respectful “movable middle” to build together.Find out more about Arne's work here:https://futureskills.academyFind out more about David chislett here:https://davidchislett.com