The CEO's Playbook: How to Unlock Creativity as Strategy in 3 Questions

Creativity isn’t a luxury. Innovation isn’t a bonus feature. If you’re leading a mission-driven organization right now, they’re both necessities.

Solving entrenched social challenges—whether it's the mental health crisis facing young people, widening economic disparities, or gaps in maternal health—requires more than policy tweaks or another deck of KPIs. It takes imagination, clear communication, and an ability to connect with people in ways that build trust and spur action.

That’s what strategy is supposed to do. Yet too often, creativity and innovation are treated as ancillary to strategic conversations. Marketing and communications are seen as “nice-to-haves,” and messaging is often addressed too late, once all the meaningful discussion has been had. In most organizations, creative strategy is only prioritized during major branding projects, a new website, or a special campaign.

What’s needed, though, is intentionality in how you show up across channels, across teams, across conversations—day in and day out.

To unlock creativity as strategy, you must first see it as an orientation—an embedded way of thinking, acting, and deciding.

At Purple Haus, we partner with leaders who are brave enough to think that way. And we’ve seen the outcomes that happen when creative intelligence is fully integrated into leadership, culture, and operations.

When Columbia’s Center for the Transition to Parenthood reimagined how it engaged providers and the broader practitioner community working to support families during one life’s most critical transitions, they didn’t just improve their communications—they helped model a new standard for perinatal care messaging that’s more accessible, resonant, and human.

When The Knowledge House clarified their communications strategy during a pivotal growth moment, they didn’t just celebrate an anniversary—they secured new partnerships, reengaged funders, and advanced their role as a national leader in tech workforce development.

When TRAILS refreshed their brand and aligned messaging across internal and external teams, they didn’t just improve visibility—they increased trust, positioning themselves for sustainable growth so their mental health tools could reach more schools and more students.

Results like these are achieved when creativity is treated as strategy—not a side project, not a finishing touch, but an indispensable tool of leadership.

The world is asking more of leaders right now. More vision, more transparency, more courage to try something new. If you're feeling stretched between what you know is possible and what feels doable—it may be time to try something new. Look for ways to tap into the hidden creative intelligence that lives within your organization and within yourself. That’s where the innovation lives.

You don't need to wait until your next big communication project like. rebrand or campaign to unlock creativity as strategy in your organization. You can shift by asking these three questions:

1. Are we waiting too long to bring in the creative team?

Look at your last three major organizational moves. If communications or creative thinking showed up at the end of the process, or not at all, that's your signal. Creative intelligence should be in the room when direction is being set, not brought in to package what's already been decided.

2. What are we saying privately that we're not saying publicly?

Every organization has a version of its story that lives in hallway conversations, staff retreats, and honest moments with funders. It's sharper, more compelling, and more human than what shows up on the website. The gap between those two versions is where your most powerful messaging is waiting.

3. What messaging opportunities are we missing every day?

A campaign launch isn't the only moment that matters. The email your ED sends to funders, the way your team describes your work at a conference, the framing in your next board deck: those are all creative strategy opportunities hiding in plain sight. If no one owns the message in these moments, no one is shaping how your organization is understood.

Final thought: Organizations don't become data-driven overnight. Learning to leverage creative intelligence requires the same commitment: new skills, new tools, and new systems for holding everyone accountable. If you see opportunities to evolve, you're already on the right track. We're here to help you get there.