Tati Lindenberg, Chief Brand Officer for Dirt Is Good + Head of Unilever Fabric Cleaning (SVP), believes that one of the greatest truths in the creative industry is that to truly innovate, we must first embrace the perspectives that already exist in the world.

Creativity thrives in the face of contrast and complexities. And as brand leaders, it falls on our shoulders to cultivate an environment where this clash of ideas and experiences can harmonise. Where we can have diversity of thought, experience, and culture play naturally. A nice byproduct of that environment is that we create an encyclopedia of human nuance that ultimately helps us understand the world around us.

Because the most successful brands don’t represent one view of the world, they reflect the multifaceted, interconnected, and beautifully messy reality of human life. A narrow perspective in our industry is brand death. We need to ask ourselves: how can we create something that resonates with the world, yet feels deeply personal to that one individual?

Confidence in your own individuality will help. I never want success to come from fitting in. And that’s why one of my favourite things to do is to talk and follow people on social media who aren’t like me. It often leads to the most unexpected insights and breakthroughs. The colleague who’s an avid collector of rare, out-of-print books, the team member with a deep love for obscure indie music, or the person whose passion for urban gardening is stronger than my 7am coffee. These things matter. They contribute to a team’s creativity in meaningful ways. Because when people feel confident in who they are, they are confident in contributing their ideas and perspectives without the fear of being overlooked. The result? Work that resonates with audiences on a much deeper level.

But this kind of environment isn’t built overnight. It requires leaders to take active steps to cultivate it. We must be intentional about building teams that are diverse in terms of race, gender, background, thought, approach, and experience. In the end, it’s not about creating a homogenous team of people who think the same way. It’s about bringing together a group of individuals who are bold enough to stand in their own truth and confidently offer insight into their lived experiences. When we do that, we unleash the full potential of creativity – not just for our teams but for the brands we represent.

Tati will be writing regularly for MAD//Insight throughout the year.