How do you use writing to learn and drive change?

It’s funny that despite co-authoring and co-editing 3 books, I don’t consider myself a writer. In fact as I embark on the next chapter of my career, it’s perhaps the area I am most daunted by as there is no doubt that writing is a prerequisite to accelerating change. Without new ideas or perspectives, you are going to find it impossible to educate and engage people and show them a different path. And just as importantly, writing is a really important tool for learning.?

But after a meeting with the wonderful Elizabeth Uviebinene, author of Slay in your Lane and the Reset and the founder of Storia, a journaling app that will be launching this year, I have come to look at writing from a very different perspective. The fact is writing has been really important to me, especially when it comes to grieving my brother. Not only have I used it to reconnect with my dad around grief by sharing my story, I have even written a short story to express how I personally feel about grief which has really helped me along my own journey and which, until now, I had only ever shared with my immediate family.

Also I would not be sitting here having developed over 25 hacking workshops in the quest for creating workplaces that are truly inclusive and diverse without first putting pen to paper for Digital Advertising: Past, Present and Future back in 2010. Because this inspired our second book, Hacker, Maker, Teacher, Thief, which in turn inspired me to become obsessed with the creative superpower of hacking, which was the section I owned in our most recent book - Creative Superpowers: Equip yourself for the Age of Creativity. And it amazes me how important these four superpowers have been to me in creating culture change despite me totally pivoting my career when I launched Utopia, just over 5 years ago.

From my experience, writing opens doors and connections that were simply not there before. That could be in the form of ideas or connecting with new people. Irrespective it has made me realise that we are all writers and personally I am going to have to commit to putting down my thoughts more regularly here on Linked In. And next time I am nervous of posting something, I will just remind myself of the best piece of advice I have ever been given - It’s better to be wrong and interesting than right and boring (the illustration is by Olaf Hajek and is taken from Best Piece of Advice Ever):

How has writing helped you in your career, either in terms of accelerating change or self development? Would love to hear your stories in the comment below.