So, you think creativity is not a skill you need for your chosen career field? Think again says graffiti artist, best-selling business author, and PTK Catalyst 2020 speaker Erik Wahl.
Wahl began his career as a business strategist in what he viewed as a good, conservative, corporate job. When the doc-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, he lost his job, his money and his ego. Amid the loss, he rediscovered his passion for art.
“For a long time, I didn’t feel creative at all, and I actually didn’t feel that I needed creativity,” Wahl said in a 2017 interview with Forbes. “I had a good career and worked hard grinding it out. I thought that creativity was just for hipsters sipping espressos, chasing sparks of inspiration.
“When I had to start a new career, I realized that that stereotype of creativity was false. We all need creativity, and we all need to know how to hold the spark of creativity in balance with the grind of execution.”
Wahl turned his focus to art creating graffiti-styled portraits of iconic figures while delivering his message of the power of creativity. Since then, companies like Microsoft, Disney, FedEx, and Honda have embraced his message, and the sale of his artwork has raised $1.5 million for charitable organizations worldwide.
His first book, Unthink: Rediscover Your Creative Genius, became a CEO Reads book of the year in 2013, and his latest book The Spark and the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity landed on the CEO Reads’ Best-Seller’s list within the first week of its publication.
We’re eagerly awaiting Wahl’s keynote address during the second general session of PTK Catalyst 2020, April 2-4, in Dallas, Texas. Registration is open and our lowest rates end on February 6.
What Erik Wahl’s perspective on creativity spark in you? Register to attend PTK Catalyst today and get ready to find out!
