InnovatorsBox | Impact Report 2018

BELIEVING IN

CREATIVITY IMPACT REPORT 2018

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 03

Letter from the Founder

04

Mission, Who We Are, and Values

05

2018 in a year

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Creativity in the Workplace Today

13

The Year Ahead

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Gratitude

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Contact

LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER Do they have time to be creative in their busy schedule? Is it something that’s valued in their workplace?

The hunger for answers is there, but the solution seems foggy. What do you do?

The answer is simple. you go back to the roots of creativity: courage and trust.

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he more I learn about creativity, the more fascinated I am by its dichotomy of complexity and simplicity.

Creativity may seem like a complex subject to some and the idea of living a creative life may feel too far-fetched.

This is because everyone is inspired by something different and wants to express something unique when they create. Trying to tap into creativity leaves teams struggling and feeling overwhelmed. It’s hard to see at first how different expressions of creativity fit into a company culture. And, it’s harder to know what is even considered creative. Team members are left wondering what unknown process they need to follow to unlock the power of creativity. Even if they do unlock it, what does it mean?

This was clear from the results we saw from our engagements in 2018. This was true no matter the workplace, industry, or type of participants. If the individuals in the room believed in their creative strengths, that their creative ideas would be supported, and that they would be recognized for their creative attempts, they were more likely to speak up, try something different, and be comfortable being themselves. Their courage directly impacted the team’s collaboration, productivity, and communication. Simply put, trusting your own creativity and having the courage to practice it with intention and tenacity started to spark real workplace change.

Does this solve all challenges? No, this takes time. But people are now asking harder questions. Without these harder

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questions, how do you expect to solve harder problems?

Trust was the key theme that emerged in our 70+ engagements and 28 trips in 2018. As we worked with bigger teams, on harder questions, and further away from our HQ in DC, we were excited to witness the transformations participants went through as a result of trusting themselves and believing in their own creativity.

We’re just deeply humbled that we could be there to nudge them with the simple truth: creativity is already within us. We just have to wake it up.

If this is the reminder you were looking for, here you go.

Sincerely,

Monica H. Kang Founder & CEO

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OUR MISSION To unlock creativity for all

WHO WE ARE InnovatorsBox® is a creative education firm that catalyzes sustainable change at the level where it matters the most: your mindset. We believe that everyone is innately creative and that creativity has the power to solve every organization’s challenges, no matter the industry. From team development to company transitions, our customizable approach encourages you to apply new thinking to your specific pain points through creativity. Our educational programs, products, and interactive exercises help all professionals hone their creativity to solve problems in the face of change and complexity.

OUR VALUES Be open and honest Build authentic relationships Embrace humility Practice what you preach Celebrate diversity

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2018 YEAR OF REVIEW 2018 was a humbling year full of exciting growth! We doubled our impact with the same number of staff by staying focused, agile, and determined. We experienced more than 80% overall growth compared to 2016-2017!

over

80%

28

3,500

overall growth

cities

individuals

70 workshops,

keynote speakings, and facilitations

5 Countries

Calgary, Canada

Philadelphia, PA Hanover, NH Detroit, MI Denver, CO

Champaign, IL Chicago, IL Kansas City, MO

San Diego, CA

Dallas/Plano, TX Austin, TX Houston, TX

Boston, MA

New York City, Westchester, NY Princeton, NJ Bethesda, Silver Spring, MD Washington, DC Arlington, Lessburg, McLean, Reston, Tysons, VA

Seoul, South Korea

Tunis, Tunisia

Charleston, SC Singapore, Singapore

United States

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e witnessed lasting accountability and greater impact in the organizations we worked with by extending our reach through department-wide engagements and senior executive focused programs. We also broadened our geographical reach by participating and engaging in more national and international conferences. Our Founder and CEO Monica Kang held workshops at bigger conferences such as the Asian Leadership Conference in Korea and shared her creative insights as a keynote speaker at events like Ericsson’s Annual Supplier Diversity MatchMaker Event in Dallas.

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This permitted us to spread our message worldwide.

With hundreds of individuals being impacted through one shared experience, participants were more likely to translate their individual creative growth into creative culture development within their teams or communities.

Creativity became a way of life for the participants and they challenged their teams to be more creative despite their demanding workloads. And as we did more repeat engagements, we witnessed the ripple effect that creativity forms in different companies, communities, and cultures.

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also an important year for our products.

2018 was Not only did we upgrade SPARK 1 and SPARK 2 to a better quality, we also developed four new products under two new product lines: ReImagine and Infinity.

ReImagine series focuses on rethinking daily habit building and Infinity series pushes users to rethink problem-solving.

In our journey of making creativity affordable and accessible to all, we are excited to see how individuals and teams continue to use these products to find creative ways to shake up their daily routines in the office or at home.

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The Infinity Squared dice set is a really interesting tool to help facilitate divergent thinking that can spur creativity. I’ve understood and believed for a while now the paradoxical truth that establishing structure can actually aid creative output.

—Jimmy Pappadeas Infinity Squared product user

ReImagine is a great way to surprise yourself—all the excitement about changing your routine without the burden of planning it.

You could find an activity you do once or find something that profoundly changes you.

—Kushaan Shah ReImagine product user

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Furthermore, our Founder and CEO Monica H. Kang published her book Rethink Creativity: How to Innovate, Inspire, and Thrive at Work that explores ways readers can rekindle a creative mindset as a professional, team, or company. Since her book launch in September 2018, she spoke to over 300 students and professionals in Seoul, Korea, NYC, Boston, and Washington, DC, to help them unlock their creativity. She continues to tour and talk in 2019 to remind professionals that daily creative thinking is possible no matter their job or industry.

We’re excited to see the global movement around Rethink Creativity growing one person at a time!

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Rethink Creativity is the book that we all need to read, at this time and in this moment. Monica Kang’s story is a testament to the human capacity to be introspective, be proactive, be courageous, and march forward into one’s bliss.

—Dr. Tyrone Grandison Founder, The Data-Driven Institute

Monica Kang gives us new tips until we arrive at the same destination: the spark of creativity, freedom from fears, assumptions, and societal expectations, and the courage to be human-being not “human-doing,” a better team player and a better leader.

—Dr. Khuloud Odeh CO, Urban Institute

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e ended 2018 strong with returning engagement requests for 2019 from past clients. While this was important progress, we’re also excited to celebrate our team’s development. Despite the growing amount of engagements and tight timelines, we met all our goals while still recharging, practicing creativity, and celebrating along the way. And as we continue to grow stronger together as a team in 2019, we look to find new ways to share creativity with more communities.

But, we are not the same without you and your support.

We were deeply humbled to receive two major business awards in recognition of doing what we believe the world needs: empowering people to unlock their own creativity and build a creative mindset. Thanks to your love and support, we won the Top 100 MBE Awards from the Capital Region Minority Supplier Diversity Council and our Founder and CEO Monica Kang won the Womanpreneur Under 40 of the Year, Just Ambitious Small Business Award from the DC Women’s Business Center. We are looking forward to solving bigger problems and asking harder questions in 2019 as we continue our work strengthening the future of creativity in the workplace.

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C R E AT I V I T Y I N T H E W O R K P L A C E #1 Most leaders mean well and care about their

team’s talent, but struggle to empower their team’s creativity because they do not know how.

#2 Most employees want to be creative and try doing something different, but struggle to know the right time and the right way to be creative.

#3 Most creativity programs focus on solving a known problem, but do not equip participants with what they need to build a creative mindset in order to identify and solve unknown problems.

#4 Most team members share similar concerns with one another, but find it hard to share openly due to the fear of judgement.

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orking with 6,000 individuals from 12 industries over the past three years is bound to give you a lot of insight into today’s main challenge with creativity in the workplace: expectation versus reality. While our engagement details with all clients will remain confidential, we want to take a moment to reflect and share seven key observations we noticed about the opportunities and challenges with creativity in the workplace today. We hope that these insights will help you and your team ask new questions and find new ways to empower, evaluate, recognize, and celebrate creativity and innovation.

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#5 The age of a person, or a company, does not limit or define one’s creative potential. Everyone, no matter their stage in life, can be more creative.

#6 All problems and opportunities are rooted in people.

With creativity, people are able to solve problems, seize opportunities, and make the impossible possible.

#7 Persistence, dedication, consistence, courage, and trust all play a key role in building and growing a creative mindset.

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This disconnect between the desire to be more creative and the reality in the workplace is also backed by some recent studies. According to a Gallup 2017 report on creativity in the workplace, only 18% of employees strongly agree that they can take a risk at work. That means 82% of employees do not feel safe or supported to take risk. If they do not feel supported when taking risks, how do you expect them to be creative or do something different?

We believe that most employees are excited to bring their values to the workplace. So, why do we see an inconsistency in how different individuals perform or feel at work?

The problem is with communication

and expectations on both sides.

When the message and intention are unclear, it is natural for individuals to simply accept the status quo. It is a safer choice and has a clear reward. Why bother taking a risk and potentially upset the team? However, when this lack of clarity is addressed, it helps teams renew their trust and confidence in one another, and share more ideas without the fear of judgement.

Most innovation programs focus on problem solving, which is helpful in ideation for a known problem, but does not help individuals learn how to think more creatively overall.

We focus on the mindset. We know that if you give individuals an opportunity to pause, rethink creativity, and

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gain confidence in their creative abilities, they are able to see things differently.

But the key to creating lasting change is accountability, which is all about mindfully building daily routines at and outside of work. And it is further bolstered by collectively drawing from the shared experience the team receives through their participation in our programs. From there, how often the teams take time to practice creativity together matters. How often individuals schedule five minutes of creativity in their calendar matters. How accountable they are to building their creative strengths matters.

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Courage matters.

We want to applaud all our past and present clients for having the courage to take time and effort to rekindle their creativity as well as for creating opportunities for others in their organizations. Thanks to their initiatives, openness, and drive­­—and their leadership—we have more individuals finding new solutions in familiar places.

Monica served as Lead Facilitator for our Innovation Slam Competition (YSEALI) Summit in Singapore, featuring many useful elements of the InnovatorsBox learning framework. It was a fantastic way to accelerate the learning of young change-makers and the development of collaborative social enterprises across ASEAN. —Davey M. Kim Senior Program Officer | Leadership and Exchange Programs (LeadEx)

Monica Kang’s training on the creative/ novel mindset was excellent! Our organization received a tremendous amount of positive feedback such as, “That event was life-changing!”

—Jabbar Wesley Novel City Chamber of Innovation

OKTA-DC received positive feedback for InnovatorBox’s SPARK networking and creativity workshop. Monica’s energy and SPARK cards allowed our seminar participants to engage with each other in a more profound way. It really changed the vibe of the room quickly—‘SPARKED’ I would say. Her workshop reminded us how life (and work) can be more fun with creativity.

It was an invaluable experience overall.

—Jacqueline M. Lee OKTA-DC Next Generation VP INNOVATORSBOX LLC © 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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THE YEAR AHEAD

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lot of things are considered impossible until someone does them. We believe in making the impossible possible with creativity.

The stories that our past participants share with us remind us how everyone continues to walk their creative paths in their own diverse ways. It’s powerful to see how their courage to be creative is not only empowering themselves, but also creating a ripple effect around them. As Albert Einstein said, “Creativity is contagious,” and with the same spirit, we hope that creativity never stops spreading. We hold this hope for a very good reason. According to a Gallup 2017 report, over 75% of professionals worldwide feel like they are still lacking creativity at work. That is a staggering number. And to counter that, we want to help INNOVATORSBOX LLC © 2019. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

create a world where everyone wakes up and shows up to the work with their full potential. One individual, one team, one organization, and one community at a time. We are humbled to continue on this journey with you.

In 2019, we plan on continuing to dream and implement.

As a small service-based company with a global vision, we want to rethink what sustainable scale can look like.

As we grow, we want to push ourselves in exploring novel concepts, innovative methods, and fresh and progressive ideas for strong, sustainable, and speedy growth. We are also looking to collaborate more and build new and meaningful relationships with partners who share our values. We went to five countries and 28 cities in 2018.

Could we double that again in 2019?

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Three out of four companies in the Fortune 1000 have been replaced in the past 10 years alone, and learning how to be creative is going to be even more crucial to staying relevant in 2019. In rapidly changing times, the reality is that those who are unwilling to adapt, listen, and think differently will not survive. This is why holistic thinking is critical. In 2019, we are committed to scaling our impact. We want to empower individuals and companies to be better creative problem solvers. But more importantly, we also want to help them understand how one individual’s creative mindset can have a ripple effect through their organizations, communities, and society. All it takes is one person’s courage and trust to be creative.

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We hope these conversations and our work can help raise bigger questions on how we think about work, cultures, and jobs in the 21st century. Creativity is for everyone.

Monica’s ‘Rethinking Diversity and Inclusion with Creative Leadership’ was a breath of fresh air, intellectually and professionally. What truly made this session memorable was Monica’s ability to gracefully guide the audience’s attention with her stories and innovative exercises. And as a result, I left the session feeling invigorated and assessing my own behaviors.

—Sayda Zelaya Research Associate, Koya Leadership Partners, Participant, Nonprofit HR

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G R AT I T U D E

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s the African Proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We are here today because of the many amazing people who reminded us how urgent and important our work is every day.

We know we are here for a marathon, so messages and support from friends, mentors, and allies are invaluable.

Doing something different is not easy, so having a village who believes in you helps you never let go of that dream.

So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We do not know what adventures and challenges are ahead of us. We do not know how far we will go. But we do know that we will go further and be stronger because of you.

There are so many individuals and companies we want to thank, but we want to express our deepest gratitude to our team members, advisors, mentors, and cheerleaders.

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A special shoutout to our team Monica Kang, Monica Escobar Beasley, Aakriti Pandey, Michelle McGuire, Kristina Francis, Linda Butcher; our advisors, Skyler Showell, Jessica Collison, Lindsay Young; our mentors and cheerleaders, Alex Alvarez, Paige Adams, Megan Rast, Jarrod Sheets, Nina Vaca, Anisha Jackson, Scott Vowels, Lola Han, Janice Tu, Katlin Barrett, Eric Roy, Terri Broussard Williams, Samson Williams, Stephanie David, Yvonne Davenport-Perkins, Therese Miu, Mike Reyes, Khuloud Odeh, Daron Roberts, Alenka Zavasnik, Sera Kwon, Kenneth Choi, Jenn Grace and her PYPP team, Albert Kang, Kelly Leonard, Craig Zelizer, Liz Whitehead, Julia Westfall, Steven Rodriguez, and Brittany Sickler.

Here is to another bold year full of

adventure, wonder, and discovery.

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Company/InnovatorsBox

InnovatorsBox

InnovatorBox

InnovatorsBox info@innovatorsbox.com P.O. Box 73231 Washington DC 20056-3231

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