January often feels like a threshold month. It asks us to stretch one foot into the new while the other is still planted in the familiar. It’s the ultimate liminal space: a period of the “in-between.” But for many of us, this sense of liminality isn’t limited to the turn of a calendar year. Complexity, urgency, and uncertainty have become a part of daily life. A space that we operate in all the time: between restoration and loss, possibility and limitation, innovation and overwhelm.
In these in-between spaces, the standard leadership playbook can feel insufficient. What’s needed instead is a different kind of leadership capacity, one that is internal as much as external. A way of leading that helps us stay grounded, creative, and connected even as the world shifts under our feet.
This is the promise of Creative Leadership.
We devoted time to exploring Creative Leadership in liminal times during Power Up, our program focused on helping EDs and senior leaders navigate the current landscape. Creative Leadership also remains central to our flagship leadership program, TLP. These capacities aren’t theoretical; they are the foundation of how we support leaders in navigating uncertainty with clarity, courage, and purpose.
What Is Creative Leadership?
Creative Leadership is rooted in purpose, vision, and integrity. It’s the capacity to respond to complexity with curiosity rather than fear, and to lead from a grounded inner operating system rather than reactive habits. According to The Leadership Circle Profile (LCP)—one of the most widely used leadership assessments in organizational and social-impact settings—Creative Leadership encompasses the competencies most correlated with high performance, including:
- Authentic communication
- Relational connection and trust-building
- Courageous visioning
- Strategic focus
- Systems thinking
- Personal integrity and self-awareness
These competencies aren’t simply skills; they reflect a way of being that shapes how leaders think, decide, and connect.
Creative leadership stands in contrast to what the LCP calls Reactive Tendencies—the patterns that emerge when we lead from fear, self-protection, or the desire to maintain control at all costs. Reactive behaviors often fall into three clusters:
- Complying (playing small, seeking approval, avoiding conflict)
- Controlling (micromanaging, perfectionism, dominance)
- Protecting (withdrawing, being critical, distancing emotionally)
These tendencies are common and very human. They’re the nervous system’s natural response to stress. But they can also limit perspective, close off possibility, and drain collective creativity, especially in complex, mission-driven environments.
The Core Tension: Safety vs Purpose
One of the most helpful insights from the Creative/Reactive framework is that leaders are always navigating a core internal tension. Part of us is drawn toward our purpose, eager to create new things, imagine new futures, and make meaningful impact. And another part of us seeks safety, comfort, certainty, predictability.
This tension is universal. It’s not a sign of inadequacy; it’s a sign of being human.
But depending on which part is driving in any given moment, we either narrow or expand our capacity to lead effectively.
In liminal times, when the path is unclear and the stakes feel high, the pull toward safety can intensify. It’s in those moments that we are most susceptible to shifting into reactive habits: tightening control, focusing only on what’s urgent, avoiding conflict, or becoming overwhelmed.
Creative Leadership doesn’t eliminate this tension. Instead, it teaches leaders to recognize it, work with it consciously, and make intentional choices that align with purpose rather than fear.
Above the Line / Below the Line: A Simple Way to Notice
The video below is a good visual of how the relationship between Creative and Reactive can play out.
- When we are above the line, we are open, curious, connected, and grounded. We are able to engage with complexity from a learning mindset.
- When we are below the line, we are reactive, defensive, contracted, or in self-protection. We blame, avoid, resist, or default to survival patterns.
In each moment, the question becomes:
Am I leading from vision or from fear? From openness or defensiveness? From purpose or protection?
Noticing where you are on the line is itself a powerful leadership action. Awareness creates the possibility for choice, which allows us to move into change.
Why This Matters Now—Especially in the Environmental Sector
Environmental nonprofits operate in some of the most complex systems on the planet. The challenges you face are not linear or predictable. They require leaders who can:
- Hold long-term vision while managing short-term disruption
- Nurture resilience in teams experiencing grief or burnout
- Build coalitions across diverse and sometimes conflicting stakeholders
- Inspire meaning and purpose, especially when the challenges feel immense
- Foster cultures that are adaptive, inclusive, and mission-aligned
Organizations that can evolve—not just endure—are those with leaders who build trust, encourage experimentation, and normalize learning. Creative Leadership becomes not a “nice-to-have,” but instead a core competency for the environmental sector’s long-term resilience and impact.
A New Year Invitation: Leading Creatively in Liminal Times
January gives us permission to pause and ask:
What kind of leader do I want to be in the year ahead?
Here are three invitations grounded in the Creative/Reactive framework:
Start with Awareness
Notice your internal state throughout the day.
Are you above or below the line?
What triggers pull you into reactivity?
What practices help you return to grounded presence?
Even two minutes of awareness can shift an entire experience.
Anchor Back into Purpose
When uncertainty rises, reconnect to why your work exists. Purpose is one of the most stabilizing forces in Creative Leadership as it realigns your inner operating system.
Lead with Curiosity, Not Certainty
In liminal times, no one has the full answer. Creative leaders model curiosity, ask better questions, and make space for collective intelligence.
We are all navigating uncertain terrain, both in our professional and personal lives. But liminal times are not only times of instability. They can also be times of emergence and creativity. They invite us to lead from possibility rather than protection.
Creative Leadership offers a pathway; a way of leading that is courageous, compassionate, grounded, and visionary. As we move into a new year, it invites each of us to step into leadership that helps our teams, communities, and ecosystems not just survive, but regenerate and thrive.
In community,
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Nailah Blades
Senior Consultant
What lights you up in your role—what feels like “YES, this is my thing”?
What lights me up in my role is creating space for others to step fully into their ideas and strengths. When someone leaves a coaching session or a leadership program feeling clearer, more confident, and ready to take action, that’s my “YES, this is my thing” moment.
What do you hope people feel after working with you?
I hope people feel energized and seen after working with me. My goal is for them to leave with a renewed sense of possibility and a spark of excitement about what’s next.
What’s your superpower at work—and your secret superpower outside of work?
At work, my superpower is creating clarity out of complexity. Outside of work, my secret superpower is turning even the most mundane errands into mini adventures.
If you could have any animal sidekick (real or mythical), who would it be and why?
I’d choose a red panda as my animal sidekick because they’re small, clever, and endlessly curious. It would be nice to have a fluffy companion who brings a little joy wherever we go. Plus they do that adorable protective stance where they stand on their hind legs and raise their front paws to look bigger!