What does creativity in business really mean? According to Dr Eugene Hughes, founder of Artgym, it’s not post-it notes and brainstorms. It’s a fierce commitment to people, purpose, and possibility.
Hughes arrived in the UK and found himself in the world of management consultancy. There, he learned a painful truth: many organisations are designed so that people serve corporate processes. Believing that it should be the other way around - with processes serving people - Eugene set out to bring about a cultural shift in the business world.
Like many founders, his early startup life was challenging. He recalls sitting at his kitchen table asking, “How are we going to build a website for a fiver?” But in the bootstrap days, Eugene developed a rule that still guides him today: hire for mindset over skill. Optimism and a can-do attitude can’t be trained, he says. Skills can.
As Artgym grew, Eugene coached top execs at brands like Adidas and Charlotte Tilbury, both built around the founders’ kitchen tables. They and other successful scaleups shared an uncomfortable truth: As companies grow, it becomes harder to keep that entrepreneurial spirit alive. Processes creep in. The spark fades. Founders look around and ask: Where has the kitchen table energy gone?
Eugene shared an example of a company rekindling that spark; a transformational project with Lebara. In a bid to stop reducing people to rows on a spreadsheet, they sent 1,000 colleagues out onto high streets across Europe to have face to face conversations with customers.
The stories they gathered - many from migrants reliant on SIM cards to stay connected to family and friends - became an award-winning documentary. Eugene reminds us that this wasn’t just a marketing exercise. It’s a reminder that creativity is what happens when you do the right thing simply because it needs to be done.
Pictured: Dr. Eugene Hughes
Eugene is no stranger to founder’s fear or exhaustion himself. Overwork pushed him to take time out and walk across the Sahara for three months, a journey that re-anchored his purpose and ultimately led to a PhD and the creation of Lead Like a River, a leadership experience now recognised as one of the world’s most life-changing.
He describes his philosophy today as ‘the leader is a gardener’ - cultivating the environment for people to thrive.
Eugene’s tips for founders and leaders:
- Know yourself so that you understand how best to serve others.
- Feedback is key to understanding how to work best with people: have an ‘ask for feedback first’ policy.
- Empowerment is active: ask people what you can do to help them thrive?
- Zoom in, zoom out. Practice being the mouse and the eagle. See the detail, then soar above it. (Developing this cognitive ability doesn’t happen overnight, so find a mentor who can help you step back).
- Paint the future. Give people a vivid vision of the future you believe in, then support them to get on with building it.
- Don't ignore the discomfort of life. In the darkness, we find our light.
- Reconnect with nature. (Eugene spends an hour outdoors every day, describing walking as his daily prayer.) In a world where we are increasingly terrified of boredom and silence, the courage to slow down and listen may be our most creative act.
- Most of all, try to leave this planet in better shape than you found it.
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