Episode 69: You’ve Been Educated Out of Creativity | Rebuild Your Creative Muscle with Dr. Steve Diasio
Episode Snapshot:
Creativity isn’t an artistic identity — it’s a human capacity that helps you make meaning, solve problems, and build a life that fits. In this episode, Dr. Steve Diasio breaks down creativity as a muscle you can train — and shows how to use it as a compass for clarity and alignment.
Summary:
Dr. Katie sits down with Dr. Steve Diasio — creative strategist, facilitator, coach, and founder of the School of Creativity and Innovation — to dismantle the myths that keep people from claiming creativity as their own. Steve challenges the outdated belief that creativity belongs only to “creatives” or the arts, and reframes it as a learnable process that strengthens through practice. He shares how many of us have been “educated out of creativity,” conditioned to prioritize efficiency, performance, and fast solutions instead of imagination, experimentation, and possibility.
Together, Katie and Steve explore how creativity shows up everywhere: navigating relationship dynamics, resolving team conflict, parenting through uncertainty, and making decisions in life transitions. Steve introduces a simple, practical creative problem-solving framework (inspired by the “double diamond”) that moves from diverging into many ideas to converging on what matters, then testing and iterating with low-risk experiments. He also walks listeners through his “creativity audit” — evaluating the creative self, environment, process, and the tools/products that shape outcomes — proving that creativity isn’t magic. It’s method. And it’s deeply human.
Key Learnings:
Creativity is a process, not a personality type. You don’t need to be “a creative” to think creatively — you need practice and permission.
Constraints can boost creativity. The goal isn’t unlimited freedom; it’s learning how to work creatively within real-world limits.
Creative problem-solving isn’t rushing to answers. Diverge to generate possibilities, converge to prioritize, then test small experiments to learn and iterate.
Your environment shapes your creativity. Light, color, tools, clutter, and setup can either support or suffocate your creative capacity.
In an AI-driven world, creativity becomes more valuable. Steve argues the “human element” — meaning-making, originality, and process — is what will differentiate us going forward.
Resources:
Steve's website: https://www.stevediasio.com/
Steve's LinkedIn
Guest Info:
Dr. Steve Diasio is a creative strategist, facilitator, and coach, and the founder of the School of Creativity and Innovation. His work helps individuals and organizations use creativity as a practical tool for clarity, problem-solving, and alignment — far beyond the arts. Steve teaches creativity as a skill you can build through proven exercises, frameworks, and intentional practice. He’s passionate about helping people reclaim creativity as a deeply human capacity for making meaning and progress.
