Artist encourages Truist business lecture audience to flex its creative muscles

The subject of Radford’s most recent Truist Global Capitalism lecture and luncheon, at first glance, might have seemed a bit of an outlier compared to those of the recent past.

Whereas last year’s installments of the popular business forum looked at the creation of a multibillion-dollar retail industry and private equity in the field of communications technology, this latest forum, held March 27 at Kyle Hall, was hosted by visual artist and author Noah Scalin, who urged guests to temper their work in dollars and cents by embracing imagination and inspiration.

His speech, “The ROI of Creativity,” discussed the “return on investment,” or rewards, for developing creative skills, and he walked attendees through how that could be done fairly easily and why it matters.

In his address, he noted a report from the World Economic Forum, which surveyed 2,000 companies across the globe and found that the key qualities deemed essential for success in business included not only leadership ability and motivation but also innovation and creativity.

“Organizations are saying it’s a priority,” Scalin said. “If we think innovation is a priority – and we should – then we also have to prioritize creativity.”

Additionally, he cited statistics that suggest creative thinking is among the attributes least likely to be replaced by the growing onset of artificial intelligence.

“That was actually written by AI,” he explained of that point. “They asked AI to develop this chart, so it knows what’s up.”

Scalin himself represents a particular intersection of the realm of business and the fields of personal expression. He founded and operates the consulting firm Another Limited Rebellion and was also the first artist in residence at both Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business and Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business.

As such, he’s frequently approached by people who tell him, “I don’t have a creative bone in my body,” but when faced with such claims, he offers a common-sense response.

“There is no such thing as ‘creative bones.’ They do not exist,” he told the crowd. “Think of them as ‘creative muscles,’ not bones. Because everybody has muscles, but not everybody is strong.

“So, we've got to bring that [strength] back out, and you bring it out through exercise. But instead of muscular exercise, it's mental exercise. We've got to go to the mental gym and work out.”

One of the ways Scalin illustrated that process was through an activity in which the attendees were asked to draw three circles of any size on a piece of paper; once that was done, they were instructed to connect their circles into a unique but recognizable image. Despite the basic parameters, the results ranged widely.

“Notice that we do things different with the exact same components,” he explained as they compared their drawings. “All of this is important stuff that you could use. That’s why we do creative practice. And it is about translating it to your future job or your current job.

“This is the stuff that trains your brain because, after this, you’re going to maybe look at circles a little differently.”

Scalin also reflected on how, during a slow period in his work schedule, he challenged himself in his own field, leading him to devise a method of working by creating mosaic images – frequently with stickers but occasionally with everyday materials like clothing. That self-imposed push ultimately led to his work being featured in a popular spot for Old Navy, a video he said has since garnered more than one billion views, his widest audience by far.

“A billion people have never stepped foot into the gallery when I had an art show. A billion people have never seen one of my posts online,” he mused, adding that his opportunity to do the Old Navy project “happened because of my committing to my creative practice and growing my capacity and showing people what I can do.

“I had done the practice, I had done the work, and I was ready. So, when opportunity came knocking, there I was.”

In addition to his appearance at the Truist lecture and luncheon, Scalin later conducted two extended creativity workshops, each lasting more than an hour, at Radford’s Venture Lab.

The Truist Global Capitalism Lecture Series is presented by the Davis College of Business and Economics in partnership with Truist Financial Corporation.