Creative Edge 101 - The Five Power Skills Behind Innovation

​A course by Karen Hold

​Watch the intro video >

​In a world where AI can write your emails, it's human skills that will shape the future and set you apart. That’s your creative edge. Your unfair advantage. Are you ready to claim yours?

​According to the World Economic Forum, the most in-demand skill for today’s workforce is creative thinking, the kind that transforms insight into action, ambiguity into opportunity, and teamwork into traction. But here’s the truth: creative thinking isn’t a personality trait. It’s a trainable skillset.

​Creative Edge 101 is a fast-paced, 90-minute workshop that introduces the five statistically significant power skills behind creative thinking and innovation. These skills are based on research conducted with Jeanne Liedtka at UVA’s Darden School of Business and brought to life in our award-winning book Experiencing Design: The Innovator’s Journey.

​I co-led the research and design of the innovation assessment we’ll be using which is work that grew directly out of Experiencing Design, which I co-authored with Jeanne Liedtka and Jessica Eldridge. This is the same approach that’s been applied and tested across thousands of Fortune 500 companies, startups, nonprofits, and government agencies.

​If you’re leading a team, scaling a company, or shaping what’s next, you need these skills.

​In this fast-paced session, you will:

• ​Complete a research-backed innovation skills assessment to identify your creative strengths and growth areas

• ​Learn a shared language for five essential creative thinking skills:
  Opportunity Seeking, Relationship Management, Reflection, Scientific Reasoning, and Presencing

• ​Pair with a peer to explore how these skills show up in others and how to grow them together

• ​Build self-awareness of the habits that drive high-performance innovation

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​What’s Included:

• ​90-minute interactive session led by Karen Hold, co-author of the award-winning Experiencing Design: The Innovator’s Journey and co-developer of the i2 Innovation Skills Assessment

• ​Access to the i2 Innovation Skills Assessment, grounded in research with Jeanne Liedtka and UVA’s Darden School of Business

• ​Hands-on peer reflection exercise to deepen understanding and activate insights

• ​A next-step planning tool to help you apply what you’ve learned

• ​Completion of the required prerequisite for our 201-level deep-dive skill workshops on the five skills.