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Dr. Amy Climer is a thought leader in innovation, team development, and experiential learning. She teaches research-based practices, tools, and techniques to forward-thinking organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the University of Wisconsin.

Amy holds a Ph.D. in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. Her research led to the Deliberate Creative Team Scale, designed to measure the three critical dimensions of team creativity. Her TEDx talk, The Power of Deliberate Creative Teams, explains her research and philosophies on innovation, and she is the author of Deliberate Creative Teams: How to Lead for Innovative Results.

Amy is the host of The Deliberate Creative™ Podcast. She is the designer of Climer Cards, a creativity and teambuilding tool used by thousands to deepen conversations and generate ideas. In 2016 she won the Karl Rhonke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education. Amy lives in Asheville, North Carolina in the U.S.

A Few (Awesome) Quotes From This Episode

• “We’ve known actually since the 1970s that creativity training works. The problem is we rarely bring it into our day-to-day work.”
• “It’s about being deliberate. You can’t just hope for creativity to happen—you have to follow a clear process and cultivate the right environment.”
• “If you want your team to be more creative, spend time clarifying the real problem before jumping into ideation. Even five minutes can change everything.”
• “Creative abrasion is when we can disagree around ideas and still respect each other personally. It’s healthy conflict that leads to better solutions.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Documentary: Where There Once Was Water
• Book: Your Creative Power by Alex Osborn
• Book: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner

About The International Leadership Association (ILA)

• The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!

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• The views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your

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