Every creative business faces an ongoing tension between process and poetry. We sell ideas, craft and innovation, but with a commercial purpose. So how do we make sure that our creativity always shines in our work?

To me, the act of creativity should embrace fun and flow – less like manufacturing, more like music. Just never the kind of cookie-cutter music that New York Times critic Jon Caramanica calls “Spotifycore” – the precise and algorithm-friendly pop that dominates streamers’ New Music playlists. It should be more jazz.

I don’t even like a lot of jazz. But I do love the concept of it – the improvised, conversational, unpredictable nature of the creative act. A group of players listening and responding, adventurous individuals pushing each other forward until something new emerges.

So whenever I’m setting out on a creative task, or working with designers, writers or strategists, the first thing I ask them to do is be more jazz. Not to create something polished or finished. Just take a moment to flex, sketch, talk, think.

Why jazz?

So much pop music is written to a formula. You could swap out one hit for another and barely notice the difference. Jazz feels different. It’s improvised and spontaneous. Whether you like it or not, it mirrors the creative process. Rhythms shift, melodies bend, the whole piece breathes. It can be messy and unpredictable, but alive. That’s how the start of creativity should feel. Not polished or perfected, but a jam where ideas collide into something new.

What jazz teaches us

Improvisation is at its heart. Musicians step on stage not knowing where they’ll land, trusting instincts honed over years. Daring to play a phrase they may never repeat. Creativity needs the same leap into the unknown.

Jazz is also a conversation, a call and response. One line sparks another. The best work is rarely a solo, it’s an exchange that sharpens and stretches the original thought. Tension plays its part too. Dissonance unsettles but makes the resolution better. Creative sparks often lie in debate and disagreement, in the uncomfortable space before alignment, when energy is building but nothing is settled.

And jazz has structure. Chords, rhythm, key. Freedom within boundaries. Too loose and it’s noise. Too rigid and it’s dead. Creativity needs the same balance, enough framework to hold fragile ideas together, enough looseness to let them breathe.

Most of all, jazz is never the same twice. Standards evolve with every performance. If your first idea is your final idea, you stopped too soon. You never sent out the call that demanded a response.

Parb Johal

Parb is a strategist who enjoys working out what really matters for brands and how to act on it.

Be more jazz ▶︎

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