We Are All Stardust
Leading Creativity in Business
This week, I had the honor of delivering the futurist keynote address at the International Leadership Association conference in Boulder, CO. This is a synopsis of some of the key themes I shared with participants.
Welcome to the Wonder Economy
At the heart of every major breakthrough—whether in science, technology, business, or culture—is a simple, yet profound truth: we are all made of stardust. This poetic revelation is not just a metaphor for our cosmic origins but a reminder of our limitless creative potential. Stardust is the building block of everything we know—both the materials we extract from the earth and the ideas born in the human mind. Both are essential to innovation, and both are, quite literally, stardust.
The interconnectivity of all things is not a new concept, but in a world dominated by rapid technological advancement, it’s easy to forget how deeply connected we are to the world around us and one another. Everything that humans have ever created was first imagined. Imagination precedes knowledge, allowing us to dream up possibilities before we even understand the mechanisms that make them real. After all, imagination allowed early humans to gaze at the stars and wonder, "What if?" And today, that same sense of wonder drives us to look beyond the present and envision seemingly impossible futures.
Yet, even as we innovate, we often limit ourselves to old processes and tools. Take the telescope, for example. Centuries ago, Galileo’s rudimentary telescope allowed us to glimpse the stars. Today, the James Webb Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe, revealing insights far beyond what Galileo could have imagined. This contrast highlights a central theme in innovation: time and distance. Change is often incremental. New realities are born slowly until, one day, they seem to have appeared overnight. Of course, this isn’t true. These innovation stories were being written at the edges of culture for a long time. Our notice of them is what changed overnight. Culture is always evolving, whether or not we’re paying attention. And as both the consumers and producers of culture, we must understand that innovation happens first at the fringes—at the edges of what is known and understood.
Innovation: A Quantum Journey
Innovation is not just about new products or technologies; it’s a quantum story—a journey from where we are to where we want to be. It begins in wonder when we allow ourselves to step outside the constraints of the present and dream of what might be possible. Wonder is an epistemic emotion that fuels our quest for knowledge. It motivates us to learn, explore, and ask questions that lead to deeper understanding.
Wonder keeps us open to experiences, allowing us to break free from old thinking and embrace new information. It is essential for human flourishing and is a central feature of innovation cultures. By creating wonder-centered rituals and practices within organizations, leaders can cultivate environments where imagination and creativity thrive. These environments, in turn, become tools—technologies in their own right—that can direct emotions and cognitive outcomes, fostering the kind of innovation that transforms industries and societies.
The story of our next world-changing idea, company, or movement often begins with three simple words: "I wonder if…" This phrase has driven some of humanity’s greatest achievements, from landing on the moon to mapping the human genome. It has also fueled the creation of some of our most beloved art and culture, from jazz to Hollywood cinema. Wonder, in essence, embodies the profound connection between all things.
Creativity as Currency
To fully harness the power of wonder, we must understand that humans are multidimensional beings. As the poet John O’Donohue observed, many of us are afraid of the wonder that lives within us. We often tie ourselves to systems, roles, or identities that others have chosen for us, suppressing the "wild energies" that rise in our souls. But in times of transition and uncertainty, it is depth—rather than safety—that becomes our most dependable guide.
In my own journey, as a neurodiverse and gay individual navigating cultures that were not designed with me in mind, I learned to develop a deep set of creative skills. These skills allowed me to focus on the human side of every situation, to future-proof my abilities, and to find patterns in the creative tension of fusing systems. It was in the complexities of places like Breathitt County that I learned to see innovation as more than just a technical process. Innovation is about the integration of mind, emotion, and action.
The Wonder Economy™ suggests a profound shift in how creativity is valued in the workplace. Rather than being seen as a supplemental tool or a domain-specific skill, creativity becomes the driving force behind organizational growth and resilience. By integrating creativity across all levels of operation, organizations can better position themselves to navigate complexity and adapt to emerging challenges.
This shift rests on the idea of Creative Brain Capital, which is built on three core vectors of measurement:
HEAD
Cognitive Creativity: This form of creativity focuses on the brain’s ability to navigate complexity and engage in strategic foresight. In a world overwhelmed by information, leaders can take a quantitative approach to creative thinking and explore what has not yet been imagined.
HEART
Emotional Creativity: Emotions are often the unseen drivers behind decision-making. Neuroscience shows that emotional responses frequently precede rational thought, meaning that creating emotionally intelligent teams can unlock greater creativity. By encouraging emotional creativity, leaders can cultivate environments where collaboration and risk-taking feel natural and energizing.
HANDS
Collaborative Creativity: Innovation, especially in our hyperconnected world, is increasingly a collective endeavor. Collaborative creativity emphasizes the importance of turning individual insights into collective action. Teams can tap into their shared potential to innovate more effectively, moving from “me” to “we” in the creative process. This shift creates an environment where ideas are exchanged, amplified, and brought to life through shared effort.
Wonder Economy™: The Human Side of Tech
Today, we live in the Wonder Economy™, where the human side of technology and the future of work converge. The drivers of collective genius—imagination, collaboration, and shared values—are essential to the success of businesses and societies alike. As Steve Jobs once wrote:
“I grow little of the food I eat, and of the little I do grow I did not breed or perfect the seeds. I do not make any of my own clothing. I speak a language I did not invent or refine. I did not discover the mathematics I use. I am protected by freedoms and laws I did not conceive of or legislate, and do not enforce or adjudicate. I am moved by music I did not create myself. When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive. I did not invent the transistor, the microprocessor, object-oriented programming, or most of the technology I work with. I love and admire my species, living and dead, and am totally dependent on them for my life and well-being.”
The Wonder Economy™ is about more than just technology. It’s about the stories we tell, the cultures we create, and the collective imagination that drives us forward. As businesses, we must ask ourselves two critical questions: Whose imagination shapes our innovation stories? And what is required from leaders to ensure their companies are living the best innovation story they can tell?
The American Dream has always been built on the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But today, we may have focused too much on happiness and not enough on the "how" of the pursuit. Pursuing happiness is where our heads, hearts, and hands come together in collective action, and this is where new opportunities for leadership emerge.
Fierce Decisions and the Story of Us
Leadership in the Wonder Economy™ requires courageous imagination. It requires us to move beyond the individual and toward the collective—to see innovation not as a product of genius but as a process driven by shared values and collaboration. Steve Jobs’ reflection on his dependence on others speaks to the very heart of this idea. Genius, after all, is not about the individual; it’s about the ability to harness a team's collective intelligence.
As a society, we’ve seen a series of progressive failures in American business—failures that stem from a short-term focus on profits and a neglect of the human side of leadership. These failures reveal a deeper issue: we’ve lost sight of the collective genius that drives innovation. In a world where fear of the "other" has become a bankable business strategy, we must find a way to reconnect with the expansive opportunities of the "we."
Future of Work: Creativity, Curiosity, and Resilience
The World Economic Forum has identified the top future job skills, which include analytical thinking, creative thinking, self-awareness, resilience, and curiosity. When combined with emotional intelligence and storytelling, these skills form the creative brain capital necessary to transform imagination into innovation. Unlocking human creative potential requires organizations to focus not just on individual skill development but on fostering cultures where creativity thrives.
Creativity America, through its Wondervation™ Accelerator hubs, is committed to integrating the arts and sciences of creativity into mainstream business innovation. By focusing on brain science, artistic expression, and business tools, we aim to increase America’s creative brain capital by 25% over the next decade. We believe that creativity can disrupt everything from talent engagement and business strategy to civic engagement and community collaboration.
As technology becomes ubiquitous, the defining characteristic of competitive advantage will be how companies use that technology. Engaging in courageous imagination—leading with wonder—will define leadership success in the emerging markets of the future. And, as Socrates once said, wisdom begins in wonder.
In this rapidly changing world, the question is not whether we will innovate but how we will innovate. The choice is ours to make.
Wilderness Skills
A poem by Theo Edmonds. Used to open the keynote at International Leadership Organization Summit, Boulder, CO 8.14.24
You don’t wait for revelation when you pass the frontier Desire is truth here-- where the fiery stardust inside you has pulled you an uncomfortable step beyond. Beyond the old stories you wove around yourself for protection for fascination. A veneer of curiosity manufactured for others. Those you believed not trustworthy with their own estimations. Fiery stardust has pulled you an uncomfortable step beyond the old stories. You don’t wait for revelation here. When you pass the frontier, wilderness skills are needed. Wilderness skills like those you learned when you first fell in love. That raw meat moment where you first heard the calling of your original name. Away from the figuration of settled houses and industrial protocols. Crossing a frontier is a fierce decision made in the extreme honesty. Wilderness skills are not learned as professions, They are acquired through intention and vocation. Wildnerness skills are acquired through a radical, convergent release of all the heaviness you carried here with you. Vocation and navigation go hand in glove… pavement to gravel gravel to earth earth to desire (that holding of a star) Pulled a step beyond the frontier Your old stories no longer seem big enough Pulled a step beyond the frontier you feel the aligning of crucible bones. A Homecoming. The stories you used to shape your presence, back in those old settled houses won’t survive here. Frontiers find their shape among interior landscapes made real in honest mirrors. And in this reflection, you may find an uncomfortable revelation Is it possible you don’t really have language at all? At least language capable of navigating the well-worn and mapped-out reflection staring at you. A reflection that somehow makes no sense beyond the frontier. Like an old lover, the outline is there, but with each passing day, it becomes harder to remember what animated it’s meaning The loss of language hits hard. Does language even exist at all? What is the love language of wilderness? As you begin flicking off old shallow reflections, an intuition grows inside you that deepness is dependable. Moving past the frontier requires reaching further in. Inside to horizons we arrived at seasons ago but were too busy performing the shallow stories in settled houses to notice. I learned I was going to die in my early skin, when I first learned to love. Learning to be loved in return would take longer. Learning to be loved in return is a wilderness skill. In that early skin warmth was a death quilt. Pieced together with science, business, and art. Laid across a nation, the quilt stitched together the memories of those who pioneered into wilderness Those who learned in early skin that love is a wilderness skill. Sometimes, David said, the blessings blow right through us human curtains Hanging to decorate old settled houses. Receiving a blessing requires being equal to it. Receiving a blessing is making a choice to walk lightly Even through even the deepest woods. Survivors of plagues know this. Survivors of plagues feel guilty for knowledge sometimes. Deepness, though, is dependable. In the deep woods, You must give things away to become large enough, to become light enough To gather your instinctual courage into the fierce decisions Required of those whose vocation is vision. In wilderness far off places are not silent they just cannot be heard with eyes. To find the ground that you are meant to stand on, You don’t wait for revelation You make the fierce decision to let go of those small names you once carried around, room to room, in old, settled houses Those small names will only weigh you down here. A fiery stardust has pulled you an uncomfortable step beyond Beyond your old stories Told in settled houses Written in industrial protocols When you pass the frontier, the wonder of unopened life is waiting for you. But You don’t wait for revelation to find you here. Your wilderness skills will be needed.
Theo Edmonds, Culture Futurist® & Founder, Creativity America | Bridging Creative Industries and Brain Science with Future of Work & Wondervation™
©2024 Theo Edmonds | All Rights Reserved. Please credit the author when using any of this content. The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization with which the author is affiliated.