In this episode, Heather sits down with one of her oldest friends, Cecilia de la Hoz, who joins the podcast from Madrid, Spain.

Cecilia is a Partner at EY-Parthenon and specializes in corporate valuation. Cecilia and Heather have been friends since 8th grade at the American School of Paris. Before taking the assessment, Cecilia never would have called herself creative, but her results tell a different story. The Hodges 12 profile revealed her powerful creative trifecta: Connector-Communicator-Synthesizer.

This warm conversation explores how creativity shows up in unexpected places, how cultural background shapes creative expression, and why even analytical professionals have creative genius waiting to be recognized.

Key Takeaways:

You don't have to be an artist to be creative. Cecilia's work as a consultant requires synthesizing complex information and communicating it clearly to clients

The Connector-Communicator-Synthesizer trifecta thrives on building relationships, translating ideas across audiences, and pulling together diverse information into coherent insights

Cecilia shares the ways she is now leaning into her creativity and making room for incubation.

Percy the Penguin Segment: Cecilia translates "Creative Genius" into multiple languages; hear how creativity sounds in Spanish, French, and German!

Connect with Cecilia:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ceciliadelahoz/

Take the Assessment: Discover your creative genius type at www.thehodges12.com

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.HeatherHodges.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-hodges-phd-07400a142/

In this episode, Heather takes us back to her 8th-grade art class at the American School of Paris, where Mr. Kingsley made every student feel like Claude Monet in training. But not everyone had a Mr. Kingsley, many of us had our creative identity stolen at a young age. Heather explores the five systemic ways creativity gets killed in our lives and organizations. If you've ever packed away your creative self and learned to color inside the lines, this episode is for you.

Key Takeaways:

School taught us there's one right answer, so fear of being wrong causes us to skip divergent thinking and jump straight to finding the "correct" solution

Creativity has been optimized out of the schedule and you cannot innovate on a ruthlessly optimized calendar.

We say we want innovation but punish every mistake.

Well-meaning gatekeepers starve creativity through micromanagement, chronic stress, and criticism that destroys the psychological safety creativity needs to flourish

We defined creativity too narrowly. If you only look for artists and inventors, you'll miss the creative genius all around you, including your own

Next Episode: Special guest Cecilia de la Hoz joins us from Madrid, Spain. She never saw herself as creative until she took The Hodges 12. Fun fact: She and Heather have been friends since 8th grade!

Take the Assessment: Discover your creative genius type at www.thehodges12.com

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.HeatherHodges.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-hodges-phd-07400a142/

In this episode, Heather reveals why creativity is more than artistic ability, it's a universal human capacity that shows up in twelve distinct ways. She introduces The Hodges 12 Types of Creative Genius™ framework and walks through each type across three domains: Relational, Analytical, and Functional. Discover why 96% of leaders now say creativity is essential for success, yet 75% of people feel their creative potential is untapped at work. It's time to stop asking "Am I creative?" and start asking "How am I creative?"

Key Takeaways:

Everyone is creative, and we need everyone’s creativity.

Creativity is more than just being good at art, it's the intentional process of generating novel and useful ideas to solve complex problems

Your creativity is a gift; whether you see it through a spiritual or psychological lens, you were born to create

The Creativity Crisis: While 96% of leaders say creativity is essential, 75% of employees feel their creative potential is not being fully used at work

The Hodges 12 Types are organized into three domains: Relational (how you work with PEOPLE), Analytical (how you THINK), and Functional (how you BUILD)

Your top three types form your "Creative Genius trifecta" with over 1,300 unique profile combinations possible

Take the Assessment: Discover your creative genius type at www.thehodges12.com

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.HeatherHodges.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-l-hodges-phd-07400a142/