We were lucky to catch up with Keith Harmeyer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Both my partner and I have been creative professionals for our entire careers. During our years working together in advertising, we noticed that, for many (and especially those who didn’t consider themselves “creative”) the creative process could be challenging and, all too often, intimidating and demoralizing. Team leaders consistently expressed frustration over their group’s inability to generate truly unique, creative ideas, on demand. It seemed that many people simply lack the confidence, understanding, and skills necessary to effectively and efficiently come up with innovative solutions. And so, we set out to develop a comprehensive, teachable, repeatable system for creative idea development – both for individuals and groups. Our goal was to help anyone, regardless of their perceived creative “talent,” to be able to generate truly innovative ideas whenever they were needed.

Keith, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For over 20 years, I worked as a creative director and copywriter at New York City advertising agencies, where my job was to generate innovative ideas for some of the world’s biggest brands. Before my career in advertising, I was a professional singer and actor, and appeared in opera and musical theater productions throughout the country. (And yes, every once in a while, I still break out into song!)

In 2009, I co-founded SmartStorming.com. Through my training, speaking, writing, and consulting, I help individuals, teams, and entire organizations learn to be more creative in their work every day, in order to drive innovation. Our mission is to help everyone unleash their innate creative problem-solving abilities, and generate, bigger, better, more innovative ideas whenever they’re needed.

At SmartStorming, I’ve had the opportunity to work with companies like Google, Under Armour, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Spotify, Capital One, Diageo, Siemens, Omnicom Group, WPP, and many others. We’ve even trained MBA candidates at MIT’s Sloan School of Management in our SmartStorming creative problem-solving methodology.

I am co-author of the book, SmartStorming: The Game-Changing Process for Generating Bigger, Better Ideas; a graduate of Loyola and Tulane Universities, both in my hometown, New Orleans, Louisiana; and I am a past-president of the Florida Speakers Association.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I first met my business partner when we worked together as an advertising creative team. But I think, more relevant than HOW we met is WHY we connected so well and decided to go into business. We worked for an extremely demanding creative director. When there was a new assignment, he expected us to present literally dozens and dozens of different, unique, creative ideas. Most would be rejected out of hand; a few might survive till the next round of cuts. Needless to say, my partner and I quickly learned how to be super-efficient with our time, and very effective at generating good ideas quickly. We were totally “in sync:” with each other in our approach, and had a lot of success. So we decided that we could help others learn to do what we were doing. That is how SmartStorming was born.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Rather than a single story, I’ll share a philosophy – one that has served us and our clients well. Today, in business, EVERY DAY requires resilience! Today’s innovation-driven world demands continuous adaptability. You must be willing and able to respond to continuous change, if you hope to remain relevant and survive. Today, we all have to think and perform like an innovator. My partner and I are resilient because we have not stayed the same and expected the world to adapt to us. We have continuously evolved and grown in response to the market, our clients’ needs and expectations, and advancing technology.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://SmartStorming.com
• Instagram: @KeithHarmeyer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keithharmeyer/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithharmeyer/
• Twitter: @keithharmeyer