Build Your Business Like an Artist: A Creative Leadership Mindset
Build Your Business Like an Artist: A Creative Leadership Mindset
The best leaders don't just manage—they create. Here's how Rick Rubin's The Creative Act changed the way I think about leadership, company culture, and building Apple Spice.
Creative Leadership: Build Your Business Like an Artist
Creative leadership isn't something most business owners study. We learn strategy, finance, operations, and management. But after listening to Rick Rubin's The Creative Act, I realized leadership is also an act of creativity.
Although Rubin wrote the book for artists and musicians, the ideas translate surprisingly well to business. Whether you're running a restaurant, leading a team, or building a company culture, the same principles that help artists create meaningful work can help leaders build meaningful organizations.
As I prepare to spend more time back at Apple Spice, I've been thinking less about managing people and more about creating an environment where people can do their best work. That shift has changed how I want to show up each day.
I don't want to return with the mindset of a manager trying to control every outcome.
I want to return with the mindset of an artist.
Why Creative Leadership Matters
Most leaders spend their days reacting.
A customer has a complaint.
An employee makes a mistake.
A piece of equipment breaks.
Sales fluctuate.
Schedules change.
Leadership can quickly become a never-ending cycle of solving problems.
But the leaders I've admired most seem to do something different. They don't simply react faster. They notice more.
They pay attention.
They create environments where people can do their best work.
They remain curious instead of becoming certain.
That's what I believe creative leadership is really about.
It's not managing people.
It's creating the conditions where great work can happen.
Stay Above the Table
One image came to me while I was listening to the book.
Imagine your attention as a ping-pong ball bouncing above a table.
As long as the ball stays above the table, you're present.
You're paying attention to what's actually happening around you.
You're listening instead of preparing your next response.
You're noticing your team.
You're seeing your customers.
You're open to ideas that weren't available a moment ago.
But when the ball drops below the table, something changes.
That's where the endless mental chatter lives.
Old frustrations.
Assumptions.
Judgments.
Stories you've repeated so often they've started to feel like facts.
The goal isn't to stop thinking.
That's impossible.
The practice is simply noticing when your attention has disappeared beneath the table—and gently bringing it back.
Because creativity doesn't happen in your assumptions.
It happens in your awareness.
That's where leadership lives too.
Show Up. Observe. Learn.
The second lesson may be the one I need the most.
Show up. Observe. Learn.
Those four words will probably end up on a sticky note inside my notebook.
As we reopen Apple Spice, it's easy for me to walk through the door carrying yesterday into today.
Maybe someone frustrated me.
Maybe a process didn't work.
Maybe I think I already know how a conversation is going to go.
If I bring those stories with me, I've already decided what today will be before it even begins.
I'm trying something different.
I want to walk in neutral.
Not positive.
Not negative.
Just present.
Curious enough to ask:
What's working?
What's changed?
What am I missing?
Only after observing do I want to decide what needs to change.
Great leaders don't just solve problems.
They see clearly before they act. It's a similar mindset to something I wrote previously about under-promising and over-delivering—success often comes from managing your own expectations before trying to exceed everyone else's.
Every Business Is a Creative Act
One of the biggest shifts I had while listening to Rubin was realizing that every business can be an artistic endeavor.
We usually think artists paint, write novels, compose music, or make films.
But why stop there?
A restaurant can be art.
A company culture can be art.
A customer experience can be art.
Leadership can be art.
My medium isn't paint or music.
It's people.
It's food.
It's systems.
It's conversations.
It's the feeling someone has after spending time with our team.
That's the canvas I'm working on.
Every hiring decision is another brushstroke.
Every process we improve changes the composition.
Every conversation shapes the finished work.
That's a much more inspiring way to think about building a business.
Experiment More Than You Explain
Rubin talks often about experimentation.
Artists don't wait until they're certain they'll succeed.
They try something.
They see what happens.
Then they adjust.
That reminded me of Charlie Munger's habit of inversion.
Instead of always asking,
"What's the right answer?"
Sometimes it's better to ask,
"What if we tried the opposite?"
"What assumption are we making?"
"What haven't we considered?"
Thankfully, I think this has always been part of our culture at Apple Spice.
We've never been afraid to test an idea.
The challenge now is protecting that curiosity as we continue to grow.
Because curiosity scales better than certainty.
Maybe Peace Is a Practice
One of my personal goals this year has been finding more peace.
Listening to Rubin made me wonder if peace isn't something we discover.
Maybe it's something we practice.
Maybe peace comes from staying above the table a little more often.
Meeting people without yesterday's stories.
Showing up without assumptions.
Observing before judging.
Creating instead of controlling.
The more I think about it, the more I believe leadership isn't about having the right answers.
It's about paying close enough attention to ask better questions.
That's the artist's mindset.
And that's the kind of leader I want to become.
Not someone who walks into a room trying to impose an outcome.
Someone who walks into a room paying close enough attention that the right outcome has a chance to emerge.
From this point forward, that's how I want to build my business.
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