Hello and welcome. I'm Samantha Hartley of the Profitable Joyful Consulting podcast. This season we're talking about consultants and consulting. Today, specifically, I have an amazing guest, my friend and client, Heather Williams.

Heather is a business strategy consultant, a graphic facilitator, and the best-selling author of Draw Your Big Idea. She was also the founder of Two Line Studios, which is a creative consulting and learning development studio. Heather founded Two Line Studios to help organizations unleash their creative genius and solve their toughest problems. For over a decade, Heather has been collaborating with executive leaders and Fortune one hundred brands like Disney, FedEx, Google, Lego, SAP. I know, right? Johnson and Johnson, Aetna and get this, even NASA to facilitate breakthroughs and define actionable strategies. You might have seen her on the Today Show in Inc magazine, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal, they've all featured Heather's work and understand the value of finding clarity through creativity.

Welcome, Heather. Hi, nice to talk with you. Thank you.

I'm super excited to talk today and I wanted to say, there's so many areas that you and I could cover that I think would be relevant and helpful for my audience. And what specifically I wanted to talk about is creativity, clarity through creativity and what you mean by that. I love to start by rather than asking you what you do. Can you tell us a story about a client that you've worked with that would kind of exemplify what you do?

Sure, so I'll take you back in time to the summer of 2013 and it is the day that Lego went down in history with another organization. So to give you a little bit of context, go back even further to 1999 and it is when Star Wars Lego launched their very first Star Wars like it was a massive success, a huge hit. But then a couple of years went by, a decade went by, and all of a sudden, the sales were down and they needed to re-engage their clients. I'm sure all the folks who do marketing are familiar with this. So, I was brought in as part of a strategy team and so, we designed a two-and-a-half-day strategy session. We had all the right people in the room, we were focusing on the numbers, looking at the market trends, looking at the focus group results. Everything seemed to be going right and then, something didn't go quite as planned. I jumped in, as a transition, I did a drawing exercise. And then we sent the teams out into breakout groups with a question of, if you are able to do anything to re-engage buyers, what would it be? The universe is the limit. So, we're really pushing them to think of the biggest idea possible, something was impossible, just to open up their minds as an exercise.

Well, they came back half an hour later and their flip charts were covered in images and they started to report out. You mentioned graphic recording, and that's exactly what I was doing up at the front of the room, drawing out all of the ideas, organizing the thoughts and to create a synthesis of the conversation. And then, suddenly, it was like the images started to have a conversation on their own and they started to move on top of each other and all of a sudden, this is like these massive ideas. And everybody in the room was dumbfounded and they're like, “Oh, my gosh!” like these impossible ideas might actually be possible. So, we sent everybody out of the break. We got together as a team and we designed the entire event for the next two days. Remember, we've only a half day into a two and a half-day event, scrapped the entire agenda, rewrote it, specifically designed to help them to dive deep into these big ideas. And so, I created visual templates to help to organize the conversation, but really give them the creative power to go out and explore these ideas because there was some organization worked into the templates. They were able to share ideas very easily because they were in their small groups, they're still working on the same ideas. And in the end, what we ended up with was a two-year strategic plan that was visual. So, we mapped out everything visually every step of the way that they were going to take this idea into fruition. And I forgot to mention that some of these ideas, they were wild, they were like, I don't know, maybe I've already told you the story, I don't even know. But they wanted to land a Millennium Falcon in JFK , they wanted to have Yoda and Darth Vader have an epic fight, like bouncing off all of the buildings in Manhattan. And they're like, well, what if we actually, like, created our own storyline for Star Wars? Like it sounded crazy, right? And literally impossible like physics goes. But what they ended up doing after the session was, they didn't land the Millennium Falcon and JFK, but they did create a Life-Size X Wing fighter and revealed it in Times Square.

5 million yeah, 5 million Legos went into this biggest model ever made. They started the Yoda Chronicles, which ended up being a television series, cartoon series on Nickelodeon, and that became an Internet video game and then also, again, it was sold in stores and they did have an epic battle between Yoda and Darth Vader, they activated all of this in Times Square and these all of the screens in Times Square simultaneously to have this fight between Lego, Yoda and Lego Darth Vader. It went down in history as the day that Lego broke the Internet, they trended on Twitter for three days and I checked back in with the team actually just recently, I just was talking about the story to someone on LinkedIn and checked in with the team. And I asked them, like, what were some of the keys? What was the key to success at this event? Because they also remember this is like the best event they'd ever done and they said really it narrowed down to three things it was one, we were having fun with the problem, like, let's just have fun with this problem and solve it like, this doesn't have to be work right. They also had a very crystal-clear goal in mind. So, having that crystal-clear visualization of where they wanted to be was key, and then the third thing was like having that creative collaboration not only with the people on the team and the subject matter experts that they brought in, but later they were able to take that and grow partners outside of the organization that made all that possible.

It's amazing, I love the story, I've heard it before, and I think everyone should Google it or go to your website and kind of look for pictures of it, because it's like the way it looks is almost better than what you've described. It's kind of stunning. So, I think the elements that you've included in there are so critical to what I've experienced in creativity and I think the first thing of like taking the limit off of what's a crazy idea and pushing the boundaries of what that idea could be. I think that's really amazing so, can you describe, like, what services you offer? Because I don't know that it's clear to everyone, like what your role was in the Lego thing.

Yeah, of course, so there's three areas that I can really focus on right now and one is the collaboration that happens within design sessions, creating a strategy design session and another one that I'm doing as creative art-based trainings. So, I actually like training people to do the visualizations and the graphics recording. So, another way to get people engaged and then the third way, the third service that I'm offering is through communication. And that's the visual strategy and the graphics recording. Fabulous and where would you say most of your clients come from?

How do they find you most right now? It's word of mouth mostly you know just really, especially through COVID, I just found that I really wanted to tap in and work with people that are important to me. So, it's been through my incredible network and then referrals. That's great, now you did some unusual things, unusual collaborations during COVID can you share one of those?

Actually, just again, through networks, like somebody said, “You have to talk to my friend Gary where he's amazing. You're going to totally hit it off and so, we did and we recognized that we both had little kids and he was out on the West Coast, I'm here in New York. We both had three-year olds that were terrified from COVID and so, we talked about how we were parenting our children during these times and we recognized that we were doing it in the same way that we work with our clients. Mine was through helping people draw out their anxieties to tap into themselves by drawing and he was, through visualization and improv, so we put together a course that's called playing with fear. It is based on science and how we can quiet our minds to create clarity and focus, if only to take the next step that's in front of us, but also where I use it with clients is to really create clarity for planning - scenario planning and strategy.

Well, it's so timely and I think it's also an amazing blend of talents like what you do, bringing that together with what Gary does and if listeners haven't heard that one, Gary was on my show at the beginning of this season talking about purposeful play, what you've referred to the visuals. And I think visual communication is so critical and your brand that you have a registered trademark for is clarity through creativity. So, I wonder if you can talk about the role of visual communication in helping your clients get clear so that they can do what, like problem solve, collaborate like what's the role that visual communication plays in that?

The role that visual communication plays in collaboration is it helps to create engagement, it helps to create alignment and trust because people can actually see what they're saying and it also invites people to be open to ideas because it's not something that's polished in a presentation that's been presented to them, but it's something that has been developed together in the moment to create that clear path towards where they're going.

Yeah so, what's an example of a way that you have brought that in like, just a small way, because I understand the Lego example but I feel like ok, I get it for like something huge and dramatic like that, but like in a small way, if just like in a client meeting or something like how might we be sure?

Well, sometimes I'll encourage clients to do a drawing exercise just as an icebreaker to get people to be more on the same page and to be their whole selves in a meeting.

So one thing I'll have them do is start drawing, just actually just have them doodle while people are talking and start to map out their ideas as they're chatting or do like a squiggle exercise, a drawing game to can get the creative juices flowing at the beginning of a meeting. What I love is that this isn't doodling, the kind of thing that we used to get in trouble for in school and it isn't doodling kind of an indicator that you're not paying attention? Oh, yeah that's what people, that's what the myth was, right or I'm like now. Yeah, there's actually a study done at MIT here, they were studying multitasking. And one of the things that they found is actually it was that they found that it also works with fear or like anxiety or bringing people into their center. So, the idea is that we can't be doing something, we can't physically be doing something and be thinking about the things that are overwhelming and concerning us. So, by doodling, you're actually activating multiple parts of your brain at the same time with the purpose of learning, and so it brings you into the immediate moment, but up to that problem solving.

And yeah, so you ask what, where, how are ways that we can get people to engage visually during meetings? So, the first one would be doodling out their ideas to help you be present in the moment and also invite some fun and creativity into the session at the beginning. Another way, now we're all virtual, right? As of November, whatever data is November 18th, 2020. And we're all working virtually so, another way that people are getting clients to engage is by using something like Google Jam or Mural's or murals and actually using these Post-it notes to like co-create and collaborate at the same time but having that be like tactile and visual so people actually can't be having their hands down by the keyboard, they have to actually be using them to engage in the content. And then another way that has become very popular over the past couple of months is the virtual visual notetaking or virtual graphic recording. One of the concerns that I hear from clients often is that it's so hard to keep people engaged because not only do we have zoom fatigue, but we also have pandemic fatigue.

Yes, extreme pandemic fatigue.

Oh, my gosh, I could just go off on that right now with you. But one way that my clients have really been benefiting and the service that I've been providing a lot is the virtual notetaking, is because just like the Lego example, like people can see their ideas coming to life, they can see where there's connection, they can see where there's like human connection, even though we're through this screen but it's being done with pictures and it makes it a little bit easier not only for ideas to build, but it also gives a tangible take away. So it's not just a bunch of like, zoom heads, you know there's actually something that's tangible that you can take back from that session.

It's great, so you have something you're going to draw for us? Oh well, I thought that we could draw together, ok, are you ready? Let’s do it. Can I do something with you? Of course I do. Excellent.

Ok, so we'll do one of the exercises that I like to do with clients as an expert. So, I just called this little exercise, we can put any question to it at all. So, the question that I'll ask you, Samantha, is to think about is, what is your greatest learning that you've had about yourself through the pandemic? ok, good one. Though that's the question, so now just make a mark on your page, it could be anything, let it show up to the screen. Okay, hold on.

Doesn’t have to be fancy, oh yeah ok, someone ended up like this.

Now, looking at that squiggle, now start to add to it, ok? I'm thinking about, what is the greatest learning you have had about yourself through the pandemic? So just add to that drawing, turn it into something else ok, taking something meaningless and giving it meaning and substance. When you're ready, we’ll share it. So, tell me a little story about your drawing and why that is now a metaphor or a visual that represents your greatest learning through the pandemic.

So, I wasn't super intentional about how I'm going to make this represent X, but I do feel like my greatest learning is like discovering a lot of inner strength and working on externalizing that and kind of an interesting way that I discovered the inner strength was I did a lot of working out because at the beginning of the pandemic, I did a lot of eating, I did all the of baking right? And so the second part of it, I was like about me I went ok, expiration date on that. So, then I started working and I got really physically strong and my question for myself was like, how do I bring this into my business and be this strong in my work? And so, it’s kind of I think represents a journey of going inside and outside. And I also see in yours, I don't know if you see it yourself, but I see like a heart.

It will started to be a heart, yeah, like it's like the inside of the negative faces of a heart on the inside. It's so one of my connections this year was I was strengthening my heart with a lot of cardio and that heart is courage because we had to do a lot of hard things this year, didn't we?

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I’ll talk about mine. Mine, I have two here and one I think is iteration collaboration and transformation. So, it's just I feel like I have you know that I've got like a little four-year-old she's almost four at home. So, it's just like I feel like as soon as I've figured it out, it all changes. It's magnified with the pandemic so, it's that kind of iterative process, the collaboration with my husband, and then like transforming to something else. But that absolutely transfers to business you know you instantly had to pivot to virtual call upon all of our digital knowledge and experience to help our clients transform right? And so, then the bottom image, oh, my gosh, these also happen to be two lines, didn’t even plan that.

It’s the name of the business? It's the name of my business Two lines studio and then so, the line at the bottom just represents resilience in this life, you know being grounded and centered and without that we want to know how strong we were if we didn't have that bedrock of solidarity in order to allow the iteration transformation to occur.

Fabulous, love it. Thanks for doing that, like I didn't even plan this.

Thank you for doing it. I didn't plan it either, it's so beautiful, it really belongs here. And what I love is like what did we just learned about visual communication. Like, look how powerful that is, I love it. One of my favorite things that you've talked about before is those things that I love when things are revealed to clients like they don't know that they're necessarily sitting on that and when you reveal it, there's this amazing kind of like that moment of discovery with clients that is so powerful.

Yeah, I was just leading a workshop this weekend on values, helping people to get clarity around their own personal values and one of the women, she's actually a coach. And she revealed at the end, just like, “I hate journaling, I hate it.” like I make everybody else journal but she personally hated it but this actually worked for her because it helped her to look at the problem at hand, which was to find her values from a different perspective, like she was stuck and then she was able to do the storytelling, like you and I just like told these really cool stories about ourselves. Impromptu because we were able to like the MIT study, you know we were able to quiet the part of our brain that was planning what we were going to say next we were just focused on the action of creating this drawing.

It's I mean, it's really amazing. I’m going to put this in my fridge, put it on your Instagram as well. Everyone should definitely follow you on Instagram. I'll put all that information in our show notes. Ok, so one story that I really want you to tell is and this is my favorite thing that I've heard you say, is because you go into organizations and they're going to have like this is the disruption of their schedule it's like we're going to have a creative day. And I know that when I was at corporate and it felt like all of these disruptions made us all feel vulnerable and where I was wasn't necessarily a safe place to kind of be creative. And so, you're going in places and having them collaborate and you've described that you go in and everybody's like this with they're kind of like their arms crossed and nobody's like up against it you know saying like, you know that. And you are able to kind of like the after picture it looks like everybody had a really good time. So, what happens in the middle of that? Because I think all of us deal with this with their clients when we're like, ok convince me or ok, engage me. So, what's your magic trick?

Definitely going and people are just like it's usually like a big guy in the back, it's just like I'm not going to do this drawing thing, I'm not going to think creatively, I am not going to make a story tell and they're really naysayers and at the end, they're like my biggest advocate, they've got their hand around like, you got me this, Heather, she just like had had us go through this amazing transformation and I think what it is, is one I start to allow people to connect on a human level and this all happens virtually. So, and it starts incrementally, starts where people are at, I don't ask them to do like you know like a massive deep dive or like create a masterpiece that's going to go in the MOMA. No, I'm going to have them build upon something they know how to do, making a squiggle on a piece of paper or checking in and seeing how they're feeling in that moment. If they were the weather you know if they would describe their feeling as a weather pattern, like what was it? So, I think it's like that incremental revealing of some small vulnerabilities with the focus of and this is always important, nothing that I do is ever frivolous it always has an intention, it always builds to something bigger, which I've already discussed with the clients in advance to meet an objective.

Amazing answer, yes, it's a great answer.

Well, what I like is it's like it's a thing that comes so naturally to you that you don't necessarily unpack it but what I hear in that and I've heard you say before that you don't ask them to do anything that they've never done before. So, it's not going to be you know it's not like getting hypnotized and they make you act like a chicken and it's embarrassing. It's like this is very much kind of like inviting them incrementally to take small steps towards. And it sounds like it's a gentle, considerate, compassionate process that they can, it kind of breaks down those barriers.

And then I think people are just very happy with the results and they can see themselves in the process. They can see that their ideas are coming to life, they can see that their voice matters and actually, I think that's probably why there's a lot of resistance when people are going into brainstorming sessions or they're going into some of these strategy sessions where there's going to be a bunch of people that think, oh, I've been here before, like nobody listens to me or so-and-so is always talking over me or I'm going to come up with these great ideas and they're not going to go anywhere. But when everything is made visual and it's organized in a way where they can actually see where their ideas are going, there's a lot more Buy-In and there's alignment because they can see that their concepts have become part of the greater whole.

That's just such a, I think it's just a kind and considerate thing to do for the individuals who are working in that company. It's really a great thing before we leave too far away from this topic. If someone hears this and thinks like, oh, wow, I would love to bring her into my client, like, what's a good referral for you? Who is a good client and what's an indicator that they should bring you in?

Good question. So, there's kind of three areas right now where folks are bringing in. One, I work directly with CMO’s quite often, so, it's usually when it's usually when they're coming into a new organization and they're saying that there needs to be a cultural shift or they need to work on the brand identity or refresh the brand identity. That's a time when I come in and I'm very valuable to the organization, to the client. Another time where I am brought in, especially right now with the destruction that's happened within the events industry, event planners are, I’m helping out my event planners right now with the virtual graphic recording because it is just a great way to start getting people engaged and aligned around ideas and again that’s the tangible takeaway. And then, the third area where I've been brought in a lot is using the same work that I'm doing with the CMOs and the marketing and the strategy, but doing it internally with the culture around diversity, equity, inclusion. So that's when our directors are a lot of the folks that are working with us as well.

I love it and there's so much need for this. I think we've heard great examples about how we can bring them in. So, what's kind of like the smallest thing I want to make sure that you don't get referrals who are too small for you. So, who are you ideally suited to help? I mean, obviously companies with CMOs but like smaller than that, small business at all.

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of work with small businesses as well. I have a passion for working with small businesses, like you and me talked about this before.

Definitely around like the, what I call the core of organizations, companies who are looking to really not only have words that just define their values, but really come up with phrases, stories and behaviors that the organization can embody to develop their culture. So, working on the purpose statements and defining the mission, creating that vision, so it’s not only just the words on the page, but it also becomes part of the story of the organization and visualizing that is always part of what I do.

That's great because I think that a lot of the vision, mission values kind of stuff can a lot of times just be like some words and like I don't know, we recite them or whatever. And I feel like every time I see one of your graphics it is engaging and what does that even mean? It means I look at it and I want to keep looking at it and I want to explore the relationship of things together in the image, it's like I'd love to include some if you have some examples that we will edit into our video here, because they're just great. Thanks.

And they're so effortless the way you do it, it's really incredible, I feel like you know I just think it's amazing, like I said, it's a magic trick. So, if our listeners, where should they go to learn more about you and what next action would you like us to take?

Yeah, come on over, you can visit my website at twolinestudios.com, you can always find me on Instagram or Twitter directly @heather_willams or email me at heather@ twolinestudios.com.

Perfect and two lines are T-W-O? That’s right.

Perfect, awesome.Thank you, Heather, it's been just like so fun to talk with you and I hope everyone gets to see the video version of this because it's just visual. All right, until next time I'm wishing everyone a profitable and joyful consultancy.