Tips to help you survive the corporate world without losing your creative soul

Are you worried about losing your integrity as a creative in the corporate world? Designer and artist John S. Couch has launched a new book that might help.

In The Art of Creative Rebellion: How to Champion Creativity, Change Culture and Save Your Soul, he shares 28 straightforward principles he's identified to help you build confidence and live a creatively fulfilling life at the office.

John knows firsthand how tough it is to keep the creative juices flowing when faced with societal pressures to conform and bills to pay. With a career that has taken him from Wired magazine and CBS to Hulu, where he is currently vice president of Product Design, John is undoubtedly successful. Yet, as a young designer, he encountered his fair share of setbacks and periods of disillusionment – difficult experiences that a guiding hand may have helped him avoid or overcome more easily.

You can pre-order a copy of The Art of Creative Rebellion. In the meantime, we asked John if he could share a few tips with Creative Boom, so you can learn how to survive the corporate world without losing your soul.

Press, Speaking, Creative RebellionJohn CouchJanuary 16, 2020Creative Boom

Creative Rebellion Essays: Centeredness and Flow

I spent the weekend recording my narration for the audiobook version of The Art of Creative Rebellion. Well, I spent around 10 hours in total getting the first two-thirds of the book recorded. It was a humbling process. We clearly underestimated the amount of time it would take. I’ve never liked hearing my recorded voice (I’m pretty sure this is a common issue) but I felt that it would be odd and inauthentic to have a professional voice actor read the book, as the stories were my personal stories; anecdotes of failure, heartbreak, and dogged perseverance.

Design Thinking, Creative Rebellion, SpeakingJohn CouchNovember 25, 2019meditation, centering, mindfulness

Creative Rebellion Essays: Stress and the modern age

I drive my daughter to school every morning. It’s convenient as her school is less than half a mile from work. It’s one of the highlights of my day – spending time with her as we drive down winding mountain roads and go south on Pacific Coast Highway. During these times we either listen to music or we discuss what’s going on in school. The other day, as we drove home from school (Friday afternoons I pick her up), we didn’t listen to music but we discussed the Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita that happened on November 14th. My daughter is 16 years old and the victims, and the shooter, were all around that age. It struck close to home, to say the least. She told me, “Daddy you have no idea what it’s like to have to worry that some kid could just come in with a gun and start to shoot kids in the school. I shouldn’t have to worry about this.”

Creative Rebellion, Speaking, PressJohn CouchNovember 17, 2019stress, meditation, mindfulness

Beyond the day job

I wrote about doing something beyond your day job in my book, The Art of Creative Rebellion, and how it is additive to your ability to bring value to your job. I caution my design team from associating too heavily with their title or company brand – yes, it’s important to have pride in your company and your role but it’s also important to be a fully realized human being, with friends, family and passionate interests that allow you to fill your creative battery.

Fireside Chat Lessons from design leaders: Designing a culture of innovation Kim Williams, John Couch and Aarron Walter - Indeed

Speaking, PressCarolyn McNeillieJanuary 23, 2019Appearances, Thoughts

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